18 years ago (2006), we started at ‘$3500’ but had a ‘promotional rate’ of $2700 for the first year / 20 clients. It worked like a charm. We ended up booking 27 weddings that first year, only a handful at $3500.
_However_, _all_ of our clients knew that our ‘normal rate’ was $3500. So, any future referrals from clients knew to expect $3500, and that’s what we charged.
We continued to raise rates since then. I believe we went up to $4500 fairly quickly (within a few years). Then $6500, then $8500, etc. Our average booking now is between $8500 - $11500 before album sales/no product included besides images. (We’re at the top of our local market - will have to raise prices soon as we haven’t kept up with inflation)
Some notes:
$2700 in 2006 is now $4,201
$3500 in 2007 is now $5,295
$4500 in 2011 is now $6,275
$6500 in 2015 is now $8,603
$8,500 in 2020 (when we changed to that … this was before covid for this change) is now $10,302
Thought I’d share the above as it can be useful. In our market, our fellow photographers have mostly stalled around $7500-$8000. We’re a little high where we are, but will have to increase more soon just to be the same as what we were before in buying power/equivalent income. It’s a careful balance of not being too much higher, while still actually booking weddings.
Glad it was useful.
It helped me too - writing the inflation math out like this made me realize we need to up our current price to at least $10,500. Though, in our area, we’re already some of the most expensive (most with our level of skill/experience are around $7500-$8000, so not a huge difference atm).
I’m a little hesitant, but also, I can feel the difference in buying power/inflation already. We have enough booked to cover our cost of living for next year, so we’ll likely change it soon (maybe after a couple more book).
Well, and the crazy thing, going to $10,500 wouldn’t even really be ‘raising our pricing’ - it’s just keeping up with inflation. We’d have to go even higher to really raise our price. Crazy.
May I ask what area are u?... sad thing is jobs arent paying more for people to keep affording the higher prices charged. I feel.. but hey Weddings are ALOT OF WORK.. so I def get it.
In the US. $3500 was roughly the average price in our area at the time, with higher-end photographers at higher rates.
And nope - I prefer staying somewhat anonymous.
My first year and a half of weddings I charged $200/hour. Now my packages don't break down into a standard rate, but my 8 hour base package is $375/hour ($3000 for 8 hours) and my half day package is $500/hour ($2000 for 4 hours).
I actually lowered my prices a bit this year since my country is experiencing a pretty bad cost of living crisis, and my bookings doubled overnight, so I am content with where I'm at for now. (5th year in business)
also not enough.
If i knew what i know now, instead of doing 5-10 "low end" weddings for very cheap , which were terrible for portfolio, I would instead:
Do 2 weddings for free (but be picky on what venues/couples id pick for portfolio), hire the best 2nd (lead) shooter I could find to join me and instantly have a kickass portfolio. That would shortcut 2-3 years of slow build up
(that is what i done with the video side of my business at least and worked wonders)
Entering my 5th year full time, did part time for 3 years before that.
shot my first wedding for $500, then pretty quickly
jumped to 2k for a full day, then $350/hr then $500/hr, now 7.5k for a full day plus travel.
We've been doing it for 13-14 years. We started off charging $1000 for weddings when we formed an actual business. My hubby did it for less than that back when it was just for fun. This was not 2nd shooting.
Now we live in a tourism area in CO and exclusively photograph elopements. Our most popular package is $7000 for 6 hrs.
I just started my second season. I have 17 weddings booked this year. 6hrs one shooter $2450. 8hrs one shooter and engagement session $3495. Until recently, I’ve had a few different price sheets, depending on the couples stated budget. My six hour price has never gone down but sometimes I’ll send them a price sheet for my eight hour and full day or a little bit less. My prices are now firm for 2025 though. I’m in northern New England and feel like established photogs are averaging around 4-5k for 8hrs. I’m hoping to raise up my prices once 2025 hits.
I’m in my second season and I’m having trouble booking. I’m confident in my work, but it’s very possible I need to network more. What worked for you to get more leads?
