Photography Pricing

[O'Driscoll Photography]

If I have a destination wedding on a Saturday, I always fly out on Wednesday or Thursday. The reason for doing this is that if my flight was delayed or canceled, I could switch airlines and still get there on Friday at the latest. It would not be prudent to fly out on Friday for a Saturday wedding, as you would be running the risk of a flight being delayed or canceled, and then you might miss the wedding, or be late to the wedding. And, I would never do that to my clients.

 

So, the minimum amount of time I would be on site for the wedding would be 4-5days. This allows enough time to get to the location (even if my flight is delayed), to rest up from the flight (oftentimes the flight can be anywhere from 4 hours to 16 hours, and traveling can be stressful and tiring), to scout out the best locations for portraits, to get to know the families so they are comfortable with me on the wedding day, to shoot the rehearsal dinner, and to prepare for the big day of the wedding, etc. And, on the day after the wedding I can do a TTD session for clients that want to take advantage of that option.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Best wishes,

Tod

[SMB&CRZ]

Choosing a photographer is the biggest thorn in my bum right now! I am so torn on what to do. Pictures are important, but it's hard to justify spending 1/3 of your budget on one item. I am leaning towards bringing someone with me, but the cost of the trip alone doesn't leave much room for what they'll make! After choosing the resort, this item has caused me the most stress.

[Gr8ful]

This was a hard decision for me too, but I knew that photography would be my big splurge! It depends on your budget, and what your priorities are, unless you happen to have $$$$ budget and can do everything top-of-the line (I personally do not, alas). It's the pictures I will look at the end, so it is worth it for me.

 

My photographer is costing me ~$3500, for ~5 hours on the day of the wedding, which is good enough for me. I don't need to have every last second of the wedding in detail, but again this is just me -- others may want to capture more moments. It's a lot of money, so I try not to think about it too much.

 

I have made a lot of budget compromises along the way as well -- we did not send out fancy STDs or wedding invitations, for example. Anyway, good luck with your decision -- you will make the right one for you!

[MarieSam]

I can totally empathize with you -- when I first began looking at photographers I thought spending anything more than $1,000 was outrageous. However, my through photography research I quickly realized that along with the range of styles and talent out there comes a range of prices. You can find services offered anywhere from $500 to $15,000 like others have said.

 

But first and foremost I cannot stress this enough, LOVE the style and work of the person you hire. I am now about a month out from being married and aside from my wonderful marriage and the memories ingrained in my head, the pictures and the video is what you have left. Photography is so so important and honestly, I just came to realize this a couple days ago.

 

I have been experiencing a bit of post-wedding depression and when I received some teaser shots from my photog, I cried instantly just looking at our wonderful images. At that very moment, I realized that a good photographer is one who can bring you back to your special day in a flash -- revive your senses, thoughts, feelings, and just bring you back to the experience as a whole. The few teasers I received are like gold to me now and I can't wait to see the rest.

 

I will say that the initial photographer I was eyeing wanted to charge us $5,500 to fly them into Mexico and shoot our welcome dinner, wedding day and TTD session. I was so determined to have a good photographer I almost saved up every last dime and wanted to live poor for a year to do so, lol.

 

But luckily we were referred to a wonderful photographer her in So Cal who agreed to do our wedding (Welcome Dinner, Wedding, TTD, Engagement Shoot) for costs of travel and accommodations = about $2,000. BUT I must emphasize that she already had wedding experience under her belt and was just looking to expand her DW portfolio, most importantly I LOVED her work and saw that she was constantly posting new weddings and engagement sessions on her blog -- atleast 2 to 4 weddings a month along with 4 to 6 engagement sessions plus some commericial work. THIS WAS THE ONE OF THE BEST DECISIONS I MADE DURING THE WEDDING PLANNING PROCESS. And no, she wasn't there learning on my dime nor was she there to just vacation with her husband who was her second shooter. This couple worked their asses off for all our festivities and even went beyond the hours in the contract. They decided to extend their time in the area by 4 days at their own costs to make it a vacation, which also helped us because we then did our TTD session several days after getting married -- this gave us time to rest!

 

And while our photographers did NOT know the area because it was there first time there, they spent hours scouting locations while also sightseeing and were so excited to explore places for our shoots. They brought a refreshing excitement to everything and we loved that*

 

So bottom line is, there are many options out there for quality photography. Don't compromise, instead go with someone whose work you love and feel confident will be able to capture your wedding the way you want. There are + and - to hiring local photographers in your DW area or bringing one down with you. Do what's best for your situation, go with your gut feelings and DO YOUR RESEARCH!!!! So important!!

 

Hope that helps

[Dmitri_Markine]

Photographers are charging what their clients are willing to pay for their talent.

Also, a photographer charging 5K for a wedding can afford a much better photo gear than someone who's charging $500.

Destination wedding photography can only feel like a vacation to someone who had never done it. Sure, we can have 1-2 days to relax,but there's no time! If photographer is busy, he/she will spend that time editing images and getting them ready for the client. Worrying about your $15K worth of gear and images being stolen from your room is not very fun as well.

