How much do you charge for an AD wedding

[Chris Lim]

In US and Aust, the culture is priced at at least $7.5k-up to $15k per wedding.

In local culture, the general market have been educated that if the budgeted about 3k,
it'll be fine.

my question is. Since the US and Aust market have been educated to accept that kinda price, Is it not possible that we all start moving up the rates here so that everyone benefits?

I think if u start off as a newbie with say very little experience, at $800/day inclusive of about 200 4R prints and album is fine. this covers 10 hours, and basic editing.

 

[ckuang]

my question is. Since the US and Aust market have been educated to accept that kinda price, Is it not possible that we all start moving up the rates here so that everyone benefits?

Chris, the rates of high end wedding photography in Singapore has increased massively in the last few years. I'm estimating it has probably quadrupled int he last 3 years. Few industries have even seen that type of growth (but then again wedding photography has been and even today still is under priced in singapore).

As per the American and Australian experience though, the high end price rise has limited impact on the mid to low end rates. If you are waiting for rates to increase, I would advise you to just do it for yourself. If you wait for others to come together it's never going to happen. The wedding photography market has too few barriers to entry. My advice is look up not down and change begins with ourselves.

 

[synapseman]

I charge more than the cheapest photographers, less than the most expensive.

Anyway, I honestly think we have to change our mindset in that the first thing we look out for when evaluating wedding photographers is the price.

 

[coffee3in1]

The problem is that end-users (couple) seldom appreciate good photography until something bad happens. They adopt an utilitarian approach when shopping; 9 out of 10 will shortlist on least-cost basis.

The situation is made worse by the number of camera-operators who undercut the industry. Based on calculations done in this thread, the minimum rate for AD wedding coverage would have to be at least $1k.

P/S: I'm not a pro wedding photographer, but I have tremendous respect for the work they do.

 

[Chris Lim]

Chris, the rates of high end wedding photography in Singapore has increased massively in the last few years. I'm estimating it has probably quadrupled int he last 3 years. Few industries have even seen that type of growth (but then again wedding photography has been and even today still is under priced in singapore).

As per the American and Australian experience though, the high end price rise has limited impact on the mid to low end rates. If you are waiting for rates to increase, I would advise you to just do it for yourself. If you wait for others to come together it's never going to happen. The wedding photography market has too few barriers to entry. My advice is look up not down and change begins with ourselves.

=) thanks Kuang. Its just sad at times whn couples keep saying. "The other guy charges lower." But i guess u are right. thanks again

 

[ckuang]

Chris, no matter what price point you are couples will always, always say "that guys charges cheaper" or "you're too expensive" I'm seriously not kidding. How many times a day do you think i hear statements like that? I once spoke to a photog who wanted to start shooting weddings and was shooting weddings for FREE and couples got the CD back. He would make 4R prints for them at cost like 25 cents, and even then, couples would try and bargain with him over the cost of prints.

But the fact of the matter is no matter what couples say to you, you need to charge at a level that allows you to be in business in a sensible way. There are no couples that would ever say "oh you charge too little, here, please let me pay you more." It is the basic rule of economics and the foundation in which our capitalist society is based on. If couples ever say that they pay you too little or that you're cheap compared to other photogs, that's normally a very clear sign of major flaws in one's pricing and the couples are nice enough to tell you rather than exploit it.

So how much to charge for AD wedding? it doesn't matter what other photogs are charging. You need to charge what is sensible for you based on your own financial needs. Just my take on this whole AD pricing.

 

[synapseman]

There are no couples that would ever say "oh you charge too little, here, please let me pay you more."

Heh. Actually, I have ever encountered this before. But they were my friends, lah. They insisted on shoving extra money in my hands. :bsmilie:

But of course, that's an extreme rarity, even amongst friends. Thanks for sharing your insights!

 

[~Arcanic~]

Free...cos up til now i have only taken for friends... lol

prefer to take as a backup photographer, ask my friends to find their own main one then i can take photos without stress..

