How Much Should You Charge As a Wedding Photographer
Probably one of the hardest questions to answer as a wedding photographer is “how much should I charge for a wedding day?”
If you are a wedding photographer that is just starting out and has no clue what you are worth, then keep reading!
In this short article, I’m going to walk you through exactly HOW to figure out how much you should charge - and give you the confidence to actually go out and CHARGE IT!
There are a few things that you should take into account when thinking about pricing for your wedding packages:
PICK AN IDEAL CLIENT AND WEDDING DAY
First, I want you to think about your ideal client AND ideal wedding day that you want to photograph.
You want to do this because every client and wedding day looks SO different - but making your packages fit those categories can attract the right customers and help you focus in on how to market best!
For example, some photographers have a huge heart for young couples with a lower budget but fun personalities - so those wedding days might look a little longer and at a lower budget than most!
Another photographer might LOVE couples that have extravagant elopements, with only a few hours of coverage but an elaborate wedding day setup - so that photographer is target a more high-end client.
And here’s the deal - there isn’t a wrong choice! Choose whatever client/wedding day you feel the most comfortable with/drawn to, and start getting a picture on what your ideal client’s average budget will look like!
DETERMINE HOW MUCH YOU WANT TO MAKE IN A YEAR
The next, and arguably most important, step is to decide how much money you want to make in a year.
You’ll want to take into account ALL the expenses that you have, as being a photographer costs a pretty penny! Subtract that amount from your total desired income from the business.
Even if you are just starting out, choose your desired income if you were actually doing this full-time and had paying clients!
Then, you simply just divide that number by the number of weddings that you want to photograph per year (even if you don’t book that many at first), and VOILA! You have your desired income for a wedding day.
This number may be larger than you expect, so you definitely don’t have to start at this number. Make it a goal to reach this number after you start booking and photographing some weddings - and know that you can ALWAYS raise your prices (you’re the boss!)
TAKE A LOOK AT OTHER WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHERS IN YOUR AREA
Lastly, you will want to take a look at what other wedding photographers charge in your area of work.
Try to look at photographers with similar levels of experience and ideal clients, since those are probably the photographers you’ll be “competing” against for bookings!
This step is probably the least important, but you also don’t want to be lowballing the market (and realize later than you can be charging more). You also don’t want to be way above the market average, to the point where people in your area truly can’t afford you.
Choosing what to charge as a wedding photographer can be SO OVERWHELMING! But here’s the deal - you are worth it!
Wedding photography is a high-stress, high-skill job that takes a LOT of unseen time to do and improve in, so know that your time is valuable and should be at a premium price.
Don’t be afraid of being confident in your pricing - you’ve got this!
PS - A little tip from me - I’m actually a website designer as well, and I’ve written an article all about WHY you should be confident in showing your prices on your website as a small business owner. Check it out here now!