This is a subject I have wanted to address on the blog for a while, but I’ll be honest, I have been a little afraid of bringing it up. I really do hope I don’t get lynched afterwards for talking about this unspoken subject but I really do think this is something worthy of discussion.
I need to make a few things clear first…
♥ I am a HUGE advocate of helping start up businesses. I often feature the work of brand new and up and coming photographers on the blog and this article is in no way intended to discredit or slag off newbie photographers
♥ I am a true believer that a fantastic photographer can make even the most budget wedding look kick ass – more than the dress, the decor and the extra details. Seriously, while all these aspects are important it is the photographer that will capture these memories that will last a lifetime and I think this is the one thing that shouldn’t be scrimped on or “DIY-ed”
♥ Everyone deserves to have a truly fantastic photographer to capture their day. Whatever your budget, I can’t stress enough how much I’d urge you to spend as much money as you are able to in order to get the very best photographer that you can afford
I don’t want the fact that I have approached the subject of money, business and all that icky stuff to in anyway ostracise any readers of my little blog. However I do think that just how much you’re going to spend on photography is something that should be addressed. It’s something that all couples will talk about when they plan their weddings and budget but it’s a subject that is never spoken about on blogs or in magazines. Why is this? Well, people don’t really like to talk about money do they?
My reasoning behind this post is not in anyway to try and encourage you to spend more than you can afford or are willing to on your wedding photography, however I do want to make you stop and think if the service you are getting for the price you’re paying really is good value.
I have lost count of the number of brides I’ve had email me asking for photographer recommendations for under ÂŁ500 and I’ve also lost count of the number friends I’ve spoken to who have recoiled at the fact that a lot of the photographers I know are charging ÂŁ2000 + for “one day’s work” (seriously? do people still think photographers only work one day a week!? I was chatting to a photographer friend of mine about this subject who told me that after everything she has to do, her hourly rate is less than ÂŁ20 an hour…and she’s not one of the cheaper ones!)
I know weddings are expensive things and that the thought of spending a couple of grand on a photographer is a lot for most people, but I can’t stress enough that I feel photography is really the one thing you should splash out on. If you can only afford ÂŁ500 for a wedding photographer then great, but just be aware that the results that you get from a photographer who is only charging that much will most certainly be inferior to someone a bit more pricey – even if the talent is there. Someone able to charge more than this, will if anything have a lot more experience than someone still charging around the ÂŁ500 mark.
If you are happy to pay under ÂŁ500 for a photographer then fantastic -Â rock it out, but just be aware that for that price you aren’t going to get Jose Villa/Jasmine Star/Jonas Peterson/Lisa Devlin…Â I hate to say it, but in this industry, you really do get what you pay for.
This is a subject that us wedding industry folk chat about a lot. The preconception by some brides is that in some way photographers are trying to rip you all off. While I’ll be honest, there are certain photographers out there who I think are ludicrously expensive for what they offer (and no I’m not naming names!) in the majority, the price you pay generally covers the quality of the service you are given. After that it’s just down to personal taste.
When I mentioned on Twitter that I was going to cover this topic, the response was positive if not a little wary…
“depends on your point of view!? Could provoke a witch hunt!”
“having a heated “discussion” with a friend about this very subject.He says price things lower-I’m saying don’t be too cheap!”
“haha brave!”
“wow! You are brave!”
“that should be interesting…”
“oooh sounds controversial”
“hope the amazing pics you blog already help people realise its worth paying for good photography”
“oowww that’s a can of worms on so many levels but i am sure you will do a great job!”
After reading this I hope you will all realise that my intention was not to be controversial or to even spark a debate on this matter – I merely wished to address a subject that I feel affects us all – brides, bloggers and of course photographers.
Therefore I wanted to get the opinion of a photographer and so I asked someone who is greatly respected in the UK wedding industry. Julia Boggio is regarded as one of the UK’s leading wedding photographers and has won many awards for her business acumen as well as her photography. She has had her worked featured in all the major UK wedding magazines and she is a regular columnist for the same photography magazine I write for, Photo Pro – and she was the one who actually got me the job so I owe her a lot! She also openly admits to being at the higher end of the market in terms of her pricing so I thought she would be the perfect candidate to address this matter.
