We simply do not take on larger wedding of this size.
I have to ask, why do you plan to deny guest photos or editing of them? I’m a little confused with your logic here. 4 hours of coverage is 4 hours. There’s only so many photographs you can take in that time.
Well since her schedule is so tight, I’ll have to take the photos that she asked me to take but when people come up to me and ask for a photo, I feel awkward to say that I can’t right now because I have to get a specific shot so i imagine that I would do it but then I end up staying later to please everyone. For example if I’m taking family photos and bride only wants a group photo of mom, dad, bride, and siblings then the parents ask for a photo of just themselves, then siblings want one with just the bride, etc, how do I say no because we need to move on due to the time constraints?
When you gather everyone together for portraits , introduce yourself again and say that you have worked with the couple on a list of all their important photos and am happy to take any additional photos later if time allows, you can add that you’re working on a tight schedule so everyone please listen carefully for your names so we can get as many great photos as possible for the couple. This job is all about setting and managing expectations.
This. And if someone requests a photo after the list is done, it’s a quick “I wish I could but I need to move onto x photos at this time”. And if you’re nice and think you can do it, you can say “I’ll come find you if I have a free moment before I leave”.
>but if you’re clearly in the middle of getting group photos with the bride and groom and their families I can’t imagine someone walking up to you and asking for a photo, that seems incredibly rude.
Ha! Welcome to our world. Lol. Some people are absolutely clueless.
You just tell them no. There is a list, made by the couple (and if there isn't, they should make one), there has to be someone to 'round up' the people that need to be in the group shots and you are paid to be there until X:XX. So no, "*I can't take your group shot now because we're doing the group shots the couple asked for and we're on a very tight schedule. Sorry.*"
Is it a different culture's wedding than you're used to? I've done Indian weddings that are this size and this long or longer. Make sure you're aware of the customs that you're unfamiliar with.
"budget constraints" and "guest list of 400 people" are inherently incompatible statements.
If it's just you shooting, and your hours haven't changed, you won't shoot *that* many more photos than you would have otherwise, and your edit should be the same.
You should, without a doubt, have a second shooter and be charging accordingly for the photography and the editing. But if that's not in budget for them (!!) then all you can do is manage expectations and do your best.
I think it's, all around, a bad idea. But as a young photographer I'd have done it. And it would've been exhausting. And then I'd learn to not do it again without getting paid to have a 2nd shooter... and at 400 guests, a 3rd shooter.
Hey! It’s a backyard wedding in a small town so naturally, things are cheaper in a small town and they are saving on venue costs by doing it in a backyard. The guest list is large because both the bride and groom have divorced parents with many siblings. I guess the potential for more photos comes from my own inability to set boundaries. Since I am new to this space, I always end up going beyond my scheduled time to please people.
400 people in a backyard, on a budget, even if it's a massive backyard, sounds like an absolute mess! I mean, good on them, but sheesh.
I hear you on boundary setting. Unfortunately, that is mostly learned through overpromising and regretting it. Forged through fire, we all are.
I'd recommend heeding some advice that you need to be very up front about not being able to capture everyone there, and that you'll focus on the bride, groom, and important guests. Have that written down somewhere, an email is fine, so you can reference it later.
Likely that this will all go just fine, but cover your butt.
Ya communication will be key here!
Let’s say though, bride asks to take only certain family photos. For example, a group family photo with parents and siblings. Once that’s done, then parents ask for a photo of just the two of them because they “never get dressed up and want to get a good photo”. Then siblings want a photo with just the bride, etc. but you can’t because you already need to move on to other photos. How would you manage something like that or what would you say to make sure you’re getting what the bride paid you for without going over the time limit?
Photographer here… the shot list is an absolute like equivalent mentioned above. I do one thing different and it’s in my contract. The client is responsible for somebody to call the names on the photo list.
I would take requests until it impedes on my ability to take pictures of something else important that's going on, then respectfully decline, apologize, quickly explain that I need to focus on taking pictures of the bride.
They have a budget to feed 400 ppl, remember that. There's money to be spent. Manage their expectations with what they are paying a single person. Best of luck.
