Photography costs for a wedding?

[Shanti]

Hi,

I have been given a quote from my photographer for the wedding and it's a flat rate of $1400.00 and that is for any amount of time we like.... PLUS printed photos, negatives etc... and he's going to do up an album for us for free as part of the cost aswell. He is the father of one of the groomsmen and we are not sure if he's given us "mate's rates" but we definitely don't expect it or want him to feel like he should give us that. We are happy to pay full price as long as he looks after us

What did you pay for your wedding photographer fees? Was it around that??? Is that about right??
I'm doing up our budget today and trying to get figures so i have an idea of what the total cost of our day is going to be.
Thanks

[visitor1]

Ours cost $2600 and that was from about 1pm-10pm. Our album was a further $730 on top of that. We got album, all negatives, copyright to all our photos, huge large print, all on cd and DVD.

All up our wedding cost a tad over $20k..but we didnt skimp on anything....

[Shanti]

So far we've reached $10,000K and that is everything, i've added it all up... some are just approx figures though so may be bit less, or may be bit more... but around $10K is what we are aiming at so that's good....
so do you pay extra to get copyright on your photos? I thought it was just part of it?
yeah i think the price he quoted did not include cd/dvd... thats extra but we can do that ourselves as we own a print and copy shop so will do the rest ourselves, he'll just take the photos

[Ozstar]

Renstar,

That is a pretty good price. Is he a professional? Have a look at his work before deciding. I used to be a wedding photographer and I suggest having a look at a range of photographers in a range of price brackets, you will soon see there is a huge difference. Some people are terrible photographers but think they can charge alot simply because it a wedding and brides and grooms dont know any better.

If you want any more info let me know. I got married on the GC last year too.

[visitor1]

Some photographers dont allow you the rights... we never paid extra..that was just part of the package.

[Shanti]

Thanks, well it's our friends dad, and yes he's been doing it for a few years now.. we saw our friends wedding photos that he did at their wedding last August(his son's) and they were lovely... no worries at all and he had done black and white and colour and mix of different photos and they were great. we aren't too fussy as long as they are nice and presented professionaly we are happy...

[GIDGET]

Hi Renstar,
If you like his work $1400 is cheap for a professional wedding photographer. Our was $1800 and that was several years ago, so with inflation, it would be a lot more now, and that did not include negatives.
If you are given the negatives, you will be able to print them, kinda like an implied assigned copyright anyway!!!
Make sure you are happy with the types of albums he puts together. I think it is important to get what you want as the album is something you will treasure forever.
Also make sure he covers all the aspects of the wedding you want - like you getting ready, him getting ready, the ceremony, the special posed shots you want, the family shots and the reception.
Ours didn't cover the reception, which didn't really matter to us and we had plenty of photos from everyone else at the reception anyway.
GOOD LUCK.

[Karina]

Ours was like $3000 or something. OMG I couldnt believe how much it cost, but we met with a couple of photographers - one of which I swear was DRUNK at the time so needless to say we didnt go with him. We got married in the hunter valley and wanted someone from up there - and there werent many to choose between! Anyhow, we had him there for the entire day - from getting ready to going home at the end of the night.
We had to pay extra for our negatives.

[Trillian]

We initially got a package for $1500 plus a bonus $300 B&W because we booked him from a bridal fair. One thing to be careful of (but you may not need to worry as he is doing the album free) is ask how many pics you can fit in the album. Ours started off as 35 pics but because he took over 300 photos on the day it was so hard to choose so we doubled the size of the album and that added another $1500. He was there from 1pm to about 9pm and the photos were fantastic and I don't regret spending that much money on them. We didn't get the other photos or the negatives though. We did get one of our photos used in his yellow pages ad though LOL.

I htink checking out other photographers and their work for the same proce is a good idea JIC - you never know what might happen between now and then and you may need a back up photographer. And sometimes you do just get what you paid for too. Friends of ours only spent $300 bucks and don't have a single photo as the photographer said she would do them an album for free and they haven't seen her since. BIL on the other hand spent a bundle for photos and they are terrible - they walked out of there and SIL started crying.

