You want to remember every special moment from your wedding, which is probably why you hired a wedding photographer. The days when photographers were limited by the costs of film are gone, which means that you can expect a significant number of photos.
How many photos should you get from your photographer when you get that long-awaited email with your photos? How many digital photos should you expect, and how many physical prints? Here is a guide to help you understand what to expect from your wedding photos.
How Many Photos Does The Photographer Take Throughout the Ceremony?
The exact number of wedding photos your photographer will take depends on the length of your ceremony, the number of photoshoots, and any add-ons, such as the reception dinner or a first-look photoshoot in the morning.
Usually, a photographer will shoot 2,000 to 3,000 raw photos during a full-day ceremony. However, you will not get all those photos as part of your package.
Thanks to modern digital photography and the impressive storage capabilities of an SD card, photographers can take thousands of photos in one evening. Your photographer will take multiple photos of the same moment, trying to capture the best angle and lighting.
Not all those photos will be gems. Some of them will be blurry, or someone important will be blinking mid-photo. Your photographer will discard most of the photos and only send you the best, edited photos. Don’t worry, you will still have plenty of photos!
How Many Photos Should You Get From Your Wedding?
On average, wedding photographers send 400 to 800 photos to their clients after a wedding. This is a big range, and the numbers will vary depending on a few factors.
The first is the length of the ceremony. If you hire your photographer to cover a short, one-hour ceremony, you will get fewer photos than if you hired someone to cover a full eight-hour day.
It can also depend on the skill of the photographer. An experienced, professional photographer will have more salvageable photos than an amateur, even if they both shoot for the same amount of time.
How Many Physical Photos Can You Expect?
Most wedding photographers will send you your photos in a digital form, not prints—developing hundreds of prints is a tough, expensive task.
Before the wedding, you can ask if physical prints are part of the package and discuss how many you want. Usually, photographers offer a few dozen prints, or an album’s worth.
Can You Control How Many Photos You Get?
You probably cannot control the exact number of photos that you get from your photographer because the quality of the photos depends on too many factors, and most photographers would rather send clients fewer photos than send inferior products. However, you can talk with your photographer before the ceremony and agree on a range for the number of photos that you are expecting.
During your consultation with your photographer, you can also discuss other details, such as the photography style, certain aspects of the ceremony you want captured, and how to maximize the number of good photos.
What to Expect From Your Wedding Photography Package
After your wedding, you should get several hundred photos from your wedding photographer. These photos are selected from the thousands of photos the photographer will take during the wedding, most of which are discarded except for the high-quality ones.
Before your wedding, you can specify the minimum number of photos that you want in your contract with the photographer. You can also talk about how many physical prints you want.
