Wedding Photography Help Please !!

[350wedge]

I've been asked to do a wedding next year and I'm trying to figure out how much I should be charging.

I've been asked to shoot all day from the getting ready stage in the morning through the service etc to the reception in the evening. They've asked for an album for thenselves and one for the brides parents as well. At this stage not sure how many prints they want in each album. (how many is the norm?? 12 or so??)

Although I have loads of photographic experience i'm fairly new to weddings. I did the photography at my sisters wedding which went really well but for obvious reasons nothing was charged.

This wedding is local so i would'nt have to worry about travel costs.

I shoot digitally these days and i guess a lot of the charge will be my time editing and arranging prints afterwards as well as the whole day of shooting. I was thinking of a ballpark figure of £800, is this optimistic or am i underselling myself??

Any input greatly received.

Thanks folks.....

[miniman]

We paid about £1400 which included photographer from about 10am through to around 4pm, with an album of 60 shots. Reprints for family started around the £7 mark for small ones rising to around £25 for bigger prints. This was shot using film.

My brother-in-law recently paid about £1750 for 2 photographers all day (about noon until 10pm). This was all digital work, with no prints / album, but a DVD and all rights to all images taken.

HTH

[pdV6]

We paid approx £1000 [*] for an all-dayer, that was for B&W film, hand printing 100-odd shots and no album supplied.

A mate of mine who has recently got into this game started out doing it FOC (digital, results on DVD) for the 1st couple of weddings and gradually increased his prices as he got more experience. Not sure what he charges these days but could ask.

[*] That was 5 years ago and I know his prices have risen since.

>> Edited by pdV6 on Wednesday 21st December 09:44

[simpo two]

pdV6 said:

A mate of mine who has recently got into this game started out doing it FOC (digital, results on DVD) for the 1st couple of weddings and gradually increased his prices as he got more experience.

I think that's the right way to do it. You can't expect £1,000+ if you have no experience or track record/portfolio. IIRC my first wedding was about £300; I managed to wring about £600 out of the second That's for the time, mileage and digital processing; I generally avoid getting bogged down with prints but might reconsider this. However, most of my enquirers say that they don't want to have to pay for expensive albums, they just want a disk - that flexibility helps me get the work.

[dcw@pr]

if i were you i would charge £300 to do the wedding and the editing afterwardsm then discuss with them what they want in terms of prnts and albums then price that up seperately. its impossble to put a price on "an album" since they are so varied. We do albums ranging from £100 to £3000. good luck

[NoisyGriff]

350wedge said:

I was thinking of a ballpark figure of £800, is this optimistic or am i underselling myself??

I thought the ettiquette for a wedding was to add a nought to your standard fee.

So if you'd normally charge £800 for a day's work, the correct wedding fee would be £8000. Simple

They'll pay it too, because you won't be the only person mercilessly humping them for cash at the moment. Trust me, they'll have sold a kidney to get the invitations printed.

>> Edited by NoisyGriff on Wednesday 21st December 19:17

[te51cle]

Having done prints for a friend who does part-time wedding photography (only a couple a year) he found that it wasn't worth his while at £350 a time and upped his charges to £500 which included shooting two rolls of film and about 20 8x6 prints in one album. That was for formal shots at the wedding, outside the church and the reception, sounds like your day is longer so you could probably justify a bit more than that.

[RobDickinson]

Why dont you just get the best wedding photographer in the world to do it?

>> Edited by RobDickinson on Wednesday 21st December 21:23

[simpo two]

RobDickinson said:

Why dont you just get the best wedding photographer in the world to do it?

derek pye said:

I am Derek Pye multi award winning wedding and glamour photographer. It’s generally accepted that I am the best wedding photographer working in the UK today. At prices from £295 including VAT and a special album, I am also one of the most highly sought after.

Christ, Ken Rockwell has dropped to Number Two in the ego list!

[RobDickinson]

simpo two said:

Christ, Ken Rockwell has dropped to Number Two in the ego list!

Keep reading, its a scream... (and hopefully a windup site, but with photography...)

[beano500]

(re Pye site)










I've got to go now, my doctor says it's not safe for my health to read any more in one session








>> Edited by beano500 on Wednesday 21st December 22:46

[ThatPhilBrettGuy]

I can't wait to see 'Derek's Mystery style™ (in development)'

[_dobbo_]

oops deleted my piss taking of Mr Pye now that I realised his tongue is firmly in his cheek!


>> Edited by _dobbo_ on Thursday 22 December 09:14

[pdV6]

Derek Pye said:

End World Poetry Now! - Wrist band available soon.

Comedy gold!