Do I need a second photographer for my wedding?

A question I am often asked by my couples is “do I need a second photographer for my wedding?” Well the short answer is most likely no, probably not. In over 200 weddings I can count on one hand the amount of times I’ve needed to hire a second photographer. The most common reason people feel they need a second photographer is to cover morning prep in two different locations. Sounds reasonable, but in most cases I can still cover this on my own with a bit of forward planning.

What I would usually do in this case is one of two things. If it is a wedding with a bride and groom, I would arrange to go to the groom first, and spend maybe 20 minutes with him getting some shots of the guys doing their last minute prep, such as ties and cufflinks (and trying to figure out how the hell to fold a pocket square!) Then I would make my way to see the bride and spend the majority of the morning with her (bridal prep tends to be a bit more involved than groom prep!) Alternatively, I would arrange with the groom to meet me at the venue and get some shots of them putting on their ties/buttonholes.

Obviously there are some exceptions to this when having a second is unavoidable, for example if you are two brides or two grooms and you want full coverage of both of you getting ready (although again, this is only really necessary if you’re in entirely different locations – if you’re in the same place I can just bounce between the two of you).

If you are planning on getting ready at entirely different locations, but still want both preps covering, it’s worth considering changing this so you’re a bit closer together. If you don’t want to be in the same place you can probably get a hotel or hire a place for one of you to get ready for less than the cost of having a second photographer.

The other main reason for having a second photographer for your wedding is due to the size of the wedding in terms of the number of guests. If you’re having a larger wedding (150+ guests) I would probably recommend having a second photographer, simply because there will be a lot going on at once and I can only be in one place at a time. I don’t insist upon having a second photographer until guest numbers are 200+. To do a wedding this size justice you really need to have two photographers.

If you think you might need to have a second photographer at your wedding, the best thing to do is get in touch and we can figure it out. Should we decide that a second photographer would be best, you can rest assured it will be another experienced wedding photographer with a similar shooting style to my own, and the photos they take on the day will be edited by me in my own style to ensure you are delivered a consistent set of great images.