How Much To Charge For Wedding Photography

What Services Does A Wedding Planner’s Fee Include

The services a wedding planners cost includes vary depending on the type of professional youre hiring whether its a full-service, month-of, or day-of planner, or a planner who specializes in destination weddings. Here are some of the most common services that your wedding planner may include in his or her package:

How Much You Should Charge For Photography

Tanya Goodall Smith 5 years ago

Take a Time Out with Tanya, art director & graphic designer turned commercial photographer who really just wants a break from her three kids. Sign up for her weekly email here so youll never miss a Time Out.

One of the most frequently asked questions I hear from aspiring photographers is How much should I charge for my photography? This is a question Im constantly asking myself, even after Ive worked through multiple formulas, watched countless CreativeLive courses and tried several different pricing strategies. The fact is, theres no simple answer to this frustrating question. Through the years Ive gathered several resources that may help you figure it out though.

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Price Right: Find The Middle Ground

This is where you have to carefully consider all the above-mentioned factors, and decide on a price that not only does justice to your services and contributes to profits but also is true to the market value. To get a better understanding, if you are just starting out as a photographer, keeping reasonable rates can work in your favor to get more bookings so as to build your portfolios. On the other hand, if your target market is luxury weddings, then the prices would normally be comparatively higher – but still, lower than those of the pioneers in the industry.

In simpler words, try to start with reasonable rates and slowly work your way toward gaining more experience, enhancing your skill set, and modifying your prices accordingly. This being said, there are a few other things to take into consideration. First, try not to set your prices too low. The reason is that there are some services and products that when priced very low are perceived of low value by many clients. And thats the last thing you would want your clients to perceive when it comes to your brand image. In addition to that, undercutting the market value doesnt always help in the long run. Remember, you too have input costs.

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Create An Emotional Connection

Lets be honest – spending money, especially thousands of dollars on a wedding photographer, is not easy. So what can you do to make this process easier for potential clients? Create an emotional connection with them! Studies claim that 70% of your clients of your clients will make their purchasing decisions based on how you treat them. As you meet with your couple, strive to create a true emotional connection with them – not only will this set you apart from other photographers, but it can also help seal the deal for you as their wedding photographer!

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How Much Does A Wedding Photographer Cost

Wedding photographer prices can vary depending on many factors including your weddings location , the type of services and packages youre looking for, and your chosen photographers experience and level of expertise. In general, wedding photographer prices in the U.S. tend to range between $1,150 and $3,000, with the average wedding photographer cost hovering around $2,000.

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As A Side Revenue To Your Photography Services

Selling prints as a secondary source of income has a lot of benefits too.

If youre already a professional photographer that works directly with clients, it makes a lot of sense to offer prints for sale.

For example, if youre a wedding photographer, youre already on location and taking high-quality photos images that the lucky couple and their family will cherish in any format.

This presents a perfect opportunity to offer value-add products such as printed images.

This is highly appealing to your clients as they have an emotional attachment to the product. Plus, you take away the hassle of them printing their digital images.

It will definitely prove to be a great marketing tool for your photography business.

Create Your Wedding Portfolio Website And Brand

You need to work on creating value for yourself as a wedding photographer. Your brand logo, business name, wedding portfolio website, blog, business card, and even the way you present yourself – all of these make an impression and influence people. Establishing a premium and exclusive positioning will not just attract more clients, it would also help you sell your services on higher wedding photography prices.

Make sure that your wedding portfolio website looks stunning and works brilliantly. A positive first impression while seeing your wedding portfolio online can persuade prospects to become your clients. Check out samples of wedding portfolio websites from top wedding photographers to get inspired. Here are best wedding photography websites that you will fall in love with.

The reason why owning your own website matters is because it helps you funnel client-traffic from different channels into one single, controllable window of exposure. Owning your website puts you in charge of the entire user experience and the management of your brand image. You are free to organize your content, insert testimonials, publish educative blogs, and display and deliver images from your online store. Well positioned design also helps you with better digital marketing and online visibility. Your website is your ultimate digital office the headquarters of your creative outpourings.

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How Much Does A Wedding Photography Album Cost

Wedding photography albums generally start at about $500 for a small book and can cost anywhere up to $3,000 or more for a large book. Wedding photography albums are usually hand bound by professional book building studios, have leather or fabric covers, are embossed with your name or date or something cute on the front, and have the images printed directly onto the matte card stock inside. You can browse past wedding photography albums that Ive designed and printed here.

