Whats so special about weddings?

[hoythitman]

Looking at wedding photographers, they will break the bank in a hurry. I can't imagine what they are doing that is worth $4-6k. I figured I'd ask the opinion of other photographers. What say y'all? What on earth determines these prices. I see people advertising weddings for $2,200 and they have no references and no reviews. They have photos but honestly with no reviews and no references are they even their photos?

[35remington]

Again, it's the magic "W" word. They're just charging what the market will bear. Best get over it and either have a friend photograph for you or pony up the cash for a pro.

[PSD Ryan]

Supply and demand. They supply the service, and your bride demands it

[hoythitman]

Supply and demand. They supply the service, and your bride demands it

Truer words have never been spoken.

[careybirdwell]

While I'm generally a cheap skate. When I got married 23 years ago. We had 2 friends agree to take pictures for us. Sadly to say, almost all pictures were out of focus, poor quality, and missed a lot of parts wedding & reception. If I could go back, I would have done that a little different. We basically have no pictures of our wedding or reception

[TP3]

I will do your wedding photos for you.
It will cost you one case of Lone Star Light.
I can use my cell phone camera, or yours if you prefer.
Let me know ASAP...wedding season is cranking up and my schedule fills up quickly.

[SharpStix]

My wife does wedding photography. I will say that I think people are nuts for what they pay her or anybody else to take their pictures. That being said, the amount of time that goes into processing the photos behind the scenes eats into what you'd think they earn per hour pretty quick.

[Jspradley]

My wife does wedding photography. I will say that I think people are nuts for what they pay her or anybody else to take their pictures. That being said, the amount of time that goes into processing the photos behind the scenes eats into what you'd think they earn per hour pretty quick.

Truth.

A good photographer is worth every penny.

Our wedding photographer was very open about everything she did. The package includes the wedding photos and engagement photos, which was about 6-8 hours of her time on site, plus she said the editing process usually takes about 50 hours per set. Once all that is figures in the rather large amount we paid he wasn't really netting her that much an hour

[Mertzon Man]

Supply and demand. They supply the service, and your bride demands it

Lol, x2 !!

[icetrauma]

Supply and demand. They supply the service, and your bride demands it

Yep, they know you are willing to dig deep in to those pockets for the soon to be Mrs's to make her happy.

[Ecobeast]

I just finished paying for my wedding that will be on April 23rd and I can say this, the three things we did not skimp on was Venue, Caterer, and Photographer everything else can be done a little cheaper but those main three in my opinion are the most important.

[Dry Bones]

Skip the services, call the JP and you do not need a Photographer. This way you don't have to here any of the BS about who was or was not invited. OR ask around and see if any of you buds has a relative that into photography. I have a really good friend that has been like a brother. His sister is now studying photography and we had some family pictures done. She was great. It does not always go that way, but it never hurts to ask.

[Closetohome]

I think the price includes equipment or rental of equipment, time, processing, delivery, supply and demand, along with a bridezilla fee. You couldn't pay me enough to deal with the stress of wedding photography. Plus its super competitive.

After exploring the cost of weddings locally we went the destination wedding route and found it actually cut the overall cost by quite a bit. Mainly because we ended up with far fewer people and realistically it shifts the cost burden to a lot of guests which isn't entirely fair but our family was fine with it. We hired our photographer in Costa Rica for $1500-1800 and she did a great job. I even considered paying my cousin a few hundred bucks to just shoot with my equipment and then I process...in the end it isn't worth the hassle and I found it was money well spent.

[AJ the TP Guru]

I am in total agreement with the OP.

But you know what? I have come to semi-understand the attraction. See, my wife is a former Costume History Prof at both UT and Texas State, and has extensive experience in fashion. Listening to her talk about wedding dress variations through the ages is kinda like listening to HW Brands talk about American history.

Females seem to have a gene for "just the right wedding dress." It is truly amazing the lengths to which they will go - I have waited hours on end for wifey to finish consulting with a prospective bride, and when I'd ask what went on she'd just say the gal ended up getting what she thought she wanted at the outset.

Recently our pastor spoke about having had a pre-marital conversation with a young lady who seemed to be concerned with how much he might charge for the ceremony. He only found out later that she'd already paid $6000 for her wedding dress.

I don't think this is something Donald Trump is likely to be able to change.

[Heath]

Reach out to Legdog. He has done several weddings for TBHers including mine and does an awesome job.