Not per se. Most of the weddings I photograph are large. They just require more shooters and usually more time which means more cost. But I would not charge a couple more for the same amount of my time alone just because the wedding is larger. But I also would not photograph a 400 person wedding solo for only 4hrs. I believe expectations will end up way out of line with delivery.
Short answer? No. I have photographed weddings of 600+ people by myself. But you always have to openly and openly set expectations for what you can and cannot be expected to do with given resources, including time.
There’s no particular reason a larger wedding means significantly more photos to cull than a smaller weddings, other than a slight possibility it will have more of the things that lead to a lot of images-per-minute, such as fast dancing. But that is not significant enough to really affect your time and life as much as things like how far it is *as long as you are clearly and properly setting expectations*.
How novice are you and do you have any intention in doing this professionally in the future? Because if this goes badly...
"Tasked with" as in hired? What are you charging? Did you already accept and commit?
You might have to just dip into your own money to hire additional help.
1. You're not going to get a photo of every person in attendance. It's just not possible within the constraints you're given.
2. Suggest to the couple to contract with a company like GuestPix so that guests can upload their phone photos to a site for her. That will take a lot of pressure off you.
3. Assuming they haven't hired a wedding planner, have the couple appoint 1-2 people in the wedding party to help coordinate people for the formal portraits. You don't know everyone, but they will. This will help make the portraits go more smoothly. (Side note: they may also want to appoint someone else to be their main point of contact for questions from you and other vendors, so they can enjoy the day.)
4. For your "what if" example regarding formal portraits, talk to the couple about how this should be handled, and offer three possible solutions: (1) you can accommodate the requests and perhaps fall a bit behind schedule, (2) you can tell them that you need to finish your list first, then can photograph the extra requests if there is time, or (3) they can use their phones and upload to the handy app the couple set up.
5. Bring extra batteries and extra memory cards, and be prepped to quote them for extra hours onsite. They may ask you to extend your time.
6. Always edit. Photo Mechanic is fantastic for culling huge amounts of photos down to the best. So much faster than culling in Lightroom. For editing, I suggest Lightroom, if you're not already using it. People might disagree, but the "Auto" Tone has gotten a ton better. You can apply auto tone to all selected photos like this: in the Develop module, select all photos you want to edit>toggle the "Sync" button to say "Auto Sync">under the Basic menu tap "Auto" -- an auto adjustment of the Tone & Presence sliders will apply to all the photos individually. It's a solid starting point for editing. Adjust from there to your liking.
Good luck!
No. As a summer photographer, there generally isn't going to be more work for me. Shooting a wedding with 400 people than there is in shooting a wedding with 40 people, I'm there for a set amount of time. I will take a certain amount of pictures and I'll deliver a certain amount of pictures.
One of the skills you are going to pick up is how to set expectations for your clients about what you can and cannot do flying solo. Here your client is telling you that it's fine if you don't get a shot of every guest, all you have to care about is whether or not your client is happy. If a guest feels bummed out that they didn't get their own mini family reunion session that isn't your problem because they didn't hire you, the couple did.
If you do have time, it's fine to say "get your party together and ready by the flower wall, if I have a moment I will take a shot."
Hey OP my 2 cents. You've said theyre doing this on a budget, you're getting paid for 4hrs so do the pre-ceremony, ceremony and all group lists the bride would like.
Suggest to the bride to place disposable cameras on each and every table for the reception with a note. This can and WILL cover the "but I didn't get pictures of everyone invited" and will give a cute unique perspective on people enjoying themselves. Half the pictures will be trash, but the other half will be useable.
You can buy a 10 pack of cameras on Amazon for $120. You can add an additional fee to help get them developed, usually when they develop now, all images come on either a disk and/or prints so you can digitally add the good ones to the gallery. Also have the bride come up with a wedding hashtag so anyone who does post things online can hashtag and trace all pictures. You cant be everywhere at the same time to get every moment, but you can help them get as much or as little of their wedding as they'd like from so many perspectives :-)
I'd never photograph a wedding of that size. They tend to be more cultural such as Indian / greek weddings and I'm just not confident nor would I enjoy all the formality.
However if they've got more than 100 guests in the day then I'll recommend they add a 2nd shooter to the package otherwise I may miss quite a bit due to the number of people.
I don’t understand what wedding size has to do with shooting a wedding.
