[Closed] Wedding photographers - how much!??!?

Here is picture I took of my future niece on a horse.

Can I have £2000 now?
[img] ?t=1264460075[/img]

cough* PLUG *cough

[url] http://www.esthetephotography.com/ [/url]

This guy is my mate, he's been doing Wedding Photography for a few years now, and is highly experienced and very professional...

Give him a call, have a chat, he'll give you a bespoke quote... It's worth telling him what you've been quoted elsewhere too, cos undoubtedly it'll make him laugh! 😉

Seriously though, for a professional service at a price that doesn't take the piss, give him a call... And we're talking prices a LOT more sensible than the £1500 or so mentioned elsewhere in this thread...

i want a £2.5k photographer,

but i only want you to do about 2hrs (pre, church, post,)
and i dont want 10,000 shots - couple of hundred is too many
then i do want you to discard the crap, pick one nice one for framing and put about 50 on a cd that nobody will ever look at again.

call it £100 and join us at the reception if you want (no pics)

SOOBalias will you supply the watermelon & tizer?

Silver.
I'd want the horse to have legs for £2k.

One serious point: ensure the photographer has professional indemnity and public liability insurance. If he's working for a 3rd party, make sure he / she / they have employer's liability too.
In my case, I'm the director of a Ltd company and we're VAT registered, likely indications of a professional, established set up.

PS - a little confused. How is she a "future niece "?

watermelon?

oooh a bit mr fancy pants arent you.

skip to the end...

my ex is a press photographer and has won numerous awards for the pic she's taken but she refuses to do wedding pics on the side as most photographers are scared to fnck up some bint's big day so you'll probably have to pay a fair whack for a pichur taker who's game enough to risk it.

well I would have preferred a puppy but I hear its frowned upon in polite society.

[url= http://www.graphistudio.com/en/products/Book/indexB.html ]The reportage layout is, IMHO, the best on this, the site that pretty much transformed wedding photography, back in 2001.[/url]

she refuses to do wedding pics on the side as most photographers are scared to fnck up some bint's big day so you'll probably have to pay a fair whack for a pichur taker who's game enough to risk it.

Not being funny, but that smacks of "poor excuse" if you ask me...

I'm a professional DJ in my spare time... If I doubted my ability to get people having a good time in the clubs and parties I've played at, that's the time to give up in my opinion! If I look scared, people will notice it, and will have a crap time as a result. Sure, it's not about being so arrogant as to believe it's my taste or nothing, but I have to be confident in my ability to deliver a professional service otherwise people will see through it, and I wouldn't get any work again.

Photography is the same deal in my book. If the Photographer turns up to a Wedding, but wouldn't say boo to a goose, undoubtedly he's not going to get many good pics. Yes, you don't want an arrogant areshole that orders everyone about, ruining the day just to get his quota of 2000 shots in, but a polite self confident professional person, that isn't afraid to get stuck in without being rude, ask for a few poses and then stand on the sidelines taking some more natual pics, all the while maintaining a very professional demeanour, is what you'd want... Certainly not some "I'm the greatest, you're lucky to have me here" kind of person...

If that sounds like what you want, give my mate a call by the way...

His number is on his website... 😉

PS - a little confused. How is she a "future niece "?

Just joshing with you Ti29er, it's my bride to be's niece and we get married a month today. TBH the whole is stressing me out and I'll be glad when it's all over

** walks off muttering** '£600!, it's just eggs and bloody flour....'

[i]The reportage layout is, IMHO, the best on this, the site that pretty much transformed wedding photography, back in 2001.[/i]

Cheese tastic! I'm sorry but they look over the top posed images.

Doh! No scripts had blocked the drop down menu but still not keen on the layout.

Very few shots are posed. Only the group shots.
Are you looking in the correct drop down menu?

Remember, this is a set of weddings from 2001. Some of them are very Italian. The Reportage wedding is not & is English.
The layouts are now quite dated, but the product goes from strength to strength and has spawned dozens of similar digital wedding style books.

