How many hours of wedding photography do I need?
Eight hours covers the overwhelming majority of weddings, from the end of getting ready through to an hour or two of the reception. Six works for a shorter day with no first look and a reception you are happy to leave uncovered. Ten is for a day running across two venues or finishing very late.
Is six hours enough for a wedding?
For a compact day, yes. Ceremony, portraits, the start of the reception and the speeches fit comfortably. What six hours will not stretch to is both a full getting ready sequence at the start and dancing at the end.
Is eight hours enough for a wedding?
For most weddings in New Jersey, yes, and it is what the majority of couples book. It typically covers the last half hour of getting ready, the ceremony, the portraits, the reception entrance, the meal, the speeches and the first dance.
When should I book ten hours or more?
When the day runs across two venues, when there is a long gap between the ceremony and the reception, or when you want the last hour of dancing covered. Also when you genuinely want the morning from the beginning rather than the end of it.
What time should coverage start?
Usually about forty five minutes before you are finished getting ready, which catches the last of it and the dress or the suit going on without paying for two hours of hair.
What time should coverage finish?
Most couples stop after the first dance and a few songs. The photographs after that point are increasingly similar to each other, and it is the cheapest hour to cut if the budget is tight.
Do I need the getting ready covered?
It is the first thing to cut and the thing people most often regret cutting. If you only want part of it, the final half hour is where almost all the usable photographs are.
Do I need the reception covered to the end?
Rarely. An hour of dancing produces the photographs you will keep, and the fourth hour of it produces very similar ones in worse light.
Should I pay for the gap between the ceremony and the reception?
If the gap is under an hour, yes, because splitting coverage costs more than covering it. If it is three hours, ask about stopping and restarting, which some photographers allow and some do not.
What is a first look and does it save time?
Seeing each other privately before the ceremony. It does save time, because the couple portraits happen then rather than eating the cocktail hour, which is often what lets a wedding fit into six hours instead of eight.
How much does each extra hour cost?
Three hundred dollars an hour here, published, with any part of an hour counting as a full hour. A wedding day itself is thirty five hundred for up to eight hours.
Is it cheaper to book fewer hours and add more on the day?
No, and it is usually the most expensive way to do it. Booked hours are part of a day rate and added hours are charged on top, so guessing low and extending costs more than booking correctly.
What happens if the wedding runs over?
Additional hours are charged at the published rate and any part of an hour counts as a full one. Nobody walks out mid speech, but it is worth knowing the figure in advance rather than discovering it afterwards.
Should I book a second photographer instead of more hours?
They solve different problems. A second photographer covers two places at once. More hours cover a longer day. If your day runs long but in sequence, hours are the answer. I work alone, so if you need two people at once I will say so rather than take the booking.
How large is the gallery from a full wedding day?
Several hundred finished photographs from a full day, delivered as a complete set rather than a fixed count, because a wedding does not divide neatly into a number.
Does a longer booking mean more photographs?
More of the day, rather than more photographs per hour. Two extra hours of dancing adds dancing photographs, not a proportionally larger gallery.
How long does a wedding photographer take to deliver?
Five to seven business days here. Across the industry it is commonly four to twelve weeks, so it is worth asking the question before booking rather than wondering in March.
Can I book a wedding photographer for only two hours?
Yes. A short ceremony with no reception coverage starts at four hundred and fifty dollars for the first hour and three hundred for each after, so two hours is seven hundred and fifty.
Can I book only the ceremony?
Yes, and plenty of couples with a small wedding do exactly that. It is priced by the hour from the one hour minimum rather than as a wedding day.
Do I need a full day if we are having a small wedding?
Almost never. A twenty person ceremony and a lunch afterwards is two or three hours of real coverage, and paying for a full day would be paying for hours where nothing happens.
How many hours do most couples in New Jersey book?
Eight, by a wide margin, with six the next most common for smaller weddings and ten for anything spread across two venues.
How do I work out how many hours I need?
Write the day down as a list of times, from the hour you want photographs to start to the moment you would be happy for them to stop. The gap between those two numbers is your answer, and it is usually more honest than a package.
What is the most common mistake with wedding coverage hours?
Booking too few and extending on the day, which costs more and puts a decision in front of you at the worst possible moment.
Does the venue affect how many hours I need?
Considerably. One venue for everything is efficient. A church then a reception thirty minutes away adds travel time that has to be paid for even though nothing is being photographed.
Do I need coverage for the rehearsal dinner?
Most couples do not, though it is a lovely thing to have and it is cheap, since it is an hour or two rather than a day.
Should the hours be continuous?
They are here. The clock starts at the agreed arrival time and runs continuously including breaks, which is standard and worth confirming with anybody you book.
Can I decide the hours closer to the date?
To an extent. The day itself is booked at eight hours and you can add to it later, but reducing a booking close to the date is a different conversation and depends on the terms.
What should I check about timing before I book?
What time the clock starts, whether it runs through breaks, what an additional hour costs, and what happens if the day overruns. Four questions, and they prevent almost every argument about time.
Is travel time between venues included in the hours?
Usually yes, which is the part couples miss. Thirty minutes in a car is thirty minutes of a paid booking with no photographs at the end of it, so plan the day with that in mind.
Does the time of year change how many hours I need?
It changes when the hours should sit rather than how many. A December wedding loses the light by half past four, so coverage that starts late ends in the dark whatever the booking length.