HOW LATE IS YOUR PHOTOGRAPHER STAYING?

Some wedding photographers always stay until the end of your reception; their contract includes total coverage of your wedding celebration.


But many photographers stay only for a predetermined number of hours, depending on how many hours you've contracted for. That may mean they're scheduled to leave before your reception is scheduled to end. Sometimes, even before special moment such as the cake-cutting or bouquet toss take place.


Now, if you're aware of that and okay with that, so be it.


But sometimes what happens is that very early in the planning process, the wedding couple contract for X number of hours with their photographer, and much later in the planning process, when they finalize the reception schedule, they neglect to check whether the photographer's hours cover all the events they've scheduled.

It's easy to get mixed up about this, because your photographer's hours typically start BEFORE the event does, with pre-ceremony photos, and because you probably signed your deal with the photographer long before you worked out the timing of moments like your cake-cutting, bouquet toss, last dance, and so on.


My advice? Unless your budget forbids it, hire your photographer for the duration of the event. That avoids situations where someone has to choose between not having professional shots of some memorable moments or reshuffling the schedule on the fly to accommodate the photographer's departure time.

Another option is to schedule ALL the special moments early in the reception so as to take place within the photographer's slated time. But that to me seems like the tail wagging the dog.


Besides, at plenty of receptions all sorts of spontaneously fun -- and very photogenic -- things occur as the evening progresses. If your entertainment is going strong, you might miss having some great candid shots of your guests tearing it up on the dance floor if your photographer leaves before the end.