Question re: photography & dinner

Why do we need to give food to photographer? they can buy their own dinner from hotel or bring their own food because we already pay a lot of money almost 5000 dollars for him to work

I have a separate table for my photographer, DJ, and day of planner. They will be sitting together.

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Probably my family since one of them will be with us getting ready and such. That way she/they kinda know someone a bit who they're sitting with

View quoted message Who are you seating them with? Or will it be a separate table for like photographer/DJ?

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We're also doing a buffet dinner next summer if everything goes as planned, We're having a assigned seats for our 2 photographers and when that table gets called for dinner, then they'll be able to eat (we'll probably try and get that table selected to eat after the head table)

We are doing a buffet dinner how would you guys suggest to provide food for the photographer?

Vendors contract for a full day do have that meal provided by you as the couple. We had to make sure our vendors did get fed as well. They ate during the cocktail hour so that their work wasn't stopped during the reception time. The timing set for their dinner was 5:30pm and reception was 6:30pm.

Food wise, you can arrange main courses for them only if you don't want the full courses served. Request the coordinator to see what is usually the Vendors choices than what your having for dinner.

Typically in a photographers contract it will state if they are to be included in dinner or not. Majority of the time with a full day of photos they are included. Whether you’re having a buffet or a plated meal it’s best to have them within the first 5 tables that way they get to eat quickly and get back to taking photos!

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If your photographer is done before dinner, you can probably get away with not feeding them. If you're having a lunch break, you should include them though.

Yes, we're feeding our photo, his assistant and our DJ. The DJ will be working through the meal so doesn't need to be at a table. Our photographer doesn't care where he sits as he'll be up and down throughout the evening. We're seating him with our wedding party as they will understand the situation.


Keep in mind that many venues/caterers offer meals for your vendors at reduced rates! Ours is 50% of the regular cost, so it's not a big deal to add this to the overall cost.

I was wondering about this too actually. We only have ours contracted for 6 hours and his coverage ends just before dinner. We’ve been wondering if we feed him or not too? There’s so many nuances to learn sometimes!

Yes you should be feeding your photographer if he or she is with you for the whole day.

We have ours for 12 hours and it was in our contract that we provide her and our second photographer with dinner

I supplied a meal to our photographers and our DJ. I think that it’s pretty standard for photographers for couples to supply a meal to their photographers and any other vendors working at the wedding.


We included our photographers in our seating plan, we sat them with some family friends . You can always ask your photographer if they want a seat and if so, if that have any preference on where to sit.

I would definitely set aside a meal and a seat for your photographer. Ours actually has a clause in her contract about a meal if she works over 7 hours.

We are feeding our photographer, but it’s also in our contract to feed him!
We are placing him and our videographer at their own table to eat.

So feeding them is obvious. What's not obvious is whether they need to be at a table on the floor. I've seen many couples shuffle them off somewhere out of sight, usually another room, so they could save floor space in the reception for their own guests or so they don't have to set up a table and pay for decor while having it empty for the majority of the night.

I personally would keep them in the same room as the reception so they can see what's going on. Especially with the photographer, if something spontaneous happens, you want them to be able to capture it without having to run across the venue to get back into the room. Plus, it sucks to segregate and isolate people, even if they're not friends.

Yes, they will likely be expecting a meal. As will the DJ (if you have one), videographer (if you have one), etc.


We’re grouping these people together at one table and they’ll be able to eat.