Every wedding photographer is different but there are many similarities in what wedding photographers include in their services.
Wedding photography in general includes: a set number of hours, images, and number of photographers for your wedding day. Past those basic three items each wedding photographer will offer a wide variety of wedding photography services to add to your wedding experience.
First let’s talk time: Many wedding photographers will offer a variety of hours for your wedding day. From as few as 2 hours to as many as 12 hours of photographic coverage. Over the years we have offered many different time packages and are now happy with our current offering of 10 hour lead photographer with an 8 hour 2nd photographer. When considering time for your wedding day photos please understand, YES you can book a photographer for 8 hours but you are short changing your wedding day photo experience here or are going to try and cram all the photos into this package causing both stress for yourself and your photographer. While you might not think there is a big difference between 8 and 10 hours, there is. An 8 hour package could be from noon to 8pm, but then about an hour of that time is dinner at your reception so money wasted here, then if things get delayed during toasts some photographers will of course charge yo an hourly rate to stay later (of course some may be nice and stay for free to make sure they get your formal events and some general dancing photos but should they give you a Free hour when you didn’t book the right package?) With a 10 hour package, when you organize the timeline with your photographer they will be in-partnership with you organizing the day helping you decided 12-10pm, 11-9pm, or 10-8pm. This is based on what time your ceremony is, if your doing a first look, where your dressing is compared to the ceremony venue, what time your grand entrance will be and how the reception is organized for formal events.
With our package, we can adjust the lead and 2nd photographer to create more coverage for the wedding day to fit your wants and needs.
Next to consider: is an engagement photo session included and how many hours, outfits, and locations does the engagement session include. Today many couples like visiting a couple favorite locations, with at least 2 but not more than 3 outfit changes. This takes travel time and dressing time for the engagement shoot. Both you and your photographer should have a clear understanding of what the engagement session will include, what you will receive, and when you will receive it. Engagement photos are great table center pieces for the reception, of course as Save the Date postcards, and as an album and prints for your home.
We include an engagement session with our wedding photography package, we do not have a formal set number of hours, we discuss this with you at booking. We believe the engagement session is a great way for us to get to know each other and have some fun. In general 2 hours and 2 locations is normal for our engagement sessions but we don’t mind doing a little more or less depending on your ideas.
Deliverables: What all are you getting from your photographer after the wedding? Albums, printing rights, flash drives, prints, and more are all options. Please understand yes, this is a business and of course when delivering printed material we are attempting to profit from these services. The printing companies we use in the industry should and normally will offer archival printing meaning this is higher quality longer lasting prints and materials than you will find from companies like Shutterfly in general. With this quality there is a high quality price for us and you. If a photographer offers printing rights they (we offer them) are giving away an opportunity to earn more money allowing you to go to someone else to print photos. Please always consider at least asking about prints from your photographer even if you are on a tight budget and see what they can do for you.
We offer a full range of printing services from metal and canvas prints to albums of your wedding day. We would love to talk with you about options and pricing and how we can help you get the best hard copies of your wedding photos within your budget. We no longer offer albums in our package because the current market fluctuations have made this difficult to anticipate price changes 6 months or a year out from a booking. Supply chain issues have affect our printers.
Does you photographer meet with you and work out the timeline details with you for your wedding day? In many respects your photographer is like a prepaid wedding planner. We can help in more ways than just taking photos, use us as the experts we are in weddings. If you book a photographer that doesn’t help you organize your wedding day timeline, they are not doing your wedding the justice you deserve. We know how long to allow for family photos, what time you should be in the dress before the 1st look, when to make sure you have eaten before the fast paced day really gets going. How long to allow at the reception for toast and spacing for sunset photos and golden hour shots.
These are just a few of the things a professional wedding photographer will and should include in their wedding photography for you.
