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05/30/2007 10:14:08 PM · #1 |
hey all--
late next month i'll be shooting a wedding, my first time as the principal, paid photographer (i've done backup for a few people before, but never everything on my own)--so anyhow, the couple getting married need a price from me by saturday. i've spent almost $300 on equipment, so i figured i'd charge them a base price of $300 just to shoot, and then any prints or whatever they wanted would be above and beyond that flat $300.
so my question is--does this sound reasonable? i don't want to charge too much, as this IS my first wedding on my own, and i'm still young and very much just getting started... what do normal places charge to shoot a wedding? i haven't gotten married in a while, so i'm not too familiar with all the ins and outs of this sort of thing. ;)
and any other tips would be helpful too--i'm checking out other wedding photographer's websites, going to have a list of all the shots that i MUST get, i'll have two cameras with me and a stockpile of extra batteries and flashcards...so yeah.
any and all help is appreciated, thanks tons, guys. |
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05/30/2007 10:22:43 PM · #2 |
I know how you feel about the situation, my first wedding was around a year ago and felt weird charging a lot because I was so young. I ended up charging $500.00 and that included a small album with 4x6 edited prints (100-150). If they wanted anything more it was extra. They thought it was a great deal and ordered $250.00 more in prints.
But ya make sure you have enough memory cards and batteries as they ran out really fast! A second body is a good idea just in case. Good luck, I'm sure you'll do great!
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05/30/2007 10:54:29 PM · #3 |
Originally posted by elsapo:
I ended up charging $500.00 and that included a small album with 4x6 edited prints (100-150). If they wanted anything more it was extra. They thought it was a great deal and ordered $250.00 more in prints. |
you know, that's something i really never would have thought of--thanks, that actually sounds like a really good idea to me. =)
anyone else have any pointers?
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05/30/2007 11:16:15 PM · #4 |
I am interested in the advice in this thread also. I too am new to shooting weddings and up until now have only been a secondary photographer. However, I keep getting requests so I need to start narrowing things like price down.
Also, what do most people do as far as prints go? Do you just upload them somewhere online and let them order prints from there, or do you go get them printed yourself? |
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05/30/2007 11:35:46 PM · #5 |
You mentioned that you had a list of the essential group shots ect. If you know the people who are getting married, it would take a huge stress load off your shoulders if you can have them appoint someone to ride herd and coordinate all the groupings for those shots.
A second option is to try to have someone that you know go with you and do that job. It will free you up to concentrate on the technical part of just getting the images right.
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05/30/2007 11:35:59 PM · #6 |
Originally posted by breadfan35:
Also, what do most people do as far as prints go? Do you just upload them somewhere online and let them order prints from there, or do you go get them printed yourself? |
Heh, well, i'm probably not the person to be answering your questions, really, but as far as prints go, i upload them to my own personal photography site, the customers order through me, and then i get them printed through WHCC (white house custom colour).
i'm not sure if that's how i SHOULD be doing things, but that's how i've done them so far. =)
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05/31/2007 12:26:40 AM · #7 |
Well, nobody can tell you what you should charge really but why don't you go ahead and add up your time. That's a start.
a little list... how much time do you spend
meeting with the clients?
phone calls?
engagement session (by the way, I highly recommend doing this, it gets the couple used to you and will give you a bit more practice too! also it can result in print sales or guest books... you get the idea)
e-session editing?
actual time shooting the wedding?
editing wedding?
delivering products?
so now you've got a number. But what about all the other equipment? I really don't believe youy've only spent $300.
your camera body (hopefully x2!)
flash (also x2)
how much memory did you say?
are you including prints or an album at all?
you don't really need photoshop or a computer to edit do you? ;0)
Basically, if this is just for fun that's one thing but if you want to be compensated for your work you won't really know what to charge until you do the math.
-I use an online company for prints (Pictage) but WHCC is awesome and does drop shipping now!!
-Second shooters ROCK! :0)
Good Luck! We know you have the skills to do an awesome job!!! You're welcome to PM me anytime...
