Why is Wedding Photography so expensive?

Why wedding photography is not as expensive as you think.

“Why is wedding photography so expensive?”

“Photographers just exploit the fact that it’s a wedding and overcharge to make a profit!”

“They’re only there for a few hours! It’s a rip off to charge that much for a few photos!”

These are just some of the questions and comments you might hear from people who have just had the shock of their lives after receiving a quote from a wedding photographer. When a photographer quotes £2000 for an 8-hour wedding shoot, the immediate assumption is that he/she is earning £250 per hour. But if you take a closer look behind the scenes and see what really goes on then you will realise that wedding photographers make nowhere near that kind of money.

Contrary to what people believe, the disheartening fact is that most wedding photographers are not actually as expensive as they seem.

“You are kidding me right?” I hear you say.

Well, instead of asking why the expensive photographer is so expensive, ask yourself this,

“Why is the cheap photographer so cheap?”

• What corners are they cutting?
• Are they insured?
• Are they using the right equipment?
• How much experience do they have?

There are a number of reasons why there are so many cheap photographers out there. Here are some of the most common ones:

1. Lack of knowledge of the market

Some amateur photographers enter the market, confident of their photography skills, and naively start trading without knowing the fundamental elements required to be a wedding photographer.

Most professional wedding photographers are running a business. And, as with any type of business, there are many costs involved in running it. However, due to their lack of experience and knowledge of the industry, amateur photographers do not realise how much they need to invest to start a successful photography business. The mindset of these amateurs is that as long as they cover their labour costs they will be fine. As a result, their prices are a lot less than a professional who has done it as a full-time job for years.

By not calculating the proper costs and charging accordingly, amateur photographers are forcing the professionals to lower their prices. This is damaging not only to themselves, as they later realise they are not really making a significant income, but to other photographers and the industry itself.

2. Low quality of work

You then have some photographers who have been around for 15-20 years but still charge very little, sometimes less than the newcomers, because their quality of photos and service are so poor that nobody sees value in their work. So they are forced to charge very little in order maintain a stream of income. Not only that, I’ve come across some studios/companies who pay inexperienced photographers £100 for a full days work and keep the difference for themselves. So if they are quoting you £400, they make £300 out of it for doing nothing.

3. Portfolio building

There are some extremely talented amateur photographers that are cheap because it’s the only way for them to get a foot into the wedding photography market. Without a significant wedding portfolio, if they charged similar rates to experienced professionals, they would never get booked and therefore never gain experience. I had to do that myself with my first ever wedding booking. Otherwise I would’ve been stuck doing portraits and other forms of photography.

So, why is wedding photography so expensive?

Other than the actual photos, albums and other physical products offered, photography is not solely a commodity business. It’s a mixture of many. First and foremost photography is an art, a skill and a service. Then a photographer has to be a good sales person, a good marketer and have, at the very least, a good business sense.

For a wedding photographer, it’s not just a case of turning up and taking a few well-composed shots and then handing you a CD or DVD. There is a lot more involved in creating the perfect memory of your wedding.

Let’s take a look at some of the main costs a wedding photographer, and all other photographers, must consider when working out their prices.

Labour

Probably the most important (and obvious) part is the labour. An average wedding can last from anything between 6-10hrs. Your photographer will most likely arrive hours before the main event to capture the small details, like the bride and groom getting ready, decorations, venue layout, vehicles etc… Then comes the main ceremony, reception and the send-off.

During the wedding, they will be running around, ducking, diving, twisting, turning, crawling and climbing, all to catch those special moments that would otherwise be forgotten. Doing all that continuously for 8-10hrs is physically draining.
And to make sure they capture everything, they will probably have taken between 800 – 1200 photos by the end of the day. Also, if your photographer comes with an assistant, then the cost goes up, as they have to pay them as well.

