Wedding Photography Costs

celery

celery

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Hi
Not the usual 'how much should I charge' thread, but this is a 'How much should my brother pay?'
He is getting married next summer in north London and I wondered how much he should be looking a paying for photographer on the day and also an estimate of how much he can expect to pay for the pictures afterwards?

I shall be there with my Sony Alpha taking some candids etc, but he wants the real McCoy for the main wedding pics.

Also a good time for any wedding togs in the area to get your sales pitch in
 
It depends on what he wants.

It's like buying a car, does he want a runaround or a bentley?

I've seen everything from £195 to £6K take your pick.
 
It's not really what HE wants, more what SHE says He Wants!!!

Honestly, they will want a good level, without spending silly money, i.e. they want someone who already has a resonable portfolio of weddings.
 
You could always look here and takes notes and determine a realistic average you should pay http://www.photographers.co.uk

Could be handy to see any differences in price due to location etc.
 
You should be looking at a fee that works out at around £100- £200 per hour.
I see it all the time on this site and with customers thinking wow you earn £150 per hour, well thats not true.

Why is wedding photography so expensive?

This is the age-old question that usually gets asked right after the lead-in question of “How much does it cost?” Most couples are shocked at what wedding photography costs. Most think, you are only taking a few pictures – so why is it so expensive? Sometimes you’ll hear that’s like your earning £150 to £200 an hour.

The reality is that most people aren’t aware of what actually goes into making great pictures that you’ll cherish for the rest of your life. They’re not familiar with the processes that most photographers go through – it’s much more than just showing up to take the pictures and then handing you a CD or printed pictures. There is actually quite a bit that takes place before, during and after your wedding that contributes to the final result. Below is a break down of the time and work that would go into a typical 2 hour wedding photo shoot.

1 - One hour of travel to and from the session
2 - Thirty minutes of setup, preparation, talking to the client etc
3 - Two hours of shooting
4 - Thirty minutes to load the photos onto a computer (2 - 4 Gig of data)
5 - Thirty minutes to back up the files on an external drive
6 - Four hours of Photoshop time including cropping, contrast, colour, sharpening
7 - Two hours taking prints to the lab and then picking up finished prints
8 - Two hours preparing the Album
9 - Thirty minutes burning images onto DVD
10 - One hour delivering the final wedding package to the client

You can see how a two hour wedding easily turns into more than ten hours of work from start to finish. So when you see a Photographer charging a fee of £200 per hour, they are not actually earning £200 per hour.

It is not possible for a professional photographer to photograph a wedding for less then £150 - £200 per hour.
If a photographer can offer you a wedding package for less then you should be extremely worried about the service and quality they can provide you.


Other Considerations – Equipment

Most photographers will need at a minimum of 3 professional quality camera bodies (usually three or even four including backups), which can cost anywhere from £1000 to £4500 or more. Add to that an array of lenses costing anywhere from a £600 to around £5000 each, plus flash guns and other equipment that can cost around £2000.

Servicing, Equipment, Insurance and Advertising

1 - Every 6 months I have all the my digital cameras sensors cleaned - £200
2 - Every 12 months all my cameras have a full service - £1000
3 - Every 3 years all cameras are replaced - £15000
5 - All lenses replaced every 5 years - £15000
6 - Public liability and equipment insurance per month - £150
7 - Advertising in newpapers, magazines , internet and leaflets - £3000 per year
 
I did read in a wedding mag that the happy couple should budget 20% of their total budget for a tog.

Hope that puts it in perspective.
 
The region won't be of any help at all becuase I'm from just outside brum, but for May next year I have just had a price of £1200.

That's for full day, 1 tog, images on a DVD and 40 printed in an album.
 
Not sure you need 3 or 4 bodies-maybe out of choice. But yes kit is expensive.

The cost of a good album with pics is well over £200 or even loads more for some of them.

Yet a person will think nothing of paying £300 for one portrait from a certain portrait company.

The wedding I did last week travelled to wolverhampton, by time I got home was an 18 hour day.

Papa-you must have loads of kit to pay that much insurance £50,000 cover?
 
Slvrbck said:
The region won't be of any help at all becuase I'm from just outside brum, but for May next year I have just had a price of £1200.

That's for full day, 1 tog, images on a DVD and 40 printed in an album.
Click to expand...

Im doing full day with an album with 80 pics and 2 albums for the parents with 20 pics for that price.
 
How long's a piece of string ? As with most things in life you tend to get what you pay for - I say tend to as it's not always the case.

It's important not to fall into the trap of 'how much time / stuff can I get for £xxxx' - there's no value to having a nice pile of albums, prints, cds etc after the wedding if they're full of crap photos.

Set a budget and spend the time to find photographers whose work excites them, not the pile of stuff you get. Then spend a little more :)



(just noticed a few other replies posted while I was writing this, nothing in this reply is ref the other posters btw !)
 
