I get asked this question all the time “How much does wedding photography really cost?” It’s kind of a loaded question, so there’s no simple answer, but, I can give you this first. My most often booked, and most popular collection is $4,443. That includes 8 hours of coverage with 2 photographers, an online gallery with all your professionally edited images & 75 Fine Art prints delivered in an heirloom box.
There are a lot of things that factor into the pricing of a wedding photographer. Here’s a quick breakdown of the basic cost of doing business is for a photographer.
Gear, OMG it’s expensive!
- 2-3 camera bodies
- Multiple lenses with different focal lengths
- Batteries
- Memory cards
- Flashes
- A camera harness to safely & securely wear my cameras
- Camera Bag to hold all the things
Basic Cost Of Doing Business
- Liability & Equipment Insurance
- Business licenses
- Business taxes
- Computer with the computing power to run at minimum Lightroom & Photoshop.
- Multiple external hard drives to make sure that your files are safe.
Cloud storage for the above reason as well. - High-speed Internet, so I can upload & send you your photos.
- A phone, so you can reach us.
- Gallery hosting
- Website (design, maintenance, hosting)
Costs Associated With Each Wedding
Now that we’ve covered what I, & most photographers, have invested in my business to be able to take care of all my amazing clients. It’s time to address the variable Wedding Photography costs. These items can change in cost per wedding.
- My hourly rate ( I, like most photographers, only charge you for the hours that I am actually shooting your wedding. The hours I spend prior to your wedding (on the phone, emailing, preparing timelines, writing proposals & contracts, referring vendors, etc.) are just part of the service I provide. As are the hours upon hours I spend after the wedding going through all the photos, editing, creating album mock ups & slideshows.)
- My second photographers hourly rate
- Prints & photo boxes
- Albums
- Perfume drives
Let’s Be Real
Seems like your wedding photographer only spends 6-12 hours with you on your wedding day, the actual time spent in total on your beautiful memories is a lot longer! On average, I personally spend about 24 hours on an 8 hour wedding. Broken down it really changes things. I realize that you have bills to pay & may also have kids to feed, but we too have bills to pay & kids to feed!
I respect your budget 100%! That’s why I’m willing to work with most couples on a budget. If you’re clear with me, and most photographers, what your budget is & what you need & expect to be included in that, I’ll do my best to make it happen for you!
Collection or Custom?
It’s time to talk wedding collections. I have a range of full-day wedding collections that start at 6 hours of coverage, all the way up to 10 hours of coverage. Those are all pre-built collections based on things that past clients have really enjoyed having included. What if you don’t need all the extras or the budget doesn’t allow for them? That’s not a problem! Let’s create a custom collection based on your needs.
If you decide that you’d like to go the hourly coverage rate, my hourly coverage is $450 an hour for just me & if you’d like to have two photographers, which I totally recommend to get those extra angles & a few extra images, that’s $550 an hour. I have a 3 hour minimum for wedding coverage.
If you’re eloping, that’s a whole different ball game! Elopements are typically an hour to two hours & are just me. I’ll create an entirely different post just for Elopements!
Now What?
Now, it’s time to figure out, what do you need? What do you want? And what’s really important to you? Give me a call and we’ll figure it out together!