Unseen Work

Most people are unaware that a photographer’s job does not end when the wedding does. It is not uncommon for people to think that it’s a simple case of downloading the images from the memory card and putting them on a disk or uploading them onto a website.
The fact is, while the newlywed’s are jetting off on honeymoon to enjoy their first moments of marital bliss, the photographer is still working on producing a timeless memento of their special day. Depending on how many photos were taken, they will spend anything from 6-14 days processing all the images of the day, getting rid of any blemishes, cropping, applying creative effects if need be and adjusting colour and contrast.

Now, lets take that £2000 fee and break it down to an hourly rate, with the assumption that it takes the photographer 5 full working days to process the photos and a further 3 working days to design a bespoke album:

• Wedding Day: 8 hours
• Travel to and from wedding: 2 hours
• Post Production: 40 hours
• Album Design: 24 hours

Total Hours worked: 74 hours

Hourly Rate – £2000 ÷ 74 = £27 per hour

As you can see, it’s nowhere near the £250 an hour that is assumed. The hourly rate is in fact 89% less! And that’s just for labour at the very basic and minimal level of service, and before we even take into account all the other costs involved in providing a wedding photography service.

Outsourcing

Sometimes it’s impossible for one person to process so many photos, especially if the clients asks for a huge amount of photos to be delivered within a short time frame. In this instance, it may be necessary for a photographer to outsource some of the processing to someone else. Professional photo retoucher’s can cost hundreds of pounds per hour!

Equipment

The equipment your photographer brings to the shoot is no ordinary camera equipment. Professional digital cameras and lenses can cost anything from £1200 – £5000. And that’s just for the primary camera body and lens! A good photographer will always bring a back up camera(s) as well as various types of lenses in case the primary fails. On top of that, they need spare batteries, memory cards, filters, flashes and other portable lighting equipment. On average, a photographer could be carrying up to £15,000 worth of gear at your wedding. Outside the wedding, you need to consider the cost of owning or leasing a photo studio, colorama (backgrounds), studio lighting, computers and professional photo editing software like Photoshop. The latest versions of Photoshop products range from £557 – £2264! Then there’s the cost of upgrading every time a newer version is released.

Insurance

With equipment of that value in a crowded environment like a wedding, photographers (smart ones anyway) have all their gear insured in case of damage or theft. In addition, Public Liability Insurance and Professional Indemnity are essential for any freelance photographer, especially those who shoot weddings. Each of these insurance types can add up to several hundred pounds a year.

Marketing and Advertising

Nowadays the most effective way for photographers to market themselves is probably online with a high quality professional website. Most photographers don’t have web design skills so they have no choice but to use a professional web designer.
Getting a website designed could cost anything from £1200 – £4000. And let’s not forget the cost of maintenance, updates and technical support.
Then there’s the recurring cost of advertising. Although word of mouth is a great and effective form of advertising, it simply does not provide enough exposure. To maintain any chance of having a continuous flow of clients, a photographer must spend hundreds of pounds on leaflets, business cards, online ads, magazine and newspaper ads and any other form of advertising to reach a wider audience. All this adds up to thousands of pounds per year.

Accountant and lawyer

Anybody running a business will almost definitely need a lawyer and accountant. Although it can be easy to keep count of earnings, when it comes to matters of income tax, national insurance, corporate tax, self-assessment or anything involving Inland Revenue, an accountant becomes necessary. Lawyers are necessary for any legal matters…obviously… And we all know how expensive they are!

Travel / Location

If the photographer lives miles away from the venue or, if the wedding is taking place in multiple locations and the photographer is required to capture everything at both venues, then fuel or travel costs may be factored into the price.

Extras

What about all those extra’s that wedding photographers offer? Depending on quality and size, a storybook album could cost anything from £350 – £5000! Some photographers offer online galleries to host your images so you can show friends all over the world. Then there are those that offer prints of your photos. All these additional touches have additional costs.