Got about £30.000 worth of gear I would say.
Thats not all wedding gear by the way, would only be carrying about £16.000 worth at a wedding.
 
How long is a piece of string indeed. If they want good photos they need to look at the photographer's work, not how much they charge. I don't care what the pros say, there are people out there who will give you an excellent set of wedding photos for £200 and there's a few that'll give you rubbish for £1000.
 
yourapocalypse said:
How long is a piece of string indeed. If they want good photos they need to look at the photographer's work, not how much they charge. I don't care what the pros say, there are people out there who will give you an excellent set of wedding photos for £200 and there's a few that'll give you rubbish for £1000.
Click to expand...

£200 doesnt even buy an album-but your right about quality of the images-price doesnt mean quality-get both and youve got it made.
 
Some great reponses thanks.
£150 - £200 per hour, sounds reasonable enough considering the expenses. I hate people who moan about the prices of expert services... either pay the right money or do it yourself.

I let him know the feedback, thanks
 
Not everyone wants an album. I shot a wedding earlier this year and they wanted the images on DVD. What with the Current Financial Climate (tm) and all, people might not want to fork out a lot of money for a photographer. And then there are people who simple can't afford it anyway. Certainly the people in my peer group who have got married (mid twenties) can't afford it. And for those couples, there will be people like me :D
 
yourapocalypse said:
Not everyone wants an album. I shot a wedding earlier this year and they wanted the images on DVD. What with the Current Financial Climate (tm) and all, people might not want to fork out a lot of money for a photographer. And then there are people who simple can't afford it anyway. Certainly the people in my peer group who have got married (mid twenties) can't afford it. And for those couples, there will be people like me :D
Click to expand...

Oh yeah absolutely. I offer a package at £450 for 2 hours with an album and 40 6 x 4 prints-which i think is a good deal. Ive seen this price for a dvd.

But at the end of the day-all being said photographers are not earning what people expect. But then some are charging the earth-seen an average package for £3500, which to me is expensive. but someone must be paying it. Rich people think whats expensive is good and poor people dont care as long as they get something within budget.
 
digitalmaniac said:
Oh yeah absolutely. I offer a package at £450 for 2 hours with an album and 40 6 x 4 prints-which i think is a good deal. Ive seen this price for a dvd.
Click to expand...

And yet you've just stated a couple of posts earlier than an album costs over £200. So after your costs you're making £200 ish, less if you're travelling any distance. So how many hours do you spend, editing etc to make the album?

I doubt you will find any full time pro photographer doing a wedding for less than £1200 including any kind of album, and even then, they're probably on the verge of going out of business due to bankruptcy these days.

Pete
 
icecavern said:
And yet you've just stated a couple of posts earlier than an album costs over £200. So after your costs you're making £200 ish, less if you're travelling any distance. So how many hours do you spend, editing etc to make the album?

I doubt you will find any full time pro photographer doing a wedding for less than £1200 including any kind of album, and even then, they're probably on the verge of going out of business due to bankruptcy these days.

Pete
Click to expand...

I have seen many togs offering these kind of packages and stating £200 for an album is at the full package with more pages and prints.

Dont forget that is for the 2 hour package. I will see if it is viable eventually. Scan the web and youll see packages from £450 with an album right upto £6000. Some prices are mad if you ask me. If the job is done right minimal editing should be required and i charge mileage if its any reasonable distance as do a lot of togs.
Dont forget im fairly new to wedding photography and as such have chosen to reflect this in my prices-maybe one day with a good reputation i will be charging £1200 minimum.:shrug:
 
Yes 2 hours at the wedding itself... But you'll be there 30mins before at least, plus time travelling, plus time editing etc.

Paying £1200 for a pro doesn't guarantee good results, I know because I paid that much and wasn't happy with the photos. But my wife and everyone else thinks they're great. But I look at the shots from a different perspective.
 
icecavern said:
Yes 2 hours at the wedding itself... But you'll be there 30mins before at least, plus time travelling, plus time editing etc.

Paying £1200 for a pro doesn't guarantee good results, I know because I paid that much and wasn't happy with the photos. But my wife and everyone else thinks they're great. But I look at the shots from a different perspective.
Click to expand...

I know this-but for that type of package should be done in a couple of days work and earning say even £200 for a couple of days works isnt totally bad.

Didnt you see the togs portfolio before then-or wasnt it upto the same as his portfolio. Also i offer a studio for location afterwards which I tend to do portrait sittings whilst guests are all dressed up and this makes additional sales afterwards. this world is about diversity now days and different sales techniques are needed.
 
PapaLazarou said:
You should be looking at a fee that works out at around £100- £200 per hour.
I see it all the time on this site and with customers thinking wow you earn £150 per hour, well thats not true.

Why is wedding photography so expensive?

This is the age-old question that usually gets asked right after the lead-in question of “How much does it cost?” Most couples are shocked at what wedding photography costs. Most think, you are only taking a few pictures – so why is it so expensive? Sometimes you’ll hear that’s like your earning £150 to £200 an hour.

