Dear Bride....A letter from a Photographer

33,000. thats rediculous. I have a hard time understanding why people want to spend so much money on something that lasts for 2 or 3 hours.

But that is in LA, I don't live in LA so I shouldn't be paying prices as if I do

33,000. thats rediculous. I have a hard time understanding why people want to spend so much money on something that lasts for 2 or 3 hours.

But that is in LA, I don't live in LA so I shouldn't be paying prices as if I do. And as far as ppl that shouldn't have weddings. At that price you are basicly saying that no one in the middle class should have weddings.

Ok, Kristen, I most pointedly did not say "people in the middle class should not have weddings." You did.

And since I did check out your profile, I know that you have a bad attitude toward photographers and wedding professionals in general.

So I guess we will just have to "agree to disagree" in this area.

Sorry did not mean to post that twice. I am not saying that everyone shold be able to have a big wedding. You are missing my point. I am not having a big wedding, but still 33,000 dollars. To put that into prospective. The average person where I live can expect to make 25,000-30,000 per year. And thats doing pretty good. We bring in about 50,000 before taxes. I am not saying that I should beable to buy what ever I want because I'm having a wedding. I personally drive a 95 chevy.

What I am saying is that I find it hard to take in that photgraphers in my area that know the average wages and what people have to work with on average should not expect to get paid 5x that.

After talking to friends of mine that have been married recently the average cost of a wedding arond here is about 2,000-3,000. and the photgraphers are asiking for that much.

This doesn't make since to me.

Here's the thing.

Weddings are a luxury. No-one is holding a gun to your head and telling you to pay a crap-ton for your wedding.

My whole issue with the "jacked up wedding prices" thing is this. I charge based on two things. the amount of experience I have, and the amount of resources I put into any given job.

In the same sense that you feel ripped off with the $3000 price, I'm offended when the amount of work that justifies a $3-6000 price range people want to get for $1500.

Remember this. We're professionals. We make a living doing this. As such we have to charge a livable wage. If I have a client ask me to include the kitchen sink, 2 photographers, an album, parents albums, all day of shooting, TTD shoot, engagement sessions, all for $1400, I'm incensed. She's asking me to work for less than minimum wage. The price of the products and hiring the photographer are more than the $1400 unless you go with crap albums that will last less than 6 years and a free second photog.

We are going to have to agree to disagree on this one. But I want you to understand that my "bad attitude" comes from getting one quote on something and then all of a sudden it goes up randomly tenfold. And from getting bombarded by people trying to tell me that I should pay more for my wedding than I did my truck.

A collection with that much will usually go for at least $5500.

Why? In order to actually put food on my table, I need to bring in about $4000 a month. In LA, my rent is $1100 a month. And that's CHEAP. I live in the ghetto. So if I'm to do 2 weddings a month(I've limited myself to 20 a year to be able to treat my clients like royalty,) That brings me in at just around $4500. That's $54,000 a year. In my area, that's not a lot of money, that's actually considered "poor" if you have a family. So how do I justify doing $5500 worth of work for $1400? it's just not gonna happen! So what do I do? my $1400 package(if I have one) will be purely profit. There are no costs involved other than travel. I can't include an album in that, and based on the hourly rate that I know I need to make, that covers almost 5 hours of wedding.

As Brian put it, no one is telling you to pay a "crap-ton" for your wedding.

(That's brilliant, by the way, did you TM that?)

They are not telling you what you "should" pay, they are telling you what they charge.

If you cannot, or will not, pay that, that's fine.

Our other clients do, so problem solved.

I think the main point here is preparing people for the consequences of your decision. if you read what the photogs on here have said about pro vs and friend photographer and are still willing to take the chance. then, its up to you. Further, at the end of the day, if they arent good pics or dont turn out how you wanted-at least you can say-hey, i knew that was the risk and I chose to take it. You will likely be upset, but generally ok with the result. However, if a bride doesnt think through the possibilities and ramficiation of choosing a non-professional photographer and in her head is expecting super quality work froma friend and doesnt get it-shes going to be very disappointed.

Expectations make so much difference. its easier to not be disappointed in your expectations were low in the first place. In addition, for brides who havent really thought through this before, reading this thread gives them a chance to decide for themselves how much they care about photography & its worth

I haven't read all of the posts, so this may have been covered.

Another part of owning any business (photographers, caterers, etc.) is insurance. This is not cheap. These are professionals and they protect their clients, as well as their own interests. Also, that $3,000 is not all retained. There are the costs of taxes, processing your photos, travel time, time spent with the couple before and after the event, as well as many other expenses.

Do not think that a photographer is walking away, having made $3000, for one event. Also, a photographer is not working every day at an event. I am sure that everyone would love to work five days a week for $3k per day. But that is not reality.

Let's say that someone did one event per week, for $3k. That is $156k per year. Deduct expenses and the persons real income is probably closer to $40-50k. Of course, I doubt most have an event booked every weekend of the year.

I don't ever have this issue, I love my brides, and they are some of the chillest people I've ever met. BUT I've talked to a lot of photographers, and the reason that they might charge a bit more is the "pain in the ass" charge. For them, Weddings can be a nightmare. Their brides can be the pickiest people in the world that make the 8 hours that you're working with them a drudge.