Silver: I know one very well thought of venue, fully booked to 2015 (-ish), and they charge you £35 to hire the cake stand and cake knife.

not sure I'd want you at my wedding Ti29er, you seem a bit aggressive 😐

photography style and albums are definitely about taste - you seem to throw a lot of content into your layouts, literally. in my opinion they lack elegance and look more like a hotel brochure.

I don't see why as a professional you can't cater for all tastes

Disposable cameras strewn everywhere will give you the real story!

All i can say is we got a 'cheaper' photographer who, while the photos were, alright was a bit slapdash and we didn;t really get what we actually wanted.
As its one day you shoudl seriously think about getting someone who has a good reputation and listens to your needs. Thankfully we got enough great shots (I mean, who the **** needs 500 photos of your own wedding ?) and then had some awesome ones taken when we got back to NZ (mtb in kilt etc) all good. Got a book made up which the olds loved.

not sure I'd want you at my wedding Ti29er, you seem a bit aggressive

I have to agree - the pushiness/cockiness would be a real turn off for me, however good he might be. 😐

bakes & grum, back in line [u]now![/u]

now be quiet and say "thursday" [i]WHEN I TELL YOU![/i]

MaverickBoy - Premier Member

she refuses to do wedding pics on the side as most photographers are scared to fnck up some bint's big day so you'll probably have to pay a fair whack for a pichur taker who's game enough to risk it.

Not being funny, but that smacks of "poor excuse" if you ask me...

I'm a professional DJ in my spare time... If I doubted my ability to get people having a good time in the clubs and parties I've played at, that's the time to give up in my opinion! If I look scared, people will notice it, and will have a crap time as a result. Sure, it's not about being so arrogant as to believe it's my taste or nothing, but I have to be confident in my ability to deliver a professional service otherwise people will see through it, and I wouldn't get any work again.

Not being funny, but that smacks of not thinking it through to me. If people don't have a good time, you get kicked off and someone else has a go, next friday night it'll all happen again. A wedding's a one-off occurrence. You don't get the chance to get try again the next week, if you get it wrong you've just ruined the "happy couple"'s wedding album

As I read once, anyone can take pictures and cameras are cheap, so why pay a professional? Well, scissors are a couple of pounds in Asda, why not suggest you do the missus' hair next time instead of shelling out £80 at the hairdresser?

[s]Our wedding pics were done by a good friend of mine. She's no pro, she does it as a hobby, but she put a lot of work in beforehand, had most of her shots planned out in advance and did a bloody good job. We had a load printed out for an album, and even up to 12x8, the quality was fantastic. I was more than impressed. [/s]

Actually, after writing all that lot above (Praise still applies!!) I just checked her website and it appears she's moved on a bit in the last year. Have a look - 😀

[url= http://www.nicolamahoney.com/index2.php#/home/ ]Nicola Mahoney[/url]

I don't see why as a professional you can't cater for all tastes

if you are a professional you will be bringing something individual to the shoot (whatever you are photographing) so no i disagree you can't cater to all tastes.
this is why there are many different wedding photographers with different styles, abilities and fee's, you just have to find the right one for you.

I'm glad i don't shoot weddings because the general public are on the whole visually unaware and lack the ability to communicate what it is they want from you as a photographer.

I don't see why as a professional you can't cater for all tastes

Crikey, where do I start with a bizarre comment such as that?
Firstly, you have a portfolio of work.
It's not something that's commutable. I can't show you my web site and portfolio and produce a completely separate body of work, that would be to mis-represent the service I provide.

Similarly, you offer some goods and products and not everything. You are looking for clients who want what you do and there's NO point in trying to be a round peg in a square hole. Conversely, you'd be a fool to book a photographer who doesn't show, unequivocally, the work that you aspire to own. It's no good the photographer promising to produce for you a body of work on the day that he can't display in his / her portfolio & you would be a fool to think otherwise.