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05/31/2007 09:21:42 AM · #8 |
What can you produce, results wise? If you can produce good work - candids, low light, artsy shots and then of course the formals (posing, lighting) then you should charge the going rate for your area, or slightly less.
What you spent in gear, your costs of doing business, your marketing budget, what car you drive, etc have no effect or very little on what you should charge. Clients don't care about that stuff, if they don't care then they don't place a value on it, and they won't pay for what has no value to them. When you get your car fixed do you care what the tools the mechanic uses cost? Do you care what the rent is at the garage? No. You care about the quality of the work. Same for photography clients.
50% or more of your profit/income comes from making and selling an album. Consider doing this - yes, it's half the job, but I can do an album layout in 3 or 4 hours, the album costs me $150-200 and I charge $800-1200 for that, about 1/2 the total for the wedding.
Very basic rule of business is it's less work and less costly to get more money per sale/client than to get more clients.
What is your competition charging in your area? Around here it's $2000, including album. Some get a lot more of course, but that's not the average.
I have 23 to 24 hours in a wedding, as Wonderbread made a good list of the work involved you can figure it for yourself, your workflow. If I want to make a living, pay my bills, etc I need to charge at least $75 per hour - that's $1700-1800 (plus material costs).
Does $75 sound high to you? Call around to car repair places, appliance repair, home improvement, doctors, lawyers, home health nurses, electicians, etc - this may be cheap compared to some of them!
Remember, you can't charge for the time you spend marketing, doing the books, getting education, etc. Some photogs shoot 40 or 50 weddings a year but it takes 3-5 years to get there. If you shoot 20 a year at $1800 profit per that only $36,000 a year in income, less taxes, gear, insurance, advertising, etc
Don't undercharge, just take the money to do what you love to do and smile all the way to the bank!
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05/31/2007 09:42:14 AM · #9 |
I wouldn't mess with an album yet for a few reasons...
1. putting together a nice album takes some experience.
2. time consuming for a novice.
3. costly. so to make decent profit your wedding price will be costly.
I would offer 50 edited images on a CD and say 250 originals on another CD. Let them print anything they want. Charge a flat rate for the CDs plus your time. I charged $600 for my first wedding. My only costs were time so I put the entire $600 in the bank.
The trick with the first few is to deliver results way beyond expectations. If you charge them $300 or whatever low rate youre going to charge, their expectations are already low. They know or should know its your first wedding. This is a perfect opportunity to show off your skills. Surprise them with a few 8x10 prints that they didn't think they were getting. Instead of 50 give 75 edited images. If you go above and beyond they will tell everyone.
Charge at least $600.
Have a contract.
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06/05/2007 10:45:58 AM · #10 |
Originally posted by Jmnuggy:
I wouldn't mess with an album yet for a few reasons...
1. putting together a nice album takes some experience.
2. time consuming for a novice.
3. costly. so to make decent profit your wedding price will be costly.
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Hmmm...I disagree. TAP has some nice albums - keep it simple and use a 'digital friendly' album or just 8x10s. Tell the happy couple to pick 30 images for the album, you PP edit them and print - the book is under $100 and you can charge $500 to $1000.
I use ArtLeather (iMount deluxe and Cache') books, but H&H is similar and in some ways easier as they'll print and assemble the book. An 8x10 30 side, with prints, is about $125. Lumapix Fotofusion works great for doing albums, the mid level will get you started for $100. It's faster and easier than PS, but you can do it in PS if you want.
Keep the design simple to start with.
Your first album may take 20 or 30 hours (mine did). I now can do one in under 4. Worst case you make $300 profit on the first album (after the cost of hte album and software) and it takes you 30 hours - that's still $10 an hour -and it's FUN!
Besides, it may be a cliche/ but it's true none the less - people take more pictures than they print out, so give them a disk and that's where the images will stay 95% of the time. No one is sure how long a CD will last, but I know prints last 150 years at least.
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