Wedding photography
When planning and budgeting for your wedding day, you will undoubtedly have several competing costs and services to consider. These will include everything from the venue to flowers, catering, photography, dresses and suits, to rings, entertainment and much more.
How much you spend on these will depend on your individual priorities as a couple. However, the single most expensive items often tend to be the venue, catering, and the wedding photographer.
The venue and catering obviously speak for themselves as an integral part of the day.
But the wedding photographer? Capturing the moments from your wedding day by an experienced, professional photographer are usually seen as a worthy investment by most couples.
The pictures will last you a lifetime, and of course there will be no second chances to capture the memories from your wedding day.
The average cost of weddings
According to Hitched.co.uk, from surveying 2,000 couples who got married in 2021; the average cost of a wedding in the UK in 2021 was £17,300 (not including the cost of the honeymoon). Of this, couples spent an average of £1200 on the wedding photography.
Conversely, in the USA. From a study of 15,000 couples across the country The Knot identified the average cost of a wedding as $28,000. They identified the average cost of a wedding photographer as $2,500.
In both studies, variation on prices and spend was highlighted according to the location. But as you can see, both surveys suggest that to provide the lasting memento from the day, couples are willing to invest a significant proportion of their wedding spend on photographer. This is reflected by the average wedding photography pricing.
What is the average cost of a wedding photographer?
Most experts will recommend that you spend between 5-10% of your wedding budget on the wedding photographer. If your wedding photography is less of a priority you may lean on the lower side of this ratio (5%). Or on the higher side of 10% or more if you want to ensure a high quality and premium service for your wedding.
However, it is important to highlight that no matter your budget, you are likely to be able to find a wedding photographer to capture your memories of the day.
Some couples may choose to keep costs down and ask a friend or relative to take the photos for you. Personally, we wouldn’t recommend this option to most couples. Despite a few savings – remember there will be no second chances to retake the photographs from your wedding day. For most, this is an integral part of their wedding experience and future memories.
In the UK, according to Your Perfect Wedding Photographer; the cheapest region for wedding photographers is the north east where the average full day starting package is £1,100. The most expensive is in the south west where a similar package would cost £1,700. As you would expect, wedding photographers from London would also be above the national average.
According to their survey, overall, the average cost for a wedding photographer was £1,590 – higher than the £1,200 spend identified by Hitched.
Pricing for wedding photography
As demonstrated by the discrepancies from the two industry sources above, identifying an average price for a wedding photographer is not a straightforward task.
There are several variables in wedding photography pricing that will impact the cost. These include the location, the photographers experience, whether you have a ‘second shooter’, the number of final photos and the length of time you are booking the service for. There will also be variation in additional features depending on your photographer and package, such as a pre wedding shoot, albums, and prints.
All of these will affect the price. Many wedding photographers will therefore offer a choice of basic, mid-range or premium packages that take into consideration the factors above.
It is important to remember that there are also several hidden costs for a wedding photographer including postproduction, admin, marketing, insurance, travel and investment in equipment.
Factors that will affect your wedding photography pricing will include:
- Number of hours
- Location
- Number of photographers
- Experience, brand, or reputation
- What’s included – prints, albums, shoots
- Availability
What are your options?
You may be able to find a budget photographer for less than £500 who may be starting out in the industry and have less experience. This is not to say that you won’t be able to find a talented photographer in this area.
However, in this bracket they are less likely to have invested in equipment (so may not have the backup if there are issues with equipment or challenges with the weather conditions.) You are also less likely to get additional features with your package.
On the other end of the scale, a premium photographer costing £2,000 plus is likely to have a wealth of experience. They will have invested heavily in having a range of equipment to cover all eventualities and should offer several additional features such as a pre wedding shoot with the highest level of service and products.
As a broad ballpark figure, wedding photographers will charge around £150 per hour. For an experienced photographer we would advise budgeting between £1,000-1500 or slightly more depending on your wedding location and desired features.
For this price, you should expect to have great service and peace of mind that your photographer will provide beautiful pictures of your day. This should include a full day’s coverage with 3-400 fully edited watermark free images on a USB stick.
For £1500-2,000 you should also expect a pre wedding shoot at a minimum. This will allow you time to meet and relax with the photographer properly. This price bracket may include more edited images, copyright for the images and a bespoke album.
As with many things in life, with wedding photographers you really do get you what you pay for. Do your research and speak to several photographers before booking to see what they charge and what’s included.
Bear in mind that cost is not the only factor to consider. You should also ensure you choose a photographer that you like (you will be spending a large part of one of the most important days of our life with them) and that shoots in a style that you love. Decide how long during the day that you want them for i.e. from getting ready until the first dance (or earlier/later). Decide your style and budget, and shortlist your choice of photographers that match this.
Good wedding photographers will get booked up well in advance, so when you decide on your chosen photographer book them up as early as possible.
How long do photographers spend on your wedding day?
Spending £1-2000 plus for a day’s photography may seem expensive. But don’t forget there are also a number of hidden costs, and your wedding photographer will spend much longer working on the images of your day.
According to a survey of wedding photographers, the average time spent by a photographer editing a full day’s wedding is 14 hours. This comes in addition to other tasks including culling, business admin and communication.
Overall, it is not unusual for a wedding photographer to spend between 30-40 hours in total delivering a wedding package.
How can you save money on wedding photography?
Don’t want to skimp on quality, but would like to save money on your wedding photography? As with other aspects of your wedding day, there are peak times for weddings when services are at their most expensive.
These will include Fridays and Saturdays, particularly during the summer months. If you have flexibility about when you are getting married, you may find that wedding photographers are willing to offer discounts or extra services if you get married during a weekday or out of season. Find out more ways to save money on your wedding day here.
Wedding photo list
An experienced and well-versed wedding photographer will no doubt have their own list of important moments to capture on your wedding day. They will incorporate their own style, and whilst some may follow a checklist others may take a less formal approach.
Speak to your wedding photographer in advance and highlight any key shots that you would like taken on the day. It is worth having an idea of what you would like to capture just so you don’t regret having missed a shot in the future.
Checkout the wedding photo checklist on One Fab Day that you can use to help determine what you would like to include on your wedding photo list. A good wedding photographer will be able to take on board your suggestions and provide a number of recommendations based on their previous experience.
What is the average cost of a wedding photographer – conclusion
As with all other parts of your wedding day, you will find that there is a huge variation on costs for the services available to you in areas such as the venue, wedding catering, dresses, flowers, and wedding photography pricing.
Like these, you will be able to find a suitable wedding photographer to fit your budget. Whilst invariably cost does play a large part in determining the quality of the service you receive; the price of your wedding photographer is not the only factor to consider.
You need to prioritise how important the wedding photography is to you both now and in the future. Then you should ensure that the wedding photographer you choose can demonstrate ample experience and quality of service to match this, in addition to a personality that helps you feel relaxed and capture great moments from your day.
Choose well, spend as much as you can reasonably afford and make sure you get a package that fits your requirements.
