Community› Local Wedding Boards› Minnesota-Minneapolis and St. Paul
Minnesota-Minneapolis and St. Paul
New Discussion

photographer-how many hours?

Emily&DuncanEmily&Duncan member
First Comment
in Minnesota-Minneapolis and St. Paul
So I'm finally to the stage of looking at photographers, but I need a little help. I have no idea how many hours I want/need. The ones I've looked at have packages anywhere from 4 hours to "all day". We're planning on a 5 pm ceremony followed by cocktail hour, dinner, and dance. I'd like to have photos before hand at a couple locations (that I haven't picked yet) and also some getting ready pics. What do you guys suggest? How long did you book your photographer for?
Report Reply to Post

Re: photographer-how many hours?

  • supersalwasupersalwa member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    We have ours for 7 hours, with a 5:30pm ceremony time. A lot of people say (and I'd agree) that dancing pictures start to look the same after the first few shots. We definitely wanted pro pics of our first dance, but not necessarily for much longer after that, so we're having her shoot from about 2-9. However, we're starting to be concerned there won't be enough time for pictures beforehand because the building opens at 3 so we'd have to do off-site pics before that, which involves transportation time...so I'm not sure. We're meeting w/her next week to hammer out the details. Either way I won't have many getting-ready photos, hopefully just a few of the dress on a hanger, then me getting into it. So if that's important to you AND you want dance pics, you'd probably want a photographer for longer than 7 hours. HTH!
    imageZe Plans
    Mrs. Bio
    Report Reply
  • lisaf617lisaf617
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    We are doing 10 hours. I wanted pictures at the salon and guys and ladies getting ready. He will be there until the beginning of the dance.
    Report Reply
  • megsticks31megsticks31 member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    If you want photos of you getting ready you'll need at least 10 hours.  Our ceremony was at 5:30 and we took photos before at a few locations which meant that we needed to be ready to go at 12:30pm.  Back that up 2 hours (for getting ready time) and that puts you at 10-10:30.  If you figure dinner will start at 7 you probably won't get to your first dance until 8:30....
    Report Reply
  • Kambria11Kambria11 member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    Ours isn't really in hours, just an all day from the time we start getting dressed until a couple dances. This includes 3 picture locations for us. I believe it will end up being around 9 hours though.
    Report Reply
  • SarahAndBen09SarahAndBen09 member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    You should plan out your timeline and that will give you the answer.  I have a feeling if you want getting ready photos you're going to need an "all day" -- that's what happened to us.  ("all day" ended up equaling 9.5 hours for us)We drove to one location that was 15 minutes away.  I padded the time for everything and it ended up working out perfectly.  (Running behind is inevitable!)Here's an example of our timeline:11:00 a.m. - photographer arrived for getting ready photos12:00 p.m. - "first meeting" photos12:30 p.m. - leave for park1:00 p.m. - wedding party photos2:00 p.m. - family photos3:00 p.m. - bride & groom alone3:30 p.m. - leave for ceremony4:00 p.m. - start lining up for ceremony4:30 p.m. - ceremony6:00 p.m. - dinner8:00 p.m. - first dance8:30 p.m. - photographer leavesLike pp said, our photographer said she only wanted to stay a half an hour after the dances start -- she can get what she needs in that time.HTH!
    Report Reply
  • Marymt4Marymt4
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    We had our photographer from 11:30am-10pm and she got everything we needed for the day!
    imageimage
    Report Reply
  • Emily&DuncanEmily&Duncan member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    Thanks guys! You are alway so helpful. I will definitely make a timeline to help figure out what I need.
    Report Reply
  • jennadojennado
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    We booked for 8 ours with our photographer, they told us that when we met with them the week before the wedding if we decided we needed them for less or more then we could adjust the remaining balance up or down.
    Report Reply
This discussion has been closed.
Choose Another Board
Search Boards