The cost of wedding photography

Hitched.co.uk reported in August 2022 that the average cost of a wedding photographer is between £1600 - £2000.

The general presumption is that the photographer gets paid an awful lot of money to take photos for one day.  On the face of it, this would seem to be the case.  However, there is so much more to this fee than just taking photos for one day.

The median salary according to the ONS (Office of National Statistics) in 2020 was £31,461.  So, assuming our photographer charges £1800 per day, s/he would need to photograph 18 weddings a year to earn the median salary in theory.  Salaried workers are likely to get holidays, sick pay, pension contributions for example, included as benefits.  A self-employed photographer doesn’t get any of these benefits, so that is an additional cost that needs consideration.  Photographing 18 weddings would no longer be sufficient and the photographer’s income needs to be supplemented through potentially more wedding photography.

For photographing a wedding only, the photographer incurs costs such as website hosting, editing software, insurances such as public liability, electricity/battery purchases, editing images (time), storage of images.

In addition to this, there are hardware costs such as quality monitor displays, that are suited to photography.  These are expensive as well as the computer itself.  The camera equipment that the photographer has invested in, would have required an upfront cost of thousands of pounds.

Then there is cost of marketing be that publicising the business, advertising and/or attending wedding fairs.  They will also need to invest in what they plan to show at the fair, so marketing material needs to be produced as well as setting up the display.

If a photographer is practicing wedding photography full-time, they will also need to pay the rent/mortgage, bills and feed themselves and their family.  Photographers on the whole, are self-employed so they need to account for tax and NI contributions, cover themselves financially if they fall sick, get no holiday pay and so on.

You get the picture…

So when we look at price for wedding photography, there are a few things to consider:

You have paid thousands for the venue, the décor, and the food – none of which stays with you after the event.  The images taken capture all of this and more so that you can look back and experience the emotions you felt on the day.

We’ve all heard that 10% of your overall budget should be allocated to the photography on the day.  For weddings on a budget, it will amount to more than 10% and for luxury weddings, it will amount to a smaller percentage.

An article from someone who is not a wedding photographer provides an interesting perspective at:

https://chrispiercymagic.co.uk/why-wedding-photographers-expensive/

As things stand, today, inflation is soaring, which means prices are increasing pretty drastically.  It also means budgeting is ever more important for the couple planning their wedding because everything is going to cost more.

Your wedding day is going to be up there as one of the most important events of your life – a good photographer is going to capture the day so you can look back on it in the years to come.