wedding times planning for your day

How Many Hours Do You Need a Photographer to be at your wedding?

Most photographers have some short of wedding package that is based on the hours of photography. Many wedding photographers do this as it allows people who only need the ceremony, bridal and group photos afterwards. Things you need to consider so you can estimate how much time you would like. The most popular packages I find are 8 to 12 hours photography as this gives you more moments to capture the fine details of your wedding.

Pre wedding photos of the bride and bridesmaids getting ready for the wedding, I normally like to spend around one and a half hours with the bride and bridesmaids as to capture all the details beforehand. This also allows you to be not too rushed before the ceremony. Also some family photos can be taken at this time. Photos of jewellery and items the bride is wearing are nice touches to photograph and make beautiful details in the wedding album.

Grooms and groomsmen photos do not take as long as the bride’s preparation so these can be done before going to the bride’s house or a second photographer can be sent to capture the guys.

Traveling times need to be taken into account for the journey to the ceremony location and going to photography locations during the day.

Most ceremonies take around 15 to 30 minutes, photos of the congratulations afterwards and while people are mingling with the bride and groom can be up to 30 minutes.

Group and family photos can take a while as rounding up people can be sometimes consuming, you may need to leave half an hour for these or more if you have a large wedding party.

Photos with the bridal party it is best to give your photographer a good amount of time after all the family photos are done. Travelling time will cut into the time allowable if locations are not close by for your photos. Most reception venues like to have you seated on time as to not disrupt there timings. Most brides like to have the entrance of the wedding party and cutting of the wedding cake, along with the wedding dance during the night. Some really fun photos can be captured during the dancing that happens throughout the night. Photos can be done at the venue with the photographer during the night if the bride and groom are willing but a lot of the time you will have settled into the evening’s celebrations. But for the willing some really great photography can happen at night with off camera flash using a mix of natural available light and flash can give some amazing results, especially if the grounds of the venue have interesting garden lighting.

Giving your wedding photographer as much time as possible will help your photos not look too rushed, this will help create a more natural feel to your wedding photos.

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