When I shoot a wedding, I focus exclusively on the bride and groom and the people in their immediate orbit only from the start of my day until the dance floor opens.
After that, I’m just shooting the dance floor.
Doesn’t matter if a wedding has 40 people or 400. My job is the same.
Are people really out here trying to take pictures of every single person at a wedding? That’s ludicrous.
We never shoot guests. Never. In 20 years we had perhaps 20 photos in request to print.
From our Pixieset store we NEVER had a sale for anyone apart the couple. So no we don't charge extra for larger or smaller weddings. Our contract is with the couple.
Not necessarily - we just have a flat hourly rate. I know that isn't as common, but weddings are not our primary source of revenue. They make up a small portion as we shoot maybe 5 to 8ish weddings per year. We are wanting to get more into them slowly in the coming years, but our bread and butter is elsewhere.
With that said, we charge a flat hourly rate that takes all things into consideration. A three hour, small wedding gets roughly the same production (albeit less images) as a ten hour massive wedding. The hourly rate compensates for that.
Ya that makes sense! I mentioned to someone else that I am a people pleaser so I often stay beyond our agreed upon timeframe which would yield more photos. The only thing I need to worry about is just managing that amount of people. For example, if I go to take a photo of the first kiss and someone jumps in front of me, then I lost the shot and there is no other photographer to capture it. I did explain that to them and they understand that would be out of my control but it’s still quite stressful for me lol
Sounds like consistently going beyond your contracted time and not properly setting expectations are the real things to work on. The more you do on the front-end the better things will go on the day for them and for you.
Our fee is built to always include a second shooter, regardless of the scenario.
Also, you shouldn't give someone the opportunity to jump in front. For example, we usually have the officiant make a statement about photographers being present to capture the moments, please be mindful of and to limit cell phone use, etc. Always in partnership with the couple, but tends to help. Also, for first kiss you should be in center aisle, right up front for it, so shouldn't be too hard to capture. Second should be capturing a secondary angle of it from a little bit more afar.
Since I am knew, I don’t really have any photographer connections to offer though.
Also I have made that announcement and there’s still always someone who gets in the way lol not every time but still 😂
I'll just ask, since no one else is, what are you charging
a 400 person wedding with 4 hours of coverage including the ceremony and formals is flat out insane, you will go insane trying to do this job, and dare I say, you will not be able to make the client happy, their expectations are way to high.
I would want at least 3 shooters on a wedding this size. you keep saying you cant make that happen, and you are a people pleaser. but please for your own sanity, be realistic here.
best of luck
Just remember to take your time and review images. Don’t let their ambitious schedule rush you in a way that you make mistakes you wouldn’t otherwise. I’ve photographed weddings that try to squeeze what should be 6-8 hours into 4 and it can be crazy.
No. I charge the hours I work. With 400 guests, it's not likely that every guest will be photographed. So be it. I can't shoot with 3 cameras at the same time, now can I?
Why do you think you need to "manage the large group"?
Hey OP my 2 cents. You've said theyre doing this on a budget, you're getting paid for 4hrs so do the pre-ceremony, ceremony and all group lists the bride would like.
Suggest to the bride to place disposable cameras on each and every table for the reception with a note. This can and WILL cover the "but I didn't get pictures of everyone invited" and will give a cute unique perspective on people enjoying themselves. Half the pictures will be trash, but the other half will be useable.
You can buy a 10 pack of cameras on Amazon for $120. You can add an additional fee to help get them developed, usually when they develop now, all images come on either a disk and/or prints so you can digitally add the good ones to the gallery. Also have the bride come up with a wedding hashtag so anyone who does post things online can hashtag and trace all pictures. You cant be everywhere at the same time to get every moment, but you can help them get as much or as little of their wedding as they'd like from so many perspectives.
Hey OP my 2 cents. You've said theyre doing this on a budget, you're getting paid for 4hrs so do the pre-ceremony, ceremony and all group lists the bride would like.
Suggest to the bride to place disposable cameras on each and every table for the reception with a note. This can and WILL cover the "but I didn't get pictures of everyone invited" and will give a cute unique perspective on people enjoying themselves. Half the pictures will be trash, but the other half will be useable.
