How much time?

How much time do you tell your clients to set aside just for photos. You need bridge & groom seperately, bride and groom together, bridesmaids, groomsmen, family etc. I am doing my 2nd and 3rd weddings this summer and just had my client ask how much time to set aside, and I'm not really sure what to tell her. I was thinking about 2-2.5 hours. Her wedding is at 5pm, so I was thinking something like 2:30-4:30 be set aside for photos.

So, how much time do YOU set aside?

Thanks!

I would ideally like to get an hour with the couple alone and maybe another hour or a little less for group photos. That said, I rarely get 2 hours. It's more like 30-45 minutes for the couple and similar for the group.

Yesterday, the bride finished getting ready around 2pm. Ceremony was at 4pm. They wanted a first look, group photos, and couple session. I started to shoot around 2:20pm, and the bride wanted to go back to the bridal quite around 3:30pm. So I had 1 hour and 10minutes for ALL the photos.

How long is a piece of string?

How big are the bridal parties? How big are the families? How good are you at wrangling crowds and posing small and large groups? Will you have a family member (someone who knows which groups go together) to assist?

Most importantly, how much does the bride want?

I've shot one wedding. The bride said she "didn't want any of those cheesy posed photos" but I talked her into giving me ten minutes immediately after the ceremony. I had my lights ready, and I got about six keepers in those ten minutes. Got another one coming up in a couple of weeks; with help arranging the groups, I'm estimating that I'll average two minutes per shot.

2.5 hours seems like a reaaallyy long time of standing around taking posed family photos.

Ideally around an hour with the B&G + wedding party, an hour alone. Example wedding day plan - it's a little on the extreme side as it's based on my wedding

nicksan wrote in post #15853017
I would ideally like to get an hour with the couple alone and maybe another hour or a little less for group photos. That said, I rarely get 2 hours. It's more like 30-45 minutes for the couple and similar for the group.

Yesterday, the bride finished getting ready around 2pm. Ceremony was at 4pm. They wanted a first look, group photos, and couple session. I started to shoot around 2:20pm, and the bride wanted to go back to the bridal quite around 3:30pm. So I had 1 hour and 10minutes for ALL the photos.

This has always been my experience, too. Indeed, just this weekend, what had been planned for first look and ALL portraits including extended family boiled down to only ~30 minutes.

I have it in my contract that I must have a family member or one of the bridal party to help organize guests so I'm not wasting time trying to find people or wait for people. If they aren't there when I need them they don't go in the pics! Harsh but time is so precious on the day. Get a list of shots she wants before hand and organize them into a list that works for good timing. You don't want to call Auntie Betty for the first pics then find she's on a another load 30 mins down the line. Decide how much time you want then cut it half for how much time you'll get.

Thanks for all the input so far everybody. I scaled back my time a little and told her 1.5-2 for everything. Hopefully this will actually give me at least an hour to actually do it!!

ive had as short as 10 minutes to shoot everything to and hour or so. Most wedding never run smoothly so i try to plan ahead on what shots gotta get done first etc.

If I can get 45 minutes between ceremony and reception, I'm happy...

For the relatively few I've done, I always asked for an hour but ended up getting around half that. I feel that's a sign of things to come!