Why does wedding photography seem expensive?

I have been a full-time wedding photographer since 2016, and I can assure you — this is the wrong business to be in to become wealthy. The real reason I do it is to spend more time with my family, and for the freedom (lifestyle & creativity) it offers. It’s also been great for my health getting outdoors, meeting more people and just feeling happier in general.

I recently changed some of my Brisbane Wedding Registry packages to better reflect the reality of what happens on the day. I was advertising the package was 1 Hour 15 minutes, but it was almost always 1 Hour and 30 minutes,

But that wasn’t actually the problem (that extra 15 minutes). The problem is all the other time that goes into preparing, shooting and editing a wedding (even a short wedding such as at the Brisbane Marriage Registry).

I recently sat down and opened Google Sheets and actually worked out the total time it takes me to shoot a short wedding (1.5 hours) and the results even shocked me. In turns out that there are over nine hours work with every Brisbane Marriage Registry wedding - even though I am only shooting for 1.5 hours.

HOW MUCH TIME SPENT ON A 90 MIN WEDDING

Respond to enquiry on average 2-3 emails 15

Chat before booking 20

Create booking link and email 5

Reply to booking link with receipt and confirmation 5

Book Secure Parking online 5

Prepare clothing, dress, shoes etc. 30

Prepare gear (charge batteries, clean lenses, pack bag) 30

Drive to city 30

Buffer time to ensure never arriving late 30

Walk to registry from car park 5

Actual shoot 90

Return to car 10

Drive back to studio 30

Import photos and place cards in two separate locations 20

Choose photos for highlights 15

Edit 15 photos for next day highlights 30

Export photos from Capture One 5

Create Pixiset gallery, set password, upload photos 15

Send highlights gallery to client by email 5

Cull through 500+ photos selecting acceptable photos 45

Edit selected photos (approximately 130) 120

Export photos from Capture One 5

Upload to pixieset. Send final gallery to client 10

Further correspondence/enquiries/archive photos 5

Copy raw files to archive storage 5

TOTAL TIME : 9 HOURS 50 MINS

There wasn’t a single process above that I could remove or shorten, everything was important. There was literally no way to professionally shoot a 1.5 hour wedding without any less than nine hours of time invested into it. Sure there may be other photographer charging less, but I would love to look at their workflow and see what they are cutting out - often is is delivering less photos.

I worked out that my actual hourly rate therefore for this time, was about $64 per hour (once GST, parking costs etc. were also deducted) and that is AFTER recently increasing the price.

That might actually sound alright, but another problem with wedding photography in Brisbane is the low season from December to February when very few weddings are booked due to storms and heat/humidity. That’s not to say there are no Registry wedding, but there are much fewer ‘Full Day Weddings’.

It’s not practical to book every date you are available on your calendar anyway, simply because of diminshing returns of availabilty. So no professional photographer shoots everyday, it’s just not the way it works. Most wedding photographers shoot around 30-40 weddings a year if they are at the top of their game.

I personally shoot many more than that, closer to 80 because only because I also shoot many Brisbane Registry Weddings.

So my annual income before other costs such as accounting, gear, communications, website hosting, marketing, advertising etc. is around $80’000-$100’000. That is the most I can possibly earn in a year while still remaining professional and doing everything that is important (such as backing up the photos - not rushing the editing etc.)

Of course it’s a bit more complicated than this, because slightly more money is earnt shooting longer weddings on Saturdays, but my point is that if I only shot registry weddings (even at $750 a pop) I would actually struggle to survive.

From this $80’000-$100’000 I still have to pay myself a wage, and feed/clothe my whole family (4).