Why is wedding photography so expensive?
(Part II has been added at the bottom for a 2025 update!)
I'd like to start with two points:
1) I have done a LOT of reading of other people's posts about why wedding photography is so expensive, and I'm not going to repeat a single thing any of them say.
2) My full day wedding photography package is often described as a 'bargain' or even 'the best money I spent on my wedding day' by clients who have used my services - this article is to address the perception that wedding photography is expensive, for people who are not yet married.
'How do photographers justify charging all that money?'
Usually when a wedding photographer tries to answer this question, they go to great depths about how much camera gear costs, how expensive computers are, all of the years they've spent 'mastering their trade,' how long it takes to edit a wedding and what they're earning per hour when you work it all out. I don't care for that as much as you don't care for it. Cameras are expensive. The end.
So lets look at things a different way. At the time of writing (Feb 2019) the average wedding in the UK costs £30,355 and the average price of a full day's wedding photography in Worcestershire (my home county) is £1,370 for the digital files. Interestingly, of all of the money spent on all wedding photographers in the country last year, this is a whole £2 above average. By far the biggest single spend on a wedding day is the venue hire and catering; Brides Magazine lists average wedding venue hire as £2,790, reception venue hire as £3,919 and the catering as £3,959. That means you're spending £10,668 on perhaps a few rooms in someone else's house, or a hotel and a bit of outdoor space for a drinks reception and photos, and food for your guests, all of which takes, or lasts on average, 12 hours. Before you have any entertainment, anyone to officiate your wedding, any music, anything to dress your venue (or yourselves for that matter) you're spending £889 an hour, for a piece of legally-binding paper, and a party.
Describing a wedding as a 'party' is like a red-rag-to-a-bull for most brides, and I chose the word carefully. Because a wedding reception is a party by traditional definitions, but we all know that a wedding reception is so, so much more than just that. I'm now going to jump into another point without fully answering this one - but I'll explain all in a little while.
How much is a single photo worth?
How much is a single photo worth? For the vast majority of photos that have ever been printed, the net worth of a photo is no more than the paper it's been printed on. It's 2019 and photos have become a throw-away commodity for most, for which we have smart-phones and in the wider scope of things, digital photography in general to blame.
Imagine for me though, right now, the most important photograph in your life. Is it of someone who has passed away perhaps? I know mine certainly is. Now imagine for a second that the photo you have in mind is the only example of that photo in existence. How angry would you be if I destroyed that image? I've asked this before many times and one person even said they'd kill me. It seems then, that certain photos have a lot of value. A priceless value, one perhaps worth killing for. There are moments in weddings, that will never, ever be repeated again. And because of the nature of weddings, with how it brings families and distant friends together, (and how there's usually a professional photographer lurking not too far from the action,) the likelihood of attaining such an image is a lot greater than it is in normal daily life.
How long do photos last?
Longer than memories, and that should be enough in itself. But if it's not, lets look at things again from a different perspective:
The average wedding spend on flowers is £638 and they might last 3 days in summer - I've seen some last for less than 8 hours on really hot days.
The average spend on a wedding dress is £1,378 and you'll wear it once.
That food you've spent £4,000 on lasts mere hours, and the money that goes into drinks means you might not even remember some parts of the biggest day of your life.
Your wedding photos will not only outlast every other part of your wedding day, they'll outlive you. They might even outlive your grand-kids. Aside from the flowers, wedding photography is actually one of the cheapest single items on your wedding day and it's the only thing that will not only add value to your experience, but as time passes and memories fade, (and people pass on) the worth of any single photo increases every day to the point of being priceless.
How to save money on your wedding day:
I'm not even going to try to tell you how to save money on your wedding day. It's not my job; making sure you remember it for the rest of your lives, is. I don't care how you save money on your wedding day if you have to, but please don't underestimate the value of good wedding photography. I can't imagine the pain people must feel, looking back on their wedding photos a week, month or half a century after their wedding and saying 'I wish we spent an extra £300 on a wedding photographer' which when you think about it, is only 1% of the average total wedding cost.
And now to finally answer my initial question:
Remember earlier we said that at an average wedding, to simply feed your guests and put a roof over them for 12 hours costs £889 an hour? A set of photos that you will cherish for the rest of your lives costs pennies per day by comparison. Why is wedding photography so expensive? It truly isn't. Wedding photography is the bargain of the century.