No apologies for setting you straight over this, but if you want one thing, the (maybe) recommended photographer does something slightly different and say they can do "that" on the day, more fool the two parties. Photographers do not cater for all tastes, and woe-betide you if you believe otherwise.

The whole church wedding thing is obscene from a price and moral point of view

Can't see the point unless you are religious, most times the couple have never even been to a church before and some have kids in tow

Utter hypocrisy and deserve to get stung with all the stupid prices

Churches are no better, they just want the money and couldn't give a stuff either

Pay up for the photos,crap old car,bland cake and then if statistics are to be believed get divorced (another shed load of cash)

Lot cheaper the 2nd or 3rd time although i'm sure the church will marry divorced couples if the money is right, slip a few twenties in a prayer book

The whole church wedding thing is obscene from a price and moral point of view

Churches are no better, they just want the money and couldn't give a stuff either

You're wrong by the way, but I'm not even going to bother trying to explain

Pay up for the photos,crap old car,bland cake and then if statistics are to be believed get divorced (another shed load of cash)

The statistics show people who wed in church are more likely to stay together. And the cake my Mum made was superb, my mates Jag was spot on, and my photos done for free. (See Nicola Mahoney's site above)
The bar was also free at our wedding.... 🙂

It's not what you spend, it's how you spend it!

Does anyone know what the relationship is between the cost of wedding photographers and the length of the marriage?
Ie. If I pay £2500 for photos, does that mean my marriage is 5 times less likely to fail than if I pay £500?, or 5 times happier, or 5 times more fulfilling?
Seems a bit of a waste of money otherwise 🙂

If you pay me £500 you'll get a couple of prints handed to you inside a half empty crisp packet (ready salted) in a subway (tunnel not sandwich shop), I may or may not have done some magic marker post processing in order to ether "liven up" the images or censor any that could upset children/political careers. That said if you pay a cool million then you can have the same images laser etched onto a gold plated rhino horn which also plays Major Laser when touched (its touch sensitive which also serves to control the volume). Its all swings and roundabouts really, oh and if you do get married in a children's playground statistics say that your marriage can be expected to last approximately 42hrs longer than if you'd have gotten married inside a church.

Taxi.
Best answers of the day.
Storming and so well informed!
😀
There's a very bitter man if ever I read one.

As for divorce - most all my couples are still together, as far as I am aware.
That is as much down to the socioeconomic group that book me (and the venues that recommend my services) and the various communities that beat their path to my door; amongst them a high % of Jewish and Greek couples.

Blimey. Divorced are we?

Happily married actually with a 19yr old daughter and married in a registry office

There's a very bitter man if ever I read one.

Not bitter at all, just find it obscene to spend so much money on one day, sort of the same way i feel about footie players wages

I live opposite a church and see all the comings and goings, would be banged out if all the happy couples that married there attended on a Sunday

And the next photographer who decides my drive is a good vantage point can pay if they are getting weighed in with two and a half grand
(usually just tell them to clear off, but must be worth 20 quid or so)

crap old cars

Just wonder why anyone who is non religious wants to get married in a church?

There's a guy near me who offers his services for the full day @ £280 plus print costs.

I'm amazed at his talent for recreating scenes from the Hammer House of Horrors.

I'm with Tijuana Taxi on this. Its a complete racket. And Ti29er, how do you get any work with that bigheaded attitude?

