Considering the many Wedding Photography Packages offered by photographers, choosing between ONE or TWO photographers to cover your wedding day may be a difficult decision.
To help you make the right decision for your needs I created this blog post to discuss some of the advantages and disadvantages of having one vs. two photographers for your wedding day.
Two quality photographers can capture your wedding from two unique perspectives. Important moments can also benefit from being shot from two different angles and perspectives.
Two photographs tend to supply a little more images of your wedding day coverage than one photographer. Finally, having two photographers at your wedding does not double your entire cost of the package but simply adds some cost to cover the second photographer’s time and the extra development work required for the additional images.
Although many wedding photographers believe that you always need two photographers I believe that in certain circumstances one photographer can be all you need to cover your wedding.
When Should You Ask To Book Just One Photographer?
SHORTER WEDDING TIME OF 9 HOURS OR LESS.
One photographer makes sense if your wedding coverage time is 9 or less hours.
Why? Pretty simple. Being just one photographer at a wedding takes a real physical and emotional commitment. To start, a single photographer feels responsible for all the images and often takes fewer breaks. They shoot all the time. Viewing the world continuously through a small viewfinder while keeping in mind their physical whereabouts, image composition, camera functionality and most importantly that one emotion or moment to capture at just the right time is simply hard work on your mind when done for an extended amount of time with little or no breaks.
Under 9 hours or so this mental and physical exercise is doable by one photographer, however, for weddings over 9 hours, I suggest using two photographers to relieve the stress and keep your photographers fresh and engaged to deliver the very best possible images.
LESS GUESTS AT YOUR WEDDING.
If you have less than about 120 people at your wedding, one photographer may be all that you need. Simply put, with fewer people at your wedding there are usually fewer things to cover and one photographer will likely be all that you need, especially if your wedding coverage is under 9 hours as per the above point.
When Are Two Photographers Needed?
Now that I discussed when one photographer is suggested, I take a look at the types of weddings at which booking two photographers makes the most sense.
COVERAGE TIME AND THE NUMBER OF WEDDING GUESTS.
Given the above points, it makes sense to have two photographers at your wedding when your wedding requires over 9 hours of coverage or if you have more than 120 guests. These larger more complex weddings will certainly benefit from coverage by two photographers.
WEDDINGS WITH REMOTE SHOOTING LOCATIONS.
If your Getting Ready sessions happen far apart and far away from the ceremony location, you will likely need two photographers to simply cover the wedding at the remote geographical locations. In this case, two photographers will of course be needed.
Two photographers can start shooting at the same time at two very different locations making the overall coverage time more efficient. If you have just one Photographer and two getting ready locations which are far apart, the one photographer will need to start earlier to cover each getting ready session and travel between the remote locations and finally the ceremony venue.
DIVERSE MULTICULTURAL WEDDINGS.
Since multicultural weddings often include many traditions which happen quickly over the day, my suggestion is to use two photographers for such weddings to make sure you capture these unique elements of your big day.
Multicultural weddings often have more than one primary focus at any given time. For example during the traditional Hindu Wedding Baraat ceremony, which includes a procession of the Groom and Groom’s family to see the Bride’s family, the focus is often on the Groom, who usually arrives in some unique way. In the below case, on a ceremonial horse!
At the same time, the secondary, and very important focus is on the Groom’s parents and family who are dancing to the beat of a traditional Dhol drum at the front of the Baraat.
The final choice between booking one or two photographers is of course up to you, your fiancé and your photographer. I hope that the above information can better help you decide if you need just One or Two Photographers. Ultimately this is your personal decision as unique as you and your wedding day.
Of course, if you need any further help with this decision or any other wedding photography decisions I’m always happy to help.
Monika
