Being a good photographer is an expensive investment. Sure, you can find cheap wedding photographers out there, but they’re cheap because they’ve possible cut corners on equipment, and insurance. Or they’re just plain stupid (you hired cheap and stupid?) So let’s take a look at what goes into a photographer’s overhead that adds up to the final cost of your wedding photographer.

1. Labor costs. This one is pretty standard across all industries. A photographer’s work doesn’t end when your wedding does. After the 5-10 hours they’ve put in working (on a Saturday, no less) at your nuptials, the photographer spends hours and hours editing your images so you get a wide array of perfect photographs by which to remember your day. Its not uncommon to work a full 3-4 days editing a wedding. Their time is even more valuable when you factor in the limited number of weekends in a year there are for a photographer to work.

2. Staff salaries. If you book a photographer that comes with assistants or second photographers, your cost is going to be higher. In return for getting more images from various places on your day, your photographer is going to have the pay those assistants.

3. Equipment.The pieces of equipment a photographer carries around is not your typical point-and-shoot. High-end lenses and bodies average around £1500 each. Photographers also carry back-up equipment in case their primary equipment fails, which adds to the cost of the wedding photography prices. In case your photographer is living in the Jurassic period and hasn’t switched over to digital (there are a few out there, somewhere), you also have to factor in the cost of film. Good wedding photographers easily can bring over £10,000 worth of equipment to shoot your wedding. Add in the prices of computers and editing programs like photoshop ( you did buy it right?) and costs begin to skyrocket. Luckily, its not always necessary in the UK to own a car so let’s not go there.

4. Insurance. Because cameras and equipment cost so much, photographers are smart to insure them. Just in case your drunk (who your mom insisted on inviting) cousin Jimmy decides he wants to spray champagne all over the wedding photographer’s equipment for a joke.

5. Web site. In this day and age, a photographer has to market himself with a very high-tech, professional Web site, which can cost a lot to design and maintain if the photographer doesn’t have web design skills. Its not unreasonable to spend over £5000 a year on website updates, and online marketing such as the sponsored links on Google.

6. Advertising. In that same vein, photographers also have to spend money on other types of advertising such as ads in the newspaper, business cards and brochures.

7. Photo extras. If you knew how much albums cost you’d have a heart attack. Albums are extraordinarily expensive and are often added into the wedding photography prices. Don’t forget the time it takes to design them as well.

8. Education. The more educated a photographer is, the better techniques and specializations will be used while shooting a wedding. As everything else, that education comes at a cost through instructors, college degrees, extra classes and seminars, etc. Intangibles such as expertise aren’t easy to measure monetarily, although we try!

So while you may be asking, “why does photographer X cost so much more than photographer Y?” the answer might be simple: Photographer X has spent more money developing his or her business into a full-fledged photography service, which ends up costing more money than an inexperienced photographer who moonlights part time on the weekend.

….Or those Porsche’s we drive up to your wedding in just don’t pay for themselves now do they?

Originally written by Wedding photographer Randolph Quan

NB, Unlike many Portrait photographers I do tend to make a ‘rod for my own back’ as there isn’t any (professional) photographers that would choose to shoot middle of the afternoon on a bright sunny day on a busy beach, but I like to keep myself sharp, this is the most difficult time of day to take good photographs but if you are a wedding photographer you have to shoot throughout the day in lots of tricky lighting situations and still nail the exposures, that’s why I’m a fan of just picking up the camera and working any time of day. :)

We don’t normally do T-shirts, but when our long time rock buddies ‘Alice in Thunderland’ asked if we could produce something from the photographs and artwork we had done for their album, I jumped at the chance to sink our teeth into a design, I came up with a few different samples before myself and Kala ( the bands vocalist and all round fantastic graphic artist) settled on a huge impact logo design. We enlisted the guys (and gals) at Awesome Merch who turned out some amazing screen printing, in loads of different sizes to suit all.  We got the t-shirts yesterday and enlisted the help of my little girl and wife for some quick product shots….Metallllllllllllll.

See us this Saturday at the Sledmere house wedding open day. We are proud to be showcasing our photography as the only invited photographer at this fantastic stately home.

Below is an excerpt from the Malton and Pickering Mercury about the day:

 SLEDMERE House is one of the most beautiful settings imaginable for your wedding day. With acres of rolling parkland, beautiful, romantic gardens and breathtaking rooms full of history and charm, it is undeniably an ideal venue for your wedding day.You have to see it to believe it and Saturday March 27 is the perfect time to do so, as Sledmere House is hosting a Weddings Open Day. Located at the House, local companies which contribute towards making those special days perfect will be gathered to talk to wedding couples and their families about their big day.They include Florida Marquees, Reflections Beauty Salon, The Convenience Company, Gallerino Studio and Cake Creations. The dining room will be set up as it would be for a wedding breakfast and the library will be set up for a ceremony so visitors can see how Sledmere House could look on the special day.