When you’re planning your wedding, one of the most exciting parts of the whole process is choosing your wedding photographer. Finding the right person to capture your big day will make sure that you’ll have timeless photos to enjoy and share for years to come. But picking the right photographer can be confusing and overwhelming, especially if you don’t know what to look for or how much photographers typically cost.

Factors That Affect Wedding Photography Prices

It’s pretty easy to look at how much a photographer costs and decide whether or not you can afford it. But it’s also important to understand what exactly you’re paying for and why wedding photography prices vary so widely. If you think about it, there are all kinds of factors that go into determining price and those factors will differ based on who you choose as your photographer. Here are just a few of those factors:

1. Experience
   Photographers that are just starting out will be less expensive than professionals with a decade under their belt. When you pay for experience you are getting someone that not only knows what they are doing with their camera, but understands how to help make your wedding day flow smoothly. They have likely seen it all and handled it all and can approach any situation with grace.
2. Equipment
   The equipment needed to photograph a wedding costs tens of thousands of dollars. Cameras, lenses, lighting, high end computers, editing software, external hard drives, huge amounts of cloud storage. This doesn’t include the cost of education, training, CRM software, gallery delivery software, or the other expense all businesses must consider.
3. Hours
   There is a common misconception that most of the work is done at the wedding, but that is just the tip of the iceberg. A wedding photographer will spend anywhere from 4-14 hours shooting on a wedding day, but 40-80 hours will be spent on editing those photos.

Set Expectations Early On
When hiring a wedding photographer, you should first discuss all of your expectations. While most people expect to pay between $2,000 and $10,000 for wedding photography, that is just an average. There are photographers who charge much more and hobbyists or beginners who will charge less. Before deciding on any one photographer, you should figure out exactly you’re looking for in a photographer and how important photography is for your wedding day.

Consider What You Are Buying
When selecting a wedding photographer, it’s important to think about what you are purchasing. Are you just looking for someone to capture an event or are you hiring them to tell your love story over several hours of candid shooting? Your decision should be based on how much time they will spend with you and their vision for photographing each moment. At the end of the day, these photographs will be the only thing that remains from your wedding so make sure you spend time deciding what is right for you.