Are you a newly engaged couple, or when you were, and started getting quotes from different photographers, gotten sticker shock? One of the most common comments I get from clients are “wedding photographers are so expensive”. Well, some of them can be, yes, but the better question is “why do wedding photographers charge so much?”. That should really be the title of this blog and yes, there is a difference. “Expensive” and “Charging a lot” are two very different things. We may charge a lot, but we may not actually be as expensive as you might think. Let’s break it down.

There are a lot of costs clients are unaware of that, like many other small business owners, photographers have. License, insurance, professional affiliations are all typically fees that must be paid every year. On the marketing side, we have our website and those costs can go up if we hire a designer or SEO specialist. We have software subscriptions for editing. We don’t work from home when we shoot and often shooting locations are very far away so we spend money maintaining a reliable car and gas. Then some of us to paid advertising on platforms such as google, fb/instagram, yelp, etc. We haven’t even gotten into gear, which for serious wedding photographers, will likely cost well over $10k (multiple camera bodies, multiple lenses, flashes, spare batteries, SD cards, etc.), along with the cost to maintain and upgrade our gear to the newest tech. Then there’s education, which varies significantly from photographer to photographer. Oh and depending on the state, we may be paying a lot into taxes as well. In the state of Washington, businesses get taxed on revenue, not profit. Whatever you’re paying us, we only see a fraction of that.

There’s a lot of time that goes into our work behind the scenes. We don’t just show up, shoot, and get paid. Firstly, for every hour of shooting, we spend 1-2 hours culling and editing. So for a 10 hour wedding day, we’re really spending up to 30 hours just shooting and editing. Once the editing is finished, we export and organize hundreds of photos to an online gallery to send to you, and also save it locally so we have a copy. Let’s talk about the time outside shooting, editing, and delivering. There’s travel to and from the wedding venue, ranging anywhere from 15mins to 3+ hours each way. We field numerous inquiries, hop on multiple consultation calls, maintain our website, blog, network, maintain our social media presence, the list goes on and on. Whatever we’re charging by the hour, we’re effectively making much less than that per hour.

We deliver significant value. Beyond the costs of a photographer, clients are paying for a photographer’s expertise and creativity. You’re getting a product that is so unique, no one else will give you that same result. We’re with you almost the entire day to ensure your precious moments get captured because they can’t be redone. I believe all wedding vendors are valuable, but photographs are the only thing that last a lifetime that you can hang on a wall and cherish. The venue, flowers, formal wear, decor, rentals, food, beverage, DJ. None of that lasts. Photographers charge a lot for a reason. Our photos need to be perfection because they will be looked not just for a lifetime, but multiple generations.

All that to say, not every couple will have the budget to splurge on a good photographer, and that’s okay. I would just caution price shopping for a photographer. If you’re trying to get the cheapest photographer you can, just understand that you’ll need to be okay with the quality of photos you receive, and that’s final. There’s no redos of your wedding, no part of it can be redone. If you end up not liking the photos, there’s no amount of money you can pay a good photographer to give you back memories of your special moment.

I personally need to charge what I charge to deliver the quality of photos my clients deserve. I actually could charge cheap prices, but if I did that, I wouldn’t be motivated to deliver quality for my clients, and that’s not something I’m okay with. It is against one of my 3 philosophies.