Another how much would you charge question for a wedding shoot

Raymond Lin

Raymond Lin

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Got an "booking" from a friend of a friend asking me to do her wedding next August. And it'll be my 4th, but it'll be my first paid one. The previous 3 have all been for close friends and i never did it before so did it as a favour/wedding gift. This one i am going to charge, but the question is now much.

Now my working style will start with photographing the bride in the morning when she does her hair, til the disco dance. It's easily a 15 hours shoot, with 1 hour during the food service where i stop. People with food in their mouths is not really attractive, nor romantic i've found. Plus processing time afterwards.

The figure i got in my head is £500 + expenses like hotel/travel.

Would that be a reasonable for a 1st time paid job?
 
How much are you going to provide after the wedding? Prints,, how many? What size? A wedding album? A photobook? A dvd?
 
Janice said:
So you would be giving them all away and have no money coming in afterwards for prints?
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Yep, i can't be bother with that really, i already have a full time job and a part time job.

I mean i might limit the size to 1600x1200 so the big prints i have control over but not the 6x4 ones.
 
Yes I can never decide about that......... it would be great to give them away on a disc and not have all the problems so therefore it SHOULD be cheaper.

BUT.... id be giving away the copyright and any future print money, so it SHOULD be more expensive!!! :D
 
Janice said:
Yes I can never decide about that......... it would be great to give them away on a disc and not have all the problems so therefore it SHOULD be cheaper.

BUT.... id be giving away the copyright and any future print money, so it SHOULD be more expensive!!! :D
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You would be giving away future print money, not copyright.

If i see those photos ended up on a billboard, then i can still sue. I have no problems with them printing it in jessops an extra set for the mother in law.
 
if it's any help
#1 daughter got we earlier this year
the DVD deal cost £1500

don't undersell yourself
 
15 hours?! Seems a bit long even for full day coverage. If I do full day coverage for a typical wedding (at 2pm for example) I'd cover bridal preps from around 11ish and even going through to 1st dance plus a few extras I'd expect to finish at 9ish. It's usually just drunken gyrating on the dancefloor after that so while entertaining it doesn't usually result in too much photographically.

TBH if it's your first charged one and all your doing is giving the CD away I'd say £500 is probably OK - just don't keep charging that for future weddings. You've got a bit of experience and having seen your work before I'm sure you'd be able to handle any photographic hurdles (e.g. low or difficult light).

@mmcp42 - I assume the £1500 is for an experienced wedding photographer and did it include any extras?. I dont think someone that has 3 previous weddings as experience can get away with charging that much.
 
fair enough
twas a pro
v good one too
did include 1 album
 
ranarama said:
TBH if it's your first charged one and all your doing is giving the CD away I'd say £500 is probably OK - just don't keep charging that for future weddings. You've got a bit of experience and having seen your work before I'm sure you'd be able to handle any photographic hurdles (e.g. low or difficult light).

@mmcp42 - I assume the £1500 is for an experienced wedding photographer and did it include any extras?. I dont think someone that has 3 previous weddings as experience can get away with charging that much.
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Why charge less because it is your first job? If you get repeat bookings because of word-of-mouth, you'll find it very hard to put your prices up. Charge a 'real' price from Day One.

I have never done a wedding so I can't say what to charge, but I do know I'd never do a 15 hour day for £500. Even at twice that, it would be pushing it.
 
JumboBeef said:
Why charge less because it is your first job? If you get repeat bookings because of word-of-mouth, you'll find it very hard to put your prices up. Charge a 'real' price from Day One.

I have never done a wedding so I can't say what to charge, but I do know I'd never do a 15 hour day for £500. Even at twice that, it would be pushing it.
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I am not looking to go pro, and if it does bring in repeat bookings then i am going to put up my price.
 
Raymond Lin said:
I am not looking to go pro, and if it does bring in repeat bookings then i am going to put up my price.
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....but if the people you are doing this for pass your name on, I bet they'll tell their friends how much they paid and you'll find it very hard to put your prices up.