Part II - 2025 update
I started this article saying I wasn't going to delve into how experience and equipment is what you're paying for when it comes to wedding photography, and I'm going to stick by that. For a start, I've spent a lot of time and effort making sure I'm carrying less stuff with me on a wedding day, not more. It's very easy when you start as a photographer to keep buying new cameras or lenses or bags or whatever, in the belief it's going to make your life easier or make you a better photographer. It won't. All of the equipment I use to photograph a wedding fits into one shoulder bag. The total contents is about £6,500 which yes, is a lot, but again I'm not justifying how much I charge for a wedding based on that alone.
(just if you were wondering, this is everything I carry with me on a wedding day. It doesn't include all of the tripods, lighting stands and various spares I keep in my car)
A couple of days ago I was asked to photograph a wedding at short notice. The couple only wanted me for two hours - my hourly rate (if you divide how much I charge by how long I'm at a wedding) appears to be £150 an hour which yes, does seem like a lot of money. Then the thought occurred to me, as I was getting ready, about just how much time and effort actually goes on behind the scenes. From the moment I took that phone call I had to stop everything else I was doing (designing a wedding album) to find my chargers, charge all of my camera batteries, charge my flashgun batteries, backup the photos that were on my memory cards, do a white wash so I had a clean shirt to wear. After that do another wash to ensure I had trousers which were clean. I then had to clean my shoes as the wedding before had been hot and dusty. Owing to that dust I then had to clean all of my lenses. Any my cameras. And hoover my camera bags. Hung up the two loads of washing, swapped the batteries over in the chargers, then took to Google Maps to ensure I knew where I was going the next day. I picked two routes to drive in case one was blocked with an accident or roadworks, then looked at the venues I wanted to use for photos. I checked how long it would take to walk from Location A to Location B and then made sure there was car parking in a sensible enough position that should I need a backup of a backup that lives in my car, I could run and fetch it. Bags now packed, batteries charged, cameras and lenses cleaned and laundry and ironing done, I'm now ready to go. Between taking the phone call and being ready to walk out of the door, it's taken me three hours. The next morning for the wedding, I have to arrive early (I simply cannot afford to be late) and as the wedding is at 10am I'd be travelling at rush hour. I have to be there no later than 0930, but first I need to park the car and walk the route I wanted to use for photos later as there's a gate to one venue which is sometimes locked. I end up arriving in town at 0820. Walk the planned route and check all of my angles for possible shots later. Between 0930 and 1130 I take 1,128 photos, and walk back to my car exhausted from the 28 degree heat and the 2 miles I've just ran backwards whilst taking photos. It's a 45 minute drive home. Once home I need to download all of the images, import them into Lightroom and edit them. And when I say edit them - if I've taken 1,128 photos I will sit there and individually look at 1,128 photos. I have to bin the ones where people are blinking or where the photo isn't flattering. If I have 3 of the same thing I need to pick which one is best. Make sure everything in the photos is level using the crop tool. Check exposure, fine tune white balance. 6 hours pass and I finish the editing. I send the couple 10 sneak peek photos on WhatsApp. I then have to make an online gallery, which takes quite some setting up. Passwords need to be chosen, there's design layouts to go over and 21 options to go through before I even upload a single image. When the images are eventually uploaded I then have to compose an email which sends the correct client the correct link and the correct password to the correct gallery. The whole time dehydrated and having slept maybe 4 hours. 'Do you do an hourly rate?'... 'wow £150 an hour is a lot' - meanwhile the two hour job I've quoted for actually turns into 17 hours. £300 over 17 hours works out at £17 an hour. Sure that's still decent pay if you're stacking shelves in a supermarket. But you're entrusting me and others like me to capture the most important day of your lives. With zero margin for error. Zero. And that £17 an hour is before I've paid for my website, email server, liability insurance, indemnity insurance, 3 cameras, 5 lenses, 3 flashguns, two bags, everything I'm wearing and the electricity to keep it all working or charged or clean. 6 years has passed since I wrote the top part of this article and I come to the same conclusion - why is wedding photography so expensive? It's not. It's a bloody bargain.