When researching your wedding photographer, one of the most important factors to consider is how long they might take to get your photos back to you. While every photographer is going to have their own way of doing things and their own timeline, you can still have a conversation with them to gauge how long it may take to get your photos done. Often, the timeline of getting your wedding photos back depends on the complexity of your order, the photographer’s process, and the time of year it is. If it’s peak wedding season, you will likely be one of many couples waiting on photos from a wedding photographer.
Why It May Take a Bit to Get Your Wedding Photos Back
While it may not seem like it, the wedding photography process is often more complicated than photographers let on. Here are a few reasons why wedding photos take a while to get back to the newlyweds.
1. Curating Raw Images
Photographers are likely snapping pictures at all times throughout the entire wedding day and other related celebrations, meaning that they have hundreds if not thousands of photos to go through. Before beginning the editing process, a photographer has to weed through the thousands of photos taken and find those stand-out shots that will make their clients happy and preserve those memorable moments. This process can take a while because the photographer has to select the best quality photos and the photos that capture the story of the wedding and the couple.
2. Editing Photos
Once the photographer has gone through each and every image making sure they’re selecting the best of the best, the editing process begins. However, this process isn’t any quicker. Editing requires a lot of patience, technique, and time. Furthermore, if couples want a specific editing style or have a specific request for editing, this can add to the time it takes to edit the photos. One photo can take anywhere from 10 minutes to hours, depending on what needs to be done.
3. Curating Edited Photos
After the editing process, the photographer has to go back to step one and make sure the edited photos are coherent and work together to create one clear story that perfectly represents the couple.
4. Preparing the Book/Final Photos
This process requires the photographer to be in constant communication with their clients. Before sending them the final product, they get sent samples, and clients can select the photos they like or provide feedback. This process can also take a while if there is a lot of back and forth.
5. Print and Packaging
The final step is printing and packaging the photos for the newlyweds. However, the photographer may not have control over how quickly the photos are printed or the wedding book is made if they have a third party in charge of that aspect of the process. During peak wedding season, that third party may also have multiple clients who are waiting on their photos.
Find Your Dream Wedding Destination at Windows on the Water
Windows on the Water is a lakeside outdoor wedding venue with 86-acres of beautiful natural landscape. We have passionate and dedicated wedding planners ready to help you plan the wedding of your dreams. They can guide you through every step of the process, showing you our various catering offers and helping you select the best for your wedding. We know that wedding planning can be stressful, but we are here to help ensure you can enjoy wedding planning and help relieve that stress by partnering you with our experienced wedding planners.
Begin your wedding planning today and contact us at (609) 208-9475 or fill out our contact form.