Is An Engagement Session Usually Included In The Price

Photographers quite often include it in the total price however, they always list it separately. Typically, the cost for an engagement photoshoot can range from $150 to $600. It includes a photoshoot and access to an online gallery of your photos.

Some photographers can also send you a USB stick. Usually, you can also change your outfits during a shoot. However, in some cases, you will need to pay extra to do it.

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What’s Included In A Wedding Photographers Pricing

Under this $4,250 investment, Millay offers 10 to 12 hours of wedding day coverage with a second shooter, an online gallery with digital downloads, and an engagement photo session. It also includes travel within about four hours and photo editing. However, this is just the base level for coverage. Millay charges $200 per additional hour of wedding day coverage. Add-ons like albums and prints, which Millay offers a la carte, vary from $300 to $1,200 depending on the couples selection. She caps her pricing for prints because she doesnt want to price clients out of the products that matter most. When you pull out old photos, youre not looking at the quality. Youre looking at the memory, Millay says. Sadly, if prints are $75 or more per photo, people just arent going to print them. Thats why I try to keep them reasonable.

Another extra Millays clients have become interested in is rehearsal dinner coverage, which is priced at $400. I encourage this as much as I can, she explains. Its great to meet the family beforehand so everyones comfortable with me and knows me on the wedding day.

Videography is not included in most wedding photographers packages. Typically are separate vendors from different companies, although some husband-and-wife teams offer both. A wedding videographer is slightly less than a photographer for 10 hours of coverage and a five-minute highlight film, youll likely pay between $1,000 to $5,000, and in some cases more.

Whats Included In A Wedding Photography Package

When comparing different wedding photography packages, you need to pay attention to several things:

1. Hours of photography. It shows you how many hours a photographer will work during your wedding.

2. Number of digital photographs. When deciding how much to charge for wedding photos, most photographers base the total price on the amount of work they need. They also indicate how many images they will send you after your wedding.

3. Number of prints. Until recently, many photographers offered couples to order 6×4 or 7×5 prints, but nowadays, this option is in low demand.

4. A USB stick. Some photographers can send you a USB memory stick with post-processed photos in high resolution. You can use such images to order prints or albums.

5. An online gallery. In some cases, a photographer might give you access to a password-protected service where your photos are stored. This way, it will be easier for you to share your wedding pictures with your close ones. Sometimes, you will also be offered to pay extra to purchase prints from a photographer.

6. A wedding album. You can order a photo album and select its design according to your preferences. Its also possible to order an album from another service.

7. Bonus items. If you have some cash, you can order the most expensive package that includes extra items. For example, some couples order a photo booth , photos of a rehearsal dinner, canvas prints or videos.

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Mistake 1 Work Is Undervalued

This problem is associated with beginners, as their photography price list examples contain too cheap rates. Of course, a small price tag interests lots of clients, but the money you get will hardly justify the amount of time you spend shooting and editing images, so your work will become an unbearable routine over time. Beginners often feel scared that by raising the price, they may scare off clients.

What to do: Establish a reasonable photography cost from the very beginning. This means asking as much money for your services as you need to stay motivated for further development.

Consider The Options As A New Wedding Photographer

So there are lots of things to consider when you weigh up what you charge for wedding photography.

If youre a new wedding photographer then you want to be competitive in order to get booked up, but you also need to make sure its worth your while.

It also helps if youre able to have conversations with wedding clients and discuss their wedding budget. That way, if you need to adjust your costs a bit then you can.

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Should I Negotiate The Price

If you are good at negotiating, you can try asking for a discount. However, most photographers have fixed prices that cant be lowered. Usually, you can select a package that suits you most.

A , equipment, licenses, insurance, which adds to the total cost. The cases when a professional photographer could afford to lower a package price are sporadic.

When Should You Take Your Engagement Photos

Couples usually take engagement photos about three months before their wedding date. You should work with your photographer to determine the best time for your needs. Some couples will adjust their timing to have a warm-weather engagement shoot, but dont shy away from a winter photo session. We find winter engagement shoots to be among the most intimate, cozy and romantic!

