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Does anyone know what price bracket the majority of people fall in to for wedding photography. I once read in a bridal magazine that most people budgeted between £800-£1200 for wedding photography but i dont know if this is true because through my own experience every person that is getting married comes across a £400 wedding photographer and i although i get enough weddings to survive i feel that the people that slip my net are getting a cheaper photographer as opposed to a more expensive one.
The reason i am asking this is because i am not happy with the salary i am on and want to put my prices up but am worried that even putting my prices up by £100 that may put me out some peoples price range and i dont know if it is best to stay cheaper or take the risk of increasing prices. What do you think.
Quote: ...i am not happy with the salary i am...
A salary is defined as a 'fixed regular payment, normally paid monthly'.
I suggest you start negotiations with your employer.
I wouldn't have thought that the average cost is relevent because an individual photographer can only work within a limited price range. Is the £2k+ photographer really competing with a snapper who has an opening price that's 10 times lower?
I most areas of life, high price is a virtue as with the best restaurants. Do people drive the cheapest clothes, drive the cheapest cars or live on the cheapest houses?
When the likes of Damian Lovegrove double their prices, they get more enquiries and not fewer!
Typed in 'Average Price for Wedding Photography' and this was one of the results for the UK
And this is a wedding price calculator
Quote: want to put my prices up
Hi Lucian! 
Perhaps people look at one of your many websites and the photos on display and that may, in part anyway, determine how much they are prepared to pay you. 
If you want top prices you have to deliver top-quality results.
Quote: i feel that the people that slip my net are getting a cheaper photographer
Presumably this is a gut feeling rather than something you actually know? Alternatively it may be, in the geographical area in which you operate, your prices are too high for what you can deliver?
Perhaps you are targeting your advertising to a £400 audience and trying to charge £600.
To the best of my knowledge this is the third time you have posted about how much you can charge for your services and it would seem you have still not taken the time to work things out yourself. Have you read any books about marketing?
The other thing you need to do is calculate your desired income, add all costs then divide that by the number of jobs you expetc per year and that is the amount you have to charge. Then target your advertising accordingly.If you can't get the money you need then don't give up the day job.
Can you give a link to one of your many websites and maybe people can offer advice on where you may be going wrong.
Im not going wrong with anything, my advertising works, i am just worried that if i put my prices up i will piuch the vast majority of my potential clients out my pricerange and am worried that getting paid more for less weddings will work out less than shooting more weddings cheaper and getting more reprint orders. If i could get an additional £200 per wedding either through uping my prices or selling additional products it would make a massive difference to my life.
Quote: 182 weddings a year is impossible. There is not that amount of wedding days in the year. I dont think there are many photographers taking over 25 per year.
Not sure what would be the average number of weddings for a Wedding Photographic Business, but the maths proves interesing, assuming 25 max per year:
25 x £ 400 = £10,000
25 X £ 1,000 = £25,000
Would you mind posting a link to your Wedding web site please?
How about providing additional services at the venue , like a bouncy castle for the kid shots (at £3 a go) and erm , maybe a costume booth so all the rednecks can dress up in wild west stuff (£5 , single shot , £10 a group) etc..
I reckon you'd make at least an extra ton on the day.
Complete togger then Lucian
Quote: 182 weddings a year is impossible. There is not that amount of wedding days in the year. I dont think there are many photographers taking over 25 per year.
Quote: Im not going wrong with anything, my advertising works
If you seriously believe this its not surprising that you are questiong your income
Weddings take place 6 days a week 52 weeks a year near enough ok im not including bank holidays etc but to say that there are not 182 wedding days is plain stupid.
If you are struggling to get 25 bookings per year then I would suggest that you are going wrong as your advertising clearly is not working.
Its time to either pack it in or try a totally new approach, even if your work is good enough to demand a £1000 fee at 25 bookings its hardly a decent income is it.
Sorry to be down beat but its a fact that many more fail as pro photographers than make it personally I blame digital as its far easier today with a half decent dslr and a basic edit programme to produce acceptable work hence more and more people are putting themselves forward as pro photographers thus driving prices down.
A dear freind of mine has been a pro for thirty plus years and had some very noticeable successes yet even he says he now makes more money from hiring out his studios and running training sessions than he can from taking photos.
The market is flooded get used to it.
It is a buyers market right now and will be for a very long time, People are not stupid they know the costs involved in what they buy.
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