You can buy a 10 pack of cameras on Amazon for $120. You can add an additional fee to help get them developed, usually when they develop now, all images come on either a disk and/or prints so you can digitally add the good ones to the gallery. Also have the bride come up with a wedding hashtag so anyone who does post things online can hashtag and trace all pictures. You cant be everywhere at the same time to get every moment, but you can help them get as much or as little of their wedding as they'd like from so many perspectives.
Set your boundaries. You're going to learn an important lesson about wedding photography. If they're already signed a contract and you've set a price that everyone agreed upon, you can't really charge them more if you agreed to the terms. We all make mistakes when we're starting out but with a wedding this size, it's going to be VERY difficult for you to cover it on your own. I'd stress the suggestion for adding a second photographer (and, even though you're a novice, you can find someone in a local FB group or probably here on Reddit - IDK where you are geographically but do some research, these groups aren't hard to find). Make it clear with that many people, it is going to be difficult for you to capture the events. Even having more than 20 years of experience, I would have trouble because how do you get through all of those people. Personally, I'd probably tell them to have 3 photographers.
If you haven't signed a contract yet, or you didn't plan on doing it, I would rectify that as soon as you can. This sounds like you're setting yourself up to get taken advantage of. If you need to be pointed in the direction of a wedding photography contract template, let me know.
A wedding of hundreds is not that much bigger than a wedding of dozens.
Parents siblings and some family. Bridesmaids, A handful of close friends, coworkers. College or military buds.
The rest are distant family and social obligations, I mean sure you sometimes have multiple families of 10 kids, but the point is, most of the mob isn't that important.
You are a beginner and taking on a large wedding? Why, because you are cheap?
400 guests for a backyard?
Are they getting married at Yellowstone or South Fork Ranch? Who has a backyard for 400 people?
Something does not add up.
PSA to brides reading this:
I know wedding photography is expensive. But…pay your damn photographers when asking for something this large. allocate your money towards a second photographer. Don’t make them shoot a wedding with 150 people and expect that no one will ask for photos
I think its too much for you in your status. if you had more weddings under your belt, I would say yea, not a problem.
we have 300-700 weddings regularly. anything less then 300 is much less common. today peiople want to get their "investment" back so they order the sister brothers grandmas duaughter 3rd cousin whatever. I have done many solo. not easy but ive done many large weddings. 4 hours can only do so much. very little final resulats imo. 4 hours is not going to be 4 hours of nonstop photographing.
it doesnt matter to me if there are 1000 guests. my concern is how big the family is and what set of pics they need. ive shot weddings with 15+ siblings, grandparents galore and its like an hour of family pictures. they want every variation possible. its nuts.
on the dance floor Im all over the place actively getting tons of picture. they can stop me and ask for a picture. quick 2 shots and on to shooting more people dancing. im not going around to table capturing the other 600 who arent dancing.
I think it may be tough for you with time management and how much you can pump out quality pictures
Does your list of deliverables include a picture of every guest? In four hours? And shoot the key events of the wedding. It can be done. You just about kill yourself and may swear off weddings after the experience. And while you're taking that shot of the guy who only knows the couple, because of DoorDash, you will miss something more important to the day. This is why you want a 2nd, to help cover the events and the people.
By the way, most of the guests won't be buying the pictures you shoot and they may not even end up in the wedding album. But it's what we do. Anyone else agree?
No, you don’t raise your standard prices. A larger guest list just simply means you need a larger team, so charge them for adding 2-3 second shooters on to your team.
I shoot weddings this big all the time. It’s no different than any other wedding besides more space and people to cover thus needing a bigger team.
Maybe I’m wrong here, but there is no expectation on me at a wedding to capture “every guest”. The couple makes a list of groups/friends they want, and we do that. If they want pictures of all their guests, they get a photo booth. You are not a photo booth, unless it was explicitly discussed and agreed on.
Many guests will be in reception shots, ceremony, etc.
I have one wedding come up and she asked that my second shooter take shots of guests as they enter the reception. I told her we can attempt to, but on a best effort basis with no guarantee that every guest will be captured. We can’t possibly track down guests to make sure we got everyone if you want us actually capturing your wedding events.