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How Much To Charge For Photography Travel

Jumping back into travel fees, knowing how to price a travel fee is tricky, but the most common mistake that we see all the time is to charge a hard $/mile rate. So this would look like a section on your website or your pricing guide that says, $0.45 per mile outside of 30 miles or something like that. But heres why that doesnt work very well: it gives you no flexibility.

In our video last week, we talked about venue fees, and why sometime you might want to make a venue fee higher or lower, depending on how badly you want to shoot at a specific location or with a certain couple. And travel fees can work the same way! Heres another example. Theres this location outside of Charlottesville that is SUPER popular for photoshoots, and that EVERYONE wants to have their engagement photos or family photos taken at, especially in the fall. And because its so popular, but is a relatively small overlook on the side of the Blue Ridge Parkway, its often packed with other photographers and photoshoots, and is a huge pain to shoot at. Not to mention, its ~45 minutes away from our house.

Because of those reasons, we ask for a $200 travel fee if one of our couples want to photograph an engagement session there. This serves two purposes at the same time: first it discourages couples from shooting there, which is good because we honestly are over this location. And if they really do want to shoot there, then we make an extra $200 for doing that work, which feels good to us!

Get To Know Your Target Audience

Your ideal client persona and expectations are two things that you should aim to know like the back of your hand. Oftentimes, while booking wedding clients, you are not playing the numbers, you are playing the person sitting across you. Is your ideal client someone who is planning a big fat wedding and doesnt mind over-the-top settings and flamboyant wedding images? Or is your ideal client in love with the idea of eloping and a small intimate wedding? Whatever be the case, as a wedding photographer, you need to be aware of their tastes and photography visions. Another essential factor is the average guest count. The more the guests, the bigger the budget. And might we remind you, the budget matters! In general, wedding photography is one of the main expenses of a wedding budget. And couples tend to spend 10% to 15% of their wedding budget on wedding photographers.

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How Much Do Photographers Make

According to the American Bureau of Labor Statistics, most professional photographers make an annual salary of $34,000 to $42,770. The highest-paid in-house photographers make $80,000 in the aerospace industry, or $65,000 in real estate, government, schools, hospitals or the motion picture industry.

Other in-house photographers who work exclusively at companies involved in corporate marketing or field research average around $50,929 to $72,415 annually, though a smaller percentage of some high-profile positions could pay up to $90,000 annually or more.

How Much Do Photographers Make?

Figuring out how much photographers make requires you to consider how much training and experience they have, how good their equipment is, where they live, and their knowledge of photo editing and design.

When To Reevaluate Your Rates

Its not enough to decide on your photography rates. You also need to ensure to reevaluate them regularly. They should always reflect your level of expertise and quality of work.

Early on, you may want to review your rates and consider price hikes every three months. As you become more experienced, the rate changes may only happen every nine to twelve months.

One issue that many photography businesses have is caused by having set increases. In other words, they always add a certain amount without figuring out how much they truly need.

Dont increase your photography pricing using an arbitrary amount. You cant say youre adding $100 to your fees without a good reason. You need to know where every penny of the money goes. That way, you see what you need to charge.

So before you set new photography rates, calculate your costs. Then come up with a number that you think will sustain your income and allow growth. But at the same time, you should also remain competitive with other businesses. If your fees are too high, youll probably lose customers.

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Lure Clients With Generous Discounts

In general, there are 3 types of discounts that are bound to interest clients and raise your income.

Introductory Discount. This kind of discount stays active for a limited period and provides a too good offer to miss it. They intrigue people fast. Although they do not offer quick profit, they guarantee long-lasting relationships. A great decision is to offer not more than 20% for the coming season.

Special Offer Discount. The main goal is to collaborate with customers that have already revealed interest, but are not ready to pay the full price. What you should offer: a particular day of photo sessions with lowered prices.

Discount Value-Added. It works for those clients who are fond of your work, but high prices fear them. You just add a bonus option/product to a regularly priced service. In case of collaborating with couples that plan to get married, offer them a mini-photo session of engagement. Just invite them for having a beer and short photo session. That will guarantee that your photography contract will be signed.

How Much Should Photographers Charge For Special Events

How do you charge for unforgettable memories?

As mentioned earlier, different kinds of photography call for different pricing models. Next, well take a look at the average rates of event photographers and photographers that charge per project. Well also touch on how to come up with a decent per-image rate for your work.

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