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/Jeff Ascough…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
Tags: Budget, photography
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Oh! That was almost an article. Sorry.
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Great article Kat (and Julia), refreshing to see an article detailing what we go through as wedding togs and it’s not just a quick days work and ka-ching! I won’t go in to more details as I think most of it has already been said, I just hope that by people reading this couples will understand why we all cost such varying amounts.
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Steffi-as I mentioned in my intro, the article is in no way meant to encourage ppl to spend more than they are able to afford. However i wanted to highlight the amount of work photographers put into shooting (and all the other stuff that goes around)a wedding and why u should expect to pay more than ÂŁ500 for the best photographers. while everyone cant afford soneone like Julia,there r fab photographers at every level.its just a case of finding the one that’s best for u.
I feature the work of photographers at all levels on my blog so u should be able to find one u love, u have to be aware tho that the skill and quality of work of someone at the lower level won’t match someone charging more -
Agree with a lot of what Julia has said here however I can’t help but recoil at the phrase ‘Weekend warrior’ – can we get over this please! It makes pro’s sound incredibly snobbish.
I know some fantastic photographers who have mid-week jobs and are fully capable with a camera delivering excellent results. These days it’s not unusual for people to spread their income over two careers and to be honest I’ve seen some shocking ‘full timers’ (the news story Julia refers to where the couple hated their pics was from a full time photographer with a studio quite local to me), he was even in the SWPP assuming we’re thinking of the same story.
No one seems to mind the fact that many of the DJ’s, catering staff, wedding bands, master of ceremonies, chauffeurs, hairdressers, make up artists etc…. have other jobs!
Don’t let someone’s employment hours determine their skill with a camera, judge them on their work for sure but please, please, please can we grow up a bit as an industry and not feel quite so threatened by the gifted part-timer because their not going away any time soon.
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Great article you guys! I’m glad lots of ‘serious’ brides will see it. Trying to properly explain and justify our prices has taken a bit of work, and when told “We want you but we can’t afford you” it’s disturbing to say “We’re sorry about that but really wish you luck in your search”.
Again, great article, will be linking from our blog straight away!
Paul & Perry.
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Fantastic article! Exactly what we need our prospective clients to be reading. Well done.
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Congrats on this article Kat… And thank you to Julia for explaining it all so well. People often try to barter with photographers to knock their prices down… But at the end of the day, you get what you pay for. There may be some less expensive wedding photographers who are quite capable of taking stunning photos, but they charge less because they are just starting out. However, in general, the higher the price, the higher you would expect the quality to be. I know I spend hours sorting through and editing photographs after the wedding day as I take pride in what I do. Photographers who take the time to do this should therefore be able to charge a higher price.
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Great article!
First off, I think that anyone who has got married realises how easily the money budgeted seems to grow wings and fly away! People have different priorities for their budget. I knew someone spent ÂŁ3,000 on decorating the venue and the photography budget was non-existent – a friend did it.
I also have to say that anyone getting married now are in a very lucky position that there are some phenomenal wedding photographers rising up in the UK. 5 years ago, I wouldn’t have said that was so much the case.
The first wedding I shot for ÂŁ50 – cost of film only – my work now looks nothing like the stuff I was shooting 10 years ago!
I do get people when they ask my prices, they say that I am out of their budget and that’s OK with me, as I can’t operate the business at a lower price point. I’m not trying to rip people off, I’m just trying to eat just like the rest of us, doing a job I love doing!
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I would like to know Julia Boggio’s idea behind shooting a bridal party at the Arizona Memorial?
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I am a artist and paint wedding bridal and boudoir canvases. Most of my work originates from a wedding photogragh or photographic portrait and in my experience it is hard to make a poorly shot photograph look good in any painting. I always ask my clients to book a good photographer for their wedding if they want a good painting.Not all great photographers are expensive but good luck finding one because you have to pay a price for quality.
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Well said. Very valid points on experience, Julia and very valid points on being realistic, Kat. I have had to refuse many an acquaintance’s wedding based on their ÂŁ500 budgets, but I’m one of those people who really values what I do and can’t throw it away on a bride with Louboutins who just doesn’t value her photography as much as her shoes!
Thank yo ladies, on a subject very close to my heart. -
Patricia, that wedding was not at the Arizona Memorial. It was in London at the Guards Chapel in St James. The bride’s father had been a member of the Irish Guard, which meant she could have her wedding in that beautiful location.
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Brilliant job ladies. Thank you for tackling a subject that is the ‘black cat’ of the wedding photography business…..everyone wants to avoid it. I think from an outsiders perspective, it seems our job is nothing more than merely pushing buttons.
