How Much Should You Charge As A Wedding Photographer?
The dreaded “how much should I charge?” question often pops up for many wedding suppliers and wedding photographers.
Knowing what to charge as a wedding photographer is tough.
Too high and you may find it hard to get work.
Too low and you’ll hardly be earning minimum wage. You may also be seen as a cheap wedding photographer so your cost actually damages the number of bookings you could potentially take.
In fact, low pricing commonly holds wedding businesses back from thriving as they should.
Setting Your Prices As A New Wedding Photographer
If you’re a new wedding photographer and are wondering what a professional wedding photographer will cost, then it’s easy to find out.
Just Google wedding photography pricing or wedding photography costs in your area and see what comes up.
This will give you an idea of where to start.
However, it’s not that easy, and not all professional wedding photographers will list their price range on their website.
What does a typical wedding photographer cost?
Typically, most photographers will charge around £150 per hour for a typical wedding day. But obviously, it’s not that simple.
Photographing weddings isn’t just about spending a couple of hours taking photos.
Most wedding photographers offer a pre-wedding consultation, an engagement shoot, shooting for 6-7 hours on the actual wedding day plus a second photographer for the day.
Then there’s the arduous task of editing images after the wedding day itself.
On average for every hour of actual photography, there are 2-3 hours of editing the wedding photos to get the best quality images for the photo album. On top of all of that, there’s professional equipment, travel expenses, insurance, and general business costs.
So it’s easy to see why there’s quite a price range for a photographer in the UK.
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 you’re a new wedding photographer then you want to be competitive in order to get booked up, but you also need to make sure it’s worth your while.
By having a good quality website, a competitive price, and some good wedding photography packages available, and following our guidance and advice, you’ll get a few decent bookings in the diary quickly.
It also helps if you’re 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.
What If You're A More Experienced Photographer?
What if you’re a more experienced photographer who is looking to increase your price?
You’ve been charging what the average wedding photographer charges for some time, but feel that your work and knowledge puts you among the experienced photographers in the wedding industry.
What should you charge? The answer is “whatever the hell you like” right?
The reality is that a bride and groom will often want the best wedding photographer and will be prepared to pay above the average price for their wedding and engagement photos.
After all, a wedding photographer’s price is based on how good they are.
However, you can’t just increase your wedding photography prices without something to show for it.
You need to show that you’re the perfect wedding photographer and you are above the average cost because you’re the best quality, the best to work with, the most professional, and the photographer that every bride and groom wants!
Level up your wedding photography marketing
This is where your social media presence, website performance, and overall marketing strategy come in handy.
People need to be able to see what you do at weddings, how an engagement session goes, how many hours you work, and at how many weddings, you obviously need the best online gallery so people can see that you’re one of, if not the, best professional wedding photographer!
It’s not just about making your Instagram look like an online gallery of your best photo shoots.
You need to be offering more.
You’re going to be with the bride and groom on their wedding day. They want to know that you’re not only the perfect wedding photographer but also a decent person to have around them all day.
This blog is about what to charge for wedding photography, not what to do, so if you want more advice on how to improve your marketing, please check out our free guide.
How To Decide On What To Charge For Wedding Photography
So how do you go about making a decision on what you charge as a wedding photographer?
The first step is to look at the wedding photography prices of other photographers in your area and what those other wedding photographers offer.
So for example, what is the average cost for most photographers in your area?
Wedding photography prices will vary, but you’ll know what style and level you offer, so look at similar wedding photographers.
The next stage is to weigh up whether you want to go in under the typical UK wedding photography prices in order to get the bookings in, gather reviews, and get yourself known.
Or, to go with the same price but perhaps offer better wedding photography packages, or simply show that you’re awesome!
Part-time side hustle or full-time professional wedding photographer?
Make a decision whether you’re wanting to be a full-time wedding photographer or whether you want to do this as a well-paid hobby.
This will help make a decision on your cost.
It’s always hard to make the step from a normal day job to doing wedding photos full time, but like any business, do it right and it will work.
Think about how much you need to earn a year for things to be viable, then work out how many weddings you need to shoot and at what cost.
Bearing in mind how many hours are involved to shoot weddings, not only on the day but in advance and editing the photos. Can you add any extras such as a photo booth, engagement shoot, wedding album, etc?
If you can aim to pick up a wedding date every week, then based on an average cost of £1500-2000 it proves to be a very well-paid profession.
Of course, you need to know what a wedding photographer spends on the day-to-day running of the business. More importantly, you need to get those dates filled so need to make sure you market yourself.
Sales and marketing are a big part of any wedding photography business
Of course, you aren’t wishing to be a wedding photographer because you’re good at sales and marketing! So what do you do?
There are so many ways to market yourself, but it’s a minefield and you need to be really good to get results quickly.
There are people who can help with this, in particular, we at WedHustle work with many photographers to help them focus their social media, website, ironing out SEO mistakes, sales flow, and more, so they can concentrate on being a professional wedding photographer and we deal with the creative marketing side of stuff!
There are other ways you can top up your income too. Is there a local wedding venue you can work with?
Could you work with another wedding photographer as a second photographer? Is there more you can offer on a client’s wedding day?
Perhaps a basic photo booth, or a way to entice the client for a better wedding photography package that you offer.
Ultimately maximizing your income for each booking you have will help in the long run.
Helping fellow wedding pros level up and book more weddings.
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