What does wedding photography cost?

Let's remove the smoke and mirrors behind photography. Here we'll explain what happens before, during, and after wedding photography to explain the time taken and the finances to shoot a wedding as a photographer.

Firstly, the cost of wedding photography ranges significantly in the UK, depending on where you are, how many hours you need, and who you choose to book. But, given the law of averages, a wedding photographer charges anything between £50 to £200 per hour. This is dependent on their experience and supply and demand. During peak wedding season, prices increase as their time is limited. During winter months it is often cheaper.

Photographers provide packages that summarise the services for the sake of simplicity. Some photographers will not be open about their prices and ask for you to call in for a quote. This is a marketing tactic to get customers to reach out. Some use the term "investment" when talking about prices, but this is just marketing lingo.

Step 1: Consultation

This part is the planning. Meeting with the couple to see their vision, and then planning the shots when researching the venue. This can take 2-3 hours to plan the full day: when will the sun set? Where will golden hour be best captured?

Step 2: Shooting

For each hour of wedding photography, any photographer worth their SD cards is taking hundreds of photos. On average, at a big wedding with lots of guests, we’re capturing moments constantly. The biggest skill is clicking with people, not clicking the camera. A ten-hour wedding can comfortably result in thousands of photos taken. We're always thinking about camera settings, lighting, and capturing all guests while not getting in the way of their view.

"The biggest skill is clicking with people, not clicking the camera"

Step 3: Culling

Of the wedding photos taken, naturally in a high-speed environment ("quick, get that shot!"), there will be duplicates, blurred photos, and someone in the background looking directly at the camera. We go through every single photo to remove these — reviewing all images so only quality shots are edited and presented to the couple. We usually retain around half to three-quarters of everything taken, depending on the day.

Step 4: Editing

Each photo is individually edited. Editing involves changing the colour, the contrast, lighting, angle, and crop of the photo. Blurs can be added or some parts sharpened. The list is longer, but that covers most of what editing is. For a full-day wedding, this means many days of work behind the scenes to bring the gallery to life.

Equipment & Expenses

Of course before we have even started, wedding photographers need:

The camera, back-up camera, and lenses

The SD cards

The batteries and chargers

The tripods and lighting equipment

Laptop/PC to back up and edit the photos

Hard drives for backup

Editing software subscription

Website and email subscription

Cloud services for backing up photos

More smaller items (USBs, albums, etc)

Travel expenses, hotel expenses

A photographer can only do a limited number of weddings per month, because of how long it takes to edit the photos. This means we’re often booked well in advance, and the time outside of the wedding day is dedicated to editing and delivering your final gallery to the standard it deserves. We then return to the gallery with fresh eyes to ensure it feels just right.

"The time outside of the wedding day is dedicated to editing and delivering your final gallery to the standard it deserves"

There is a lot more to photography than meets the eye, and it takes years of working with people and gaining skills in the art to be able to confidently take photos for a full-day, getting all types of people to feel comfortable in front of the camera, while thinking ahead of how the shots will be edited when back at the studio. It is an intense vocation, but we truly love every minute of it.