We can say, that starting this business, has meant that we have done the most amount of work we’ve ever done in our entire lives, and it’s almost impossible to quantify the hours you do, particularly if you work from home (office). We find ourselves (and hear many tweets from others who also do the same) at 1am on the computer sorting and editing (in our pajamas of course), preparing the end result that you’re anticipating in handing over to the couple and hoping that they love every….single….image. You love what we do, you care about your relationship with your clients and for any good wedding photographer that’s such a huge driving force, so it means that you work yourself as hard as you possibly can for your clients.
I think we’re fast realising, that when it comes to working in a creative industry, there’s something very different about handing over your â€product’. You’re not just handing over a product that’s come from a factory line of the exact same thing, and another exactly the same after it. If you really love and value what you do in this industry, when you hand your â€product’ over to them, you can honestly say that you’ve put everything into it. What’s everything? Immense preparation, scouting locations, story-boarding unique ideas, concepts and techniques, through to post processing, slideshows and albums, to make sure what you deliver for them is the best it could possibly be at that time, for that day, for them. And as you hand over that â€product’, you’re handing over their day in pictures, and lovingly attached is, your energy, your time, your skills, your emotions and a heck of alot of hard work, that certainly didn’t begin and end…with just pushing buttons.
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I think every couple has their own unique set of priorities for their wedding, it’s not always about having enough money but wanting to part with it for certain things.
I think the article is brilliant, but it ignores the current economic climate and the simple fact that people are cutting back all around in these tougher times, especially in areas not as important “to them personally”.
Some brides spend the more on the dress, others spend more on the venue, the entertainment, or the flowers, photography is not always the “high end” purchase educating brides to understand the differences is important. But couples just don’t know how else to compare services, and spending more money does not always guarantee them better quality…
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Definitely refreshing to read! Good work Julia and Kat.
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Valid Kat, but think about other overheads. Some wedding photographers have overheads that don’t affect the beauty of the image-studio v working from home, the cost of living in London rather than outside a city or in the North or Scotland.
I personally think you shouldn’t get the ‘best money can buy’, you should get what you love within budget.
My budget is ÂŁ3.5k so there are quite a few photographers within my budget BUT the one I love the best because I like the way they capture the moments and the way they always seem to capture the flattering image are ÂŁ2.5k but based outside of London.
What does annoy me are the relatively new photographers who charge ÂŁ2000 from the off and simply, they aren’t worth it! I agree with Julia that charges should be based on experience and talent not ‘the industry average’. -
When we get married photography will be massively important. In fact we already know who we want to book and I’m getting massively anxious that he won’t pop the question soon enough and she’ll be busy when we want to get hitched (2012, restricted by school holiday times grrr).
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Finally just got round to reading this after a very busy weekend shooting weddings. I recently stood listening to a Groom thank everyone in his speech, from the caterer to the man who played piano for 10 minutes in the ceremony. No mention of me or my second shooter who had been on the go for 10 hours and still had to cover the dancing followed by a 90 minute drive home. I can only think that I am very good at making it look like I too am having the best day of my life and there is no need to thank me!
Thanks for tackling this subject. Every wedding photographer I know works their socks off, often sacrificing a social life for months on end. They are very passionate about doing the best job they can.
One thing I would add to the article is book your photographer as soon as you can. I have to turn away a lot of awesome couples who have left it too late to get in touch. -
Great Blog Kat, very brave and worthy of praise! Julia raised some interesting points too, especially how much the client values photography…
A great informative read, Brides to be take note!
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what a fascinating article, I enjoyed reading it and it also reassured me. I am not a photographer, I am a harpist and I perform regularly at weddings. I am sick of people making smart remarks about what I charge to play for a short time, assuming this is my actual hourly rate. The cost of my instrument is similarly in the thousands as are insurance costs etc, driving time, all the add ons including maintaining my instrument and buying music, plus the hours and hours of practice I currently try to fit in around my current full time job, and learning a new piece at the drop of a hat because someone wants to walk down the aisle to something unusual (I am happy to do this and normally enjoy it with a bit of notice!). This article will help me feel more confident about justifying my costs and reassures me I am not a money grabber, just trying to make a reasonable living in a job I love rather than making great money in a job that saps my very soul! Thank you for writing the article, and also I have enjoyed the comments too.
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absolutely brilliant… thank you!
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Some good clarity accept for one point, most of the photographers I love, whose work I’m totally inspired by charge less than ÂŁ3000 so is it entirely accurate to say the high end is ÂŁ4000 + if “high end” is referring to the best work?
