Wedding Pricing Query?

[Wayne]

I think that with the digital age and the ease with which processing many images can be done, along with the relative low cost to buy a DSLR these days, the door has been opened for many a want to be wedding photographer to get some kit and start charging people to shoot their weddings, especially without having to give up a day job to do it.

Anyone with $1500 can set up. It certainly doesn't mean they will be good or bad photographers, of course, you will get a mix, but one thing is for sure, and that is in areas where there is a saturated market like the major capital cities and larger regional areas, the weekend warriors are chewing into the fat of the professional photographer every weekend. What once was a ransom item, like CD/DVD with the Hi-res images costing many hundreds on top of standard packages is essentially an expectation item and at no additional cost for most I imagine.

The hourly $ return these days must be so much less than it was even 5 years ago for all but the prestige and well established shooters. Thing is that $ can be had as cream money for many people and as already mentioned they often charge (and publish openly) very low prices as it is their way of winning business in a competitive market. These low cost shooters are growing in number all the time, so there is clearly a market for budget wedding photography. I have no desire to get into it myself, shot 1 for a friend, and was a terrible experience that I couldn't be bothered doing again(not skilled enough either to charge for the privilege) but I have no doubt that if I were offering $1000 "No Frills" packages, I would have more work than I could actually do given the low standard/high cost shooters already operating here.

[Dylan & Marianne]

My wife and I do spare a thought for the professional wedding photographers out there. That being said, our clients are mostly friends of friends/relatives and they don't expect us to provide anything more than a the service stated.
We're not out to undercut the professionals out there.
We're not out to become the next Jerry Ghionis
I think what I've got from this discussion is a rough market value for what my wife and I provide.
If I were to have my time again and arrange our wedding, I'd still go for the professional photographer we went with and have the album and other things that go with it. There seems to be a market for both and I think it'd be a rare case that a couple who want a certain package, all of a sudden ditch the professional to go for the weekend warrior shoot and burn who happens to be cheaper.
Let the weekend warriors fight it out amongst themselves!

[Wayne]

I think the distinction between weekend warriors and F/T photographers chasing the wedding segment is becoming further blurred all the time. Many of the P/T wedding operators are setting up good portfolios, strong and professional web presence and some marketing thrown in for good measure, often giving the perception that they are professional F/T photographers. I hazard a guess many clients wouldn't know they do the gig part time when they decide to make enquiries with a photographer.

The tools and the associated costs to look professional are fairly cheap these days and I would think that many prospective couples look to the web for their photographer. Basically exposure is cheaper than it has ever been, and financial pressures on couples (particularly young ones) who own or are saving to buy a house etc force people to seek cheaper alternatives, which, these days there are so many of. Clients would usually still pay full tilt pricing if they had to, but with the abundance of part time operators out there they never have to, so many won't.

If I were doing it, I would have no consideration for what slice of the pie I could be taking from F/T professionals. It is like alot of industries, there is a free market and supply and demand decide who makes $. If I were good enough to charge for the work, I have as much right to my piece of the pie as any F/T operator.

The local race club here have a F/T photographer who attends alot of the local sports functions and the local race meetings and they are contracted to the local newspaper. I attend sports functions and race meetings when time permits, and I sell images to players, horse trainers/owners, parents of players etc and I do it for about 1/2 the price of the F/T girl and what I think is fair. I have also been asked to quote the local newspaper to cover some events. She has been telling quite a few people how much she dislikes me and the fact I charge so little, and does her best to convince people to buy her images that are no better than mine for twice the price. Do I care? Nope...

I keep on doing what I enjoy, make enough $$ to cover my costs and if it leads to the opportunity to make a decent supplementary income so be it, if not, I'm not bothered in the slightest.

[virgal_tracy]

There's a thread in this very section on how to work out an hourly rate. I will put out there all of the arguments about if you don't value your ability how will anyone else. If you are happy keeping this as a bit of pocket money then charge what you want. If you want for this to be a bit more serious then how do you increase your prices later with everyone from your referral source knowing what you charged others.

Take into account that for every hour you spend actually shooting there is going to be a time allowance for the post processing, and with 2 shooters and therefore many more images then this time will be greater. I would think that you could charge more and get it. Seriously consider what you want to include as part of your packages.

As to taking work from f/t togs that really is your call but remember that if you go into this more heavily then having a good network is essential for those "what if" days and other togs may not be as forthcoming with assistance.