We don't look at our wedding album often, but it contains pictures that we feel are beyond valuable to us. Photos of our parents, our grandparents, all our aunts and uncles and my sister, all passed now. A wedding album stirs up memories of the wedding, but also memories of other events and the history of the family. It's an historical album where our children, even though now grown, can see photos of family history. The album holds the last pictures of my mother in relatively good health - she died 6 months after the wedding. It's fun to watch our grandchildren look at their parents' wedding albums, connect with relatives they have heard about but never knew and experience the celebration of the love from which they came. I have no remembrance of what the wedding photographer charged for our wedding, but it was worth it then, and it's worth it now. I do recall the shocking amount our children's wedding photographer was, but he was terrific and, as shocked as I was at the going rates then, I would gladly pay for it all over again.

If you think about it, wedding photography is a rip-off from beginning to end.

Folks are spending a large amount of money to 'create' memories' but really, what is left after a few months?

Very little, possibly an image or two on walls that will never be looked at again, a couple of albums that will gather dust until lost during a move.

In a few years the images will be yellow, desuet on some piece of furniture among other equally old and part of a scenery some call home.

Years later the album may be reopened one day by a kid who was snooping around and sees images of a wedding they do not relate to. “Is it you mom? Dad?” Then the album is placed back into a dark corner and forgotten again.

Nostalgia lasts only as long as someone remembers.

When reopened next, it might be when someone cleans out an attic and finds a trace of an event, does not know who is in the pictures, guesses about it for a few moments. The album is placed on a pile, 'keep' if the person wants to look at it again but probably will forget that too. With a little less luck the album ends in an estate sale and those that did not make the cut, the greatest majority, in a literal bin disposed up in a field full of trash... Who wants a cracked, dried up book made of people no one knows?

So thousands of $$$ to fill the dumpster, historical or real...

Those here who speak of the 'ethics' in pricing should stop and think about their 'commodity' offerings and realize that they are ripping up folks who need their revenues toward something more useful than spit in the wind.

Now, yes there is a market so why not profit from folk's gullibility? You must have a photographer because the Jones had one.

At the very least, now, be honest about it when you work, at least in your mind.

I'm not gonna continue arguing with you- it's a waste of both of our time. I am not here to try to change anyone's opinion or attitudes.

I just do not feel that I have wasted over 50 years of my life ripping folks off or considering my valued clients to be gullible spendthrifts. I know hundreds of hard-workg wedding and event photographers who would never consider taking unfair advantage of a client.

"Ephemeral"? Nah, I've been around for a long time and still have enough time going forward. Waht I should do is cut down on my "screen time" on this forum- it's too depressing and I don't get depressed easily. Maybe I should cut it out entirely but old bad habits die hard. But- I quit smoking 48 years ago. I went on a diet and lost 135 lbs, and work out 3 times a week. Maybe I can conjure up the willpower.

I am happily married- 53 years now. I am sorry that you suffered an unimaginable loss and glad that you eventually found happiness.

A far as the thread is concerned- I'll go away and leave to others to opine.

au revoir mon ami

If you think about it, wedding photography is a rip-off from beginning to end.

Folks are spending a large amount of money to 'create' memories' but really, what is left after a few months?

Very little, possibly an image or two on walls that will never be looked at again, a couple of albums that will gather dust until lost during a move.

In a few years the images will be yellow, desuet on some piece of furniture among other equally old and part of a scenery some call home.

Years later the album may be reopened one day by a kid who was snooping around and sees images of a wedding they do not relate to. “Is it you mom? Dad?” Then the album is placed back into a dark corner and forgotten again.

Nostalgia lasts only as long as someone remembers.

When reopened next, it might be when someone cleans out an attic and finds a trace of an event, does not know who is in the pictures, guesses about it for a few moments. The album is placed on a pile, 'keep' if the person wants to look at it again but probably will forget that too. With a little less luck the album ends in an estate sale and those that did not make the cut, the greatest majority, in a literal bin disposed up in a field full of trash... Who wants a cracked, dried up book made of people no one knows?

So thousands of $$$ to fill the dumpster, historical or real...

Those here who speak of the 'ethics' in pricing should stop and think about their 'commodity' offerings and realize that they are ripping up folks who need their revenues toward something more useful than spit in the wind.

Now, yes there is a market so why not profit from folk's gullibility? You must have a photographer because the Jones had one.

At the very least, now, be honest about it when you work, at least in your mind.

Some years back, My wife and I started our own wedding photography business in Atlanta, GA. The market was very good and very competitive.
We had a number of "high end" weddings and our customers expressed great satisfaction with our work.
Many times we heard stories from around the country of families who experienced fire or other disasters concerning their house or apartment where their first thought was to rush in and save their photographs, especially their wedding album.
Times may now have changed with the advent of cell phone cameras where now everyone is a photographer and photography has lost some of its value due to over saturation, but many still value "good" photography and the memories it records.
I suspect that the older one gets, the more the photographic memories are valued. My wife and I still keep a framed image from our wedding (62 years ago) on display in our bedroom.