Why not charge more? Quote them £995. They might accept and if they don't, you could 'allow' yourself to be pushed down to say £750. They'll be happy because they've just 'saved' £250 and you'll be happy because you've just made £250 more than your £500.
 
JumboBeef said:
....but if the people you are doing this for pass your name on, I bet they'll tell their friends how much they paid and you'll find it very hard to put your prices up.

Why not charge more? Quote them £995. They might accept and if they don't, you could 'allow' yourself to be pushed down to say £750. They'll be happy because they've just 'saved' £250 and you'll be happy because you've just made £250 more than your £500.
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BUT he isnt a pro and could make some BIG c*** ups on the day.

£995 is a lot to charge if you are a learner.
 
I'm in a similar boat myself. I done a wedding for a friend of my brother and taken the camera to a few weddings and taken some candid shots, the couple I done the full wedding for were delighted with the shots and quite a few people have complimented my wedding stuff.

This has given me the confidence to do another couple of weddings that I've been asked to do. I realise that I'm not at the level of the togs who are charging £1500 plus, but without experience, I'll never reach that level.

I don't want to charge too little though, which could be a bigger problem than charging too much!

Although I've not decided on a pricing structure yet, I'm not planning to have set prices on my site, every wedding is different and I'd rather price each one based on the customers requirements. What I was thinking of doing for the "friend of a friend" customers is offering them a discounted rate, so that they don't think that I'm cheap.

I'd be looking in the region of £500 for a days shoot at this stage, but that wouldn't be 15 hours to be honest, that seems like an awful long time!

Dave
 
15 hours shoot + another 15 hours processing the shots = 30 hours or about £16 an hour. If you think that sounds reasonable then go for it, otherwise settle on what you think you're worth an hour and charge accordingly.

If you're getting paid then you really do need to consider some basics like a contract, insurance, etc. because if the worst should happen you will be liable so factor the costs for that into your price as well.
 
Janice said:
BUT he isnt a pro and could make some BIG c*** ups on the day.

£995 is a lot to charge if you are a learner.
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£500 is a lot to charge if you c*** it up too.

Have some confidence in yourself!
 
JumboBeef said:
Why charge less because it is your first job?.
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Would Alex Ferguson pay £50k a week to the youth team players? No. Why? Because they're inexperienced, regardless of talent. Same thinking applies to all businesses. You've got to prove yourself before you can start demanding decent money. I don't see wedding photography any different. Charge pro rates when you're not a pro and you're setting yourself up for a (potential) fall.
 
Well, i am confident in my own ability, will get a spare 30D/40D for that day, or i'll have the 5D by then and the current 30D will be spare. will have 20G of CF cards (14G at the moment), so in terms of technical side it should be fine. Expenses i have asked for on top of the £500, so i will not be out of pocket for travel and accommodation.

I think £500 is a good starting point, i forgot to say that they are trying to save money (aren't they all?") on the photographers and if i price myself at £1000, i will rule myself out of the "running", for that kind of price, there is no reason to hire me, they could hire someone local for £1000 and skip the accommodation and travel costs that's budgeted for me.

I just got a message back on facebook "I think £500 sounds very reasonable and you'll certainly be in our top 3 or however many it will be that we consider."

If i don't get the job i am not bothered, like i said, i already have 2 jobs, this is a hobby that i love, and getting paid is just the icing on the cake.

As for contract, i can knock one out no problem with enough boiler plate to cover the most dangers backside, i do work in civil litigation as my 9-5 job., will increase my camera insurance to legal cover.
 
seems like a fair price for a first time paid job. cosidering you dont wanna go pro.
15 hrs?:eek:
we did pre wedding , all day , and upto first dance(and a bit). last weekend.that was about 12 hrs.
if your doing a paid job, you ought to consider liability insurance. if only short term cover.
mark.
 
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