I’d love to hear your thoughts (from photographers AND brides please!) on this subject in the comments section below.
♥ ♥ ♥
When Kat asked me to write this guest blog post, I accepted with a small amount of trepidation. The reason for this is two-fold: first, there is no way I can write this post without ruffling some feathers because, second, I’m going to be completely honest about this subject.
Let me start out by saying this: everybody deserves to have a photographer at their wedding. For this purpose, it’s great that there are a range of prices, skills and talents out there for them to choose from. There is no hard and fast rule about what you should budget for your wedding photography. You may have heard of the 10% rule, in which 10% of your wedding budget should be allocated to your wedding photography. In reality, what I find is that people who value photography and have the budget want to spend more on it. Period.
Like any other lifestyle market, there are a variety of brands out there for you to choose from. To put it into the context of brands you are familiar with, there are the equivalents of BHS and Asda to Debenhams and John Lewis to Harrods, Liberty and Harvey Nics. What I am going to explain to you is what you are paying for as the price increases.
At the low end of the market, the photographers are most likely 1) photography students, 2) weekend warriors, that is, wedding photography is not their full-time occupation and they do photography for a bit of cash on the side, or 3) new wedding photographers who are just starting out. It is also likely that it’s going to be a shoot and deliver package; the photographer will shoot the images and then give you a disc of images. Like I said in the beginning, it is great that there are options available in the low-budget area because everyone deserves to have a wedding photographer. But I’m not going to lie to you: it can be a gamble at this end.
In October last year, a story broke in the news about a couple that was distraught over their wedding photos and video. Out of the 400 images, they liked just 22; the videographer was heard to swear in church when he dropped his camera. People’s backsides were a common feature in the images. When I read this story, I was appalled for the couple. After all, that was it – their one chance at capturing their wedding day in a memorable way, gone. Then I read what they paid for the services: £1,450 for their photography and videography. Well, suffice it to say you’re not getting Annie Leibovitz and Steven Spielberg for that kind of money. Nor should you expect to.
I was a guest at a wedding recently, always a nice change for me. I make it a rule not to shoot friends weddings because I like to enjoy their day as a guest. However, that doesn’t stop me from scoping out the wedding photographer. I had given this friend a load of suggestions about who he should look at, but they went ahead and booked somebody else. I watched the photographer, who was wearing jeans, as he photographed the bride and groom squinting into direct sunlight; tried to photograph the group shot of all the guests with a telephoto lens (imagine holding up a toilet roll tube to your eye and trying to see a group of 100 people through it, and you’ll get the idea); and then before the first dance, he turned to me and whispered, “Help!” as he jumped in to shoot it with his non-professional camera with pop-up flash. The photos, when I saw them, were not inspiring. As I said earlier, people who value photography will pay for it; those who don’t, won’t. This couple could have afforded a better photographer. Heck, they could have afforded me. But photography was not important to them.
I’m making this point because what you choose to spend on your photography is not always down to budget. I’ve had couples with small budget weddings hire me to do their wedding photography because it was what they wanted to spend their money on. Instead, they held back on flowers and the cake or asked family members to donate their skills and make the bouquets and confections. What you want to spend your budget on is your choice.
Being a photographer is not just about owning a professional camera; it’s about knowing how to use it. I get so frustrated when people lump all photographers together, as though we all have exactly the same skill set. We don’t. So what are you paying for as the price goes up?
First and foremost, it’s experience. The more experienced a photographer is, the more he or she should cost. A wedding day is fraught with pitfalls and booby traps for the inexperienced. For example, the lighting conditions on a wedding day change from bright (outside) to dark (in the church) in seconds. And then, we’re often told we can’t use flash inside the church. A photographer needs to know how to deal with this.
