Wedding Photography | "Why is it so expensive though?"
Hello Friends!
I’m assuming you’re here reading this blog because you’re having a wedding real soon and the costs are starting to add up, which includes the cost of your Wedding Photography!
I hear you….
‘Why is it so expensive though?”
The average cost of a full day UK Wedding Photography Package in 2019-2020 is £1,560, according to a survey done by Your Perfect Wedding Photographer, however, this is just an average, mid-range cost with Wedding Photography actually ranging anywhere between £1200 - £5000 and beyond, with some budget packages for a full day also starting as low as £400-500. Confusing, right? So, let’s break this down a little bit.
From Primark to Louboutin
As with any market there is always a low budget option to a high-end option… take a pair of heels for instance, you could buy a set of heels from Primark for £20 or you could also buy a set of Louboutin heels for almost £600. Then there will be varying styles and price ranges of all different kind of heels in-between with a mid-range price tag.
Photography is no different to that, therefore, by using the above ‘UK Average’ for Photography, this would place £1560 at a mid-range. Meaning that, dependant on the importance you place on capturing the special moments of your wedding, could see you setting aside around 10-15% of your overall Wedding Budget for Photographs. Which actually isn’t a substantial amount of money, if you consider that these Photographs may be one of the only tangible items left for you to relive the magical memories of your Wedding Day, holding in them immense value that will only increase over time.
However, this isn’t the only reason your Wedding Photography comes with what might seem like a ‘high’ price tag.
It’s a Luxury
Firstly, and maybe controversially Wedding Photography is a luxury, you don’t actually need it to get married but it’s something that you want for your Wedding Day, because capturing those irreplaceable moments of your Wedding is important to you and if it is important enough for you to want to hire a professional to do the job, you must be prepared to pay the price tag, because believe it or not, photographer’s don’t just hear the word Wedding and add on a couple of extra zero’s. Weddings are HARD work and you really do get what you pay for!
Using £1560 again as our average, could seem like your Wedding Photographer is getting paid £195 per hour (for a 8 hour Wedding) and when you’re on the 2019 UK average hourly rate of £14.80 per hour, this might even seem insulting!! However, paying £195 per hour for your Wedding Photographer couldn’t be further from the truth. WHY though?
Hard Work & Looooong Hours
Aside from the fact that your Wedding Photographer runs around all day long, squatting and bending into unforgiving positions just to ‘get the shot’, barely stops for a breath of air, a drink of water or even a snack. Let me break this down a little further of how hard your Wedding Photographer actually works, with an estimate of how many hours they spend on your Wedding (based on my process):
· Pre-Booking Meeting – 1-2 hours
· Scouting Locations – 1-2 hours
· Engagement Session – 1-2 hours
· Post Production & Delivering Engagement Session – 20-25 hours
· Pre-Wedding Meeting – 1-2 hours
· Travel to and from all meetings, locations and venues – 1-5 hours
· The Wedding Day – 8-12 hours
· All Postproduction (uploading, culling, editing etc.) – 40-90 hours
· Arranging Prints (not including Albums) – 1-2 hours
· Admin and Emails – 1-2 hours
So, using the minimum amount of time here, your Wedding Photographer may be working a minimum of 75 hours on your Wedding, taking that lavish £195 per hour (UK Average) right down to £20.80 per hour.
Which still doesn’t include any overheads or fees that the photographer may need to pay out, the cost of any prints that are included in your package, the use of their equipment and software, insurance, education and experience… just to mention a few.
Does this mean that low budget photographers aren’t a viable option?
My answer to that is not necessarily, I used to be a low budget photographer myself when I operated my business under my own name, many moons ago and I always put my heart and soul into what I was doing but at the time I was building my portfolio out, had much less experience and I maybe unintentionally missed things or gave a more of an amateur service to my clients than I do now.
I didn’t even know taking a deposit or signing a contract was a thing!
During this time, I was also working in another career 37+ hours a week, which meant I had much less time to focus on photography or providing an amazing service to my clients. I also, didn’t offer as many surprises or special bits and pieces to my clients as I do now, because I simply didn’t have the experience or the time. Not to mention, it also took me way longer to do the post processing and I offered way less images, because I was short on time and still learning the software and developing my style!
Most of my work from back then I now cringe when I see it, and rarely ever share it with anyone, but I’m super thankful for the clients who took a chance on me back then, they always seemed to be really happy with their end results and that was always my aim, even if I did still feel like a beginner at the time… so don’t rule out the beginner budget photographer, just yet… you may get a wonderful service there with someone who is truly passionate about what they are doing and eager to please, this kind of Photographer would be a bargain!
My saving grace during my time as a budget photographer, was always that I had another job bringing in income, if it wasn’t for that extra income I would have been required to take on an insane amount of Wedding’s just to make any kind of ends meet, which can unfortunately happen in the budget Wedding Photography world of today. If your budget Wedding Photographer is full time, it may be possible that they need to take on 2-4x more clients than your mid-range Wedding Photographer, just to pay the bills, which may leave way less time for you and your wedding as a priority, they may possibly burn themselves out in the process too. I mean it’s easy enough to burn yourself out in this industry, without overbooking yourself! As a rule of thumb, I take on a maximum of 3 Weddings per month but preferably 2, allowing me to give the best of myself to you and your Wedding!
With all of that being said, my advice to you really is this, ask yourself the following question…
How important are my Wedding Photographs to me?
If they happen to be wayyyy, way up there in your list of priorities, save and spend the extra bit of cash on a Photographer whose style and approach resonates with you and give your Wedding Day the justice it deserves!
Put simply, Wedding Photography is expensive because it is a luxury that your Wedding Photographer will work exceptionally hard to provide you with, meaning that you will have real, tangible memories to relive and look back on forever, long after the cake has been eaten, the flowers wilted and the venue has gone!
Over time the photographs from your Wedding Day will gain so much value they will literally become priceless, so choose wisely because unfortunately there is no way to ‘re-do’ your Wedding Day after it’s gone.
If you are still looking for a Photographer for your 2020/2021 Wedding and you feel like my style and approach resonates with you, please get in touch below and we can grab a cuppa – in person or virtually via Skype/Facetime!