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- Dec 11, 2006
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- www.lewlortonphoto.com
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$500... Wow and I thought his $600 was low. Remember these are the kind of prices you will have to compete against later in your career as a wedding photographer. Sometimes this kind of a situation shows why people should start working for someone else for a while so they can let someone else wory abut pricing over or under and let you worry about hoing your skills.Interesting thread. I just got done with my first wedding, see the post in this thread, and it certainly was an adventure.
I took pictures from 5pm - 11 pm, with a few 5 minute breaks for eating/drinking/etc... I took a total of 1300 pictures, give or take 75.
Sunday my family went to Busch Gardens Tampa, and I stayed home and edited the first 800 pictures over the course of 4/5 hours, preparing them for the Bride and Groom's usage. I will finish the rest sometime this week, and will provide to them around 200 - 250 pictures ready for printing on CD(s).
I also bought them a Bridal Frame, a card, and wrapped it all with a certificate for one free 8x10 from me, so they get at least 1 8x10 and I might even consider giving them 20 4x6's.... because the cost is so low for me (.19 cents each).
When they get the CD they will also recieve a certificate of permission from me that states they can copy/duplicate the photographs for their own private usage... so they can make copies, blow them up, etc etc, but they cannot sell prints or blow one up for a marketing campaign without my permission.
I charged a total of $500.00
OK - so it was low... but I am of the mind like several people here that many many couples would NEVER had a photographer if they have to pay more than $1000... Also I don't like the arrogance of the idea of me retaining pictures of their special day and charging through the nose for prints of them 3 years from now when they want to redo them.
I charge for my time and give them all the rights to do what they want... they pay for their own prints... or if they want, I can charge per print and get them professionally done through a local company, or a book or a poster sized print, which I DO CHARGE extra for my time for.
My next wedding will I charge only $500 ??? No way.... it's at least 20 hours worth of work, plus equipment cost/overhead, hiring an asisstant if needed, etc etc etc...
HOWEVER - IF a bride came to me with $500 dollars, or even less, and asked what I could do... I'd probably help them out.
Which brings me to a question me and a friend I met at the wedding talked about... Is it ethically wrong to charge LESS based on the beauty of the couple? If someone offered me a job in a beautiful hotel shooting a gorgeous couple, you know the type that would look great on my portfolio, should I be inclined to charge "LESS" to win the job?
Perhaps.... perhaps....
$500... Wow and I thought his $600 was low. Remember these are the kind of prices you will have to compete against later in your career as a wedding photographer. Sometimes this kind of a situation shows why people should start working for someone else for a while so they can let someone else wory abut pricing over or under and let you worry about hoing your skills.