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David – most of my favourite photographers are in the ÂŁ1200 – ÂŁ2000 mark! I believe ‘high end’ simply refers to price…
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… as opposed to quality? It’s easy to see where confusion comes in. I’m glad you mentioned, photographers such as Jose Villa as I would say in their case you can just look at the work and see where the demand comes from, it’s totally stunning work!! ; )
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kinda yeah… (not knocking the more expensive guys obviously) however the term ‘high end’ is often referred to when talking about ‘high end brides’ (ie rich brides who spend lots of money on their weddings.)
not saying that either high end (or budget) photographers are nessisarily better (or worse) for everyone, apart from the cost of living debate, its all down to personal aestetic choice. there are so crazy expensive photographers who’s work i adore and similarly some high end photographers who’s work i think is ahhem..not so good.
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Couldn’t agree more!
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Hey Kat! I know how nervous you were about posting this article……. I’m not sure why. Great to see someone with some sense regarding wedding photography or hring a photographer in general. I’ve heard nothing but great things from all of my colleges. How true it all is….”you get what you pay for”…..period! Thank you so much for making sense of all the confusion that brides face when trying to find a quality photographer within their budgets. Thanks again!
Ry
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I know I’m a bit late, but seriously well done Kat for approaching this subject! I’m sure many couples find it all a bit of a minefield; they want good photography but don’t know how much they should be paying.
You were bound to get a varied response from photographers because we’re such a mixed bag! I’m a new, “low-end”, “weekend warrior” photographer and some of Julia’s comments really struck a chord with me, whilst others made me sigh a little. I really admire Julia’s work (and her dirty dancing! : D) but personally I hope I never charge that much money.
“Everyone deserves to have a truly fantastic photographer to capture their day”, but sadly not everyone can afford it. Some of the most beautiful and interesting weddings are put together for less than a couple of grand and whilst I won’t work for nothing, I don’t want to miss out on these. It’s the relationship between the bride and groom, and their personalities which inspire me and help me to take my best photographs, not their budget.
It’s so true that some people simply don’t value photography, or don’t see the difference between a great shot and an average one. Consequently, there are photographers out there who’ll cover your wedding for ÂŁ200 incl. high res CD of pretty average images. This to me is low-end; photographers who don’t strive to improve their work and are happy to continue producing unimaginative, low quality work for a low fee.
It’s important for brides to understand the amount of work that goes on behind the scenes and I’m so pleased you dealt with this! As Julia said, many people assume the price quoted is for one day’s work and are understandably outraged, but they couldn’t be more wrong. At the moment because I’m still gaining experience, I charge between ÂŁ600 and ÂŁ800 (album extra) and with the hours I put in I’m no way near breaking even!
Of course it is true… you get what you pay for, however, there aren’t many brides around with a Boggio budget. So perhaps it might be interesting to do a similar article from a slightly different perspective? A brilliant “mid-range” wedding photographer explaining what you should expect to pay for a dedicated, creative photographer. Just a thought.
Vic x
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Great article, always looking for things like this that explain it better than I can!
And wow – congrats Julia on your career!! I checked out your site to confirm, and I think we went to high school together
I’m trying to improve my photography to the point where I can do it as a side business (not weddings, though!) but have been too busy this past year planning my own wedding 
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A really interesting and honest article, thanks Kat and Julia. As Julia touched on with the cake, and Chloe with the Louboutins, often ‘budget’ is subjective. Of course there are times when couples genuinely have no money available for anything – I completely empathise with this as my own entire wedding cost about ÂŁ1500, and most of this went on food and drink for friends and family. However it happens so often that people want great photography for low prices because they “have a really tight budget”, but then you discover that they chose to spend ÂŁ800 on jewellery, a pair of shoes or a cake, or that they chose an incredibly expensive venue or dress. Of course people can rightly spend their money on whatever they want, but at the same time, it’s not reasonable to expect any supplier to lower their prices because a free choice has been made to spend money elsewhere. In these cases the “tight budget” for photography is self-imposed, resulting from personal preferences and different priorities. Couples should of course be able to spend whatever they want on photography, from peanuts to thousands, but like anything else, there has to be the realistic appreciation that different prices yield different quality products and unfortunately you can’t buy a Bentley for the price of an old banger…!
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Finally got around to reading this as could’nt pick it up on my phone, Wow what a article fantastic.
I’m in my first year so it’s lovely to hear about prices and what to charge in years to come, would love to do one of Julia’s course’s. Thanks Kat for aproaching this subject would love to hand this out to every bride who ask me to low my price
Mel x
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oooh brilliant read for me particularly as I am both a newbie and a weekend warrior
for the next 3 years any way….My Aunt and Uncle were portrait and wedding photographers, they were my idols, and as long as I can remember I have been fascinated with photographs.