Not bitter at all, just find it obscene to spend so much money on one day, sort of the same way i feel about footie players wages

Why is it obscene? We had a church wedding last year, 70-80 guests. I would have been happy with a lot less, but I had a wonderful, unforgettable day. We didn't spend anywhere near as much as a lot of people do. About £6k IIRC

Lets see now.
Friends and family provided the car & driver, cake, photography, florist (Flowers at cost, £250-ish) and ALL the wine and champers
We gave the flowers to the guests to take home at the end, people were very happy with that!
Food £2200-ish for 80 people is £27.50 a head. Canapes, cheese, coffee, South African themed BBQ/Hog roast, BIG choice of food, not a stuffy sit down meal! £27.50 a head to feed all your best friends and family? That's no obscene at all, it's a reasonable price and a generous gesture IMO!
We hired a cartoonist who spent 3 hours doing caricatures of the guests. That went down well too!
We hired waitesses from the local college, suits hired locally, we used the local memorial hall for the reception and the barman and staff of the attached sports centre were brilliant. We paid the bar bill. Everyone got drunk and had a good time! The church was fairly cheap IMO, and the vicar, well he's what I would call a friend too and that's why we went there - I couldn't think of a nicer person to marry us. Just the nicest bloke ever.

So, in essence, most of what we spent went into providing work to the local community, lots of people had a great afternoon and evening for a reasonable cost, and the most important jobs of the day were done by friends.

Where's the obscenity in that? 🙂

some people buy a giant trance in the sale from pauls cycles, fit the better bits they already have, sell the new bits off the bike and end up with a very cheap and very capable bike.
some people buy an overpriced turner frame and buy another one a year later when dave decides there is some other "best suspension system in the world" available

some people pay more than others for wedding photography.

why are people getting upset?

Its a complete racket.

The same couple do commercial photography and charge approximately half as a day rate (when disregarding any albums being made - I am talking JUST about the hourly rate for attending). Have a family portrait done and it doubles again.

The daft thing is, their day rate for commercial stuff is about half what I would expect to pay a commercial photographer anyway (I usually pay £600-£800 a day).

I find it odd that they think their time is worth double for weddings and portraiture.

PeterPoddy, to me that sounds just like how a wedding should be. And almost exactly what I would have done if I wasn't so young and impressionable when I got hitched.

I find it odd that they think their time is worth double for weddings and portraiture.

Everyone does this though, and it is a bit of a scam imo - try and book a band/DJ or whatever for a wedding and they will often try and charge around double what they normally would, just because they know so much is getting spent overall and people are desperate for it to be 'perfect'.

Think I've looked at my wedding photos (the ones that aren't on the walls of my parents and in-law's houses) once in 13 years, my that was £1500 well spent, could have got a bike for that etc

Everyone does this though,

It is not a racket.

There is no extortion involved? The customer looks at the photographers style at whatever price bracket, and presuming the photographer provides pictures of a similar quality at the wedding, then everyone should be happy.

I know a high end wedding photographer who charges more than Ti29er, he has lots of happy customers and a full diary for this year. People come looking for him, not the other way round.

Here is picture I took of my future niece on a horse.

Can I have £2000 now?

No - it is badly composed, has too many areas of conflict in the image, is over-exposed in some areas and under-exposed in others.

Taking a good picture isn't *that* easy

I agree they do - it just seems odd and not *really* justifiable - it is just what the market allows.

I suppose the argument would perhaps be that a higher standard of professionalism and quality might be expected at a wedding as opposed to a regular gig, so more pressure, more preparation time, better equipment, smarter clothing or whatever is required? I dunno.

Hmmm...we got my wife's friend to do ours who is a keen amateur and has done courses. Unfortunately a week before the wedding she got hit on the head and her friend had to fill in for her. Not so good.

I suppose the argument would perhaps be that a higher standard of professionalism and quality might be expected at a wedding as opposed to a regular gig, so more pressure, more preparation time, better equipment, smarter clothing or whatever is required? I dunno.

Just wonder why anyone who is non religious wants to get married in a church?

I'm not religious, neither is my fiancée. We are getting married in her village church - a village of about 50 residents on Anglesey. She walked past it every day as a kid, and always wanted to be married there. Is that so morally reprehensible?

(Oh, and her grandad was a vicar, as was her great uncle - the late Bishop Suffragan of Repton)