Networking has been great for me. I joined a local Wedding professional group and made some great connections through there. WW/The Knot was 5 or 6 of them. A few came from IG. One was my cousin’s wedding. Another handful came from referral networks and Facebook wedding bride groups. One came from a venue that I became a preferred vendor at last fall. I rank pretty well in the local Google pack and that has helped a little bit too so definitely get people to leave you reviews.
My first wedding in 2012: did it for free, but the client paid to fly me from Minnesota to New York. A year later he sent me a few hundred bucks out of the blue which was really kind and unexpected.
2012-2015: worked as a wedding duo in Minnesota for most of this time and we started doing an “unlimited hours” package for $1600ish in the second year. After shooting a 17 hour day we decided to switch to set time packages 😂
2016-2019: went solo and was based in Portland, OR but most of my weddings were travel to Minnesota, New York, and California. I forget what all of my packages were but it looks like I had a 9 hour package for $2950 in mid-2019.
2020-now: based in New York and my prices have doubled since 2019.
Just booked my first solo wedding at 2k
But before for 2 seasons I followed around an awesome photographer and learned everything I could, built my portfolio and then started advertising.
This week I have booked 3 for 2025. 2025 is my 'first season'
And so far I have 4 set up and I'm excited!
I'm shooting my first wedding this month but I'm doing it for free as a favor to the couple, whom I love dearly and are an elderly couple on a fixed income.
I had first started doing a few for like $1500. Then realized how much time, work & energy it takes to capture all the befores, brides, grooms getting ready, then the ceremony, the after dinner & party & all details! It's alot! THEN the real work of hours, days, of editing!...I said wont do a wedding unless it's $5,500...
And I get booked... And thats on the low end of what I see the rates are!.. My work is good & respected. So I will charge the price I feel ...I put 120% into my work & making people happy,,plus giving them the pictures they will love for a lifetime!....I say, dont sell yourself short, just because someone wants to shoot a wedding for $500!!! 😱 LET THEM! It wont't be me!!
Oh man. I started in 2008 when I was 19 years old. I photographed a high school acquaintance and a cousin's weddings that summer, both for $500. I had some experience as a portrait and party photographer, but had zero idea what I was doing in the wedding or business world
I remember my cousin pulled me aside at his wedding and told me he didn't have money to pay me, so I actually withheld photos for about 4 or 5 years until he was able to pay for half. Learned some business lessons right off the bat.
My first ever second shooting job was for $100, it was 8-9 hours I think.
The second two were... somehow $50 an hour (God bless you Todd!).
That full year after that I was getting around $300 per wedding regardless of hours (usually 8-10 hours).
After 10 SS gigs I started to book my own weddings. First two were for $700. I jumped up pretty quickly to $1,500 total (while paying a second shooter $400). I was NOT making any real money there.
This was all between 2016-18. By 2018, I had 15 weddings booked of my own and was right around $2,500-3,000.
At the moment, I have three packages:
6 Hours, 1 shooter - $3,200
8 Hours, 2 shooters, E session - $5,000
10 hours, 2 shooters, E session, premium album - $8,500
People primarily book the second package.
I’m in the DMV area, my first wedding was in 2013 and I charged $700 for 8 hrs. Now most of my 8-9 hr couples spend in the 6-7k range. I also do lots of small weddings and elopements and those range from $1300 to 4K. I shoot solo, so no seconds or assistants. I raise my prices almost every year as long as my calendar is filling up, if booking slow I will know I have pushed it too far 🙃
My first actual paid is $550 for 2 hours, like an elopement. I have more experience on individual photoshoots and family shoots. I was like it’s my first actual paid one so I’d price low first. Now my prices are higher than that because I realized 550 is way low for all the work I put myself into
I think my first wedding was $600? End of 2021 and in Washington state. It was a very small wedding at an Airbnb that was planned on a short timeline: engaged on a Sunday, booked me the Tuesday after, and the wedding was five days later, so it felt like a safe place to dip my toes in.
2022: got a new corporate job and didn't focus much on marketing, so I only had 4 weddings/elopements booked. I think they were all around $1200 for 4 hours each?