Experience shows up in other areas, too, like in ability to pose a couple. The majority of you will read that and think, “Posing?! I don’t want to be posed.” And I’m telling you: trust me, you do. Posing is not the opposite of having natural-looking photographs; it just makes you look better and more natural in that natural-looking photograph. Or at least, good posing does. Perhaps posing is the wrong word for it. “Directed” may be a better word. I look at my couples as two pieces of a jigsaw puzzle that I have to fit together appealingly in flattering light. This is not easy and it takes years to get truly good at it. In a lot of trendy or young wedding photography today, I can easily see where a photographer has no idea what he or she is doing regarding posing or directing a couple. The bride’s waist isn’t visible or looks thick; arms look huge; men look like they have beer bellies; hands look like talons; faces look chubby because they’re in the wrong light. No, it is not dieting that can fix all this, but good posing.
Some people will have read the above and think that it doesn’t apply to them because they want entirely reportage photography. Well, here is news for you. Good reportage ain’t easy either. I can probably count the number of great reportage wedding photographers on one hand (and they charge appropriately). There is a fine line between snapshots and reportage. In the past ten years or so, reportage is a word that brides seemed to have latched on to. They would come into a meeting with me and say they wanted reportage photography and then look through my portfolio and gush over images that are so not reportage, completely posed, but natural-looking. One of the most famous reportage photographs in the world of a couple kissing outside of a Parisian café by Robert Doisneau was found to be a fake in 1993. In fact, he had hired two actors and set the whole thing up. It came to light when two people claiming to be the subject of the famous photograph tried to sue the photographer and he came clean. Reportage, by definition, is documentary photography (also known as photojournalism). That means the photographer stands back and doesn’t get involved; he or she just photographs the day as it happens. As I said earlier, there is a fine line between snapshots and reportage. This is due to two factors: lighting and expression. A really good pure reportage photographer is going to cost you money.
Another thing that you pay for as prices go up is the ability to see light and knowledge of different lighting techniques. Using purely natural light is great, but what if you’re in a dark church and need flash? If you’re a wedding photographer, flash is your friend. If someone says they are purely a natural light photographer, their skill-set may not be suited to shooting a winter wedding. Winter weddings is a topic that seems to strike fear into the hearts of many wedding photographers. There are entire issues of photography magazines dedicated to the subject. Why? Because they are dark and you have to be confident with light. Ironic, since photography is literally “painting with light.”
I shot a wedding in March at a castle up north. The ceremony started at 5:00. Every photo I took, I had to light. That means I had to bring lots of expensive equipment with me, like flashes and video lights. Because I also run a family portrait studio, I work with that kind of lighting on a regular basis. But many photographers don’t. Experience with lighting increases their value and, therefore, their price. And getting good training and experience is an investment and can be expensive for the photographer, too.
At a recent wedding, one of the guests turned to me and said that I must have the best job in the world because I only had to work one day a week. If I could have mustered the patience, I would have explained to her that each wedding we shoot takes a lot of work. There’s pre-production (planning the wedding, doing pre-wedding shoots, and not to mention booking the wedding in the first place), then there’s the hard work of shooting the wedding (physically and mentally demanding, but the part of the process that takes the least time), and finally post-production (downloading the images, backing them up, sorting through them, Photoshopping them, presenting them to the client, designing an album, getting the album ready for press, etc.). It takes a lot of time and time is money.
And regarding time, more experienced photographers will charge more for their time. It’s like when you go to the hair dresser; you can pay top dollar (or pound) for the senior stylist who has been practicing the art of hair-cutting for a long time or you can save money and get the junior stylist who has had a few lessons in hair-cutting, but more than makes up for the lack of expertise with enthusiasm.
Photoshopping is another skill that holds a lot of value in photography. These days, many brides ask if they will be retouched. Back when I was in advertising, it was rare to find a photographer who was also good at retouching, but today, it’s a necessary skill. At the low end of the market, it’s probable that wedding coverage and the disc of images you paid £750 for will not be retouched. Retouching takes time, which means it costs money. Always beware of deals that are too good to be true! The thing to be careful of with Photoshop is over-Photoshopping. It shouldn’t be used to make a bad photo good. The photo should be good when it’s taken in camera. At a party of photographers recently, a girl came up to me and talked about how she used photo shop effects to turn bad photos into good photos in Photoshop. Adding artistic effects to photographs is fine, as long as the basic photograph is good – well posed, well lit and well composed.
