A fair price for a wedding?

BrenOS

BrenOS

BrenOS

Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
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The Castle
I've been asked to be the official photographer for a friend of a friends wedding in the summer. I barely know the guy so I'd want it to be worth my time and effort.

I've done a wedding before, shadowing the official photographer, so I'm fairly sure about the poses I need to do etc. I'm confident by nature too so I'm not too worried about crowd control etc. I'm my own worst critic and I honestly feel I produced better shots at the last wedding that the official, even without a flashgun. This was echoed by the bride and groom and anyone else who saw the photos. It was in the Dominican Republic however where lighting wasn't really a problem, I just needed a fill to reduce the shadows.

I definately want my price to cover the purchase of a flashgun, plus a little more for my time and processing. I'm willing to process and make all photos available to the b&g so they can go ahead and order as many prints for friends and family as they want. I assume this is not normal procedure?

At the moment I'm thinking £300 all in, baring in mind my experience. All advice welcomed :)
 
£300 is low but i wouldn't say no - my wedding photographer (2004) cost £1000+ including printing mind

you should look for £300 min - £600 max in my books.

obviously if you ask £600 you should be prepared to do a lot of after work on the photos.

wheres the wedding?
 
I'm in the north east. I've been told he's already been offered £400-600 which may be a little white lie, but what can I say?

Suppose I could say £400 take it or leave it, unsure :confused:
 
Considering your experience etc £300 seems reasonable enough.

My £350 wedding package includes up to 3 hours photography on the wedding day, proof images (6"x4") and a final 25 9"x6" photos processed from RAW files.

Do you have a spare camera body in case your main one fails?
Do you have insurance in case things don't go as smooth as you plan?
 
I wouldn't go any lower than £450. If the gig goes well and you get some work from it, you'll find it harder to increase your price than to lower it. Most wedding photographers offer price bandings with different coverage/locations included in the extra costs.

Personally I'd be inclined to say £500 as a nice round number. I'd also recommend you host yourself a Photobox Pro Gallery, add a little something to the standard cost of the prints (15-30%) and let the B&G buy directly from the site. You'll make some extra pennies, they'll be able to show the gallery to their friends; everyone is happy.

Don't just give them a DVD/CD with the images on them. For a little extra work you'll not only look amazingly professional but you might reap the financial rewards from guests who want to order their own prints.

Oh - and you'll need backup kit in case your main stuff fails!
 
I'm hoping I can borrow a friends D70 for the day incase of failure, if not I'll have to rent. Any reccommendations there?

SDK you mention insurance, not something I considered. What would be the cost and benefits involved there?

Glitch, great advice on the gallery, I'll certainly look into that :)
 
I think 300 is low but I would never argue agaisnt SDK. If your confident about your ability from a previous shoot.. Would it be possible to see some examples. Based on your work people will be able to give you a more acurate answer. Plus what tools do you intend to take with you. You need to watch out for couples requesting shots printed on a larger format than A4. So spec of camera comes into it a lot.
 
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