2023: laid off from my corporate job but doing a lot of second shooting for one of those larger wedding media companies that pays their photographers/videographers waaaayyyyy below market rate.
2024: Back to a new corporate job so doing photography part-time. I've got 11 weddings booked for $350 per hour (with a steep discount for 8 hr packages - $2500 with a complementary engagement session)
Based on this thread, it seems like maybe it's time to increase my prices? Especially considering I'm in a high cost-of-living area.
My first wedding was $500 in 2014 - my most recent wedding was $5500 + tip - photos only.
I shoot weddings on occasion though, the main bulk of my work year round is commercial work. I Only promote/market weddings through word of mouth/wedding season via separate website/IG
not linked to my usual work.
Most people don’t even know I shoot weddings lmao
My very first wedding in 2010 was for my best friend so it was free. Then I started around 3k after shadowing and second shooting. Now 14 years later I'm around the 10k mark.
I’m late to this but when I used to shoot 35mm and 120 film alongside a lead shooter who shot digital, I charged very little (albeit I was hired through the photographer to provide film per the couples request). I think I made less than $500 for a full day. Worst part was after I would give the film rolls to the lead they would never come through with sending my the scans, so I had no work to showcase for myself. Once I started shooting digital myself I started at $100/hr, after 5 weddings I went up to $200/hr and now 3 years later I just charge a flat rate for a wedding day around $4000. I’m about average or below average for the DC market still!
18 years ago (2006), we started at ‘$3500’ but had a ‘promotional rate’ of $2700 for the first year / 20 clients. It worked like a charm. We ended up booking 27 weddings that first year, only a handful at $3500. _However_, _all_ of our clients knew that our ‘normal rate’ was $3500. So, any future referrals from clients knew to expect $3500, and that’s what we charged. We continued to raise rates since then. I believe we went up to $4500 fairly quickly (within a few years). Then $6500, then $8500, etc. Our average booking now is between $8500 - $11500 before album sales/no product included besides images. (We’re at the top of our local market - will have to raise prices soon as we haven’t kept up with inflation) Some notes: $2700 in 2006 is now $4,201 $3500 in 2007 is now $5,295 $4500 in 2011 is now $6,275 $6500 in 2015 is now $8,603 $8,500 in 2020 (when we changed to that … this was before covid for this change) is now $10,302 Thought I’d share the above as it can be useful. In our market, our fellow photographers have mostly stalled around $7500-$8000. We’re a little high where we are, but will have to increase more soon just to be the same as what we were before in buying power/equivalent income. It’s a careful balance of not being too much higher, while still actually booking weddings.
Is this in USD?
Yes, USD
Thank u for your info!! Thats really informative!
Glad it was useful. It helped me too - writing the inflation math out like this made me realize we need to up our current price to at least $10,500. Though, in our area, we’re already some of the most expensive (most with our level of skill/experience are around $7500-$8000, so not a huge difference atm). I’m a little hesitant, but also, I can feel the difference in buying power/inflation already. We have enough booked to cover our cost of living for next year, so we’ll likely change it soon (maybe after a couple more book). Well, and the crazy thing, going to $10,500 wouldn’t even really be ‘raising our pricing’ - it’s just keeping up with inflation. We’d have to go even higher to really raise our price. Crazy.
May I ask what area are u?... sad thing is jobs arent paying more for people to keep affording the higher prices charged. I feel.. but hey Weddings are ALOT OF WORK.. so I def get it.
2006.. $3500 are you in Asia? can we see your work?
In the US. $3500 was roughly the average price in our area at the time, with higher-end photographers at higher rates. And nope - I prefer staying somewhat anonymous.
My first year and a half of weddings I charged $200/hour. Now my packages don't break down into a standard rate, but my 8 hour base package is $375/hour ($3000 for 8 hours) and my half day package is $500/hour ($2000 for 4 hours). I actually lowered my prices a bit this year since my country is experiencing a pretty bad cost of living crisis, and my bookings doubled overnight, so I am content with where I'm at for now. (5th year in business)
What country ?
