How long should the photographer stay?

EMPlanner

Hi Girls,I'm wondering how long I should have my photographer the day of the wedding.We have our venue (Villa Parker) for 12 hours--- and plan on arriving at 11am to begin set up, hair/makeup, etc.The AWESOME photog I've selected offers 6 hours of shooting time.  I wonder if I need to add more hours or does that seems like a silly thing to do?Do the photogs usually stay until the end of the night?  I'm looking for what has worked for you all!  Thanks!Erin

chelbell326

we had our photographer for 6 hours & I wish we'd have had her longer! (we simply couldn't afford it so we cut out the "getting ready pictures"). Ideally, I wish we'd have booked her for 8 hours. Lesson learned

katierocks8884

Hey Erin, That was the only thing I was crazy about. All day shooting. We didn't have a videographer so all we'll have is our photos to remember the day and I didn't want to miss one chance at a great shot. Our photog stayed with us for about 9 hours. I traded some other things out of our package to get it and I think it was worth it. At the end of the night DH and his friends were singing along to Last Dance w/ Mary Jane. I'm so glad he was there to shoot that!

charlsie26

ours stayed the entire night and was able to get the sparkler send off and us in the limo.  And the shots of everyone jumping into the pool at the end of the night too...which will be classic if we EVER get our photos...it's taking forever!  maybe that's why it's taking so long is because she has a bunch of photos to process!

layla1704

I think anything over 8 hours is overkill. There are only so many "people dancing" pictures you need from the reception and usually the big events (cake cutting, bouquet toss, special dances)are over within 2-3 hours of the reception.