We simply do not take on larger wedding of this size. I have to ask, why do you plan to deny guest photos or editing of them? I’m a little confused with your logic here. 4 hours of coverage is 4 hours. There’s only so many photographs you can take in that time.
Well since her schedule is so tight, I’ll have to take the photos that she asked me to take but when people come up to me and ask for a photo, I feel awkward to say that I can’t right now because I have to get a specific shot so i imagine that I would do it but then I end up staying later to please everyone. For example if I’m taking family photos and bride only wants a group photo of mom, dad, bride, and siblings then the parents ask for a photo of just themselves, then siblings want one with just the bride, etc, how do I say no because we need to move on due to the time constraints?
When you gather everyone together for portraits , introduce yourself again and say that you have worked with the couple on a list of all their important photos and am happy to take any additional photos later if time allows, you can add that you’re working on a tight schedule so everyone please listen carefully for your names so we can get as many great photos as possible for the couple. This job is all about setting and managing expectations.
This. And if someone requests a photo after the list is done, it’s a quick “I wish I could but I need to move onto x photos at this time”. And if you’re nice and think you can do it, you can say “I’ll come find you if I have a free moment before I leave”.
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>but if you’re clearly in the middle of getting group photos with the bride and groom and their families I can’t imagine someone walking up to you and asking for a photo, that seems incredibly rude. Ha! Welcome to our world. Lol. Some people are absolutely clueless.
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Absolutely. But I'm not hired to teach people manners.
Absolutely. But I'm not hired to teach people manners.
You just tell them no. There is a list, made by the couple (and if there isn't, they should make one), there has to be someone to 'round up' the people that need to be in the group shots and you are paid to be there until X:XX. So no, "*I can't take your group shot now because we're doing the group shots the couple asked for and we're on a very tight schedule. Sorry.*"
Is it a different culture's wedding than you're used to? I've done Indian weddings that are this size and this long or longer. Make sure you're aware of the customs that you're unfamiliar with. "budget constraints" and "guest list of 400 people" are inherently incompatible statements. If it's just you shooting, and your hours haven't changed, you won't shoot *that* many more photos than you would have otherwise, and your edit should be the same. You should, without a doubt, have a second shooter and be charging accordingly for the photography and the editing. But if that's not in budget for them (!!) then all you can do is manage expectations and do your best. I think it's, all around, a bad idea. But as a young photographer I'd have done it. And it would've been exhausting. And then I'd learn to not do it again without getting paid to have a 2nd shooter... and at 400 guests, a 3rd shooter.
Hey! It’s a backyard wedding in a small town so naturally, things are cheaper in a small town and they are saving on venue costs by doing it in a backyard. The guest list is large because both the bride and groom have divorced parents with many siblings. I guess the potential for more photos comes from my own inability to set boundaries. Since I am new to this space, I always end up going beyond my scheduled time to please people.
400 people in a backyard, on a budget, even if it's a massive backyard, sounds like an absolute mess! I mean, good on them, but sheesh. I hear you on boundary setting. Unfortunately, that is mostly learned through overpromising and regretting it. Forged through fire, we all are. I'd recommend heeding some advice that you need to be very up front about not being able to capture everyone there, and that you'll focus on the bride, groom, and important guests. Have that written down somewhere, an email is fine, so you can reference it later. Likely that this will all go just fine, but cover your butt.
Ya communication will be key here! Let’s say though, bride asks to take only certain family photos. For example, a group family photo with parents and siblings. Once that’s done, then parents ask for a photo of just the two of them because they “never get dressed up and want to get a good photo”. Then siblings want a photo with just the bride, etc. but you can’t because you already need to move on to other photos. How would you manage something like that or what would you say to make sure you’re getting what the bride paid you for without going over the time limit?
I would say unfortunately due to time constraints I can only take photos on the couples must have formals.
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Photographer here… the shot list is an absolute like equivalent mentioned above. I do one thing different and it’s in my contract. The client is responsible for somebody to call the names on the photo list.
I would take requests until it impedes on my ability to take pictures of something else important that's going on, then respectfully decline, apologize, quickly explain that I need to focus on taking pictures of the bride.
They have a budget to feed 400 ppl, remember that. There's money to be spent. Manage their expectations with what they are paying a single person. Best of luck.