The reality is that most people aren’t aware of what actually goes into making great pictures that you’ll cherish for the rest of your life. They’re not familiar with the processes that most photographers go through – it’s much more than just showing up to take the pictures and then handing you a CD or printed pictures. There is actually quite a bit that takes place before, during and after your wedding that contributes to the final result. Below is a break down of the time and work that would go into a typical 2 hour wedding photo shoot.

1 - One hour of travel to and from the session
2 - Thirty minutes of setup, preparation, talking to the client etc
3 - Two hours of shooting
4 - Thirty minutes to load the photos onto a computer (2 - 4 Gig of data)
5 - Thirty minutes to back up the files on an external drive
6 - Four hours of Photoshop time including cropping, contrast, colour, sharpening
7 - Two hours taking prints to the lab and then picking up finished prints
8 - Two hours preparing the Album
9 - Thirty minutes burning images onto DVD
10 - One hour delivering the final wedding package to the client

You can see how a two hour wedding easily turns into more than ten hours of work from start to finish. So when you see a Photographer charging a fee of £200 per hour, they are not actually earning £200 per hour...
Click to expand...

The tog at my wedding here in Poland took 700 CAD. The wedding day started at 2pm with blessings at my house, then blessings at the wife's house. Church ceremony at 4pm. Gift giving and well wishing for half an hour after. Reception lasts until 5am but the tog usually stays until 1am because there's stuff that happens at 1am. During the reception we went out for picture in a park for 2 hours. And then later in the week we went for about 5 hours to another place for more 'fake shots'. So all in all, the tog worked 11+5 (16) hours of pure photographing and being on his toes for my wedding. I can only imagine the work behind the scenes and I've seen his portfolio, pretty cool stuff.
 
Hi

In answer to the initial question I would advise having a budget of approx £750 - £1200. For that you should get a good experienced photographer. Make sure he has a good look at the photog's portfolio and ask how long he has been operating for.

I have been covering weddings, on and off since 1976. Best years were mid 80s. We covered 150 a year and charged £350 but our reprint orders amounted to £1000 average. Cost of an average house then £30k, now same house £250k.

These days I cover weddings occasionally because I enjoy them but for the same amount of time I earn double for portraits so guess what I prefer :lol: its tough on the brides but thats life

stew
 
PapaLazarou said:
6 - Public liability and equipment insurance per month - £150
Click to expand...

PapaLazarou said:
Got about £30.000 worth of gear I would say.
Click to expand...

Wow! Your insurance costs you £1,800 per year for £30,000 worth of cover incl. PL? I pay around £300 for £10,000 worth of cover incl. PL. I know my insurance would charge me less than 3 x £300 to cover me for £30,000 worth of kit (and don't forget, my kit is 'high risk', stuck up on top of a 60' pole....)

I pay less than £600 (edit: just checked, it's actually £477) per year for all my insurance including fully comp insurance with full photography business use on my Land Rover.

You sure pay a lot for your insurance.........
 
At risk, if you'll excuse the pun, of being slightly off topic, but your premium has to reflect any previous claims..
 
As already said, forgot the cost initially and look at portfolio's and decide on who's style you like. Many wedding togs, especially experienced ones, try to provide some individuality, especially to the what you might call 'non-standard' shots, and that can be a style the B & G love or hate. Then look at what packages they offer and the costs. I think, bearing in mind location, £1200 isn't an unreasonable amount to expect to pay and the sky is the limit. ON th eother hand they might be lucky and find someone fairly new in the market that has a great style and ability that will charge less simply because they are less experienced.

As Jas said, Colin [Hacker] is not a million miles away and I personally love his wedding stuff so would start looking there, but there are other wedding togs round here too, so check around the members and pass portfolio links on to B&G :thumbs:
 
PapaLazarou said:
You should be looking at a fee that works out at around £100- £200 per hour.

snipped
Click to expand...

Good post Papa, very informative, thanks :) Now, do you think I could do one for £100 :boxer: :p
 
Thanks for all the posts guys, sounds like £1,300 is a good budget number, the wedding is not until next Oct, so I'll pass the details on to the 'happy:lol:' couple so she can add it to the overall budget.

IMO they should get married in the reg office, take a couple of mobile phone snaps and spend the rest of the budget on a nice Aston Martin!!!!!
 
When I got married seven years ago the photographer cost us £300. If memory serves correctly I think we got him from the Yellow Pages and I never even looked at his portfolio! At that time I just assumed that because he was advertising then he must be pro and the shots were guaranteed to be good! hehe I know, pretty daft of me.

Anyway, the photos turned out to be great which was lucky I guess. I think it was a film camera he used and didn't stay very late but for £300 who's complaining! :lol: So I guess the price doesn't always reflect the quality but I think I was probably just lucky on this occasion. :)
 
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