What the package includes is another thing that can drive up price. Generally, the better the album and the better the album design, the more it should cost. Like photography, good design isn’t easy. The problem is that, like with photography, a lot of people can’t tell the difference between good and bad design. Those who are hot on design will pay more for a higher standard.
When you go into BHS, do you expect the same service that you get at Harrods? Customer service is another thing you pay for as the price goes up. Customer service includes everything from the way the phone is answered when you call to every contact you have with the photographer’s company leading up to the day you receive your final printed album. While being a small business should be no excuse for bad customer service, it can easily get overlooked when your photographer is stressed because they have 15 weddings waiting to be processed in the month of June because they have taken on too much work. I’m lucky because I have built up a remarkable team of people around me.
Do I even need to mention that photography equipment is expensive? When I’m at a wedding, I have thousands of pounds worth of equipment with me. And that equipment needs to be insured, too, which again costs money. Recently, I read about a scam on a wedding photography forum where thieves would turn up at weddings pretending to be guests and make off with the photographer’s equipment. That’s a scary prospect for a photographer, whose entire livelihood rests on that equipment and the images that are in their camera bag.
The wedding industry is made up of small businesses, mostly run by people who made the brave decision to leave comfortable, full-time employment to take on the joys and stresses of working for themselves. For this reason, you have to take into account the costs of running a business and the cost of living. Running a business means you need to pay a lot of bills: rent, gas, electricity, computer equipment, data back up, software, marketing costs like advertising, and travel. The list could go on for paragraphs. And what about the cost of living? Mortgages, food, entertainment (photographers need a life, too), pensions, clothing, etc. And believe it or not, photographers need to train not just in taking better photographs, but also in how to run a solid, successful and profitable business.
And before you start bargaining with your photographer because your budget is tight, realise that a wedding photographer will work hard at your wedding. I feel like I’ve been through a war at the end of every wedding I shoot. He or she charges what s/he charges because that’s what their experience, artistry and costs demand them to charge. The recession, the day of the week your wedding is on, the size of your guest list (e.g. “I’m having a small wedding”), and the fact that you chose to spend a large sum on your cake, doesn’t affect how much it costs your photographer to shoot your wedding. For a fun insight into the life a wedding photographer, have a quick look at this film on You Tube.
Well, I’ve exceeded Kat’s original word count request by over 2000, so I think it’s time to sign off now. And I haven’t even touched on the value of a photographer with ideas (not an easy skill in high-pressure situations, like weddings). But before I leave you, I’ll answer the question that I’m sure is on all your lips: what do you charge, Julia? For an 8-hour wedding with me and a second photographer, including a pre-wedding shoot in London or at my studio, an album designed by our professional designer, all images on a password-protected site, retouching of all the images in the album or images that are ordered from our website, and bespoke thank you cards, we charge £4600 including VAT. And that does not include a disc of images. This year, I shot 20 weddings. Next year, I’m only planning to shoot ten. My associate photographer who also shoots weddings for us (£2950) will shoot 20 next year. On a wedding forum this week, I read a post by someone who said they had called up for our packages because they loved our work and she stated our prices. Another poster exclaimed that £4600 was even out of her range. However, looking back through the posts, this same person thought £1500+ was high-end wedding photography. It’s not. High end in the UK is £4000+. And we completely understand that we are out of most people’s budgets.
When I started out, I charged £600 and then £800 for my first two weddings. After that, I went up to £1750 and it’s gone up from there, as the quality of my product, cost of doing business, and experience have increased. One bride who booked me when I was starting out told me last year that she considered herself to be the luckiest bride in the world to have caught me early. Now we’re regarded as one of the top wedding photography companies in the UK and have just won the You &Your Wedding Bride’s Choice award for 2010.
If it’s any consolation, I couldn’t have afforded me when I got married. The good news is there’s a wedding photographer out there for everyone; you just have to find the one that’s right for you and your budget.
All images by Julia Boggio Photography
Excellent and totally honest blog post detailing all the intricacies that a wedding professional is involved in. Well done Julia and Kat!!!