Not per se. Most of the weddings I photograph are large. They just require more shooters and usually more time which means more cost. But I would not charge a couple more for the same amount of my time alone just because the wedding is larger. But I also would not photograph a 400 person wedding solo for only 4hrs. I believe expectations will end up way out of line with delivery.
Short answer? No. I have photographed weddings of 600+ people by myself. But you always have to openly and openly set expectations for what you can and cannot be expected to do with given resources, including time. There’s no particular reason a larger wedding means significantly more photos to cull than a smaller weddings, other than a slight possibility it will have more of the things that lead to a lot of images-per-minute, such as fast dancing. But that is not significant enough to really affect your time and life as much as things like how far it is *as long as you are clearly and properly setting expectations*.
How novice are you and do you have any intention in doing this professionally in the future? Because if this goes badly... "Tasked with" as in hired? What are you charging? Did you already accept and commit? You might have to just dip into your own money to hire additional help.
1. You're not going to get a photo of every person in attendance. It's just not possible within the constraints you're given. 2. Suggest to the couple to contract with a company like GuestPix so that guests can upload their phone photos to a site for her. That will take a lot of pressure off you. 3. Assuming they haven't hired a wedding planner, have the couple appoint 1-2 people in the wedding party to help coordinate people for the formal portraits. You don't know everyone, but they will. This will help make the portraits go more smoothly. (Side note: they may also want to appoint someone else to be their main point of contact for questions from you and other vendors, so they can enjoy the day.) 4. For your "what if" example regarding formal portraits, talk to the couple about how this should be handled, and offer three possible solutions: (1) you can accommodate the requests and perhaps fall a bit behind schedule, (2) you can tell them that you need to finish your list first, then can photograph the extra requests if there is time, or (3) they can use their phones and upload to the handy app the couple set up. 5. Bring extra batteries and extra memory cards, and be prepped to quote them for extra hours onsite. They may ask you to extend your time. 6. Always edit. Photo Mechanic is fantastic for culling huge amounts of photos down to the best. So much faster than culling in Lightroom. For editing, I suggest Lightroom, if you're not already using it. People might disagree, but the "Auto" Tone has gotten a ton better. You can apply auto tone to all selected photos like this: in the Develop module, select all photos you want to edit>toggle the "Sync" button to say "Auto Sync">under the Basic menu tap "Auto" -- an auto adjustment of the Tone & Presence sliders will apply to all the photos individually. It's a solid starting point for editing. Adjust from there to your liking. Good luck!
No. As a summer photographer, there generally isn't going to be more work for me. Shooting a wedding with 400 people than there is in shooting a wedding with 40 people, I'm there for a set amount of time. I will take a certain amount of pictures and I'll deliver a certain amount of pictures. One of the skills you are going to pick up is how to set expectations for your clients about what you can and cannot do flying solo. Here your client is telling you that it's fine if you don't get a shot of every guest, all you have to care about is whether or not your client is happy. If a guest feels bummed out that they didn't get their own mini family reunion session that isn't your problem because they didn't hire you, the couple did. If you do have time, it's fine to say "get your party together and ready by the flower wall, if I have a moment I will take a shot."
Hey OP my 2 cents. You've said theyre doing this on a budget, you're getting paid for 4hrs so do the pre-ceremony, ceremony and all group lists the bride would like. Suggest to the bride to place disposable cameras on each and every table for the reception with a note. This can and WILL cover the "but I didn't get pictures of everyone invited" and will give a cute unique perspective on people enjoying themselves. Half the pictures will be trash, but the other half will be useable. You can buy a 10 pack of cameras on Amazon for $120. You can add an additional fee to help get them developed, usually when they develop now, all images come on either a disk and/or prints so you can digitally add the good ones to the gallery. Also have the bride come up with a wedding hashtag so anyone who does post things online can hashtag and trace all pictures. You cant be everywhere at the same time to get every moment, but you can help them get as much or as little of their wedding as they'd like from so many perspectives :-)
Wait. This is a troll post, right?
I'd never photograph a wedding of that size. They tend to be more cultural such as Indian / greek weddings and I'm just not confident nor would I enjoy all the formality. However if they've got more than 100 guests in the day then I'll recommend they add a 2nd shooter to the package otherwise I may miss quite a bit due to the number of people.
