April 5, 2017
The average cost of a wedding for Australian couples is now $65,482, according to the latest Bride to be magazine Cost of Love survey (may 2015). They say that your photography budget should be 10% of the total you spend excluding your honeymoon, which means the average bride and groom typically spend around $6548.20 on wedding photography.
Brides often ask why wedding photographers charge what they do and why prices for weddings are much higher than anything else, well let’s break it down.
Your wedding photographer has invested countless hours into perfecting their craft, they have often gone to college or university, not to mention all of the hours of free shoots to build their portfolio.
There are other factors to consider such as Cameras, lenses for every lighting scenario, batteries, flashes, lighting equipment, bags, cases, memory cards, camera straps and harnesses. The equipment cost alone just to take the images so many brides and grooms desire is in the 10’s of thousands.
They also have to invest in computers, fully colour calibrated screens, editing software, album and blog building software, hard drives, websites, branding, marketing and we haven’t even left the office yet. Once we step outside wedding photographers prices go up again, they need to be covered with public liability insurance and equipment insurance, this can be upwards for $3000 pa.
Some wedding photographers have a business car and all the expenses that go along with that such as; servicing, insurance, signage, tyres and more. By the time your wedding photographer reaches your ceremony they have already invested such a great deal in your day, but the costs keep stacking up.
There is more, your photographer is attending weddings so they have to look sharp, now we are talking clothing, make up, comfortable stylish shoes. As a creative photographers are always looking to improve, so even though they may be fully qualified they will usually invest in workshops and seminars to learn new skills to stay current.
Advertising is another huge expense. Facebook ad’s and newspaper articles just don’t cut the mustard these days, your photographer will need to attend wedding expos which often start at around $500 and grow in prices with popularity to upwards of $2000. The cost of a great google add or flyer drop to local bridal stores is quite substantial.
So as you can see before they have even taken an image the cost to run a wedding photography business is quite significant. Wedding photography prices need to reflect the actual cost to run the business before any profit is made and that profit ( for a full time wedding photographer) needs to cover all the usual things; rent/mortgage, household bills, living expenses and the plethora of necessities we have as Australian families.
Your wedding photographer does this job because they absolutely love it, the take home wage for the hours honestly worked is much like that of say a nurse or a public school teacher.
If you are looking to save money on your wedding photography try and opt for less hours of coverage, just have the most important parts documented.
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