How Much Photography Coverage Should I Book for My Wedding Day?

I read an excellent blog post by Pittsburgh wedding blog extraordinaire, Burgh Brides, titled “One Very Important Thing to Consider When Hiring a Wedding Photographer” not too long ago. As a wedding photographer myself, I was immediately curious as to what one thing could refer to. How could there be just one important thing to consider when hiring a wedding photographer?

What I love so much about this article is that in it, Victoria (Burgh Brides creator) talks about how important it is to know how much coverage you’re going to need on your wedding day, and therefore, how many hours you’ll need to book with your photographer, based on your preliminary timeline. It might seem like a far stretch to try and think through your timeline a year to two years before your wedding day actually happens, but having a general idea of when things will be happening will help you make a more educated decision when it comes to the number of hours you’ll actually need! Or, as Victoria puts it:

“When you’re just starting to plan your wedding, a certain number of hours of coverage may seem like enough. Later down the road though, when times are more finalized, you may quickly realize that the package you booked won’t allow for photos of some moments, like your hair and makeup being done or the last dance of the night.”

Thinking about the important points of the day ahead of time - the beginning of the day, the ceremony, and the end of the night - is so important! Below are a few questions I put together to help couples who might be unsure of how much coverage to book get the ball rolling on figuring out a preliminary timeline:

• When will the ceremony take place, and how long will it be? This will be the starting point for figuring out how many hours of coverage before and after the ceremony you’ll need! You might need additional coverage if you’re having a longer ceremony (like a full Catholic mass) opposed to a quick 15 minute outdoor ceremony.

• Do we want to have a “send off” at the end of the reception, and do we want it photographed?

• Will we have a first look? You’ll need more time before the ceremony if you do!

• …or will we opt to have our photos taken during cocktail hour? Make sure you leave enough time for photos during your cocktail hour if you opt to go this route!

• Will we be traveling a lot on the wedding day? More time in the car = less time photo taking time, which means you might have to book additional coverage! For example, if you book 8 hours of coverage with your photographer, but the ride from your getting ready location to the ceremony is 30 minutes, then the ride from your ceremony to your reception is another 30 minutes, that’s a whole hour that your photographer will be driving and not taking photos. So you actually only have 7 hours of coverage, not 8, and might want to consider booking another hour (or two!).

• What is most important to us when it comes to our wedding photos? Maybe it’s portraits of the two of you. Maybe it’s you and your girls getting ready. Maybe it’s your grandma dancing at your reception! Or maybe you really want to make sure you have epic detail photos of your dress, invitation suite, and rings. Know what’s important to you, and then ask your photographer how much time they think they’ll need to capture those important parts of your day! Here’s a sample timeline I made for my couples to help them figure out how much time to allot for each part of their day!

With all of that in mind, check out one of the best timeline graphics I have ever seen (thank you SRW Joyce)! This graphic lays out the typical events of the wedding day, along with an estimate to the left of the events of how much coverage you’ll typically need to capture those consecutive parts of the day.

Graphic representation thanks to SRW Joyce

And if you’re looking for an estimate of what the majority of couples choose for their coverage, based on the weddings I’ve photographed, most couples choose packages with 8 to 10 hours of consecutive coverage. Most couples who choose 8 hours are not traveling between different locations on their wedding day. Couples who are traveling between different locations (getting ready to ceremony, or ceremony to reception, or ceremony to a photo location, or all of the above) almost always end up booking at least 9 to 10 hours of coverage!

If you’re a bride who’s unsure of how many hours of coverage you should book, or a bride thinks she might need a few extra hours of coverage, I’d be happy to help! Feel free to reach out to me directly at jhidingerphotography@gmail.com (or via the contact tab in the top navigation) for a second opinion!

A huge thanks to Victoria from Burgh Brides for writing such an epic article! 💛 If you’re a bride in the Pittsburgh area looking for wedding inspiration, I highly recommend checking out the Burgh Brides blog!

And until next time - happy planning!

3 Ways to Get the Most out of Your Wedding Photography Investment

The definition of “investment,” according to Google, is a “thing that is worth buying because it may be profitable or useful in the future,” as well as “an act of devoting time, effort, or energy to a particular undertaking with the expectation of a worthwhile result.”

If there’s one thing in relation to your wedding day that you’ll spend money on that could be seen as an investment, per the definition above, I think wedding photography would be it! Wedding photos are one of the few things you’ll have left from your wedding day that will allow you to re-experience everything that happened on your wedding day - the emotions, the joy, the tears, and even the decor and details that you put so much thought and love into! And most importantly, your photos will let you experience the beginning of a new adventure with your now-spouse!

