How many hours for a photographer?

ginadog

I'm trying to think how long we'd want a photographer for on the wedding day.

Are any of you going for a 5, 6, 7+ hour wedding packages?  I'm wondering if I should go with 8 hours, or the all day so I don't have to think about it.

It is a destination wedding in the Grand Tetons, so she really only has one day to shoot us in the Tetons.  As in no bridals or engagements in this same location.  Those will all be in Utah where we are. 

She can do 6 hours of wedding day plus engagements and bridals for $1300 which is a deal here. 

One wouldn't need more than 8 hours on the wedding day would they?

I could see 6 hours working:
4-5pm last touches on getting ready
5-6pm pre-ceremony/ceremony
6-7pm apps hour and family photos
7-10pm three hours of reception/dinner

What do you think?   No wedding party so that eliminates time for those kind of shots.

Skyjewell23

I dont I had a friend who did a 6 hour window and eneded up not getting pictures of the cake cutting, garter toss, etc.

I'm doing unlimited cause i'm terrified that will happen to me.

Elinetrouwt

I'm doubting between eight and ten hours, weddings tend to stretch kind of longer over here (Belgium) than in the US. Our photographer doesn't offer unlimited packages.

Madisonpenny

Ours will be with us for 10 hours, mainly because I want pictures of both of us getting ready too.

esskem

Ours will be 8 hours to make sure there are pictures of us getting ready. A friend of mine had her photographer capture what the guys were doing right before the wedding (they were playing football, didn't have a care in the world) and they ended up being some of the cutest pictures in the wedding album.

Also, are bridal shots common in your area? I never heard of them until I read about them on TK. I think it may be worth it to have longer coverage the day of than to have more pre-wedding pictures.

littlemoments324

We have ours for up to 10hrs.  We'll have her arrive around 1:30- 2pm-ish...and leave at 9:30pm...by then all of the big stuff will have happened.  We also have a second photographer for 4-5 hrs who is going to be strictly for the guys finishing up getting ready & ceremony and cocktail hour.

AllyG303

We're going with 2 photographers all day, no set time limit.  I don't want them to miss a single thing since it will only happen once! 

bells24412

My photographer's package came with 9hrs of photography which i thought would probably take us until the cake cutting which is fine with me. As long as the important parts are photographed the other parts i don't really don't care IMO.

mekiakoo

We are having ours for 7 hours and a 2nd one for 3 hours, both starting at 4:30. I don't really care for pictures of our make up, hair appointments, etc. We are starting everything at 4:30 at our ceremony venue, we'll be getting dressed there (will already have our hair/make up done). One photographer will be with FI & the men, the other one will be with us and the girls.

We're doing photos until 6:15 then doing a few more after the ceremony while we take the trolley to our reception site.

My dad is an awesome photographer too so he's going to come with the girls to our hair/make up appointments and take fun pictures of us. It'll be so much fun having him around, my BMs love him.

It really depends on what you really want. I believe you are correct- a lot of time will be cut down since you don't have a wedding party. I would say 6 hours is okay. But if you don't really want to do a bridal or even e-pictures, is there a way for you to have the photographer longer than 6 hours?

hmacsine

I booked my photographer for 8 hrs. He will arrive around 1and leave at 9. My ceremony starts at 2 and my reception will end around 10 or 11. All of the major things will be done before he leaves.

KarleeKrause35

We decided to nix the hair/makeup appt pictures. My photographer assured me that I wouldn't buy them in the end, since they'll be a bunch of pictures of me with no makeup and rollers in my hair, nervously sipping a liquor of choice from a flask. (Just kidding....kinda.) We got our photographer for 10 hours total. She'll meet us around noon and leave at about 10 pm. After that, the pictures will be full of drunk people.

michelle11988

We have ours for 8 hours he'll probably get there between 2 and 3 and stay until 10 or 11.  Our ceremony is at 5:30 and everything should be done by 10pm and we only have the hall until 11:30pm and I don't think we need tons of drunk pictures after all the good ones.

AniaNYC

We originally signed agreement for 8hrs, thats what we can afford now, but if we only have extra money next year we sure will chenage it to 10hrs. I just wanted to make sure we book the vendor we love.

BrightFirefly

Our package is seven hours with two shooters.

MandiNoel

We are doing only a 5 hour package. That will be enough for our ceremony and whole reception.

One of my good friends is actually the best photographer I know, but since she's invited to the wedding, I clearly wasn't going to ask her to photograph the ceremony and reception. However, she is going to hang around all day and do all the getting ready pictures and bridal party pictures, so that will save us some cost with our photographer.