An excellent article, it is shocking how many people think you should find the ‘best deal possible’ on photography, rather than the best photographer possible!
I decided on our wedding photogrpaher before I heard her prices, (before, to be honest I was even engaged!) Because I adored her work, and knew that she would capture the magic of our day. Although she is not the most expensive, she is certainly not a cheap photographer, and I know many of my friends who paid less… but I will never regret what we paid for photography, she worked very hard, for such a long day, and her creativity with posing was worth every penny of it.
The images that every one coo’s over from our wedding are the beautiful natural looking shots that we were posed carefully for, and this ofcourse takes great skill.
We were maried a few months ago and are the process of choosing images for our album… I think we will end up purchasing a second album just because we love so many of the images so much! What would have been the point in spending time and money on our fairy tale day, and not having these stunning memories captured in print?! You really do get what you pay for, and I honestly think everyone should take a pre wed photogrpahy session to familiarise them selves with their photographer and make sure that they can provide what you want… you wouldn’t buy a car with out a test drive right?!
Our pre wed shots were so fantastic we used them as table decorations at our wedding!
I totally agree that good photogrpahers cost more… go with the best you can get with your budget, there is always something else you can scrimp on!
Great article, these are the very concers that we had during the planning stage of our wedding. We wanted good photographs that we could cherish for the rest of our lives, unfortunately we didn’t have a lot of money. We thought long and hard about it and what we came up with, we think, was a good happy medium.
We spoke to the professional we had chosen and went for his basic package, which comprised of 24 pictures before, during and immediately after the service. We then were lucky enough to have a commercial photographer in the family who had offered to take pictures as a wedding present. (I should point out that he did say to us that his pictures would not be the same style as the wedding photographers and that we should get a professional wedding photographer for the “traditional” shots). His were more journalistic in style (shot from a distance with telephoto lenses, so guests were not aware they were being photographed, and were therefore very natural).
The combination worked exceptionally well as we had lots of beautiful pictures taken but both photographers and the difference in style actually worked very well together, and didn’t break the bank.
The food, the flowers, the music, etc are important at a wedding but the photos are the only thing that is going to last. The photos will outlive the marriage if it ends in divorce and the photos will outlive the couple (we still have the wedding photos for my long deceased grandparents).
Is it really worth going cheap on the one thing that will last forever?
Thank you so much for writing this long needed article.
Only yesterday we had an enquiry from a couple who loved our photography but have a budget of ÂŁ500-ÂŁ600. I hasten to add they are paying over ÂŁ6000 for the venue, then there is the evening entertainment, wedding dress, flowers and not forgetting the groom and the cars.
Photography seems to come very low in many couples priority but will be the first thing to be moaned about when the couple are not happy with the results.
We spend 13 hours + at many weddings and then days after in post production and putting the album together. Not forgetting the pre wedding planning that we have done ie visiting the venue etc. We also carry backup equipement in case of failure, are fully insured and offer a lifetime archive service. As you say at the end of the day you get what you pay for.
Excellent article.
It’s true that you get what you pay for with photography, and also that everyone deserves to have a professional photographer working on their behalf on their wedding day.
This makes it a good thing that there are photographers working with a range of budgets to suit all pockets. You might be lucky paying very little and getting a great photographer who is just starting out professionally. You might also get someone who thinks that owning a camera and demanding money to use it are the only qualities required to call themselves a professional photographer.
It’s important to see their portfolio. Even if they’re just starting out, they should have some photos of people that will demonstrate their standard of photography – and if they’re charging anything at all, they should be capturing quality photos. If not, look elsewhere.
Ensure that the photographer has made a significant investment in camera equipment – this in itself is not a guarantee of quality, but it does show a certain dedication to their craft which is a noteworthy tick in the box. It’s certainly true that with better equipment, the photographer is more likely to get quality images in a wider range of situations, but it doesn’t make a bad photographer any better.
It’s also worth noting that there are a number of wedding photographers working in the UK who, despite being very successful (i.e. shooting upwards of 100 weddings a year), have extremely poor quality portfolios.