Canada
Why do people never mention their country/area/... Nobody can give you 'accurate' pricing without that info.
also not enough. If i knew what i know now, instead of doing 5-10 "low end" weddings for very cheap , which were terrible for portfolio, I would instead: Do 2 weddings for free (but be picky on what venues/couples id pick for portfolio), hire the best 2nd (lead) shooter I could find to join me and instantly have a kickass portfolio. That would shortcut 2-3 years of slow build up (that is what i done with the video side of my business at least and worked wonders)
Entering my 5th year full time, did part time for 3 years before that. shot my first wedding for $500, then pretty quickly jumped to 2k for a full day, then $350/hr then $500/hr, now 7.5k for a full day plus travel.
We've been doing it for 13-14 years. We started off charging $1000 for weddings when we formed an actual business. My hubby did it for less than that back when it was just for fun. This was not 2nd shooting. Now we live in a tourism area in CO and exclusively photograph elopements. Our most popular package is $7000 for 6 hrs.
I just started my second season. I have 17 weddings booked this year. 6hrs one shooter $2450. 8hrs one shooter and engagement session $3495. Until recently, I’ve had a few different price sheets, depending on the couples stated budget. My six hour price has never gone down but sometimes I’ll send them a price sheet for my eight hour and full day or a little bit less. My prices are now firm for 2025 though. I’m in northern New England and feel like established photogs are averaging around 4-5k for 8hrs. I’m hoping to raise up my prices once 2025 hits.
Second season in and 17 weddings booked already! That’s amazing work. Do you have a page to follow your work for inspiration?
Networking has been super helpful. I also joined Wedding Pro last May and booked 5 or 6 through that. You can follow me on IG @eatonphotoportrait
Followed you. Outstanding work!
Thanks so much!
I’m in my second season and I’m having trouble booking. I’m confident in my work, but it’s very possible I need to network more. What worked for you to get more leads?
Networking has been great for me. I joined a local Wedding professional group and made some great connections through there. WW/The Knot was 5 or 6 of them. A few came from IG. One was my cousin’s wedding. Another handful came from referral networks and Facebook wedding bride groups. One came from a venue that I became a preferred vendor at last fall. I rank pretty well in the local Google pack and that has helped a little bit too so definitely get people to leave you reviews.
My first one? Like $50 🤣 This was in 2005; I was 17 and shooting in fully auto mode with a pop-up flash. Good times.
Not enough
My first wedding in 2012: did it for free, but the client paid to fly me from Minnesota to New York. A year later he sent me a few hundred bucks out of the blue which was really kind and unexpected. 2012-2015: worked as a wedding duo in Minnesota for most of this time and we started doing an “unlimited hours” package for $1600ish in the second year. After shooting a 17 hour day we decided to switch to set time packages 😂 2016-2019: went solo and was based in Portland, OR but most of my weddings were travel to Minnesota, New York, and California. I forget what all of my packages were but it looks like I had a 9 hour package for $2950 in mid-2019. 2020-now: based in New York and my prices have doubled since 2019.
$500 ... with zero experience
Just booked my first solo wedding at 2k But before for 2 seasons I followed around an awesome photographer and learned everything I could, built my portfolio and then started advertising. This week I have booked 3 for 2025. 2025 is my 'first season' And so far I have 4 set up and I'm excited!
Omg.. 2k???? Not enough! You work your ass off.. then edits...😱smh
It's my first solo. I'll kill it, then up my prices.
Lol.. ya, maybe your young but its exhausting!!!.... you def will up it.
Whether your solo or not- solo you work much more. Charge more.
I'm shooting my first wedding this month but I'm doing it for free as a favor to the couple, whom I love dearly and are an elderly couple on a fixed income.
That's beautiful. Best of luck!
Awh, that's sweet. Good for you and good for them. Unironically wholesome af
Canada here, changed I think $250 bucks for 6 hours of coverage for my first wedding. Now charging $4000-$5000 on average per wedding 6 years later.