Kristen- you are not being objective. Your experience with ONE wedding photographer, although unfortunate, cannot be used as an evaluation for how ALL photographers behave. That was unprofessional, something the photographers choosing to comment here are NOT.

You also cannot make the statement that after talking to your "friends" (people of likely similar financial situations as yourself) that the median cost for weddings is $2K. That's simply false. Among people you know, that is the case. Not on the average. Also making statements that $30,000 for a wedding is ridiculous is hurtful. It's all relative; I spent a lot on my wedding, to you, but it was not a lot to ME, based on my income and my priorities.

Now, a few FACTS:

The national average spend on a wedding: $18,000

The national average charged for WEDDING photography: $3000

We actually did go with a friend and it turned out well. Our friend however, is a professional photographer who has done numerous weddings and been in the business for at least 4+ years. My hubby actually lived with him for a couple years in college-however these days, we only see him and his wife every few months. We also were very clear that if he would rather just attend the wedding and not *work* it, he could since we had several other good photogrpahers we were looking at.

It turned out well. there are a few pics that we missed that I wish we would have gotten, but there are many others that I love and are exactly what I wanted. I had the hardest time trimming our 650 photos down to a reasonable size for a facebook album (and only got it to 350).

However, this does not say it would work always. it worked for us and I was pretty sure it would, but it wouldnt always.

No it is with all of the photographers in my area that I have found.

I am just going to have to disagree with everyone one here and just get off of this thread. If you live in an expencive area that is one thing. But I do not. My motgage on 25 acres and a 3 bedroom house is $750 per month and that is high here. I apologize if I offended you, I am not saying that you donot do good work, or have experience, or anything else. All I am saying is that the wedding industry in general is expencive. $18,000 as a national average should tell you that.

But this goes back to friends shooting friend's weddings. There needs to be a saying that goes like this: "friends don't let friends hire friends to photograph their wedding." I said if first.

If you value photography at all, and especially good photography, you'll see why this letter was written. Yes, not everyone can afford a photographer. But if that's the case, don't go looking for a photographer, and don't complain about the prices. I can't afford a Mercedes, but you don't see me complaining about the price. There's a reason they cost that much. Same with photographers. If you want your (non-professional)friend to shoot your wedding, just know what to expect. You WILL get a bunch of photos that are to be short "inconsistent." If you're ok with that, great! all the more power to you. I wish I wasn't as discerning as I am when it comes to photography. But you're hiring an artist. treat it as such. If you don't care about art, don't waste your money. cont.

Ok, I know there are a few WW vets in this post that remember a former poster that, literally, went crazy after seeing how unprofessional her photos were after having a friend take them. Anyone? Anyone?

And holy isht, I'm pretty sure this post was meant as (informative) humor, what the hell happened? I myself went with a student photographer from Craigslist, I was her first wedding. I have no regrets, and can manage not to take this personally.

Sheesh.

But at the end of the day, if you have a budget for photography: a couple thousand sitting around to hire a professional. You ARE going to be very disappointed when your photographer friend who's just getting into the BIZ, just like every other un-employed person that happens to have a decent DSLR.

That's the sad truth.

So that's why I wrote this to the bride and groom that I met with a couple times. They called me to say "we're going with you." Let's meet up to sign the contract and get the deposit to you. and then the next week after not answering her phone said, yeah, we're having a friend that's just getting into photography shoot our wedding.

This is a couple that when they first contacted me said "we think your work is the best."

What happened in that short amount of time? They had money in-hand ready to pay me.

This is my livelihood, so of course I need the money. But I'll book their date. It's far enough out. But I will turn them down even if they come crawling back.

I think people are miss Kristen's point. Going by Brian N's comment you make 54,000 a year and for where you live that is not a lot. However for a person living where she lives that is a great salary. Everyone keeps saying that the Photogs charge what they do so they can live and the way you all break it down it seems reasonable however in here area make the same amount that some of you make will go a lot further. Imagine how you can live if you made 54,000 living in a place where your mortgage was 750. I will admit when I posted my post about using an amateur I did not understand a lot of the things that were stated here, but now I have a better understanding. With that being said I do not think that having a wedding is a luxury. The cost of weddings are high and are so because the industry pushes a ridiculous standard of perfection. We see the shows my fair wedding, say yes to the dress, rich bride poor bride. A wedding is the celebration of joining of two souls cont...

How does the average person making 8-10 dollars an hour make an average on 25,000-30,000 a year? Must have a pretty good interest rate at the bank.

I'd be curious to know what your overall budget is, and I'm fine if youd rather not say....I did do a little looking though and although i couldn't find the average for the area listed in your profile, according to many sources the average wedding in MO ranges around 15-25k. With Brian's (or was it Matt's) suggestion of 10 percent of your budget that puts you at 1500 -2500 dollars towards a photographer. Where i am from average weddings are about 25k, and my photographer is 2,400 which is in the high range for photographers in my area, but pictures are important to me so I went for the best I could do.

I am however, getting married in a church instead of outside at our reception venue because they wanted too much for that so I sacrificed in some areas to have the photographer i wanted.

At the end of the day you have your husband/wife,

Your memories, and your pictures to remember such an important day of your life. If you are going to spend that much money to get married you might as well have proof to remember it