Beware also of some wedding photography chains, with beautiful example photos from one or two good photographers in their marketing, and an army of inexperienced, low quality, low paid student photographers working for them as ‘associates’. If going to a chain, insist on seeing a range of images taken by the photographer who will actually be covering your wedding, and ask what equipment that photographer uses.
A large, successful company is not a guarantee of quality – usually it points only to a well oiled marketing machine.
Yes, you get what you pay for, but there are bargains to be had too. Shop around.
I love the honest and open approach you have taken to this subject here. Its a gentle reminder that you pay for creative flare and quality of talent not the physical cost of the job. I often find people forget they are paying for the art not the paper its printed on. I now pass this article onto any brides who query the origin of our prices and we always receive the most positive feedback (and a booking).
Rock n’ Roll is quick becoming an invaluable resource for us!
G x
Brilliantly written. Thank you very much for spending the time to put this together. The one thing I think you need to remind people is that you don’t always get what you pay for, but you never get more. So just because you hire an expensive photographer does not guarantee you top quality.
Excellent article. The linked YouTube video is fantastic
Excellent article. Personally as a bride, I think ÂŁ4000 is too much. ÂŁ2000 I can understand. Perhaps ÂŁ3000 but I think ÂŁ4000 is too big an ego. I say that mostly because I don’t think the people I’ve seen who charge that amount are worth it. On the other hand I have seen other photographers who charge ÂŁ2000 who *would* be worth ÂŁ4000.
I guess the point of all that is choose a photographer on their photos, not their price. Because if you like their photos, you’ll find the money for their price. Similarly don’t think they’re good just because they charge a lot! That definitely does not always equate to skill!!
Thank you thank you thank you!!! Honest and accurate. I will be sharing with all my brides (and all my friends who just don’t “get it”).
As a bride, I have found this article very interesting and informative. I am now confident that I have found a good photographer for a price I can afford and justify to myself.
HOWEVER, “The recession, the day of the week your wedding is on, the size of your guest list (e.g. “I’m having a small wedding”), and the fact that you chose to spend a large sum on your cake, doesn’t affect how much it costs your photographer to shoot your wedding”
If this is true, why do so many photographers charge extra for weekend weddings?????? Surely the only explanation to this is because they can??
What an awesome article… thank you! It is open, honest, respectful & thoughtful. I will certainly be sharing this one. Thanks again!
When i got married my mother-in-law hired a family friend (who was a professional photographer) to shoot our wedding. I thought we were so lucky…and oh was a wrong. Out of the couple hundred pictures she took we ended up with 1…yes 1….single…picture of the two of us that was worth framing. We purchased maybe ten out of the entire lot that were good and they were mostly of my kids. If the pictures werent bad enought (lighting was terrible, focus was not right, angles made everyone look fat, editing was minimal) the experience itself was a nightmare. the photographer was obviously not comfortable directing other people, which made it very uncomfortable for everyone else. The smiles were forced, and it showed in the pictures, i found myself literally saying..”OK we’re not taking anymore pictures, i just want to go to the reception.” The one good thing that came out of this expierence is that i now know to do more research into who i decide to shoot for my next wedding (now divorced) and i know next time not to trust just anyone.
Kat/Julia
What a fantastic article. It’s about time someone wrote something like this and put on their blog/magazine dedicated to weddings- especially when I read in a major bridal magazine that one’s budget for photography should be around ÂŁ500 and for video ÂŁ150 !!!!!! (I think their researcher needs to get her facts straight before going to print…)
Well done to you both- lets hope that brides may now see the True value of their wedding photos – if they are in fact important to them!!!
This was a great article from a Photographers perspective. My main concern is that as I am running a young business my prices are never any higher than ÂŁ1000. I have completed a degree in Photography and have excellent knowledge and skill in lighting, framing, editing / retouching and album design. I deliver excellent quality and offer all the extras (engagement shoots etc) but my issue is that there is so much competition I am truly terrified to up my prices. So I continue to struggle on, telling myself that it is better to undercut the competition and have the client, than not have the client at all. It upsets me to think that this article expects me to do a shoddy job because I am less expensive. Maybe I should up my prices, but I really don’t want to lose out to the competition.
