There was a wedding thread on here a while back, and I’ve already searched that, but I’m seeking a bit more clarification on one specific issue: how much do people spend on their wedding photographers. My fiancee and I have arranged to hire a student at the local university to photograph our wedding in a bit less than a month’s time. We had agreed to this a while ago and decided that we’d work out his compensation sometime before the wedding. That time is now.
I’m writing now because we’re wondering how much we should offer him. We told him we’d look at what people generally paid and we’d pay him comparably. Some background: he’s not a photography student, per se, but has taken some stunning shots for the student newspaper and other magazines. We’re hiring him not because we’re cheap (though we are) but because we honestly think he’s the best guy for the job.
Any advice on what we should offer? (He’ll be there for the rehearsal and wedding, and we’re putting him up for both.) Thanks in advance.
Phone around and you’ll probably note that pricing wedding photography is all over the map. I’d base what you offer him on what the going rates are in your area.
I’ve done wedding photography on a part time basis. I’m an experienced photographer but charge only about $1000 for an entire day shooting in both 35mm and medium format. I live in a rural area so even the full timers in this area charge about $1500. For me, it’s mostly a hobby business to pick up the odd bit of cash now and then. Since it’s not how I make my living, my prices are affordable.
In large cities it’s not uncommon for high end full time photographers to charge upwards of $3500 or more and amazingly, some of them do work that is not particularly special despite the price. It’s like buying bikes - some people want to believe that because they’re spending more that they’re automatically getting the best. When choosing a wedding photographer first consideration should be seeing their portfolio, preferably of an ENTIRE wedding.
Personally, I think you’re taking a bit of a chance hiring somebody who has not done weddings before. IMO, a few good shots in a student newspaper doesn’t qualify. If he screws it up it’s not like you can go back the next day for a retake.
I’d probably offer him less than what the cheapest wedding photographer in your area charges under these circumstances.
I agree with CG. It’s a big risk, and weddings are really different than regular photography.
The ‘trick’ to regular photography is that you can take hundreds of photos and out of all those - you get 1-2 good ones. And those are the ones that you see published. With a wedding, you want great photos of everything… not just 1-2 great photos out of everything.
shooting digital/35mm i would charge in the range of 500-1000 depending on the length of time and what they wanted. Medium format would run a little more/less depending on again what they wanted/number of shots/prints. wedding photography is a lot of shooting for an extended period of time, and thats a lot of prints coming from that, so its not cheap. but remember you will have those photos for a lifetime.
Make sure you have a conversation with the student about what specific shots he has to get. Don’t leave it to chance that you want a shot of your fiancee coming down the aisle, don’t leave it to chance that you want you two looking at each other doing your vows, etc etc etc. Maybe the responders above can list the shots that people want and/or should always get.
Plus, know ahead of time for after the ceremony what shots of the wedding party you want. I’ve seen pro’s be wishy-washy on this and add upwards of an extra half hour to this, while your guests wait and wait and wait.
And the rule of thumb I heard is if you use a private DJ/photographer/etc then you don’t have to tip them (as all the $ goes to them).
Thanks for all the advice. And I understand the riskiness of it, though I guess I should have been more clear–he’s done amazing work for more than just the student newspaper. And there’s also a personal connection–I used to coach him. So we like the funkiness and creativity of the work that he does and I guess we see it as more risky to hire someone whose work we don’t really know and who we also don’t know personally.
I think it will depend on the city and the amount of time (is he shooting pre ceremony, ceremony, party, plus parting shoots?) In top cities aka hip areas there is probably big range of pricing but you will find that most top level outfits charge within a 10-20% range between each other but also depending on how many photographers you want. When we got married the going price for the mid to top outfits was generally from 4 to 6K and then there was alway the outrageous one that was like 8K. Now this is Miami for a saturday summer wedding and 2 photographers on site so YMMV.
I think we ended up paying close to 4 including the albums and the studio pictures for the bride. He gave us a better price because we had used him for the engagement pictures and rehersal dinner and that was another $700 i think.
I’m pretty sure my wife and I paid about $900 for a woman, who was at the time an amature, but a month later “became” a professional and raised her prices to $3500 for the same package we got.
Been to a few weddings lately: Whatever you do, enlist many many people (friends and relatives) to take photos. I think then you really have your bases covered: I have seen people pay $1,000 for a photographer who did fine, but in the end the wedding album had many more candid shots taken by people in the peanut gallery.
Don’t count on the kid for everything: Have some friends and relatives as backup for most situations … P.S. - You are offering him plenty and should expect a lot. I mean if he puts in 25 hours, that’s $50 an hour.
My son is a professional photographer and does weddings…I believe his minimum is now $3500 (believe it or not he is booked all the time at that price - I find it amazing!) and all you get for the $$$ is a CD with the photos on it…for additional $$$ he will arrange for albums, etc. As with anything else, you get what you pay for…For sure, though, look at results that photographer has for other weddings…