Are you looking for a wedding photographer? If so, of course, you want a photographer who is going to cover your whole wedding day, right? That just makes sense. If you shop around for wedding photographers, you will see those who offer “all day coverage” and many others who offer packages with varying numbers of hours with the option of adding more hours. The latter might sound to you like a scheme for up-selling. Why should you have to pay extra money to get your wedding photographers to cover a part of your wedding day? They are supposed to be wedding photographers! Not part-of-wedding photographers!!! (Wow, you are so funny. I like you.)
They Are All Different
Every wedding photographer is different. No. Seriously. Yeah, at a glance, I’m certain many of them look the same; at least, photographer websites often look alike. However, the personalities, photos, and methods for creating their art are all vastly different. And the coverage for every wedding is different because each bride & groom has a different idea of what they want for their wedding day. Finding the right photographer can be tough. You have to figure out what style of pictures you want from your wedding and then find a photographer (or photographers), whom you like enough to look at all day, who can provide those pictures. It sounds simple enough. And you want that photographer there all day because you don’t want to miss a moment! Hey, if you trip over them when you wake up that day, then that’s fine too! Right? Okay. Maybe that’s too far. But you want your special day documented from start to finish! E V E R Y M O M E N T!
Or do you?
I Want A Million Shots Of Me Getting Ready!
Believe it or not, not every bride wants pictures of herself without makeup or without her hair done. I know that’s hard to believe, right? You might be planning on having fun at the salon with the girls but it might not be something you require a professional photographer there to cover. It could be several hours of coverage that produces little results in terms of great images and it is less likely that everyone will look their best. If the hair or make-up runs over, it can actually just be a stressful situation with a photographer trying to stay out of the way. Ideally, the wedding day is a little bit of fantasy where everyone looks their absolute, stunning best. You can have the stunning fantasy without the photographer going to the salon, though. The best pictures are after the bridesmaids are ready and the bride is about to put on her dress and jewelry. Having the photographer cover the bridesmaids assisting putting on the dress, and then the bride spraying perfume, applying jewelry, and doing make-up touch ups, produces the most stunning images for your album (and this coincidentally happens in great lighting and somebody looks like a beautiful princess *hint* *hint*). If you have some cutesy bride attire you want in the photos, the photographer can get candid & posed shots of you with your family or friends before you put your dress on (but after you have your make-up and hair done! Win! Win!).
I Want Every Minute Of My Awesome Funky Reception Covered!
If you are having a special send-off of some kind, like a carriage or sparklers or a carriage with sparklers, you probably want your wedding photographers to stay until the end of the reception. If you don’t have a burning need for photos at the very end of the night, where you probably look less pristine and more partied-out, then you don’t require a professional photographer there to document when the venue kicks out your group of remaining party animals. Most receptions only require about two hours or so of coverage for the photographers to get past dinner and get great shots of the dances, toasts, cake-cutting, tosses, greeting & thanking guests, and a good portion of open dancing. You don’t need, or probably want, hours of open dance coverage because it produces dozens (or hundreds!) of pics that essentially look the same. You know, dozens of pics of Aunt Margaret dirty dancing with Uncle Ralph, and then your college roommate’s husband, and finally a bus boy who took a wrong turn. Okay. Bad example. You probably want those. But, if you aren’t related to Margaret, then after 30 or 45 minutes of open dancing, most of the coverage is just going to be redundant anyway. However, if you are having your photographers there for the send-off, you might as well have them cover the dancing… or join it!
The Price of All Day Wedding Coverage
What is the price of all day wedding coverage? For you, it varies from photographer to photographer, I guess. But the price for photographers is the same: it’s fatigue! If you want a photojournalist style photographer to cover your special moments, it is a lot more skill than just pushing a button when mom and grandpa look at each other. There is an art and science to observing human behavior to anticipate a great moment, and it requires skill with a camera to capture it well. Observing and creatively documenting for hours on end is very taxing; it takes alertness and skill to nail those decisive moments! We are all human (and so photographers are probably, too). Shooting for hours and hours has a real impact on alertness and ability, not to mention the body having to carry that gear all day. Even if a photographer only shoots primarily posed portraits, it is just as much work getting everything perfect and applying skill. When the photographer starts pushing 10 or 14 hours, you can be sure the quality of the images is going to suffer. If you had the photographer follow you around the salon for 4 hours that morning, you probably used up a lot of creative freshness there, before you even looked your best. Now that it is time for the important moments, even though your photographer is smiling and seemingly in the moment, unless he or she is actually an it, fatigue is growing and perhaps causing precious moments to be missed. Or, just as bad, perhaps the photographer is tired and isn’t as creative on the important shots! Oh, nooooooos!
It’s Appropriate To Compensate Someone For Their Skill & Experience
An experienced and talented wedding photographer is a skilled professional, whose time is worth more than the time of a photographer with far less experience or ability who may not even be in business next year. It isn’t uncommon for newer photographers to offer all day coverage, not understanding that a skilled professional should be adequately compensated for applying their skill and tremendous experience; although some veterans certainly offer all day coverage as well for whatever reason (it might already be included in their price, so you pay for it if you use it or not). Not every wedding photographer is a great photojournalist style photographer, either, so hanging around snapping pics of you with your friends for 14+ hours might not be a big deal to some of them, since they are just hanging around pushing the button. But experienced wedding photographers have learned the hard way that shooting for hours & hours on end does not produce the best results for the clients or necessarily cover parts of the day that clients really want. All day coverage is a decent sales tool for a photographer to say, “It’s your special day and I’ll be there to get every moment!” And it sounds great on paper, but in reality, it often amounts to a lot of shots that you don’t want or need, and the quality of the work is less likely to be as superb as it could have been, because people get tired, regardless of how great their photography might otherwise be. But whatever photographer you hire to shoot 10 or 16 hours isn’t going to tell you that.
Have Your Photographers Cover Whats Important To You However Long That Takes
So, what’s a betrothed couple to do? Well, no wedding photographer is likely to say, “I can’t work 12 or 14 hours. I’ll get sweaty!” If you need a photographer for 14 hours, then hire one for 14 hours. But, if you don’t need or want that much coverage, you should use your photographers more wisely, regardless if they offer all day coverage or they bill their coverage by the hour. An experienced wedding photographer will offer you a pre-wedding planning session where you can discuss your needs and wants. Most weddings require about 6 to 8 hours of professional photography coverage to cover the beauty, excitement, and special moments from getting ready until the end of requested coverage. Some do require more than that. But it is important for brides and grooms to to keep in mind that wedding photographers are human, as well as skilled professionals. You will probably be exhausted by the end of the night and you can bet that your photographers will be too! But, you deserve beautiful and creative pictures from such a momentous day, so hire the photographer or photographers whose style you love and have them capture the images that are truly important to you!
Just remember to feed and water them and let them out after they eat. Wait. That’s not right. That’s dogs, not photographers. Don’t use your photographers like a dog! Use them like… really, cool artist people with a love of fancy cheese and whatnot. I love fancy cheese and whatnot! I mean, I think I do. It sounds fancy. And whatnot.