Ebony Holden
I have been looking for a Photographer and DJ for my wedding next year, I had a sarcastic email back from a DJ when questioning what we would expect for the price quoted. It really was quite rude. With the stress of planning a wedding and having never hired a DJ or a Photographer before I would have expected at least a polite explanation or education on the matter and was quite upset at the response I got. The information above really does help prevent this type of thing happening as I can now understand more about what my Photographer has to deal with and hopefully it should also work the other way around. There are so many things to consider when planning a wedding and many people that you are going to need to put your trust in to the tune of normally a minimum of ÂŁ10,000, it can be quite scary especially when you are on a budget and yes you only get one chance. So thank you for the information.
Really pleased you raised this subject. Julia makes some exceptionally important points. As a documentary wedding photographer I work in a genre that is 1; often misunderstood, 2; incredibly undervalued sometimes and 3; one of the more demanding skill-sets. The overall feeling from many guests is that it’s simply a job of snapshots where all week long you get to put your feet up and enjoy Jeremy Kyle reruns. In many respects this is social documentary work with the opportunity to also capture some pretty stunning portraits under all kinds of lighting conditions. All power to the photographers that take on these commissions, and thanks for posting this item. Neale James
If I may quote another comment;
“HOWEVER, “The recession, the day of the week your wedding is on, the size of your guest list (e.g. “I’m having a small wedding”), and the fact that you chose to spend a large sum on your cake, doesn’t affect how much it costs your photographer to shoot your wedding”
If this is true, why do so many photographers charge extra for weekend weddings?????? Surely the only explanation to this is because they can??”.
No, SOME photographers will give a slight discount on days other than Saturday, not vice versa.
i agree and disagree with what you are saying but if you look at the quality of someones work then you should have no quarms about ability,quality price does come into it but its what you can afford at the end of the day.
Excellent viewpoint, I feel there are too many photographers charging too little due to poor understanding of business. Totally understand that everyone starts somewhere but charge ÂŁ500 for 30 weddings and I guarantee you make a loss over time. All that equipment, marketing, offices, albums and tax are expensive. as for the “i cant afford it” gang I assume the stretch hummer was worth the money huh ? The only way to improve this crisis is to increase awareness to brides and educate photographers in business… More stuff like this on more sites please.
Any money is applicable, if you can justify it…
I believe a good photographer can explain how they charge clearly to the client. Anytime I’m meeting a couple to talk about their wedding, i go through the package clearly to them, showing my travel expenses, hours worked, post production time, equipment hire/costs etc. After all the document is shown, there’s generally no questions about my charges as they can see where its coming from… So brides, don’t be scared to ask about how they came up with the amount, you don’t want to be ripped off
As a relatively new wedding photographer with a licence ship with the BIPP and over 12 years experience behind the camera I have found that if clients Realy want to spend big bucks on photography they will have spent loads on everything else, it’s location and targeting your audience clientele that decided what to charge.
The article is a great piece and well thought out and again great creative images from Julia
Even though this article is a couple of years old now, it still keeps cropping up in online groups, and just appeared today; hence my visit to re-read it and leave a comment. As the recession bites ever deeper, I think advice like this is more important than ever. If people have less money to spend, they need to think very carefully about where it should go. Expensive photography isn’t for everybody; some don’t want it, others feel they don’t need it as a record of their big day. But for those who like the look of someone’s work, but who find it hard to justify the fee being asked, this offers incredibly straightforward and commonsense advice and information.
The main problems photographers face and will always is 1. Too many weekend warriors who don’t know what they are doing, who look for a bit of extra cash – they don’t realise they are damaging industry and the perception of the value of photography. 2. EDUCATION! the public needs to be educated in order to understand what it actually takes to photography ANYTHING to a professional standard. While people still believe that an ‘expensive’ sub ÂŁ1000 camera can, all by itself yield the results of a ÂŁ2000 wedding photographer, PROFESSIONAL photographers in the mid-range market will always struggle with price.
