how long did you book your photographer for?

Just curious....How long did your pics of just you two take? I'm only getting the photographer for 3 hrs (maybe 4) and wondering if an hour is enough time to give for pics of FI and I (we will probably do them before the ceremony) and then maybe the 45 min cocktail we could take a couple sunset and family and friend pics?? I know most people are having their photographer for longer...but FI really hates pics and isn't really into all those posed pictures and frankly neither am I. I don't have the patience...so I just want a few and then alot more of us in action being natural (i think is called candid?).

Pictures are very important to me especially for special occasions... I have a NIKON D80 digital camera and I use it almost everyday !!!! Picture freak!!!! I like to put the theme of day or week on a cd so I know I have acces to many, many many pictures when I need some. I must say that I love to take pictures of my kids, my 2 cats , my dog and my flowers...not to forget my 125 grade 10 + 11 students ! ! !

So on my wedding, I had to convince my FH to have a good photographer. It wasn't that hard since he knows I just love to look at pictures and I take so many of them For me, this is a long term investment

I will have Elizabeth Medina for 2 sessions (yes, it's alot of $$$ - but like I said before, pictures are very important to me and she takes amazing pictures )

I will have pictures taken before the wedding (me + me and my kids)

The ceremony

Group beach pictures

Me + futur husband on beach + resort

Toast time

The next day, pictures of TTD

I have so little pictures of me when I was a kid; that is probably the reason why I have a habit of taking pictures... lots of them !

The time with your photographer depends on what you want and need. If you are a big group, some family members might also take pictures of your wedding... but they will probably not be as nice as pictures taken by a professional

I hired our photographer for 3 hours.. But with that said I only had 6 guests and I'd say the majority of the time was spend with just DH and I because I wanted alot of pictures of just him an I. We met for an hour before the ceremony, then ceremony family pictures (about 30 minutes) and then the rest of just Cain and I again.

Update: I'm now flying a photographer to my wedding so I went from 2 1/2 hours of photography to as much as we need the day of the wedding & a few other photoshoots while we are there.

We hired ours for 3 hours, they went to see DH first, for about 30 minutes and then they came to my room and took a couple pics of me getting ready, I didn't really care about the getting ready shots and almost wished I had gotten ready before they came because I wouldn't have felt so rushed getting into my dress, etc...

After the ceremony we did group & family pics and then everyone went off to get a drink and go to cocktail hour, we went and did pics by ourselves.

In some ways I wish we did some pics before the ceremony because I feel like I would have felt less sweaty and hot!! And maybe less nervous too!

DH doesn't really see the point in paying so much for pictures and he fought me the whole way on it, so there was no way I was going to be able to get more than 3 hours, although it would have been nice.

Honestly, all I wanted to do was get back to our family and friends so after about 45 minutes of pictures of just us, I was ready to head back, it was hot and I think we were both just ready to relax!

Leigh was with me all day, but I think our group pictures, after the ceremony, took maybe 30-45 minutes. the rest of the time she spent just capturing the entire evening!

The pics of just us two took about 1 hour. It should have been abut 30 minutes but I dragged my photographer to places a little far off that I had scouted earlier.

How long did you book your photographer for and what was your picture schedule for the whole day?

I didn't factor in 30-45 mins total of travel time (between the resort to the church, and the church back to the resort) when I made my initial deposit so now I'm thinking I should add a few more hours. I originally thought 4 hours would be enough. Did your photographer charge you for travel time, or only the time they were shooting?

Tell me if this sounds ok:

1 hour getting ready photos

15-20 mins travel to church

1 hour ceremony

30 mins photos outside the church w/family

15-20 mins travel back to resort for reception

45 mins to 1 hour of photos of us alone

2-3 hours for reception

total of probably about 7 hours... that seems like a lot

i'm having 8 hours but may use 1-2hours at our rehearsal dinner instead. i think 6-7hours is plenty.