I t’s February and Spring is (hopefully) just around the corner, but it’s that time of year when a wedding photographer is twiddling his thumbs…
The website and blog are up to date. Weddings at this time of year are few and far between (though I do have a small job next week yay) and this year’s development & marketing has been put into place.
So what to do…
Write a series of informative articles relating to all things wedding photography and from the perspective of this particular Yorkshire Wedding Photographer titled ‘A Yorkshire Wedding Photographers’ advice/opinion on…!
My first article for this year then is in regard to pricing. What should good wedding photography cost?
The first question is not “how big is your budget?”, but “how important is the capture, presentation and preservation of your wedding day?”
A fella called John Ruskin wrote this over-used quotation, but pertinent words nonetheless:
“It is unwise to pay too much, but it is worse to pay too little.
When you pay too much you lose a little money, that is all.
But when you pay too little, you sometimes lose everything because the thing that you bought was incapable of doing the thing that you bought it to do!
The common law of business balance prohibits paying a little and getting a lot.
It cannot be done….
And if you deal with the lowest bidder, it is well to add something for the risk that you run.
And if you do that, you will have enough to pay for something better.
There is hardly anything in the world that someone cannot make a little worse and sell a little cheaper.
And the people, who consider price alone, are this man’s lawful prey”.
In regard to wedding photography, at what point does ‘cheaper’ change from being a lifetime investment (and good wedding photography should be) to a wedding day expense?
If it’s ‘cheaper’ but you have complete faith in it AND utterly love it compared to something else ‘more expensive’, then the risk is either minimal or non-existent.
But if you don’t have both have that complete faith and that love for the photographers work, – see Mr Ruskin’s wise words!
And then there is comparing apples with pears, – no two wedding photographers seem to be offering the same thing in regard to what they are offering.
It can be difficult to make direct comparisons so it is important to make sure any prices being compared are for ‘the same thing’ and ensuring it is everything you actually need so whilst on paper something can appear cheaper than something else, check that the prices you are comparing are for an identical package in terms of coverage, service & product.
Simon
Updating this post… Here’s a link to a great post on a bridal blog: Cautionary Tale
