Cost of wedding photography

[twatkinson]

I'm curious to see, what percentage of a wedding budget do you think should go to photography?

 

Also, if you were hired for your time only, what would your hourly rate be?

 

Looking forward to your answers.

[ned1]

By time only do you mean that you would supply the equipment? And how much would it cost you to lease the equipment for the day? And when you say time, do you mean time spent shooting or time spent post-processing. In the digital age the later can take more time than the former.

[pete w]

Talitha, I don't have an hourly rate as it doesn't make sense to do a 2 hour shoot for ex. and lose what could be a full Wedding day shoot by booking for only a couple of hours as that day is now done and gone even if you charge 500.00 per hour.

Weddings start at 2500.00 and can range much higher depending on the package chosen given the amount of prints,sizes,albums ect.

 

There a lot of photographers who charge an hourly rate but for some there are only so many days and their experience as well as the fact that they need to make a living does not allow to do a less expensive day.

 

For ex. 4 Weddings in a month at 2 hours each @500.00 per hour = 4000.00 month.

 

4 full day Weddings @ 2500.00 is a 10,000.00 month.

 

Take Care, Pete

[annealmasy]

Can you explain more about what you're wanting to know and why?

 

I've read stats ranging from 5% to 20% regarding the percentage of the wedding budget

that should go to photography. It really depends on how important the photography is to

you. We've shot small, all-church weddings where we were clearly about 75% of the

budget. We've also shot weddings where we were probably only 2% of the budget. The

small-budget weddings have their own unique charm and are a really fun challenge for us.

The large-budget events are great because there are usually TONS of amazing details to

keep us busy.

 

We offer our photography in a pretty A La Carte way. Right now, our coverage (with the

digital negatives included) starts at $4000 for 8 hours locally, so I guess you could say we

charge $500/hour.

 

But of course the 8 hours on the wedding day aren't really the only time we're charging

for. When it's all broken down, what we're actually profiting from a wedding is much more

"reasonable", because we actually spend a minimum of 56 hours on every wedding. Then

of course you have to consider all the costs of doing business, including overhead and

taxes, and the fact that there are two of us shooting and working on the event.

[mike_barrett2]

WOW Anne!

 

A Mininimum of 56 hours. I spend 15-18 hours total including meeting for the initial consultation, the shooting, album design and album design consultation. If you add my office girl to the equation it would be more like 20-25 hours. What do you spend 56 hours doing???

 

My average collection is $2300 to $2900 not including parents and guests orders. You are charging more, to be sure. But I have a feeling that once expenses are paid, my hourly would be quite low!

 

Just curious???? WOW! 58 hours.........Oh yah, I already said that.

 

Mike

[mike_barrett2]

I meant to say YOUR houlrly would be quite low.

 

I average $100-150 per hour for each hour of the entire process.

 

Your average can't be over $65

 

And some photographers say I do not charge enough!

 

Mike

[steve george]

I'm with Anne on the time taken - I don't think I could make it take less time without compromising in a way I'm not prepared to do. Here's a rough breakdown for me, using a recent wedding as a "real world" example:

 

- Initial meeting with clients, including travel time, 2 hours

 

- Once booked, consultation 4 weeks prior to wedding, including travel time, admin etc, 2 to 3 hours

 

- "dry run" travel to venues 1 week before to ensure I know my way around, check for new roadworks, get to know what flowers are out / what renovations are taking place at the venues etc, 2 to 3 hours

 

- the wedding day itself, including travel, anything from 8 to 14 hours

 

- image editing and post processing, slideshow creation, collecting prints, checking quality, getting them redone if necessary (rare) 20 to 30 hours, sometimes more if I've been involved for longer on the day

 

- collecting album from bookbinders 1 hour

 

- delivery of album to couple, including travel, 2 hours

 

So generally I'm approaching 50 hours per wedding. Once I take into account the costs of materials, running the business etc the depth of service I offer means I'm actually earning below minimum hourly wage with my 2007 prices - this is one of many reasons why for 2008 I'm offering a radically different service that will be charged at a higher premium. (For my region I'm at average market price too - it's not like I'm massively undercutting the market at the moment.)

 

To answer your cost about % of budget, it depends how important photography is to you, and most importantly, how much the photographer you want to record your day costs - there's no hard and fast rule: the photographer with the style / personality / rapport that you want may be 5% of your budget or they may be 25% - if you want them then the cost or % of budget isn't necessarily the over-riding factor in a choice...