As a wedding photographer, if you’re one of my brides (or considering becoming one of my brides! 😉) one of the most important things to me is that you get the most out of your investment. But how, exactly, can you maximize your investment? I’m all about practical steps, so below, I’m sharing three practical ways to maximize your wedding photography investment and get the most ‘bang for your buck’ (one of my mom’s favorite sayings!) when it comes to your wedding photos!

1.     Have all of your wedding events in the same location… or at least within close proximity.

Having all of your wedding events in the same central location has some major benefits! Going from location to location takes time, which will eat into your wedding day photography coverage. For example, many brides book between 8 to 10 hours of “continuous” wedding day coverage, meaning that if your coverage begins at 12PM, it will end at 8PM, regardless of what events happen during that timeframe, whether ther e are events for your photographer to take photos of or not. If you book 8 hours of wedding day coverage, but are driving between different locations (getting ready location, ceremony location, photo location, and reception), and all are about 20 minutes from each other, that’s 60 minutes of wedding day coverage you’re paying for that your photographer is not taking photos during! However, if you book 8 hours of coverage and do not have to travel between locations, you’ll actually get the full worth of your 8 hour coverage investment!

2.     Ask your photographer how much time to leave for photos… then plan for that amount of time!

A full time wedding photographer will typically photograph anywhere from 20 to 40 weddings each year, dealing with and planning the logistics of each of those weddings. If you’re planning a wedding, you’re more than likely pretty brand-spanking-new to this, and you’ve probably never had to think about things like how long you should leave for things like family photos, bridal party portraits, and/or photos of you with your new spouse on your wedding day! Lucky for you, your photographer has ample amounts of experience in this area – so be sure to ask for their help when planning your timeline! As photographers, we want you to ask for our help, because we want to make sure we have enough time to take the dreamy wedding photos you’ve always wanted!

3.     Sneak out during your reception for some sunset photos or epic night shots!

Once the reception gets going, it can be fun to leave the party for a few minutes to get just a few more photos of you with your new spouse! I usually consider this not only “bonus” portrait time, but time for my couples to have a few minutes to themselves. And I’ve never had a couple tell me that they regretted leaving their reception for a few additional photos, whether it be an epic night photo or a few “golden hour” (or sunset) portraits! Many of these photos end up being my favorites (and my couples favorites!) from the entire day.

All of the photos in the slideshow below were taken during “bonus” portrait time!

Happy planning, friends!

Jenna

One GIANT Tip for Spending More Time with Loved Ones on Your Wedding Day

You might’ve read the title of this post and been a little confused (especially if you haven’t experienced a wedding day as a bride or groom first hand): isn’t it a given that you’ll spend the whole wedding day with your friends and family?

Well… yes and no.

Of course, you’ll be spending your wedding day with your family and friends in the same vicinity as you, but that doesn’t mean you’ll be actually spending time with them. And to be honest, sometimes wedding photography takes up a significant portion of a wedding day. And it’s challenging, because as a wedding photographer, I want to get the BEST images possible for my couples – and of course, getting the BEST images possible takes a little bit of time, between bridal party photos, family photos, and photos of the happy couple.

But what if I told you there was one magic way to spend more time with your family and friends on your big day? ONE thing that you can add into your day that will give you that time that you so desperately want?

That “thing” is a first look.

WAIT. Don’t go. Don’t click out of this post yet! A first look can evoke a lot of different emotions in a lot of different people. But before I go into why a first look might be the best thing you could do on your wedding day, let me explain what a first look is:

A first look is where the bride and groom have a private moment together before the ceremony. Yes, you read that correctly. The bride and groom will see each other before the ceremony even starts, but the beautiful thing is – they will get to have that moment together. They can talk together, laugh together, hug each other, kiss, and cry with just the two of them present.

I understand that a first look isn’t for everyone. Heck, my husband and I didn’t even do a first look at our wedding! But a few weekends ago, Nick and I photographed another wedding with a first look, and on our way home, he looked at me and said “I kind of wish we would’ve done a first look. Those two got to spend so much more time with their family and friends and shared in that moment together. I wish I would’ve been able to tell you how beautiful you looked and hugged you when you came down the aisle!”

Bingo! Though Nick and I decided to opt out of a first look for our wedding, looking back on our day – we realized that it might’ve actually been a better decision for us. We took our wedding photos right after our ceremony during cocktail hour (which is a normal time for photos!), so we didn’t get to spend that time with family and friends who had traveled so far to celebrate with us.

BUT – if we had done a first look before our ceremony, before all of the guests had arrived – we could’ve been a part of cocktail hour and would’ve had much more time to talk to our loved ones.

So the moral of the story is: if you want to spend more time with your guests, a first look might be the best option for you. We’ve heard time and time again how much more relaxed and at ease our couples have felt after having a first look on their wedding day, which is the most important thing.

Have a question about a first look? Feel free to email me at jhidingerphotography@gmail.com with any questions!