In today’s climate, we all seem to be cutting back. Whether that be on holidays, or designer clothing or even gadgets today’s financial climate is a tough one and a Wedding is one thing where we tend to spend the most! Whilst getting things as cheap as possible is a great idea there are certain elements of your day that are worth spending that extra bit of money on. Wedding Photography for example.

Now as I am writing this, I am well aware that you are probably sitting there reading this and thinking to yourself  “Of course you’re going to say don’t cut back on how much you spend on photography. You’re a photographer!” However, give me a chance to explain why. Over the course of this post and a further one or two, I am going to try and show you why it is always best to hire a professional wedding photographer and why it costs the amount it does.

Equipment

It is not uncommon for the average photographer to carry around between 5-10 thousand pounds worth of equipment with them at any one time. Why do we carry around such a vast amount of equipment? That’s easy…because you never know! Life would be a lot easier, and my back would be alot happier, if we only carried around one camera and a lens. The truth of the matter is that we carry a minimum of 2 cameras around with us and normally around about 4-8 lenses with us. Why? Because things have a habit of breaking just when you need them the most. So by having a 2nd, 3rd or even 4th camera around with us, we always have that piece of mind that should something go wrong with the camera there is a spare in the car. The same goes for lenses, a good range of focal lengths is something that we need in order to capture those amazing images for you. Add onto this one or two flash guns, light stands, light modifiers, spare batteries, memory cards, backup gear, laptops and much more and you can start to see why our prices are a premium…it’s because we have the equipment to get the job done right.

Training and Education

The road to becoming a Photographer is not a straight one.  Some people study at school or university. Some people do distance learning courses, and some people learn by doing. No matter how a photographer got into photography, the education doesn’t stop the minute we worked out how to take a nice photo. Our industry is an ever evolving one, there are always new technologies and new techniques to learn. For the most part I find myself constantly doing research, and reading books, participating in forums and generally pushing myself to be a better photographer. It may seem like us photographers have an easy job, but trust me when you start learning about things such as the “Inverse Square Law” and how it applies in different situations, then you may come to see that there is a lot more to it than meets the eye.

Insurance

As I said earlier…we carry alot of valuable equipment around with us, we would be incredibly silly not to insure it. It’s not just equipment insurance though, we also carry Indemnity and Public Liability insurance too. There are a lot of “fly by night” photographers out there who do not bother themselves with such things as insurance…why do you think that is?

Labour Costs

Whilst it may seem like Photographers make an absolute killing for one days work, the truth of the matter is that the majority of the work happens after the wedding day. It is not unusual for a Wedding Photographer to spend at least 8 days editing photos. From that he or she will then have to design an album and make further edits to photos, that in itself can take a couple of weeks to ensure the album is the best it can be. If you knew how much a Wedding Album typically costs…I think you would keel over. Now should they have an assistant or a second photographer, then these people need paying too and even their photos will need editing.  Add onto all of this the cost of purchasing the prints and the albums and internet access and petrol etc then you can see how it all adds up.

As much as it may seem like a great idea for a friend or a relative to take your wedding photos for you, you need to ask youself this

After the cake has been eaten, and the drink has been drunk, the music been danced too, and the laughter been had. What is one of the few things left from your wedding day?

The pictures.

So before you agree to letting your sisters friend, or some shady photographer,  or that guy at work capture the memories of one of the happiest days of your life. Just make sure that you have seen their work first, maybe arrange with them to have a pre wedding shoot, this way you can assess whether you feel comfortable around them, and see just how good their work is first hand. But most of all remember, this will probably be the only time you will get married, make sure you have amazing photos to share with those around you.

In my next post on Why Hire a Pro, I am going to talk a little about the different conditions and challenges that can really show the difference between a professional photographer and a hobbyist.