Average Cost Of A UK Wedding Photographer
If after many Google searches for a UK wedding photographer you’re left feeling confused, wondering why there are so many fluctuating prices - don’t worry you’re in the right place, I’ll try to help explain!
Wedding photography at Hayne House
Let’s start by outlining a few typical topics engaged couples, or you yourself may be trying to find more information on.
What is the average cost of a UK Wedding Photographer?
In 2022 Hitched surveyed 2,400 couples and covered everything wedding-related with questions regarding the costs of each supplier, the most popular trends, and many more interesting topics for their National Wedding Survey. From this survey, they found that the average cost of a UK wedding photographer was around £1300, but that average would have come from a vast range of couples with different ideas, budgets, styles, and locations which all affect the pricing of a wedding photographer.
From personal experience meeting other photographers, and videographers and being part of wedding photographer groups I can say that the prices I have seen can vary from anywhere from £200 to £3500. Complete opposite ends of the scale I know but there are many factors at play as to why this may be!
Hitched is a great place to check out wedding photography prices as you can check many different wedding suppliers with their locations listed, from doing this you’ll notice that their location plays a large role in their pricing “As a rule of thumb, London and the South East often work out the most expensive, and you'll also find that photographers in major cities tend to cost more.”. Out of your whole wedding budget Hitched recommends saving at least £1,840 (10% of a wedding budget) to spend on your wedding photographer and that’s based on the average wedding costing £18,400 from Hitched sources.
You’re probably wondering why so much.
10% of the whole budget, surely not? I can try to explain this one for you - let’s dive into it!
When paying for a wedding photographer or wedding videographer, the only time you’ll see us is of course on your wedding day and a prior scheduled meeting to go over details whereas the majority of the work goes on behind the scenes leading up to and after your wedding day. You’re also paying for experience, equipment, travel, time, editing, communication, and everything else we do in between!
Wedding photography equipment
A wedding photographer’s equipment can range in price depending on what brand of camera they have as well as which lenses they choose to shoot with, but with all of the additional wedding photography accessories needed such as SD cards, hard drives, the software, and high spec computers we need for editing photographers usually still end up spending anywhere from £10,000+ and with technology advancing we’re always upgrading our kit to provide even better quality.
Wedding photographer experience
One of the biggest contributors to the price you see for different wedding photographers is the experience they have under their belt. Wedding photographers including myself usually work closely with the wedding planner/coordinator on the day to ensure everything runs smoothly without any delay and to avoid having to ask the couple question upon question, which would have interfered with a couple enjoying their special day with friends and family.
The experience is also very handy when dealing with 100+ guests during group shots or when a rainstorm appears out of nowhere and alternative plans have to be made, as ultimately this all could affect the end result if a wedding photographer couldn’t work with the new environment they’re faced with! Whereas, if you had a less experienced photographer as the main photographer on your wedding day, you may experience a more interrupted day with a lot of questions and possible delays, as well as the possibility of them not being able to come up with another plan if the heavens did open with no end to the rain in sight!
However, this is not to say that every wedding photographer would be the same, as we all had to start somewhere! Although they might be a little more full on on the day, if you’re completely happy with that then you’d be massively helping out those photographers just starting out, by growing their portfolio and you’d be receiving a wedding photography package at a heavily reduced price - it’s a win-win for some couples!
The Barn at Upcote Wedding Photographer
Running a Wedding Photography Business
You may think that running a wedding photography business means capturing those 20-30 weddings a typical wedding photographer usually books in a year and that’s the majority of the hard work done. However, we can definitely say that there’s much more to it than that!
One of the biggest parts of being a wedding photographer is the admin and editing. Each wedding varies in time but I can definitely say there are many many hours put into both tasks - even more than the wedding day itself in most cases!
Wedding photographer admin can include tasks such as improving the website, keeping wedding photography portfolios up to date, social media management, dealing with new inquiries, current bookings as well as past bookings who may have a few extra questions or an album to sort, it also includes all of the meetings whether that’s in person, on zoom or phonecall - it’s still all part of the job!
Wedding photographers may charge a little more than you may have expected, but the main reason is that they have to make a living out of it for it to become a full-time job as doing it part-time on the side as well as a main income job would be extremely difficult, tiring and you would probably not have the photographers best work as their wedding photography wouldn’t be their only focus.
The varying prices you may see also stem from wedding photography packages offering so many different options. For example, you may find some photographers providing a second photographer as standard in their package, or some offer keepsake USB boxes whilst others offer an engraved USB-only option, some of the options below are something to consider whilst booking your wedding photographer just to make sure that they include exactly what you want and you may find something which you haven’t even thought of yet!
Second Photographer
Travel fees
No travel fees
Keepsake box with prints
Engraved wooden USB
All day coverage
Set hours coverage
Album
Photobooth
Reel of your photos for socials
Prints
Pre-wedding shoot
Pencoed House Wedding Photographer
Saving money on wedding photography packages
The best way to save money on a wedding photographer is to go with a wedding photographer who is just starting out, just beware of the risk with this as you only get one chance to capture those memories and there’s a chance it may not be exactly what you’re looking for, especially if they haven’t got many photos to show as a portfolio.
Another option would be to perfectly time your hours, I’d personally say that the best time for a wedding photographer to arrive at bride prep would be around 1.5 - 2 hours before the ceremony for any detail shots, hair, and makeup touch-ups as well as getting photos of the dress being done up. Groom prep could also be scheduled to be ‘staged’ at the venue instead of a separate location, many couples have gone for this when booking me as groom prep only usually lasts around 10 - 15 minutes and saves on using coverage time for traveling!
Photographers offer wedding photography printing options which are more often than not massively marked up, whereas there are so many great options such as Snapfish or Photobox who offer prints at really reasonable prices and can save you so much money - be sure to share this tip to any family or friends wanting to purchase wedding photography prints!
Things to think about when choosing your wedding photographer…
How the reviews look
Their website and socials
Check if they’ve been to your venue previously - you’ll be able to view a gallery if they have and if they haven’t just take a look through their portfolio for the same type of venue to see if their style of photography suits your vision and venue
If pricing sounds too good to be true when comparing styles it is more often than not!
Are there many couples featured in their portfolio or is it very limited? This is a good indicator of how busy they have been!
It’s sometimes a good idea to look at a whole sample gallery
Is there a rough guide on how many images you’ll receive?
Is there insurance in place?
Kingscote Barn Wedding Photographer
I hope this blog has helped a little when navigating the crazy world of searching for the average cost of a UK wedding photographer, as well as trying to find your perfect photography match.
If you have any questions or would like to know more about my packages or want to see a sample wedding - just let me know and I’ll get straight on it!