Wedding Photography: What's a fair price to charge?

[bethany138]

I created a site dedicated completely to setting your photography price list. After 6 years in business I still couldn't set prices that I was absolutely confident in. I found something that helped me and I created that site to share it with others. Hope it helps!

==> Click HERE to see exactly what helped me <==

 

[Rebekah5280]

When I got married, my mother in law had told my husband that she would pay for photography as a wedding present to us. We were delighted, because we were young and had no money! A few weeks before the wedding, mother-in-law flaked and left us without a photographer and no money to pay for one!

The wedding went on, and we counted on our family members to capture pictures for us.

The result = ok pictures.

There are a lot of people out there who have very little/no money to hire wedding photographers. If you are wanting to get into weddings, perhaps advertise yourself in that way - that you are new/havn't done wedding photography before, but are willing to do it for a low cost to get the experience. Perhaps even - only charge if the bride and groom are happy with the pictures. Or charge per picture that the bride and groom pick out of all the pictures you took?

IDK, but I agree, you gotta start somewhere.

Good luck!

 

[brookeborton]

Everyone is priced according to their own expenses and salary needs, if they're doing it right. If you price yourself based on others' prices, you have no idea whether or not your own needs will be met. Everyone has different overhead, different investments, different salary desires... it's best to tally up your total annual expenses (from equipment to magazine subscriptions to insurance to studio rent) plus personal salary requirement, then figure out the lowest price you can charge at the minimum amount of jobs you can do per year to meet that number.

 

[jgracejohns]

a photo is a photo...it can be changed now, cavemen. Its called photoshop and picnik! i am a beginner but can turn an ok photo to look professional. For my wedding in June im having a friend take the pics and im editing them myself! thats the way to go especially when you're the picky type! and the photos arent just what makes a wedding memorable...the long everlasting marriage is what keeps that memory young, the photos are just sticky notes!

 

[MTVision]

a photo is a photo...it can be changed now, cavemen. Its called photoshop and picnik! i am a beginner but can turn an ok photo to look professional. For my wedding in June im having a friend take the pics and im editing them myself! thats the way to go especially when you're the picky type! and the photos arent just what makes a wedding memorable...the long everlasting marriage is what keeps that memory young, the photos are just sticky notes!

Photoshop and picnik shouldn't even be in the same sentence. Hope your friend knows how to take photos because editing can't fix everything. And I don't know about being able to take an OK photo an making it look professional - especially as a beginner.

 

[IndigoStarsNiagara]

I had a very nice couple let me do their wedding knowing I had never shot a wedding. I hadn't even second shot a wedding. Their faith in me made me feel confident and their pictures were amazing. They wrote a beautiful testimonial and I have never looked back.
Research the photographers and pricing in your area and research the hell outta wedding photos and posing. That helped me out a lot with my first wedding. I have gone from $50 an hour to $100 an hour. That's just general. I have it broken down differently than per hour but it's easier to write down that way.
Good luck!! It's a hard profession to break into but with dedication and talent, it can be done.

 

[BlairWright]

ten foot pole --> this subject

 

[MLeeK]

And why have we resurrected a thread that is a year old to add some incredibly ignorant statements to it?
You run with that grace. We'll watch that train wreck.

 

[thereyougo!]

a photo is a photo...it can be changed now, cavemen. Its called photoshop and picnik! i am a beginner but can turn an ok photo to look professional. For my wedding in June im having a friend take the pics and im editing them myself! thats the way to go especially when you're the picky type! and the photos arent just what makes a wedding memorable...the long everlasting marriage is what keeps that memory young, the photos are just sticky notes!

That is one of the biggest load of nonsense that I have read on here and that's saying something. Can photoshop or picnik create the atmosphere of a well captured well exposed shot? Not by itself. A photo isn't just a photo. It's capturing a moment in time and this is why it's even more crucial in wedding photography. Good luck with your wedding photos. I fear you'll need it!

To the OP, being a wedding photographer is about so much more than taking photos. You're an organiser, comedian, babysitter, motivator and photographer all rolled into one. It's not for the feint hearted. I wouldn't do it. I take photos at friends and relatives weddings but am not THE photographer. I of course make ones I like available to the couple and give them as a gift.

 

[IndigoStarsNiagara]

That is one of the biggest load of nonsense that I have read on here and that's saying something. Can photoshop or picnik create the atmosphere of a well captured well exposed shot? Not by itself. A photo isn't just a photo. It's capturing a moment in time and this is why it's even more crucial in wedding photography. Good luck with your wedding photos. I fear you'll need it!



I totally agree with you on this, you are not just a photographer. I am proud to say that I don't do much on Photoshop so when I take a picture to capture the moment, that's what I do. Sometimes I will have to tweak a level here and there and remove a zit, but that's it. I learned on film, so getting it right on the first shot is what I strive for. Good luck!

 

[IndigoStarsNiagara]

Sorry Thereyougo! I didn't make your part of the post in blue.

 

[12sndsgood]

a photo is a photo...it can be changed now, cavemen. Its called photoshop and picnik! i am a beginner but can turn an ok photo to look professional. For my wedding in June im having a friend take the pics and im editing them myself! thats the way to go especially when you're the picky type! and the photos arent just what makes a wedding memorable...the long everlasting marriage is what keeps that memory young, the photos are just sticky notes!

how do you fix blurry? how do you fix half a person out of the frame. if you start with crap your liable to end up with crap.

 

[2WheelPhoto]

If you have to ask what you should charge then perhaps employ the non-professional, non-experienced, non-licensed, non-insured fee.

(free)

 

[jake337]

Nothing wrong with planning ahead.

If I were hiring a wedding photographer, I would demand at least 15 years of experience....

^Wow, that's a loooong time. I hope it doesn't necessary take that long to produce good results!

Maybe not that long to produce good results.

But to be able to produce continuously great results at any time, at any place, in every/any demanding situation that pushes the limits of your skills and knowledge of photography, art and business sense.

 

[jake337]

a photo is a photo...it can be changed now, cavemen. Its called photoshop and picnik! i am a beginner but can turn an ok photo to look professional. For my wedding in June im having a friend take the pics and im editing them myself! thats the way to go especially when you're the picky type! and the photos arent just what makes a wedding memorable...the long everlasting marriage is what keeps that memory young, the photos are just sticky notes!

I'm sure you can make crap, look like crap, with more crap smoothed over the top very well.