I agree totally with this write up. God bless you. As for me, I’ll keep learning everyday. Let the “I can’t afford it gang” look further for a cheaper photog.
Awesome post and I am subscribing to your blog. Thank you for this post. Looking forward to meet with you someday. Cheers!!!
Like a breath of fesh air, I loved every word of this post. THANK YOU.
Absolutely fantastic post! I’m one of the many people who plan on turning my hobby into a business and you’ve definitely given me plenty to think about as I can see it’s going to be extremely hard work. Every person in my shoes should be made to read this!
We’ve gone with the best photographer we can afford, and this is the advice i’d give to any couple. Research Research Research. We met lots of different photographers with lots of different pricing structures. We checked websites, sought referrals, contacted past clients. Our photographer may not be the most expensive (costing around ÂŁ450-500 up until the wedding breakfast) but certainly wasn’t what we would call ‘cheap’. I admit that when budgeting our wedding we only alloted ÂŁ500 for photographry, thinking that would be plenty to capture our day, only later during the researching did I realise the work that goes into perfecting those images, the costs of equipment and insurances. So instead of going ‘cheaper’ we decided to invest the money in the shots that we wanted. We may not be spending a lot of money, we may not have the ‘top’ photographer but we do have the one we’re comfortable with, the one who’ll get the shots and the style we’re looking for, the one that will help us remember our special day. Don’t be put off by snooty photographers ‘sneering’ at your small budget (and we met plenty of these), get the best you can afford and enjoy the rest of your lives together.
Great article, some very true points. Thanks for sharing.
I could not agree more with you ladies!!
Very well done for covering the controversial with style and panache! Wedding Photography is a very hard weeks work for me, but I’m not afraid of working hard when I see the smiles of clients and the kind words that follow.
Fab photos Julia Boggia too!
I know this article is a couple of years old, but it is still valid. However. personally I do not really like the attitude taken in this article. The couple whose photos all went wrong- I think ÂŁ1450 is still a rather large amount to pay to end up with no good photographs!I doubt they expected they were getting an award winning photographer but most people would expect some decent photos for that price.
I do agree that photographers have to charge a lot because of equipment, skill etc but ÂŁ4600 is an insane amount to pay unless you have a very, very large budget. If you can find the clients willing to pay that amount (which you clearly can) then I’m very happy for you. But let’s not kid ourselves- even ÂŁ2000 is a lot for most people in the real world, especially with shrinking wedding budgets. I doubt most people on a budget (say under ÂŁ8000) would be able to allocate that much to a photographer if they still want to provide food, drink and buy wedding rings!
It’s presumptuous to assume couples are trying to skimp on photography whilst paying a lot elsewhere. We decided to go for just 4 hours of photography (ÂŁ950)to get a better photographer as it is important to us but we couldn’t afford a full day. Our total wedding budget is ÂŁ6000.
Articles like this just put pressure on couples to spend more to get that ‘good enough for a wedding blog or wedding magazine’ look.
So true! We are living in a culture where people live fast and don’t expect anything to last longer than it’s 1 year guarantee (including their marriages in some cases) which is sad.
But for those people who want to have good quality products that last, whatever that may be… clothes, photos, shoes… you get what you pay for.
But I feel I must add to your post, I’ve been hired by couples before and given less than 10mins in some appalling locations to capture their ‘forever’ couple photos. I must say I wanted to hit someone, as they’d brought the reception meal forward, despite my pointing out to them that we had 30mins before the meal and perfect evening light for some stunning outdoor shots.
I guess what I’m saying is…if they value their wedding photos, the bride and groom also need to take the time and make the effort to make their day beautiful; we aren’t paid to decorate a small village hall that looks like it hasn’t been cleaned since last night’s girl scouts left it in a mess! For goodness sake, take pride in your wedding, and even if you’re doing it on a budget, if you give even a half decent photographer a chance if you’ve thought about where you want the photos taken, and how to make the most of the venue(s) you’ve picked, where to go if it’s raining, you can get capture good pictures if the setting is right, and with the right photographer they will be great pictures.
Anyway…rant over! Great article