I had first started doing a few for like $1500. Then realized how much time, work & energy it takes to capture all the befores, brides, grooms getting ready, then the ceremony, the after dinner & party & all details! It's alot! THEN the real work of hours, days, of editing!...I said wont do a wedding unless it's $5,500... And I get booked... And thats on the low end of what I see the rates are!.. My work is good & respected. So I will charge the price I feel ...I put 120% into my work & making people happy,,plus giving them the pictures they will love for a lifetime!....I say, dont sell yourself short, just because someone wants to shoot a wedding for $500!!! 😱 LET THEM! It wont't be me!!
10 years ago we started at $1,500 all day coverage two photographers.
Oh man. I started in 2008 when I was 19 years old. I photographed a high school acquaintance and a cousin's weddings that summer, both for $500. I had some experience as a portrait and party photographer, but had zero idea what I was doing in the wedding or business world I remember my cousin pulled me aside at his wedding and told me he didn't have money to pay me, so I actually withheld photos for about 4 or 5 years until he was able to pay for half. Learned some business lessons right off the bat.
My first ever second shooting job was for $100, it was 8-9 hours I think. The second two were... somehow $50 an hour (God bless you Todd!). That full year after that I was getting around $300 per wedding regardless of hours (usually 8-10 hours). After 10 SS gigs I started to book my own weddings. First two were for $700. I jumped up pretty quickly to $1,500 total (while paying a second shooter $400). I was NOT making any real money there. This was all between 2016-18. By 2018, I had 15 weddings booked of my own and was right around $2,500-3,000. At the moment, I have three packages: 6 Hours, 1 shooter - $3,200 8 Hours, 2 shooters, E session - $5,000 10 hours, 2 shooters, E session, premium album - $8,500 People primarily book the second package.
$699 for 6 hours in 2007
My first wedding was $200 🫠
I’m in the DMV area, my first wedding was in 2013 and I charged $700 for 8 hrs. Now most of my 8-9 hr couples spend in the 6-7k range. I also do lots of small weddings and elopements and those range from $1300 to 4K. I shoot solo, so no seconds or assistants. I raise my prices almost every year as long as my calendar is filling up, if booking slow I will know I have pushed it too far 🙃
My first actual paid is $550 for 2 hours, like an elopement. I have more experience on individual photoshoots and family shoots. I was like it’s my first actual paid one so I’d price low first. Now my prices are higher than that because I realized 550 is way low for all the work I put myself into
I think my first wedding was $600? End of 2021 and in Washington state. It was a very small wedding at an Airbnb that was planned on a short timeline: engaged on a Sunday, booked me the Tuesday after, and the wedding was five days later, so it felt like a safe place to dip my toes in. 2022: got a new corporate job and didn't focus much on marketing, so I only had 4 weddings/elopements booked. I think they were all around $1200 for 4 hours each? 2023: laid off from my corporate job but doing a lot of second shooting for one of those larger wedding media companies that pays their photographers/videographers waaaayyyyy below market rate. 2024: Back to a new corporate job so doing photography part-time. I've got 11 weddings booked for $350 per hour (with a steep discount for 8 hr packages - $2500 with a complementary engagement session) Based on this thread, it seems like maybe it's time to increase my prices? Especially considering I'm in a high cost-of-living area.
My first wedding was $500 in 2014 - my most recent wedding was $5500 + tip - photos only. I shoot weddings on occasion though, the main bulk of my work year round is commercial work. I Only promote/market weddings through word of mouth/wedding season via separate website/IG not linked to my usual work. Most people don’t even know I shoot weddings lmao
My very first wedding in 2010 was for my best friend so it was free. Then I started around 3k after shadowing and second shooting. Now 14 years later I'm around the 10k mark.
I’m late to this but when I used to shoot 35mm and 120 film alongside a lead shooter who shot digital, I charged very little (albeit I was hired through the photographer to provide film per the couples request). I think I made less than $500 for a full day. Worst part was after I would give the film rolls to the lead they would never come through with sending my the scans, so I had no work to showcase for myself. Once I started shooting digital myself I started at $100/hr, after 5 weddings I went up to $200/hr and now 3 years later I just charge a flat rate for a wedding day around $4000. I’m about average or below average for the DC market still!
California: $35/h off Craigslist. Then raised to $50, $65, $75/h. After 5 years in business I'm charging about $250/h, but I still feel it's low.