HOW LONG SHOULD you spend having your wedding photos taken?You can be faced with a bit of a dilemma when it comes to wedding photography. On one hand this is a supremely important day and you and your spangly new spouse will, let's face it, probably never look so good again. So it really makes sense to invest some time in getting lots of photos taken to document the happy event. On the other hand this is the one time in your life when everybody who means something to you will be gathered together. All those apparently separate elements of your life come together in a possibly surreal but definitely lovely way - so the other way of looking at it is, with all your family and friends desperate to congratulate and compliment you, who wants to waste a couple of hours away from all the fun while somebody tells you how to stand and where to look?
Time well spent
The amount of time you decide to allot to photography is definitely a balance you should try to figure out before the day. For one thing, it will influence your choice of photographer. If you have friends and family coming from all over the world that you haven't seen in years, maybe you'd prefer a reportage photographer who will capture your time with them rather than spending a lot of time at an picturesque location that's a half-hour drive away. Classic photography takes more time, but that's not necessarily a negative. If photography is particularly important to you, it's logical to spend a fair chunk of your day trying to achieve the results you're after. Many couples now spend the entire weekend with their guests rather than one day, so two or three hours away from people isn't such a sacrifice. And many venues are so stunning that there is no need to whisk the couple away somewhere else for a photo shoot. Indeed, many shoots take place while the guests are enjoying a drinks reception round about you, so you don't feel that you're actually leaving people at all.
Realistic timescales
Most importantly, make sure the percentage of the day you spend on photography is time well spent. There is no point going through every single possible combination of family members in group shots just because you feel you ought to. Think realistically about whether they'll actually end up in your album or not, and whether anyone's likely to buy them afterwards. If not, forget it. However much time you decide to spend on photos, talk to your photographer about your proposed timescales. He or she will advise you on whether your plans are realistic for the kind of shots you're looking for, and as they've been to so many weddings before, they usually have a wealth of knowledge on the subject. Usually they're only too pleased to share any useful tips they've picked up over the years.
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