A question you are probably looking in to whilst planning your wedding , but how much is a wedding photographer and how much should you spend?
It’s fair to say you are probably over whelmed with how many choices you have and you don’t want to make a bad decision, after all your wedding photos are the only thing you have to look at after your wedding.
So in this article i will break down the costs of a wedding photographer to help you make a decision on how much to spend.
Experience, equipment, and generally how busy they are all dictates how wedding photographers set their prices.
All this ends up deciding how much a wedding photographer cost.
But why do some charge £600 and some £3,600 – why is there such huge variances between pricing in the uk for a wedding photographer.
In the uk prices can vary with london being a little more expensive. But let’s break down the categories for pricing.
New wedding photographers -£200-£500 – Often students breaking in to the market offer substantial discounts in return for some experience.
Budget level – £500-£800 – Lower priced range, often people with less experience.
Low level – £800-1100 – Generally people with 2-3 years experience that can deliver some good wedding photos but have little room to re-invest in them selves.
Mid level – £1100-£1700 – Higher levels of experience who often take the job a lot more serious, able to re-invest in there own equipment and training
High level – £1700-£2400 – Often highly recommended photographers who come with a great ability to photography any wedding with great skills to conquer anything thrown at them on the day.
Luxury – £2400+ – Luxury wedding photographers, often turning up with some helpers along side with a specific style and niche in mind.
It’s very fair to say that there are many wedding photographers who simply stick a price on them selves but don’t necessarily fit in to the pricing structure.
I’ve seen many budget photographers who should be charging triple and many high level photographers who should be charging half as much.
So how can you spot the good from the bad?
Here is a guide I’ve written to what to check when booking your wedding photographer -> Top 10 things to check before booking your photographer
A phrase i hear time and time again but wedding photography is so much more than a days work.
My own equipment costs as much as a deposit for a house just to photograph a wedding and each wedding can hit a 14-16 hour day with travelling and then when you factor the 15 hours spent editing that “just a day” is actually not far off a full working week.
This is probably true – they do but with great reason.
But when you add in the pressure of wedding, the stress of dealing with drunken guests all day and the added resilience that you need double of everything incase of equipment failure you soon start to see why.
So why do some charge £700 with 10 years experience? Some operate a different business mentality – higher volumes for cheaper prices – perhaps doing 4-5 weddings a week in peak season.
But take it from me doing just 3 weddings in a row is exhausting, let alone doing that most of the summer.
You have to question how much effort is applied to each wedding but this may be fine for you if you’re not wanting anything special and just want key moments to be captured.
If you care very little about the quality and style of your wedding photos then you can quite happily take on board a budget priced wedding photographer.
But if you have at least some care about your wedding photos then you need to start looking in to the mid range to secure someone you feel will deliver something you will love, after all there are no second chances and it needs to be right first time around.
But set your expectations – it’s unfair to book a budget wedding photographer then complain after certain photos didn’t get captured, you get what you pay for is the famous saying.
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