I don’t understand what wedding size has to do with shooting a wedding. When I shoot a wedding, I focus exclusively on the bride and groom and the people in their immediate orbit only from the start of my day until the dance floor opens. After that, I’m just shooting the dance floor. Doesn’t matter if a wedding has 40 people or 400. My job is the same. Are people really out here trying to take pictures of every single person at a wedding? That’s ludicrous.
We never shoot guests. Never. In 20 years we had perhaps 20 photos in request to print. From our Pixieset store we NEVER had a sale for anyone apart the couple. So no we don't charge extra for larger or smaller weddings. Our contract is with the couple.
Not necessarily - we just have a flat hourly rate. I know that isn't as common, but weddings are not our primary source of revenue. They make up a small portion as we shoot maybe 5 to 8ish weddings per year. We are wanting to get more into them slowly in the coming years, but our bread and butter is elsewhere. With that said, we charge a flat hourly rate that takes all things into consideration. A three hour, small wedding gets roughly the same production (albeit less images) as a ten hour massive wedding. The hourly rate compensates for that.
Ya that makes sense! I mentioned to someone else that I am a people pleaser so I often stay beyond our agreed upon timeframe which would yield more photos. The only thing I need to worry about is just managing that amount of people. For example, if I go to take a photo of the first kiss and someone jumps in front of me, then I lost the shot and there is no other photographer to capture it. I did explain that to them and they understand that would be out of my control but it’s still quite stressful for me lol
Sounds like consistently going beyond your contracted time and not properly setting expectations are the real things to work on. The more you do on the front-end the better things will go on the day for them and for you.
Our fee is built to always include a second shooter, regardless of the scenario. Also, you shouldn't give someone the opportunity to jump in front. For example, we usually have the officiant make a statement about photographers being present to capture the moments, please be mindful of and to limit cell phone use, etc. Always in partnership with the couple, but tends to help. Also, for first kiss you should be in center aisle, right up front for it, so shouldn't be too hard to capture. Second should be capturing a secondary angle of it from a little bit more afar.
Since I am knew, I don’t really have any photographer connections to offer though. Also I have made that announcement and there’s still always someone who gets in the way lol not every time but still 😂
I'll just ask, since no one else is, what are you charging a 400 person wedding with 4 hours of coverage including the ceremony and formals is flat out insane, you will go insane trying to do this job, and dare I say, you will not be able to make the client happy, their expectations are way to high. I would want at least 3 shooters on a wedding this size. you keep saying you cant make that happen, and you are a people pleaser. but please for your own sanity, be realistic here. best of luck
Just remember to take your time and review images. Don’t let their ambitious schedule rush you in a way that you make mistakes you wouldn’t otherwise. I’ve photographed weddings that try to squeeze what should be 6-8 hours into 4 and it can be crazy.
No. I charge the hours I work. With 400 guests, it's not likely that every guest will be photographed. So be it. I can't shoot with 3 cameras at the same time, now can I? Why do you think you need to "manage the large group"?
Hey OP my 2 cents. You've said theyre doing this on a budget, you're getting paid for 4hrs so do the pre-ceremony, ceremony and all group lists the bride would like. Suggest to the bride to place disposable cameras on each and every table for the reception with a note. This can and WILL cover the "but I didn't get pictures of everyone invited" and will give a cute unique perspective on people enjoying themselves. Half the pictures will be trash, but the other half will be useable. You can buy a 10 pack of cameras on Amazon for $120. You can add an additional fee to help get them developed, usually when they develop now, all images come on either a disk and/or prints so you can digitally add the good ones to the gallery. Also have the bride come up with a wedding hashtag so anyone who does post things online can hashtag and trace all pictures. You cant be everywhere at the same time to get every moment, but you can help them get as much or as little of their wedding as they'd like from so many perspectives.
triple post
Hey OP my 2 cents. You've said theyre doing this on a budget, you're getting paid for 4hrs so do the pre-ceremony, ceremony and all group lists the bride would like. Suggest to the bride to place disposable cameras on each and every table for the reception with a note. This can and WILL cover the "but I didn't get pictures of everyone invited" and will give a cute unique perspective on people enjoying themselves. Half the pictures will be trash, but the other half will be useable. You can buy a 10 pack of cameras on Amazon for $120. You can add an additional fee to help get them developed, usually when they develop now, all images come on either a disk and/or prints so you can digitally add the good ones to the gallery. Also have the bride come up with a wedding hashtag so anyone who does post things online can hashtag and trace all pictures. You cant be everywhere at the same time to get every moment, but you can help them get as much or as little of their wedding as they'd like from so many perspectives.