I had been a photographers assistant, then production photographer for a few years. Then I was invited to photograph a friends wedding a couple of years ago and LOVED it, really bitten by the bug!
I have been fortunate enough to be invited to do a few weddings since and have been able to finally start charging for them (nowhere near enough to make a living or even break even!)
I am studying creative media at uni in the evenings and training in the day to be a teacher (3 years to go!), but intend to carry on photography weddings when I qualify as I love it so much.
But there is so much work and time involved that I must make it worth my while. There are some weddings where friends have only wanted images in the raw, but a couple (funilly enough usually the freebies) that want the retouching. They have little concept of how much time this takes. I do not have a social life, EVERY spare minute is honestly taken up with study, photography and developing my brand. Fortunately my husband is just as involved in his company or we’d be in trouble!!
I am very lucky to have two passions and potential careers, photography and teaching, but unfortunately do not have the time to pursue the photography as in depth as I would like to whilst I am studying and training full time. (there is a masterplan, and this hard work WILL pay off in the future)
I am looking forward to being qualified, settling into teaching, and then all my spare time can be focussed on the photography, and I can finally start charging a good fee for my time.
Recently I increased my prices, don’t get me wrong, I will still do family for free, and if I were a millionaire I may do pro bono..??… but I have uni fees to pay, a home and a car to run, credit cards for my own wedding to pay off…. I know I could charge more, but as yet do not feel I am in the same league as some of my peers/ competition.
I have lost jobs because I am perceived as too cheap, I have also lost jobs for being too expensive for some brides.
As long as I can still do up 4 or 5 a year whilst I am studying, I can keep my hand in, keep fresh and keep getting my wedding fixes, then I will hopefully get better with each one.
And who knows maybe eventually I can unfold my Masterplan, to start a family, be a mummy first, a wedding photographer, and be a ‘term time warrior’ supply teacher! ….. in my dreams??!! xx
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Fantastic article!!
I have just sent a link to this page to all the family members that have been complaining about how much my partner and I are spending on our photographer.
Thank you ladies
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Hi, just came across your blog via a friend. I noticed the bit about the photographer that the couple suede and were charged ÂŁ1450. It was myself and one of the hotels that recommend my services (Bagden Hall Hotel) that re scheduled their big day. I re shot the wedding and provided the couple with what they had wanted in the first place.
They had wanted to book my services in the first place, but alas I was booked by another couple. It is a scary thought when hearing so many couples now mention that a friend or family member “does photography” worst when it’s an actual full time photographer charging it, that cannot produce the goods.
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Very nice article. I liked the ‘what u get is what u pay for’ thing.. Thats indeed true..
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Great article Kat and Julia….
The one thing that lasts after the wedding, besides the groom of course are the photographs. They’re worth the investment!
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Brilliant article, very well written!
Great that somebody has addressed the issue and expresses exactly what we as photographers have to go through. -
Great article and well balanced, it baffles me when couples put ÂŁ3000 in to flowers and zilch in to photography. One dies the next day and the other lasts forever, its a no brainer.
We were very lucky in being able to have the amazing Jeff Ascough shoot our wedding but it did mean I had to cut some of the budget down elsewhere (looking back I can’t see where now!) but I am delighted I did.
We had no formal photography and let Jeff do his reportage / photo journalistic shots he has become so famous for. And of course thats what we were paying for, for his photography style and expertise and we now have some amazing images to treasure for ever.
And it also meant that we were able to down a mojito or two and mingle with our guests instead of standing round having posed pictures, yeay for reportage!
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Kat
Thank you for this. Very interesting article.
Could you possibly set up an article looking at low, mid and high end photographers that you would recommend? The reasons why, locality etc.
It would be great to have a bit more of an idea about what you CAN get for your money rather than what you cant… I would expect that most of us CANNOT afford Julia, even if we went 20/30% of our budgets. Alot of readers come on here for inspiration on how to save money, diy etc… , however, some photographers charging ÂŁ2000+ are not coming up with the goods. One friend of mine paid ÂŁ2500 for a disc of 50 photos. Another who paid ÂŁ2000 had to wait 10 months for her album…. Harrods Service?? I think not…. more like Primark….I am not a photographer, I wouldnt even say I am artisitic, but I would like to be able to have some good photos, with a good service, for around ÂŁ2k mark… is this unreasonable?? (20% of my budget… eek!)
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Kat/Julia,
Fantastic article that has been a long time coming.
