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06/03/2006 12:51:39 PM · #1 |
Just how good do you have to be to charge $10,000 to shoot a wedding?
I know there are some out there that charge that and more to shoot weddings. But, really, how good are they and why can they demand and get those prices?
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06/03/2006 12:54:45 PM · #2 |
Man.... I'm way under paid!!!!!
It's funny... there are some people in my area that charge $2000 just to shoot the wedding... then another hundreds for prints, albums, proofs, etc. It's crazy. Yet, I have seen some of their work... and it's not great. When I do a wedding my pictures are sharp and crisp... these are blurry, or not as sharp. Yet, they are booked all wedding season! I don't get it!
I'd rather keep my prices lower and offer good quality photos. Hey, I must not be doing too bad... I have 6 weddings this year! :)
Message edited by author 2006-06-03 12:54:58.
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06/03/2006 12:56:10 PM · #3 |
if you charge it, they will pay.
LOL
Travis
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06/03/2006 01:05:16 PM · #4 |
Originally posted by Travis99:
if you charge it, they will pay.
LOL
Travis |
I think you might be right. Sometimes I feel that many people think that the more you charge the better you are. Maybe I should start charging $5G to shoot weddings. My bet is that I would get more gigs, not less.
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06/03/2006 01:07:53 PM · #5 |
| man you american dudes charge a lot! here in the peruvian lands for a weeding you can charge $500 more or less, that sucks |
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06/03/2006 01:10:52 PM · #6 |
there was a guy (link has been thrown on to the forum a while ago) who asked 100.000 (or something rediculous like that) for a wedding. can't remember who it was though. he was booked full till 2007..
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06/03/2006 01:11:31 PM · #7 |
yup- here it is... I was just thinking abou it!!!
//www.spencerstudio.com/weddings.htm |
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06/03/2006 01:12:50 PM · #8 |
100.000? say 875.000!!! thanks wonderbread!
what do you guys think about him calling the price so big & bold? I wouldn't be throwing a price like that around!
edited 2x: feverrrr :S
Message edited by author 2006-06-03 13:13:29.
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06/03/2006 01:14:58 PM · #9 |
| I would pay the price... I mean he is throwing in a pen! :0P |
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06/03/2006 01:15:05 PM · #10 |
Originally posted by fotomann_forever:
Just how good do you have to be to charge $10,000 to shoot a wedding?
I know there are some out there that charge that and more to shoot weddings. But, really, how good are they and why can they demand and get those prices? |
Well, according to wedding budgeting guildelines photography is supposed to be around 8% of the total wedding budget. So, you need to target couples that are having $125,000 weddings.
To most of us (to me, that's for sure) that is a mind-blowing amount, but there is most definitely a wedding market out there in that $ range.
Liza |
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06/03/2006 01:17:39 PM · #11 |
Originally posted by oOWonderBreadOo:
I would pay the price... I mean he is throwing in a pen! :0P |
I think the ballpoint pen is a hilarious touch! |
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06/03/2006 01:20:35 PM · #12 |
Over here wedding photos cost like Rupees 30000-40000 ($500 or so) for really good stuff. Other big studios charge a lot more, and their photos are no different. What they offer is better albums, service, and more options. They have slightly better editing and presentation.
But I have seen people go crazy over the typical 'soft focus vignette' kinda photos which take 2 minutes to do in PS. They think that is magic done by a photographer, and are willing to pay extra for it. Then there is a matter of prestige. Some people do it just because 'they' spent a million bucks at their wedding ;-)
Edit : I have seen this ad by a photographer claiming he's taken "..more than 100000 photos...". For some ordinary folks that might sounds a LOT, and they think he's a very very good photographer hehe.
Message edited by author 2006-06-03 13:25:20. |
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06/03/2006 01:21:25 PM · #13 |
Originally posted by oOWonderBreadOo:
I would pay the price... I mean he is throwing in a pen! :0P |
you're kidding, right?! :P
@ Elru: how many people would spend 125,000 at their wedding? I mean, come on! that is SO much money!
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06/03/2006 01:25:38 PM · #14 |
Originally posted by biteme:
Originally posted by oOWonderBreadOo:
I would pay the price... I mean he is throwing in a pen! :0P |
you're kidding, right?! :P
@ Elru: how many people would spend 125,000 at their wedding? I mean, come on! that is SO much money! |
you may be surprised. I believe the average cost for a wedding in the US is around 30-40,000 right now, so 125 or even higher is not out of the question, and I'm not talking about celebrities and such. |
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06/03/2006 01:26:47 PM · #15 |
Originally posted by biteme:
Originally posted by oOWonderBreadOo:
I would pay the price... I mean he is throwing in a pen! :0P |
you're kidding, right?! :P
@ Elru: how many people would spend 125,000 at their wedding? I mean, come on! that is SO much money! |
Celebrities maybe... Donald Trump got his wife a dress which i think cost like 2.5 million.. just imagine what he spent on photography. |
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06/03/2006 01:28:10 PM · #16 |
Originally posted by biteme:
@ Elru: how many people would spend 125,000 at their wedding? I mean, come on! that is SO much money! |
How many weddings do you need to photograph in a year at this rate? I am with you about how much it is, but I still maintain that there a wedding market in that range.