[cjogo]

We charge by the hour--and that would include the 56 hours post. That's why we still shoot film--our clients seemingly don't have the budgets, for all this post work. We offer no albums or rarely a reprint. Average wedding is $2000-4000 -- 3 to 6 hour coverage. These days : under 4 hours is the request from our brides. So, a 4 hour wedding constitutes maybe ~ 5 hours total with travel time & shipping the negs/prints. No need to edit our coverage > because the B&G receive the negs.

[twatkinson]

I guess I should have been more specific :) This is just a hypothetical question that came out

of a previous thread. If you WERE to charge an hourly rate for the 5-14 hours spent shooting

a wedding, taking into consideration the time spent editing afterwards, and not including the

cost of prints, albums, etc. What would you charge?

[annealmasy]

<i>"Mike Barrett, Jul 22, 2007; 01:12 p.m.

<br>What do you spend 56 hours doing???"</i>

<p>

Building and maintaining a great business. :)

[mike_barrett2]

Well Anne,

 

I am not one to usually say such things but you deserve what you are charging and a whole lot more! Your work is amazing. I don't know why you do not offer clients a finished product, though. With your work the album would be stunning!

 

I still think 56+ hours is excessive. But if it works for you great. However, with your work in the same league as the Fong and the other legends in the wedding photo world, you deserve at least double what your getting IMHO.

 

I have been doing weddings for nearly 20 years and specialize in creating relationships and producing a high quality consistant result in the least amount of time possible. I also do a lot of volume work such as schools, sports leagues, etc. It doesn't seem right that you are not making a lot more money per hour than myself.

 

Truly, your images blew me away!

 

Mike

 

Mike

[annealmasy]

Thanks, Mike. I'm 25. We're still building our business. I have every confidence that we will

be charging more as time goes by. :)

 

We do offer albums, btw, and every single image we share with a client has been retouched,

toned, and enhanced, so it is very much a finished product -- time-consuming, but an

integral part of our brand.

[robbie_caswell]

I just came back from a seminar last week and the average budget in the US is something like $28,000.

 

The photographer is fourth in importance behind the venue, dress, and caterer.

 

These came from surveys done by all the top bridal mags.

 

So depending on location, importance of photogrphy... 10% +/- sounds like a good start in my area.

[pboraschi]

Wow...56 hours to me is a lot... Steve, 2 hours for album delivery, where do you go?? For my part, a typical wedding coverage is 5 to 8 hours... reception shoots are rare, I mock the cake cutting, and the first dance...it good to be done by 6-7PM on a saturday. Then editing shots, no more than 2 hours, and for colour correction, if you expose properly you shouldn't spend more that 4 hours correcting your entire wedding, i'd say my time is closer to Mike's>>>

[jeremy_nako]

I have a friend who shoots wedding, and he tells me that his average time taken per wedding is 45 hours, so he and Anne are in the same ballpark.

 

I guess it really depends on your market positioning.

[marv_stasak___southfield__]

Regarding wedding costs, here is an excerpt from a recent survey done by Visa on wedding costs. Note the last two sentences.

 

"two-thirds of all respondents said they overspent on their weddings. Specifically, men (16 percent) splurged on their honeymoons while women (21 percent) spent too much on food, drinks and wedding cakes, followed by their wedding dresses (11 percent). Where was money on the wedding best spent? Respondents answered wedding photos and decorations, with only 1 percent saying they overspent on those items."

 

You can Google this. Look for "Visa wedding survey".

[cjogo]

Our market is closer to PASCAL...we rarely stay for the reception..and click the mock cake shot.

 

Capturing with film = means no computer time & less cost to your B&G.

 

ANNE : if you approached your clients with an additional cost, for all those hours (unless you enjoy the task)--I am sure you cut that down to under 10 hours.

 

TALITHA : When we shoot digital jobs > we charge between $75-45 per hour on the computer time.....we do find that corporate/portrait clients will pay for the CS time but, B&G's seem to favor film. Although recently we have found wedding clients ~~ who will accept RAW files & are willing to save $$$ > by managing the files themselves.

 

Our package is very simple & affordable for our market :: By the hour & the negs/prints/CD are included.

[mag_miksch]

use the search button here in the forum, this question is asked one time a week.

[steve george]

For album delivery I go wherever the couple are - if that's 30 mins drive away then that's a round trip of an hour. I don't "drop it and run", I stay with them while they look at it, hence 2 hours. The colour correction I refer to has nothing to do with exposure - I run actions over most shots to increase saturation or whatever, some of which require tweaking after...

[cjogo]

How do many of you make a decent profit on an album........with all the time & expenses? And foremost --how do find brides whom will afford the added cost to their day.