gemlenz Loc: Gilbert Arizona

I see a lot of talk about wedding photography here. It's an areas I'm wanting to explore.

What do you suggest I should be charging for photographing a wedding? Should I charge by the hour?

ebaribeault Loc: Baltimore

Start with teaming up with a profesional wedding photographer as his/hers assistant. This would not be for pay but the experience would be quite valuable. I would also get some books on the subject for self study. The pros make it look a lot easier than it is. When you get ready to go out on your own you can only charge what the market price is in your area. Hope this helps a lot of work goes into photographing a wedding much more than people understand

sarge69 Loc: Ft Myers, FL

To me, you would have to have great glass, a fantastic eye for the right shots and be able to utilize light as you have it.

Then after you rack your brain and your equipment for the best shots, figure out how much an hour it's worth. Because the work don't stop when the shutter stops clicking does it ?

Sarge69

ebaribeault Loc: Baltimore

CaptainC Loc: Colorado, south of Denver

Becoming an assistant is a very good idea. Wedding photography is MUCH more difficult than you might think. Let me clarify that - GOOD wedding photography is more difficult than you might think. Crap photography is pretty easy. :-)
I assume you would like to be know for the former.

There are books and forums out there that might be of help.

Don't even THINK about doing a wedding until you have two of everything, two bodies, multiple fast glass (2.8 or faster) lenses, multiple flashes, lots of batteries. Be sure to carry liability insurance and malpractice insurance.

Decide how you are going to sell - if you want to post images online, just quit right now because that is the dumbest way to sell this type of photography. You need to sell face-to-face. I see from your profile you have been doing professional work since 2007, so maybe you already know that.

Even if you get all the money up front (a good way to do it) you still have to sell in-person.

I am a reasonably proficient photographer, but I would not do a wedding for a penny less than $200,000. It would take that much to pay for the aggravation.:-)

Big tip: Lock bride's mother away until after the ceremony!

gemlenz Loc: Gilbert Arizona

You guys gave me some nice advise, but nobody really answered my original question.

sarge69 Loc: Ft Myers, FL

In all probability no-one wants to tell you charge $20.00 an hour or $50.00 or even $100.00 an hour. Your professionalism, your equipment and your skill all come into play.

Be an assistant and see what an established wedding photographer charges. I've heard $2500.00 for a wedding more than once.

Preparation with equipment, time at the event, before ceremony, during ceremony, after ceremony, reception. Pre-ceremony prep, after event work on CD etc etc etc etc.

If you think you're worth $50.00 an hour you can do 12 hours from 10 in the morning to 10 at night and then 2 or 4 days getting post processing of 4 to 6 hours a day. Figure it out.

To put it simply, we don't know your equipment nor your skills nor your eye for making a picture worth a memory.

Sorry, I think your question is irrelavent as stated.

Sarge69
PS: The link in your profile isn't working.

1066 Loc: England

I don't know if you've tried it but you might think about going online and checking local photographers rates etc.

Robbie7 Loc: Northampton. England

My first concern would be ...Am I good enough to deliver a product that outshines the other numerouse phtotos that will be submitted from guests and relatives. NOT how much should I charge. To deliver a finshed quality portfolio requires a lot more than just taking photos. I agree with the other here who have said work with an accomplished wedding photographer first.

nitejdp53 Loc: ATX

Never charge by the hour, charge for half day or full day. with a wedding it will probably be a full day. In my are it ranges between 500 and 5000 depending on what the bride and groom want. Good luck.

wilsondl2 Loc: Lincoln, Nebraska

To start with you need to charge what you can get. Even $500 is way out of some peoples budget. If you just shoot and give them a disk you can charge by the hour but I hope that you are looking to do better than that. If you can find a couple or two that are on a real low budget you may want to do a wedding or two for free. Then when you have some skills you need to decide if you want to be a high end or a shoot and give a disk guy. If you want to charge more than just mininum you will need to have good PP skills. If you do PP (and you should) think of the time you will spend doing that and aid to your hourly rate. I know that you did not ask but I would recomend Three books that tell you how to do the basic shots of a wedding. All are old. 1 Michael Arin's "How to Shoot Weddings" from the '50s but it does walk you throug a Wedding. 2- Don Feltner's "54,000 A Year In Spare-Time Wedding Phoitography" and Jack' Curtis's "Beyond The Camera" The Feltner book has bad so-so pictures but tells how to get the bassic shots and has a lot on business of and pricing of Wedding Photography. You should be able to find them at amazon books. Two other Curtis Books are great too "Behind the Camera" and "Wedding -Portrat Photography World" (I have an artical in this one." but are not as good as the other three. I buy a couple of Wedding Books a year (I have about 80) and the tree I listed are the best on how to do a wedding. On price dont fall in the trap of being cheap. You will find customers that hire a cheap photog are the worst to deal with. I think it would be better to do a wedding or two free than do it for little money and the get the rep of being a cheap photographer. Hope this helps - Dave

TruLaw Loc: Missouri

I agree "great advice"

jimbo70 Loc: Orange Park, FL.

Telling you what to charge or how to charge for a wedding is not something that I can do. To get experience try working with an established pro, and then go off on your own. Once you see how many hours you really spend doing a wedding, you’ll figure it out. One thing to avoid is becoming a machine gun photographer. Too many young photographers just fire away and hope they get something good. They may as well be doing video. In the film days it was customary for me to shoot 450 to 600 shots for a wedding/reception. Today I see some of the newer photographers shooting a minimum of 1,000 to 1,500 shots per wedding. With digital, film is cheap. Train yourself to capture the moment.

Tony R Loc: Westport, CT

First, you need to determine what your time is worth. A wedding is a full day commitment to do correctly, potentially, 10 hours at times. Also, factor in travel and related expenses. Then, considering post processing and presentation and you can spend upwards of 20 hours for a respectable product.

Secondly, remember, you are participating in one of the most emotionally charged events in a families life. It can be a VERY challenging way to make a living.

Jay Pat Loc: Round Rock, Texas, USA

For the first several weddings I didn't charge anything except a set of images for me to put in a photo album to show others. I did this for several weddings (for practice/experience).

Before the first wedding, I bought several "how to shoot weddings" type books. Studied posing and framing.

After a several weddings, I started to charge a little. And then a little more.

I was up front about my skills. Limited experience and equipment.

I only did about 8-9 weddings (and the 15 birthday for young ladies, can't spell it spanish word.....) per year for several years.

I took on this type of photography because I liked the challenge of getting the shot, helping others. Also, it provided money to help pay for camera goodies.

The people I served could not afford the professional photographers rates.

Was I making money? Not much.....
I was enjoying my hobby!!!!!!
Everyone was happy and wanted their picture taken!!!!
I like being around happy people!!!

These people just wanted a set of pictures.

I stopped due to 2 things, wasn't as much fun anymore and a few aches and pains after a long day were getting bigger.

Never needed the money to live on or pay bills.

As to how much for you to charge, it's up to you and what you think your skills are worth. And what your market will pay (low end market, middle or high end big bucks market). Are your skills worth it?

Also, as for friends and family shooting over my shoulder, no problem! They were my backup in case I had a problem & dropped the ball.

Also, you need to get good at arranging jackets and bride's train. the train needs to look good and are not easy to adjust...try it some time. Necklace straight? That kind of stuff.

Still didn't answer your question......Nuts!

Hope this is helpful!
Pat
Snap Shot Guy