How can you navigate wedding photography prices and packages when the wedding industry is saturated with photographers, all offering different packages and different prices. Have you ever seen a post on Facebook saying “looking for a photographer”? You are guaranteed to have a massive response. I have been tagged in these before and sometimes there are hundreds of people all vying for the title. It’s really difficult to navigate your way through the prices and packages on offer. As the industry is not regulated, there is no official qualification or certificate needed to become a wedding photographer. Anyone can say I am a wedding photographer if they get themselves a camera, and wedding of course.
So where do you start? What’s the average wedding photography cost?
How do you find out how much you should be paying for a wedding photographer? A luxury wedding photographer can set you back up to £5000, so its worth spending a bit of time deciding what your overall budget is and how much of that can be set aside for a Wedding photographer. 10% is a good place to start and you can work up and down from there. To give you a rough idea, the average wedding in London in 2019 was around £30,000. For help and great advice on planning a budget you could check out https://www.hitched.co.uk/wedding-planning/budget/wedding-budget/
There are a few factors that will reflect the huge difference in Pricing, experience is the first that springs to mind.
I recently read the average cost for a wedding photographer in the UK in 2020 was £1590 based on full day packages.
Why then, are some wedding photographers charging as little as £300 for a full day package? These may be photographers who are just starting out or trying to build a portfolio because they are new to the wedding industry. We all have to start somewhere and that’s ok. They may not have a backup camera if things go wrong, they may not be insured and they may not know the finer details of wedding photography that only come with experience. If you are willing to take a chance and you feel this is a cost that suits your budget it could be great. However paying up to £300 you should expect limited results.
Location is something else that needs to be considered.
If you are in London or the south east expect to pay a little more for your wedding photographer, the same goes for all major cities. Searching for “Wedding photographer near me” should bring up your local wedding photographers. Booking a local wedding photographer may save you some extra travel costs. What if you find your perfect wedding photographer but they are not local? Find out their price and ask about travel costs. You may be surprised as some photographers work nationally and include travel expenses up to a certain radius. Weddings that I Photograph in Lincolnshire, Peterborough and Norfolk will be cheaper than weddings I photograph in Cornwall.
Will a higher wedding photography prices mean better wedding photos? Not necessarily. Dates are another factor to add into the mix.
If you are planning a wedding in August expect to pay more than you would in January. Friday and Saturday weddings are by far the most popular but if you consider a mid week wedding you can potentially get a discount on price. Some wedding venues offer a reduced price for mid week bookings so it is worth asking on your initial enquiry if your photographer can do the same. Thursdays are the new Fridays after all!
Do you want your photographer with you all day from the moment the make up artist arrives to the last glass of bubbly at the bar? The price will reflect this. It is worth finding out what your photographer means by “Full day Coverage”. How many hours is that? What is included in the price? Finding out will help you work out what price is right for you. USB, photobook, albums and engagement shoot. All these things add up. Not to mention the post processing, hours and hours of editing.
So where does Sarah Carter Photography sit in all this? Well, I am experienced, fully insured with a kit worth more than my last car and far more than I tell my Husband. I have a back up if things break, spare camera and lenses, a network of trusted photographers to step in if something unexpected happens and some brollies if it rains.
My aim is to blow you away not blow your budget. If you think that I can fit in with your day and capture your wedding as it happens then click my contact page, say hello or email me at
hello@sarahcarterphotography.co.uk