As a new photographer who is keen to develop a business that is viable I’m struggling with pricing and the market that seems to be driven to push prices ever lower and an obsession with providing CD only packages.
I love photography so was it was an important element of our wedding and not something that I had any issue spending a decent amount on.
This is one article I will push customers to take a look, at any time dropping prices comes up in conversation.
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just had to comment on this article, i’m not a photographer (although i am photo mad) but i am getting married next year and as the photography was a big thing for both me and my other half we spent a lot of time researching what we wanted in both the type of the photographer and the style of the finished album.
we’d given ourselves a budget (funnily enough 10% of the proposed wedding costs) and then went about hunting the market for what we wanted. we we’re very very lucky to find what we wanted with a friend of our best man (which means we’ll be comfortable with him on the day, something else we had hoped for). he’s an official photographer, mainly weddings but also gigs and sports photography and we ended paying slighty over the budget but in the end up it will definitely be worth it.
i definitely think that photography is one thing that lots of brides and grooms have a “just do” attitude about and i’m sure it’s okay for them but it was a definite high priority for us (placed even higher than the wedding dress … actually costing twice the price of the wedding dress too!).
my first encounter will wedding photography was my mum and dad’s wedding album which i used to root out from the top of the wardrobe and could look at for hours and hours, my dad is also a keen photographer and is fanatical about taking pictures at weddings, much to the luck of a cousin who got her wedding album put together from my dad’s photo’s rather than the official photographers as they turned out that bad.
i think in the large scheme of things the photography is going to be there for you and your husband well after the day’s memories have faded and it might even catch some of the events you were just too busy to see. i know everyone has their own priorities but i definitely don’t mind paying for the privilage of a great photographer who will make an outstanding album for me to remember a most important day in my life.
and that’s what your wedding photographer should do so why skimp on such an important memento!
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Yay! Love this article, need to link to it so my brides can read it too!
I think feeling insulted because someone points out that less experienced photogs aren’t as good as more experienced photogs is missing the point. The point is that almost anyone can get lucky with a few good shots during a wedding day, but the more experience you have the more CONSISTANT & RELIABLE you’ll be in getting those fabulous shots. I am definitely better than when I first started assisting, and better than when I first started my studio, and I better as all hell keep on developing my skills and vision and style the longer I do this! I could keep on, but I’ll end with I ALWAYS ask for dinner:)
Thanks!!! -
This is a great post and something I wish I had read BEFORE my wedding and my wedding photos had been taken! I got married on 4 September, didn’t have a huge budget for photography, but spent around ÂŁ750 (worth noting the wedding was in Scotland and prices are cheaper up here than in London and the South!) for our photographer….and the images have left me devastated. My photographer is a member of swpp and apparently has over 10 years of experience….his portfolio looked great and we felt we were getting a good deal…..what we should of done and didn’t was rather than basing our decision on his portfolio of his best shots was on browsing through other “full wedding” albums.
Some elements of our wedding he missed included, one of our bridesmaids walking down the aisle – there were only two of them, a shot of our witnesses signing the register, one of the actual outside of the venue (it was a castle and rather beautiful!), the “dress” shot of it hanging up in your room, half the speeches and shots of our guests during the meal, table plan, lots of the DIY details that literally took me hours to make ….all of these things were asked for or were in our opinion so obvious we didn’t think a photographer of his apparent standard would go wrong. Oh and the worst bit of all – he gave us a disc with ALL the images he took and there were 328 – TOTAL. I may be wrong but I understood that there should of been around at least 600 or so…..my auntie took more than 300 pictures at the wedding!!
On the flip side of my bad experience a good family friend got married 2 weeks after mine. She used a friend who was a keen photogrpaher and just breaking into weddings and basically didn’t charge her anything….she had over 2000 images to choose from and the results are simply stunning!
I suppose my ramble boils down to this for any bride to be’s booking a photographer…..take the time to look extensively through full wedding albums, and chat to your photographer to check you feel comfortable…. don’t get swayed by cheap deals or fancy membership titles they throw your way, that person could cost you nothing becasue they are a friend or could cost you ÂŁ2k because you love their work…….it is the ONE thing that you will totally regret not getting right as you can’t go back if it goes wrong…..something I am presently beating myself up a lot over!!!
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About The Girl
Hello and welcome to my little blog. My name is Kat Williams aka the Rock n Roll Bride and my aim is to provide a little haven of kick ass weddingness in a cookie cutter, pastel and often puke-worthy wedding world. If you’ve ever picked up a bridal magazine and felt queasy or trawled the internet and felt disheartened by what you didn’t find well, my friend, you are in the right place!
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