Nov 25 2008
wedding photography cost?
ditzwannabe asked:
I am a huge fan of great photography so my wedding pictures are very important to me. But I am on a very tight budget so I was wondering if anyone could give me a general idea of what a reasonable cost of a wedding photographer is?
Comment please!
I am a huge fan of great photography so my wedding pictures are very important to me. But I am on a very tight budget so I was wondering if anyone could give me a general idea of what a reasonable cost of a wedding photographer is?
Comment please!
7 Responses to “wedding photography cost?”
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I would say 500-2000
Most of them offer packages. I think the cheapest would just be for them to shoot the pictures and give you there smallest package of prints. We found it cheaper to just pay for the whole CD with all of our photos, and print them ourselves. Because it starts to get expensive when you want prints.
This is the area of the wedding that you do not want to cut corners and skimp on. Expect a base of $2000, anything less is generally an indication of poor quality/workmanship. A professional photographer should be able to fit a lot of things in this price range. This is your wedding day, you don’t want terrible photos to remember for the rest of your life.
i dont knwo about other places, i can only tell you about what i charge
i live in a small town in western pa…i charge $500, and with that you get my time, and five 8×10s of ur choice, ten 5×7s of your choice, and a complete set of proofs…. in my area, thats dirt cheap…. in fact theres another photographer 1 town over from me that charges $2k JUST to shoot the wedding, and youdont get ANY pictures with that…
I ,, personally, have only shot 2 weddings thus far…. and that is a big detractor from getting more shoots…
i guess what im trying to get at… is you have to scout around, ask for referrals… check out theyre books…
ALSO, i am NOT trying to drum up business… just telling you my personal experiance in this field…..
edit: anything less tan 2k doesnt necessarily mean poor quality/workmanship….. and whoever thinks that you HAVE to spend thousands of dollars just because… is an idiot
One thing you could do if you are on a budget is go through a local college. While I was going to school for photography, people would contact our department all the time with jobs and our instructor would pick his top students. Low cost because it is benefiting the student as much as the person getting the photos. I was even lucky enough to have one of my instructors go with me to my first wedding to help out. I never had any complaints and I ended up getting bookings for 3 other weddings within that first year all from that wedding.
Experience is really where the cost is in wedding photography. I am in my second year of wedding photography, people love my work but I only have about 15 weddings in my porfolio.
Good Luck!!!
This is a very subjective question.
A lot of the price depends on the level of service you want, where you live, the competition in the area, travel, print packages.
I’d say that $1000 on the low end to $5000 is midrange in my neck of the woods (Central OH). I charge toward the low end because I position myself in the market for those who cannot afford a lot.
I’d call around to all the photographers close to you and get quotes. No one i know charges for quotes. Just be up front and honest and I’m sure you will find a photographer that will work with you.
Try looking on craigslist. Here’s my wedding photography website:
The answer will depend at least in part on your geographical location as well as the level of skill and experience of the operator. The very top (UK) photographers in this area (Nigel Harper, Julie Oswin etc.) will be kicking off at around £2.5-£3.5k. You’d be advised to nudge £1,000/£1,500 or more to get a good operator IMHO… this is what I would call a reasonable cost for a highly skilled photographer.
The main tip I can give you is to shop around - this will also assure the photographer… because you’d be knowledgeable and have booked them after well informed research (skittish and nervous clients who buy on impulse often need a lot of reassurance).
Once you have your research compare the quality and the packages on offer - with some you are better off spending much more up front because you get a better overall package in terms of numbers of prints / images.
By all means contact me off the forum if you want more tips advice or information. Good luck!