Asking "How much does wedding photography cost?" is the polite way of asking Google, "Which wedding photographers are trying to rip me off?" We completely understand. Just because we're wedding photographers ourselves doesn't mean we don't also care about making good purchase decisions.

If you're here for an exact number, we're probably going to disappoint you. Oh, we can tell you the national average. It's $2,000 according to the latest industry survey by Wedding Wire. But does that number really help? What does that $2,000 actually buy? And if people are paying more in your area, how much more? Or if they're paying less, how much less?

You could ask a different question, instead, such as, "How much could wedding photography cost?" This will probably be even less helpful. You could pay nothing if you happen to have a close friend or family member who is willing to do it for you as a favor or as a gift. Or, you might find a budding photographer who has no work to show yet and they're willing to do it for free in exchange for the images to put into their portfolio. On the other hand, if you live in the right place and hire a premiere wedding photographer, you could pay over $15,000.

So How Do I Know if the Wedding Photography Cost is Right?

You will really only be able to determine if the price is right once you decide what wedding photos you want and how important they are to you. For instance, do you want bridal getting ready photos? Do you want pictures with your wedding party or are you happy to skip those? Do you want photos of your exit at the end of the night? If you don't know what photos you want and how important they are to you, then honestly, the price will never be right.

Once you know what photos you want, how do you know if the wedding photographer you're considering will be able to create them and how much they'll charge? Nearly every wedding photographer is going to determine their cost differently. Still, there are a few trends that you should pay attention to.

Time

Time is probably going to be the biggest factor in determining how much a wedding photographer charges you. Many photographers divide their packages up by the number of hours you want them to provide coverage. Sometimes this is perfectly understandable. Some photographers will shoot and deliver 80-100 images for every hour of service. That has a serious impact on how much work they are doing but also on how much return on investment you receive.

Other times, though, it is purely a sales gimmick. By showing you a low cost for, say, 6 hours of wedding photography, they might get you to sign a contract and make a downpayment. What they don't tell you is how rarely a bride ends up using only 6 hours of photography coverage. The average time we provided coverage for weddings during 2019 was 11.6 hrs. The longest was 14 hours and the quickest was about 9. They're probably guaranteed that you'll have to upgrade your package at some point or add hours on the day of the wedding (which will probably have a very high price).

In our experience, most brides know what kinds of photos they want but do not know how much time it takes to create them. That's why we believe the best option (and the reason we price all of our wedding photography packages this way) is all-day coverage. If you know the price is for all-day coverage, you can trust that when your photographer is suggesting changes to your timeline it isn't to increase their profit. And, you can also rest easy knowing that if the event runs later than you planned, they aren't going to disappear or refuse to shoot unless you pay their high per/hour rate.

But how can you know beforehand how much time you'll need? Of course, every photographer is different but here's a rough scale of how our average wedding day times usually run:

WEDDING STYLE	WEDDING PARTY < 4 (2 bridesmaids + 2 groomsmen)	WEDDING PARTY > 4	ADDING VIDEO SERVICE
HOURS OF COVERAGE (approximate)	9hrs	10hr	11hr

Images

Perhaps the next biggest wedding photography cost-factor will be the number of images. Some photographers specify how many images they deliver. They might have a different cost for delivering 200 photos vs. 500. This pricing model always feels a bit strange to us since it requires the photographer to be able to deliver a specified number of images regardless of the length of the wedding or preferences of the couple. This is likely to result in lots of duplicate images.

Other photographers specify how many images they create. It might sound nice to hear that your photographer guarantees 1,000 photos. But a very low price for a lot of coverage and a lot of photos might be an indication that you will not actually own any of the photos. You will have to buy them separately. If that sounds O.K. to you then proceed. If the idea of having to buy your photos on top of the price you already paid the photographer makes you nervous then make sure you clarify upfront.

Albums/Prints

Many wedding photographers still organize their packages by what physical deliverables are included. One package may include an album while another includes an album and a handful of prints of various sizes. When you're looking at the packages side-by-side, it will seem like your getting a deal by adding more items but be careful. What you are mostly paying for is the time of the photographer to create those items for you. Knowing that, of course, you can probably save money by choosing to have those items made yourself. That being said, the convenience of having your photographer do it for you might be worth the additional cost. It is what they do for a living after all.

Second Photographer

There is a pretty easy way to tell if you should pay for a second photographer. If you like the work of a particular wedding photographer and they can deliver the same level of service for your wedding without a second photographer, then you don't need to pay for one. If they can't provide the same level of service as what you see on their portfolio and past wedding galleries without a second shooter, then you probably want to pay for one.

For instance, because Todd & Meredith (hi!) are both trained photographers, we often work our weddings with 2 cameras. But, for weddings where we are providing both photography and videography and so can't have 2 dedicated stills photographers, we've developed methods of running a wedding day in such a way that a dedicated second photographer is not missed.

Editing

The last thing to evaluate is what level of editing is included in the photographer's price. Some wedding photographers do have a different cost for edited vs not-edited images though this is rare. Nonetheless, it doesn't hurt to make sure that they will be delivering your photos as shown on their portfolio if that is what you're using to evaluate them.

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There are a number of things that affect the cost of wedding photography and comparing one photographer to another can be a bit like comparing apples and oranges. The best thing you can do is ask lots of questions. You can reach out to us and we'll do our best to help you find the wedding photographer of your dreams.