One of the biggest leaps that I had to make at the early stages of my business (child portraiture) was to realize that I am not in my target market. I could never afford to pay $xxxx (note number of x's) for portraits of my children (from a single session) but some of my clients don't even blink.
SOme photographers from another board that I am on photographed a little girl's 5th birthday party (not celebrity parents, either) that looked like it cost more than $125,000.
Liza
Message edited by author 2006-06-03 13:30:09. |
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06/03/2006 01:31:54 PM · #17 |
Originally posted by biteme:
how many people would spend 125,000 at their wedding? I mean, come on! that is SO much money! |
The wedding I shot in NY last summer was a big affair! They paid $150 a plate... and there were about 350 there! And that is not including Open bar, the cost of getting married at the place, her dress, the cake, etc etc etc.
So, yeah. The only wedding I have ever been to like that!
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06/03/2006 01:32:48 PM · #18 |
I guess the other question is how confident do you have to be to charge $10,000 for a wedding?
There will always be people willing to undercharge for a sale.
There will always be people willing to overpay for anything.
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06/03/2006 01:33:50 PM · #19 |
I also wanted to say.... I charge a measley $500 for a wedding... but. I do good work, I take up to 500 shots at a wedding and I am there for 8 hours.
I know, I don't make enough doing it... but I plan to raise my prices slowly.
People are very happy with what I charge and the work I produce. Like I said, I have 6 weddings this year and 1 already for next year. And all of my weddings come from word of mouth. :)
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06/03/2006 01:34:09 PM · #20 |
| I think it has less to do with skill and more to do with marketing. I mean, there are wedding photographers charging in the thousands who shouldn't be allowed to take photos for free. You have to be good at convincing people that you're the one to do the job and given the surprising success of a host of poor to mediocre photographers, and the success of people who are charging $125k for weddings, I'd say that the convincing doesn't necessarily require a strong portfolio to back you up - maybe you just need to be good with words and manipulation tactics. |
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06/03/2006 01:36:11 PM · #21 |
I have the tendency to believe that it is a spoof, or he dosn't really want to do weddings. If you check the rest of his site, he will come to your house and do portraits for $225 + pictures, as opposed to the 100 + times higher price he "quotes" for weddings. |
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06/03/2006 01:36:32 PM · #22 |
Originally posted by oOWonderBreadOo:
I would pay the price... I mean he is throwing in a pen! :0P |
How about the whopping $35 discount LOL
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06/03/2006 01:39:38 PM · #23 |
Originally posted by mk:
I think it has less to do with skill and more to do with marketing. I mean, there are wedding photographers charging in the thousands who shouldn't be allowed to take photos for free. You have to be good at convincing people that you're the one to do the job and given the surprising success of a host of poor to mediocre photographers, and the success of people who are charging $125k for weddings, I'd say that the convincing doesn't necessarily require a strong portfolio to back you up - maybe you just need to be good with words and manipulation tactics. |
I think you have a really valid point there.
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06/03/2006 01:45:46 PM · #24 |
Originally posted by mk:
I think it has less to do with skill and more to do with marketing. I mean, there are wedding photographers charging in the thousands who shouldn't be allowed to take photos for free. You have to be good at convincing people that you're the one to do the job and given the surprising success of a host of poor to mediocre photographers, and the success of people who are charging $125k for weddings, I'd say that the convincing doesn't necessarily require a strong portfolio to back you up - maybe you just need to be good with words and manipulation tactics. |
I definitely agree with your first statement, that it has less to do with skill and more to do with marketing. I think your last statement about manipulation tactics is a little cynical (but perhaps appropriate at least some of the time). Believe me, I have no problem with cynical :). I really think it has to do with finding clients who are in the market to spend the amount that you are looking to charge. I totally agree that $10,000 wedding photographers are not $8,000 better than $2,000 wedding photographers. They just have different client bases.
Message edited by author 2006-06-03 13:46:35. |
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06/03/2006 01:45:53 PM · #25 |
a la carte wedding package, $875 thou... two hours with photographer, two locations, wedding only, no reception, prints extra. But for that you get a free pen and the photographer in a suit!
So at the 8% guideline, that would be a $10 mill wedding... Okay, this is too good a deal to pass up, right? ;) |
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