How Long Should You Hire A Wedding Photographer?

100 Images From Kamilah & Cameron’s Wedding At The Municipal Rose Garden In San Jose, CA

How Long Should You Hire A Wedding Photographer? | 4 Suggestions To Get You Started

One of the first things you and your partner should figure out is how long you will need your Wedding Photographer. If you have begun your search, you may have come to find that wedding photography can seem quite expensive. This is mainly due to the fact that your Wedding Photographer incorporates the hours before, during, and after your wedding into their pricing. While Wedding Photographers may shoot your wedding for 8-10 hours, there is an additional 20 hours or more that you do not see them doing. Here are my four suggestions on the question of how long should you hire a wedding photographer?

Everything Should Be Based Off Of Your Wedding Timeline

First and foremost, you and your partner will need to create a wedding timeline. There are many ways to go about this – but your Event Planner or Photographer will have the most experience with this. Establishing your timeline will depend on a few different factors.

Firstly, you will want to figure out where everything is going to take place. Having everything at the same location or really close by is highly recommended. Keep in mind that travel time is included in the amount of hours you are hiring your Wedding Photographer.

Secondly, you will want to also consider the length of your ceremony. Most ceremonies take 10-15 minutes, but religious ceremonies can take around 60 minutes. And lastly, you can plan on your cocktail hour and the main segments of your reception to take anywhere between 4-6 hours. Establishing all of these factor should give you a good estimation on where to start.

Plan On Things Running Behind

How long should you hire a Wedding Photographer will depend on many things. But one of the best ways to create a stress free wedding day is to plan for delays. In my experience, things tend to start running behind during the “getting ready” portion of the day. If your hair and makeup artists estimate everything taking 4 hours, plan on it taking 5. By adding this cushion, you will make the most out of the time your Photographer is taking pictures. I recommend adding 15-30 minute cushions to each segment that takes place before the ceremony. This would include getting ready photos, a first look, and any group portraits that will be taken before the ceremony.

Also, you will want to consider uncontrollable situations like traffic. If there is a major accident on the roads getting to your ceremony, some of your guests may be late. Planning on things running a little behind will help alleviate uncontrollable situations like these 😉

8 Hours Is The Average Time Wedding Photographers Will Spend Shooting Your Wedding

Now that you have factored in your timeline and the possibility of things running behind, we are at a great starting place! So – how long should you hire a Wedding Photographer?! In my experience as a Wedding Photographer, 6 hours is a short window to fit all of the photography in. 8 hours is the SWEET SPOT. And 10 hours is GREAT for weddings to incorporate the cushion time I previously mentioned 🙂

Being As Organized As Possible Will Get The Most Out Of The Hours Your Photographer Is At Your Wedding

Lastly, making sure that everything is organized and planned out is really important. Being on the same page with your Wedding Photographer is crucial to pulling off a seamless wedding day! Preparing a listing of all of the “formal/posed” groupings is one of the most important things you can organize. I recommend having this prepared at least two weeks before the wedding. Also, meeting with your Wedding Photographer, at least two weeks before your wedding is important. Discussing what will be photographed, and when is REALLY important. While there is a possibility that little things may occur, being prepared beforehand is important. With weddings, you cannot PAUSE things and try to recreate moments after they have occurred! For example, knowing that you will go straight into your first dance after your main entrance is crucial for your Photographer to know. Depending on the layout of the wedding, they may need to set up lighting before your entrance. Knowing this will result in the best images being able to be captured 😉

Hopefully this has given you an idea on how long you should hire a Wedding Photographer! Weddings have a lot of moving parts and hiring an experienced Wedding Photographer is crucial. If you and your partner are searching for a Wedding Photographer, I would love to meet with you and go over exactly how I approach weddings in more detail 🙂