[NaM]

We are spending a little over $3k for 5 hours of coverage. But I am in LOVE with my photographers work. For me personally, I'd rather have 10 drop dead gorgeous photos than have 1000 pictures that I thought we ok. We are using a photog from the Riviera Maya. Although we toyed with the idea of bringing someone I just really really really wanted this particular photographer and we happened to have enough $$ for it. I know some people think it's crazy to spend that much on pictures (my FMIL!) I couldn't imagine where that money would've been better spent.

[NaM]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MarieSam I can totally empathize with you -- when I first began looking at photographers I thought spending anything more than $1,000 was outrageous. However, my through photography research I quickly realized that along with the range of styles and talent out there comes a range of prices. You can find services offered anywhere from $500 to $15,000 like others have said. But first and foremost I cannot stress this enough, LOVE the style and work of the person you hire. I am now about a month out from being married and aside from my wonderful marriage and the memories ingrained in my head, the pictures and the video is what you have left. Photography is so so important and honestly, I just came to realize this a couple days ago. I have been experiencing a bit of post-wedding depression and when I received some teaser shots from my photog, I cried instantly just looking at our wonderful images. At that very moment, I realized that a good photographer is one who can bring you back to your special day in a flash -- revive your senses, thoughts, feelings, and just bring you back to the experience as a whole. The few teasers I received are like gold to me now and I can't wait to see the rest. I will say that the initial photographer I was eyeing wanted to charge us $5,500 to fly them into Mexico and shoot our welcome dinner, wedding day and TTD session. I was so determined to have a good photographer I almost saved up every last dime and wanted to live poor for a year to do so, lol. But luckily we were referred to a wonderful photographer her in So Cal who agreed to do our wedding (Welcome Dinner, Wedding, TTD, Engagement Shoot) for costs of travel and accommodations = about $2,000. BUT I must emphasize that she already had wedding experience under her belt and was just looking to expand her DW portfolio, most importantly I LOVED her work and saw that she was constantly posting new weddings and engagement sessions on her blog -- atleast 2 to 4 weddings a month along with 4 to 6 engagement sessions plus some commericial work. THIS WAS THE ONE OF THE BEST DECISIONS I MADE DURING THE WEDDING PLANNING PROCESS. And no, she wasn't there learning on my dime nor was she there to just vacation with her husband who was her second shooter. This couple worked their asses off for all our festivities and even went beyond the hours in the contract. They decided to extend their time in the area by 4 days at their own costs to make it a vacation, which also helped us because we then did our TTD session several days after getting married -- this gave us time to rest! And while our photographers did NOT know the area because it was there first time there, they spent hours scouting locations while also sightseeing and were so excited to explore places for our shoots. They brought a refreshing excitement to everything and we loved that* So bottom line is, there are many options out there for quality photography. Don't compromise, instead go with someone whose work you love and feel confident will be able to capture your wedding the way you want. There are + and - to hiring local photographers in your DW area or bringing one down with you. Do what's best for your situation, go with your gut feelings and DO YOUR RESEARCH!!!! So important!! Hope that helps

WOW! I can't believe you got all that for the price you paid. That's awesome!!! Stephanie is incredible, I check out her blog every once in a while because her pictures are so great. Yours came out beautiful btw!!!

[TerraDawn]

Another thing to consider, when deciding to choose a photographer either close to you, one who works at the location you are having your wedding, or coming in from another state is the ease of working with them AFTER your wedding. Just b/c you are married, doesn't mean your work with your photographer if finished. You will still have to look through your images to order prints, let them know your favs for the album, and even possibly use them for future needs!

 

Also, the more comfortable you are with your photographer, the better your images will come out on your wedding day. GUARANTEED! A huge part of being comfortable with your photographer is your engagement shoot. If you hire a photographer in Tuscany, and you live in Chicago, you won't meet your photographer until the day of the wedding. They may take great photos, but how do you know your personalities won't clash. Remember, you have to hang out with your photographer ALL DAY. (Sometimes for three days!!)

 

So, a local photographer is definitely a benefit for those reasons. You may have to pay for their travel and lodging, but it will be worth it just for the ease of communication, face to face meetings, and your photographer really can become your friend.

 

All of this does tie in to pricing...I swear. lol. Their are benefits to hiring locally, from the wedding destination, or from another area altogether. I just really promote locally, as a great photographer will always value the clients as both clients and friends. So, the extra money towards travel and hotels is worth it.

 

If you do decide to hire a photographer at the wedding location, I recommend making sure you can determine the personality of the photographer through his/her blog, website and emails. It really is super important.

 

Good luck!!

 

Terra Dawn

[asiamarie1]

I am still so undecided on what to do about a photographer but all your posts have been extremely helpful and have given me a lot of good information....thx everyone

[pinkinboca]

I just spent $6500 on my photographer and I think my FI needs CPR!!! The package we chose includes 8 hours of coverage, a coffeetable album, parents album etc. So I guess we get more than just the photographer showing up... We did have to negotiate for the RIGHTS to the pics!!! I had no idea they would be so $$$ but after researching several photogs & driving myself crazy... we went with our first choice... Hopefully our pics are as beautiful as his are on the website!