[briggsy's girl]

wow - looking at these prices, i'm thinking our photographer was really reasonable! we had her from the time we were getting ready through til the reception, two albums - one with proofs, one with pics - some enlargements and black and whites thrown in, negatives and CD/DVD - $900 for the lot

times like these i love living in the country - our wedding was so much less expensive!!!

[Shanti]

yeah weddings are sooo expensive We've spent $10K and that's on everything and we are now looking at ways of reducing it down just a little to even $9K but there isn't much room to budge, not in weddings... we were originally looking at spending $6,000 but that just doesn't cover much at all.... food is $30 pp, flowers $100 total, b/maids dresses were under $140, my dress very reasonably priced (under $600), and we have been really good with everything yet it still sits at just over $10K!!! gggrrrrr wish we could cut the $$ down even more... we know it's a day to remember and it's so special... we feel that some ppl go overboard with weddings, i mean, the day is about the two of us marrying and celebrating our love for each other and being excited about our future together... not about how much $$ we spend on food, or dress etc....
We want our guests to enjoy themselves, but ultimately at the end of the day, it's about "us" on the day and we just hope everyone can be happy with the food, drinks etc and entertainment and not expect too much from us... ie so many weddings these days are extravagant... ours is a simple yet elegant beach wedding

[Snacks]

If you like the look of the photos, I'd say that's a fantastic deal. DH is a photographer and their packages are much more expensive.
Good on you for having the day that you want. We got married out of Sydney because we couldn't afford any venues here Initially my parents weren't happy, but it was what we wanted and it turned out beautifully. Same with my sister's wedding - she had a beach wedding and it was just lovely!
All the best for your big day

[abs]

Jen & I got married in March - surprise wedding, added to Jordy's 1st birthday & naming day... since a fair portion of my family was coming up from Melbourne for it

Our photographer cost us $450 - from 10.30am til 3pm. And uses digital cameras so sends us a CD jam packed with all the pics - and emailed a couple of others afterwards when Jen asked if she had any others (pointed out people in background o shots, but none of them in foreground) - Nerida didn't include those shots as they "didn't look as good as the others"... but was happy to provide them later on

All up, we spent less than $5K including everything. Helped that the location was a client of Jen's so we got mates rates, and they even dropped the kids meals costs when the boss found out we were getting married (which like most, was at the time )

[Shanti]

Thanks Lindsay, i'm sure you're day will be just as special also... there are lots of ways to cut down your costs and still have a special wedding that you'll remember... things like flowers on tables, we aren't having that, just having the bouquets for the girls and i, only have 2 b/maids, guys aren't wearing suits, we aren't hiring a hall or reception room, just council land and thats free with permission for the ceremony, and reception follows at a tavern but we booked out the restaurant so as long as there are 60 people eating, we have the restaurant to ourselves... and pay per head only, not additional hire costs.... things like that....
being a beach wedding, its' also easier to cut down costs because it tends to be more "casual" KWIM???
best of luck planning your wedding.... it will be a fun day for you!!! I just have to organise cake and flowers and i'm just about done i think.... I too hope i haven't forgotten anything! hehe
Snacks - thanks heaps... yeah the photos seemed good so we're happy....
Abs- wow $5K that's great! well done!!!!

[Lisa]

Our photographer cost $2600 and that was for the whole day and included everything... photos, dvd, copyrights, album, and a 3 pic photo frame in which our guests signed the card stuff that sits around the photos... so it is an always on show guestbook.

[Shanti]

Lisa that sounds like you got a good deal! Yeah we are happy with our price and we are printers so we'll be able to print our photos out ourselves, get some printed onto canvas... etc it'll be great !

[Heaven]

That's pretty cheap.
Ours was $3500, 3 photographers all day, album, dvd with all photos to music, no negatives.

[Astrolady]

We got married on a tight budget, but thankfully had a friend that was excellent behind the camera, and he agreed to do our photos. So we only ended up paying for developing and enlarging of the digital photos we wanted to keep. Have all the images on a CD.
Love