 

[nicholas68]

expenditure
4R $0.30 each, 300pcs is $90.00
album is $28.00
CD/DVD is $1.00
Jewel case is $0.50
transport cost: never count
depreciation and upkeep of equipment: $100 per wedding
total cost: $219.50


time spent
editing:2mins per image (300images), total:10 hours
selection of 300 images for x number of images, 30mins
download images of whole day wedding: 15mins
shooting hours: 10 hours
transport time: 2 hours
meeting: 1 hour
emails:15mins
total time spent: 24 hours

Sale is $650 minus $219.50, you have $430.50 gross profit for this assignment.

You spent 24 hours on this assignment, so you make $17.94 per hour.

Thank, I will take note of that..

 

[Xiao_shin]

expenditure
4R $0.30 each, 300pcs is $90.00
album is $28.00
CD/DVD is $1.00
Jewel case is $0.50
transport cost: never count
depreciation and upkeep of equipment: $100 per wedding
total cost: $219.50


time spent
editing:2mins per image (300images), total:10 hours
selection of 300 images for x number of images, 30mins
download images of whole day wedding: 15mins
shooting hours: 10 hours
transport time: 2 hours
meeting: 1 hour
emails:15mins
total time spent: 24 hours

Sale is $650 minus $219.50, you have $430.50 gross profit for this assignment.

You spent 24 hours on this assignment, so you make $17.94 per hour.

$160 per hour as a part-time is quite decent. Full time maybe not enough to feed a family.

 

[catchlights]

$160 per hour as a part-time is quite decent. Full time maybe not enough to feed a family.

how do you get $160 per hour from my post?

nicholas68 suggests charging $650 for 10 hours service with a 300 prints with album,

Service rate does not include material, the album is selling around $300 (low end rate)
so the chargeable service rate is only $35 per hour, ($650-$300)/10 hours.

Anyway if anybody thinking of shooting weddings it is a good source of extra pocket money, please go ahead and do it, no one will stop you.

 

[nicholas68]

$160 per hour as a part-time is quite decent. Full time maybe not enough to feed a family.

Do you mean $16.00.

I do agree with you.. Forunately I am doing it as a Part-Time...

 

[catchlights]

Some of you may have notice in the market, there are some full time wedding photographers still charging around $600~$800 for a full day wedding, it also include album and CD. These photographers some are very senior, shooting for more than 20 over years.

how do they able to charge that kind of price and still survive?

It is very simple, they shoot like as if they are still shooting on film, the same way as if like $480 for 8 rolls.

they don't shoot fancy style, most of the shots the are couples or everyone posed and look at the camera, every shots say: "look here, 1, 2, 3, smile!" before they click the shutter.

everything is one shot one kill, if it is a bad shots, delete straight away. if have two or more same shots, also delete one shot straight away. except for group photos

they count every shots they take, will not take unnecessary shots, they don't run high and low, will not chase after the couple for some shots, every shots is shot at eye level.

they don't shoot raw, they nail the exposure, composition, focus spot on on every single take.

Once the shoot is over, all the images are downloaded in the computer, since they don't do post processing on all the images. just simply select 300 images and cut into a CD, the CD will pass to the lab to make prints, and pay a little money to ask the lab slot the photos into album, come back 3 days later they will have the album ready to be deliver.

Working in this way, they able to shoot weddings days after days after days, some records are 5 weddings in a row. can shoot 15 to 20 weddings in a peak seasons.

btw, the practice strictly 8 hours per wedding, additional hours, early hour or late hour are chargeable, so customers hardly as them to stay or more shots

they don't meet customer before wedding, no discussion or viewing portfolio. they just simply tell the customer "your wedding photo will be the same just like your friends' wedding photos" and this is what the customers exactly looking for " I want my wedding photos same like my friends".

 

[ckuang]

Actually that sounds like a pretty good model too, the quantity model with few hassles. It wouldn't be for me, just having to listen to michael buble playing during dinner 20 times a month will probably kill me. but it is interesting to see how the quantity model is played out.

 

[canturn]

my question is. Since the US and Aust market have been educated to accept that kinda price, Is it not possible that we all start moving up the rates here so that everyone benefits?

In a free market like Singapore this could be considered price fixing, might go against anti-competition law.

Just charge what you think you deserve rather than look at the how much everyone else is charging. I noticed that above a certain price point, the budget factor doesn't affect the couple's decision /choice of who they hire.

