Wedding photo shoot

The first question that arises when ordering a photographer for a wedding is how much time is needed for a wedding photo shoot, how to correctly calculate the duration of shooting, and what can be saved.
If you start counting how many hours will pass from the moment of preparation to the end of the banquet, and then multiply this time by the average cost of the services of a professional wedding photographer

, you get a pretty decent amount. Indeed, on the one hand, I want to capture the whole holiday, and on the other, everything starts to rest on the wedding budget, which often already bursts at the seams.
Let's try to figure this out. I must say right away that the option to go along the path of choosing a novice lover or looking for a friend with a DSLR will not be considered, because photographs are the only thing that will remain with you for many years and I will not advise anyone on saving memory.

The whole wedding day can be divided into several stages

• morning of the bride:
• meeting with the groom (with or without a ransom);
• registration;
• walk;
• banquet.

The sequence of these steps depends on the organization

of your day and can be different, including a walk can be divided into several stages. Which of these steps to shoot in the photo, which to video, and which not to shoot at all - you decide. I will try to bring my personal vision of this issue.

Morning of the bride

Is it worth it to arrange the shooting of the bride's fees

 ? My answer is yes! Sure! Many brides who did not order such a shooting very regret it later!
Morning shooting will give you the most touching and gentle shots. And the meeting of the bride and groom is an absolutely special moment. In addition, morning shooting will allow you to get the mood for the whole day and will give you the opportunity to control how your hair and makeup look in the photo before leaving the house and, if necessary, make the necessary adjustments. Filming usually begins 1 - 1.5 hours before the expected arrival of the groom or the moment you leave home if you are preparing in one place. During this photo shoot, all wedding accessories and rings are photographed, the final touches of makeup are fixed, the process of dressing the dress and the moment the bride and groom meet for the first time, and the psychological support of the professional can smooth out the possible nervousness of the bride and her morning environment and avoid the most common mistakes.

Buyout

Ransom is a very old wedding tradition and many brides (and to be more precise, mostly their girlfriends) cannot imagine a wedding without a ransom. Unfortunately, in most cases, entrances are chosen as the venue, the interior of which has no artistic value, and narrow spaces do not allow normal photography

. The duration of the buyback depends on the scenario and often the whole procedure is delayed by at least 45-60 minutes, and in some cases even more. If you still want to fix this process, then it is better to entrust this to the videographer, and continue to shoot the bride’s preparations in the photo during the process. And the best option may be to completely abandon the ransom, which will save time for a honeymoon.

registration

As a rule, if there are no unforeseen delays, then registration takes about 1 hour. You must arrive at the registry office or the Wedding Palace 30 minutes before the ceremony. At this time, documents

are drawn up for you and you are photographed in the interiors of the palace or registry office, after which the solemn registration ceremony itself begins, which usually lasts about 15-20 minutes. The remaining time usually goes to organize guests after the ceremony. You will hardly succeed in saving at this stage of shooting.

stroll

A walk is the main part of the wedding photo shoot, and if you do not have a strict time frame associated with the time of registration and the start time of the banquet, then its duration depends entirely on your wishes and possibilities. If you have registration in the middle of the day or in the evening, then the walk can be carried out before registration or divided into two parts (before and after registration). In order for the wedding photo

Banquet

The average duration of the “managed” part of the banquet is 5 hours (this is the time during which most of the hosts work). Different presenters have different scenarios, but key points are repeated for almost everyone. After a meeting of young people, the banquet program begins with a 15-20-minute gastronomic pause so that guests and young people can eat after a walk. This time is also suitable to pause the shooting and feed the photographer and videographer, if they are with you all day. After a gastronomic pause, the official program begins with congratulations to the parents and at the end of the first hour of the banquet, the first dance of the young is held. Further, the program continues with contests, congratulations to guests and dance breaks. Toward the end of the official part, a ceremony is held to light the hearth and toss the bouquet and garter. The official part ends with the removal and cutting of the cake. As a rule, photography at a banquet is enough to limit the first hour and finish it with the first dance. If you increase the duration to 2 hours, then you can try to negotiate with the host and hold a ceremony of throwing a bouquet and garter at the end of the second hour. If it’s very important for you to fix a cake on the photo, then you can always agree with the restaurant staff to take it to a secluded place and conduct a photo shoot with a cake there. To shoot the entire banquet from beginning to end in the photo there is usually no special sense. then you can try to negotiate with the leader and hold a ceremony of throwing a bouquet and garter at the end of the second hour. If it’s very important

Output

What conclusion can be drawn from the foregoing? If your budget is limited, then in the minimum case it will be enough to limit yourself to filming registration (~ 1 hour) and a walk for 2-3 hours. Next, you can increase the duration of the wedding photo shoot by photographing the bride’s morning and increase the duration of the walk, and add time to the shooting of the banquet at the very end. During the calculations do not forget to add the time required for the road. If you want to invite a videographer in addition to photographing, keep in mind that the time allotted for shooting during a walk is better to increase by 1.5-2 times, because simultaneous work on photos and videos in most cases is simply impossible and you have to take photos and videos in turn. I hope
You can also search for answers to your questions in the article “Popular questions on wedding photography” or ask them in the comments.