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DPChallenge Forums >> Business of Photography >> Do you mind sharing your wedding rate sheets?
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Showing posts 1 - 6 of 6, (reverse)
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12/31/2008 12:05:18 AM · #1
Hey there wedding photogs!

I am getting more leads for wedding work in '09, so I need to start formalizing my website. Would any of you mind sharing rate sheets with me?
I appreciate it!

Thanks in advance.

Dave
01/07/2009 01:38:01 AM · #2
We are on the cheap side, but we figured we need to be while we get our name out there.

Our prices are out there for all to see Limelight Investment
01/07/2009 03:13:53 AM · #3
Our prices start at £1150 ($1700) for a DVD only package, £1650 ($2450) for our first Album package and £2795 ($4260) for our top end package. Most people chop and change the packages through by adding in miniature albums and extra thank you cards etc.
01/07/2009 08:37:35 AM · #4
How does that help you?
Really?
You need to check out photographers in YOUR area. Attend a bridal show or two - contact the bridal show folks and say you're intersted in checking out the show and you almost always can get in free.

Pick up their info, see their work, what they are shooting style and quality wise, what are they giving for products - what items and what quality, what size albums, etc.

Google your area as if you were a bride looking for a photographer. Many have the info you are looking for on their website.

Why do this? Many reasons. One is that brides will - your potential customers will know this info, you should too. You are claiming to be a wedding professional, an expert if you will (you should be saying something like that!) so you should know more than the brides. If they bring up a name during your consultation ("Stanley shot my sisters wedding" or " I met with Bob Smith last week") you'll have a better idea of what style, price, etc they are considering.

If everyone is selling coffee table books and you're showing matted albums like it's 1982 you're at a severe disadvantage. But then if you're trying to sell a coffee table book for $800 and Bob Smith there is giving a leaterh covers flushmount from LC for that price you are again gonna lose out.

Where I am the average is just above $2000 a wedding. An hour down the road in the city they're closer to $3000. I'm in the country where everything costs less, but people get paid less too. Go over the line into ohio and you're lucky to make $1500.

If you're work is average, acceptable etc - mainstream stuff, and your packages are similar to other photogs in your area then charge about what they charge. Perhaps a tad less as you're new and need to convince them to hire you. BUT you need to consider where you want to be in 3 years. If you want to get $5000 a weddding and shoot a hard edged PJ style with lots of PP then you're not 'mainstream' and need to think about that NOW. Brides refer brides, this year's weddings are your samples for next year, etc. It's possible to move up in price of course and change styles, but you can waste all the WOM and referral chance if you move too far too fast.
01/16/2009 04:13:18 PM · #5
Thanks all, and thanks Prof_Fate for the detailed reply. I guess in answer to your questions, I am looking for the types of services offered per package, not just the prices. I have (I think) an idea of what I want to offer for some packages and this thread helps, so I appreciate the input from you all.

With regard to some of the vendors you use, who do you like for your printed albums and/or other print fulfillment? Do you offer different quality albums in different packages?

Who do you host with for online proofs and/or prints for the guests?
01/16/2009 05:13:17 PM · #6
I use instaproofs.com for online wedding proofing. you pay nothing unless there is a sale. no limits on uploads, etc. My online prices are the same as my studio prices - which from my latest information is high for online prints, but when I had the prices low I sold no more than I do now, just made less money.

I use HH color lab for my coffee table books. I use them as albums, parent books, guest books, for seniors and a whole lot more. Nice and affordable too with a quick turnaround.

for 'standard' albums i use GP albums out of chicago, their Optimus line. The book I push is a 10x10 30 side. Brides will buy what you shot them- so you don't need 12 different books from 6 different companies. You DO need to update them - colors (of dresses, flowers) have trends, dress styles change, etc and brides know what's in and what's 3 years old. Showing recent weddings is much better than having a 10 year old sample album.

A top of the line album makes the mid grade look more affordable, but I don't have a sample yet - they are not cheap if you want say, a 40 side LC book with two tone leather, cork end papers, gilded edges, tooled hub, 4 images inset in the cover - $600 easy.

For prints i use profilmet.com, and sometimes HHcolor. Filmet is close, cheapest and great quality- their prints POP compared to many other labs.

As to what YOU want in a package? Part of that is purely personal choice. I want brides to have albums. Some photogs want nothing to do with albums. There are plenty of options to have the album company do the design (see theweddinglab.com in maryland - design is $60 or so). I like to fulfill my own print orders, others do not. I like to see brides and others with framed pieces of art as opposed to loose prints that may never get framed or get put in some orange china frame from Big Lots.

I don't have specifics on what they get, but from what i have found there are 2.2 milloin weddings in the US in 2008, 1.6 milloin hire a photog, and 1.3 million spend an average of $1956. 220,000 spend between $2 and 4 grand, and 55k spend over 4 grand. Around here they'll pay $1200-1500 for a shoot and burn type deal, and most photogs appear to be pushing a pretty full package at $2600 or so (bridal, parent, prints, etc).

More money can mean more hours of coverage, a seond photog, printed proofs (4x6 instead of just web or a proofbook), album gets physically bigger or more pages/images or better brand, add in parent albums, more prints, bigger prints, framed prints, engagemet sessions, guest book for reception, etc.

Big albums can cost big money - my lab sells an 8x10 for $1, a 10x10 for 3, 11x14 for $7. So a 30 side book will cost, in prints alone, $30, $90 or $210 respectively. Whether you pass along the cost alone (and prolly sell a lot of 11x14 books) or do a markup that matches the price difference is up to you and how you want to be in your market.
Best bet is to give albums a 'name' as opposed to using a specific brand or model as these can come and go and you have no control over that - I just booked a dec wedding today,and by the time she orders her book it may be 18 months from now- who know if GP will be making the same book, using the same coverings, etc.

You need to know your costs too. If you charge $1500 for a shoot and proof and it costs 20 horus and $100 and then yuou offer a $2500 deal with more hours, bridal and parent albums and you spend 30 hours and $700 in product all you really gained was $300 for 10 hours of work - fine if that's what you want to do. I upped my content and prices from 07 to 08 and the album companies and labs made a lot more money and I only upped my net $80 per wedding - not worth it.

Also remember that if an album costs you $250 now, what will it cost in 18 months when it's actually orderd and you hav to pay for it? Your have to set aside that money too so you don't come up short. I spend $700 on albums last month and got 3 inthe design process - albums brides paid for a long time ago, that only get more expensive as time goes one.
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