For myself, I'm charging around $3500 for 8 hours of coverage w/o prints or books. Take up rates has been quite good and with a low overhead like mine, I'm pretty comfortable with that.

 

[snowspeeder]

Some of you may have notice in the market, there are some full time wedding photographers still charging around $600~$800 for a full day wedding, it also include album and CD. These photographers some are very senior, shooting for more than 20 over years.

how do they able to charge that kind of price and still survive?

It is very simple, they shoot like as if they are still shooting on film, the same way as if like $480 for 8 rolls.

they don't shoot fancy style, most of the shots the are couples or everyone posed and look at the camera, every shots say: "look here, 1, 2, 3, smile!" before they click the shutter.

everything is one shot one kill, if it is a bad shots, delete straight away. if have two or more same shots, also delete one shot straight away. except for group photos

they count every shots they take, will not take unnecessary shots, they don't run high and low, will not chase after the couple for some shots, every shots is shot at eye level.

they don't shoot raw, they nail the exposure, composition, focus spot on on every single take.

Once the shoot is over, all the images are downloaded in the computer, since they don't do post processing on all the images. just simply select 300 images and cut into a CD, the CD will pass to the lab to make prints, and pay a little money to ask the lab slot the photos into album, come back 3 days later they will have the album ready to be deliver.

Working in this way, they able to shoot weddings days after days after days, some records are 5 weddings in a row. can shoot 15 to 20 weddings in a peak seasons.

btw, the practice strictly 8 hours per wedding, additional hours, early hour or late hour are chargeable, so customers hardly as them to stay or more shots

they don't meet customer before wedding, no discussion or viewing portfolio. they just simply tell the customer "your wedding photo will be the same just like your friends' wedding photos" and this is what the customers exactly looking for " I want my wedding photos same like my friends".

You summed it up very well. That's true amongst many of the "Uncle Photographers" I've seen in the past. Couples who don't mind this kind of quality will likely to go for it, in the name of budget and value. Whereas couples who are more discerning about quality and output will do more research and choose wisely for their once in a lifetime event.

 

[Xiao_shin]

how do you get $160 per hour from my post?

nicholas68 suggests charging $650 for 10 hours service with a 300 prints with album,

Service rate does not include material, the album is selling around $300 (low end rate)
so the chargeable service rate is only $35 per hour, ($650-$300)/10 hours.

Anyway if anybody thinking of shooting weddings it is a good source of extra pocket money, please go ahead and do it, no one will stop you.

My bad. What I meant to say is about $160 per day based on $17 per hour, working 9 hours.

If you have work for 20 days, 1 wedding took up 2.5 days with editing inclusive. 1 month can earn 3.2K.


The wedding album is selling at $300? How come so expensive?

 

[gremlin]

My bad. What I meant to say is about $160 per day based on $17 per hour, working 9 hours.

If you have work for 20 days, 1 wedding took up 2.5 days with editing inclusive. 1 month can earn 3.2K.

Earn 3.2k/month? This would mean you have 20 AD clients per month.. how realistic is that? :bsmilie:

Well, unless you are someone like Gary Fong where people would probably literally beg you to shoot for them. Then again, he used to command USD12k/hr (thats USD120,000 per wedding) so he probaby dun shoot so much in a month too.

 

[Xiao_shin]

Earn 3.2k/month? This would mean you have 20 AD clients per month.. how realistic is that? :bsmilie:

Well, unless you are someone like Gary Fong where people would probably literally beg you to shoot for them. Then again, he used to command USD12k/hr (thats USD120,000 per wedding) so he probaby dun shoot so much in a month too.

You only need 8 AD clients. 1 wedding took up 2.5 days.

 

[shinken]

I think the confusion stems from the fact that someone suggested the charge to be $16/hr in order to feed a family. So for 10hrs in 1 wedding, it's $160. 20AD clients would be needed to earn $3200. But even for 20 shoots per month, the charge cannot be $16/hr. Rather, it has to be the net profit of $160 per wedding.

Based on 8 weddings per month, the net profit from each wedding should be $400.

The per hour charge doesn't really work out the same way as the 0800-1700, 5.5 days/week kind of wage system.