Irregular Income

Unlike a normal 9-5 job, a wedding photographer’s working hours and income are not regular. Most weddings happen on a Saturday or Sunday and the vast majority are during the summer. How many weekends are there in a year let alone in summer?

Unless the photographer is in great demand, it is unlikely they will be booked for every weekend of the season. Even if they did, I doubt that it’s enough to survive for the entire year, especially if they live in a city like London. Other than those photographers who have a large client base or own a photo studio, you will find that most freelance wedding photographers take on various other types of photography jobs in order to top up their income. Even this is not regular or guaranteed so you may see your photographer working behind the bar at your local pub during the cold seasons…

Experience / Education

Most decent wedding photographers didn’t just buy a digital camera one day and decide, “I’m going to photograph weddings!”
Nearly all professional photographers invested a lot of time and money on formal and informal education on the subject. That includes courses, seminars, on-the-job training and apprenticeships. Even after gaining the knowledge, they spend years perfecting their practical skills operating various types of camera equipment, image composition, lighting, posing etc…And they have to repeat the entire learning process again as technology rapidly evolves.

Final Thought

So, why are wedding photographers so expensive?

The answer is simple; they invested a lot of time and money developing their business into a solid and reliable wedding photography service. And they did this because they are passionate about photography and your wedding. They take great pride in their work and will bend over backwards (sometimes literally) to capture countless special moments in the most artistic, creative and meaningful way.

Considering all this, can you really place a monetary value on memories?

Most newcomers are equally passionate and skilled, but may lack the necessary experience and knowledge to cope with the pressures of photographing somebody else’s wedding. Will they know what to look out for? Are they able to anticipate when certain moments will happen? Can they communicate with guests of all different personalities? Do they know which peice of their equipment to use in different situations? But most importantly, will they know how to capture the bride & groom, and their families, in the best way to accurately reflect the mood of each given moment?

Next time you receive a quote and you think it’s a bit high, before making a decision, take all the above into consideration and try to respect and appreciate the amount of effort they will put into providing you with a high quality product and service.

You also need to ask the photographer key questions and find out more about them and base your decision on that.

• Check the photographers portfolio. Are the photos up to the standards you require?
• Do they have Public Liability & Professional Indemnity Insurance? If not, who will cover for damages if the photographer accidentally injures someone? Or how will you be reimbursed if their equipment fails and all the images are lost?
• Do they use professional equipment?
• How much experience have they had photographing weddings or events?
• Are they authorised to provide services to the public?
• Are they passionate about your wedding and and their work in general?

In the end, it is your wedding day, and you should go with what you feel is right for you in terms of quality, budget and your needs. Just remember, hiring a photographer is not a purchase, it’s an investment. As with any kind of investment, you get what you pay for!

You need to ask yourself “How important are memories of your wedding to you and your family?”

If you’re struggling with the budget, try cutting back on other parts of the wedding and not the photography, because when the honeymoon’s over, your photographs are all you’ll have left to remind you of your special day.

I wrote this article in the hope that it will make it easier for you to make an informed decision about your choice of wedding photographer. And if you are an aspiring photographer intending to start shooting weddings, then I hope this article helps you understand that there is a lot involved in wedding photography and it’s not easy.

If you feel I have missed something or if you disagree with anything, then please feel free to leave a comment.

I leave you with a couple of quotes that have been widely attributed to John Ruskin, an English author, poet and artist, most famous for his work as art critic and social critic.

“It’s unwise to pay too much, but it’s worse to pay too little. When you pay too much, you lose a little money — that is all. When you pay too little, you sometimes lose everything, because the thing you bought was incapable of doing the thing it was bought to do. The common law of business balance prohibits paying a little and getting a lot — it can’t be done. If you deal with the lowest bidder, it is well to add something for the risk you run, and if you do that you will have enough to pay for something better.”

“There is hardly anything in the world that someone cannot make a little worse and sell a little cheaper. And the people, who consider price alone, are this man’s lawful prey.”

- John Ruskin (1819-1900)

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