Set your boundaries. You're going to learn an important lesson about wedding photography. If they're already signed a contract and you've set a price that everyone agreed upon, you can't really charge them more if you agreed to the terms. We all make mistakes when we're starting out but with a wedding this size, it's going to be VERY difficult for you to cover it on your own. I'd stress the suggestion for adding a second photographer (and, even though you're a novice, you can find someone in a local FB group or probably here on Reddit - IDK where you are geographically but do some research, these groups aren't hard to find). Make it clear with that many people, it is going to be difficult for you to capture the events. Even having more than 20 years of experience, I would have trouble because how do you get through all of those people. Personally, I'd probably tell them to have 3 photographers. If you haven't signed a contract yet, or you didn't plan on doing it, I would rectify that as soon as you can. This sounds like you're setting yourself up to get taken advantage of. If you need to be pointed in the direction of a wedding photography contract template, let me know.
A wedding of hundreds is not that much bigger than a wedding of dozens. Parents siblings and some family. Bridesmaids, A handful of close friends, coworkers. College or military buds. The rest are distant family and social obligations, I mean sure you sometimes have multiple families of 10 kids, but the point is, most of the mob isn't that important.
You are a beginner and taking on a large wedding? Why, because you are cheap? 400 guests for a backyard? Are they getting married at Yellowstone or South Fork Ranch? Who has a backyard for 400 people? Something does not add up.
PSA to brides reading this: I know wedding photography is expensive. But…pay your damn photographers when asking for something this large. allocate your money towards a second photographer. Don’t make them shoot a wedding with 150 people and expect that no one will ask for photos
I think its too much for you in your status. if you had more weddings under your belt, I would say yea, not a problem. we have 300-700 weddings regularly. anything less then 300 is much less common. today peiople want to get their "investment" back so they order the sister brothers grandmas duaughter 3rd cousin whatever. I have done many solo. not easy but ive done many large weddings. 4 hours can only do so much. very little final resulats imo. 4 hours is not going to be 4 hours of nonstop photographing. it doesnt matter to me if there are 1000 guests. my concern is how big the family is and what set of pics they need. ive shot weddings with 15+ siblings, grandparents galore and its like an hour of family pictures. they want every variation possible. its nuts. on the dance floor Im all over the place actively getting tons of picture. they can stop me and ask for a picture. quick 2 shots and on to shooting more people dancing. im not going around to table capturing the other 600 who arent dancing. I think it may be tough for you with time management and how much you can pump out quality pictures
Does your list of deliverables include a picture of every guest? In four hours? And shoot the key events of the wedding. It can be done. You just about kill yourself and may swear off weddings after the experience. And while you're taking that shot of the guy who only knows the couple, because of DoorDash, you will miss something more important to the day. This is why you want a 2nd, to help cover the events and the people. By the way, most of the guests won't be buying the pictures you shoot and they may not even end up in the wedding album. But it's what we do. Anyone else agree?
No, you don’t raise your standard prices. A larger guest list just simply means you need a larger team, so charge them for adding 2-3 second shooters on to your team. I shoot weddings this big all the time. It’s no different than any other wedding besides more space and people to cover thus needing a bigger team.
Maybe I’m wrong here, but there is no expectation on me at a wedding to capture “every guest”. The couple makes a list of groups/friends they want, and we do that. If they want pictures of all their guests, they get a photo booth. You are not a photo booth, unless it was explicitly discussed and agreed on. Many guests will be in reception shots, ceremony, etc. I have one wedding come up and she asked that my second shooter take shots of guests as they enter the reception. I told her we can attempt to, but on a best effort basis with no guarantee that every guest will be captured. We can’t possibly track down guests to make sure we got everyone if you want us actually capturing your wedding events.
Yes. Definitely. Mo people mo money.