Guide: How to Set Prices to Succeed in Wedding Photography

Hi, I’m Andrea- owner & photographer at Lume Photography. I’m a wedding photographer for adventurous and creative couples, and have been in this business for around 8 years now. I’ve been through a lot, basically taking it upon myself to learn the ins & outs of owning a business, making lots of mistakes along the way, but ultimately finding my happy place in the world of wedding photography. I love sharing my passion for photography and the business aspects with others, and feel it’s important for us all to support and educate our tribe. Pricing is one of those things that you usually learn after years of mistakes and hard times. I hope this little guide I’ve put together will shine some light on it, and help you or someone you know become more successful and optimize the value of our industry.

Note from Flothemes: We’ve created a quick Cheat Sheet that will help you calculate your own price per wedding, while following the instructions provided by Andrea in this article. Download the cheat sheet here.

How to Price Yourself for Success as a Wedding Photographer

When I started my photography business, like a lot of photographers, I had no idea what to charge. I thought if I could make any money at all doing photography – something I loved – I would be super lucky! I didn’t think my work was good enough to charge “full price”, and I wanted to be “competitive” in the market. I looked at what other photographers were charging, thought to myself, “I’ll find other, similar photographers and charge a little less than what they are.” All the while thinking I’d probably discount that even more because my work wasn’t good enough.

You might be like I was then, just starting out, and totally guessing what your prices should be. Or you might be further along in your business journey, and just need to refine your prices. Either way, I’m going to help you get a handle on your pricing so that you’re charging what you should be!

First, a note on VALUE.

I want you to know that your pricing has very little to do with your perception of how good you think you are as a photographer, or how much you think your work is worth. I’ll also let you in on an industry secret – every. single. photographer. out there has doubts about whether their work is good enough. Lots of doubts. Even those big- name photographers who speak at conferences, teach workshops, and get featured all over the big wedding blogs. Yes, they too, often think “I’m not good enough”. I know it’s hard to wrap your mind around that concept – but hear me out!

When it comes to your pricing, I want you to completely forget about thinking in terms of the value of your work. Don’t worry about what other photographers are charging. Don’t think about what clients will want to pay. Just stop and focus on the numbers. Pricing your wedding photography business isn’t a guessing game, or some magical thing – it all comes down to numbers, and a basic formula.

Your yearly income needs to equal your cost of doing business, plus your target profit

Sounds complicated, right?

Don’t worry, I’m going to break it down into steps for you. Do each step on your own, and you’ll end up knowing what you need to charge in order to be successful as a business. We’re going to start with the basics, and at the end I’ll talk to you about variables and other things that you might want to consider. For the sake of keeping things really simple, let’s assume you only shoot weddings, and you aren’t relying on any product sales for income. So grab a notepad, calculator, your favorite beverage and let’s get started!

Step One: Figure out your Target Net Income

So, after you’ve paid your taxes and accounted for all your business expenses, how much money do you actually want to make? As in, what do you want to get paid?

This is basically your cost of living plus any savings and additional wants.

The easiest way to figure this number out is to write down everything you need to pay for that isn’t a business expense, and then add what you want to be able to afford. It might help to create 3 columns and rate them in order of importance – Essentials, Should Have’s, and Wants.

Start with “Essentials”. This might include:

your mortgage or rent
car payment
utilities
phone bill
clothing
loan payments.

Move onto the “Should Have’s”. One thing that’s so important, that you probably didn’t even think of – is retirement. If wedding photography’s your sole income, you’re going to want to make sure you’re saving enough money for your retirement! You can also factor in emergency savings, while you’re at it. Maybe you need to save up for a new car.

Lastly, figure out your “Wants”. Maybe you’ve always wanted to be able to take a vacation once a year, or get a dog (they can be expensive!), or buy yourself a set of kayaks.

Once you have your list, figure out the annual amount for each item in each column, and add them all up. We’ll call this number your Total Annual Household Expenses (Target Net Annual Income).

If you’re the sole breadwinner in your household, your Target Net Income needs to exceed your “Essentials”.

You can always adjust the other parts of your list, but if you aren’t bringing in enough money to cover all the “Essentials”, you’re going to be in trouble.

If you aren’t relying on just your income, you have the opportunity to adjust your figures. If your family income currently isn’t enough to pay the “Essentials”, your Target Net Annual Income should at least be able to cover the difference.

If your current family income does pay all the bills, then you can focus more on the “Should Have’s” and “Wants” in your list.

Maybe you’d like to help your kids through college, take a long trip overseas before you get old, or purchase a cabin up North.
When you feel you’ve come up with a realistic number, write it down as your Target Net Annual Income. Congratulations – you’ve completed Step One!

Step Two: Figure out your Target Gross Income

If you haven’t been in business more than a year, you’ll have to do some predicting on this one.

If you have, then you should be able to take last year’s numbers and figure it out. (I would take last year’s numbers, figure that my business is going to increase about 10% in the next year, and go from there).

Get a sheet (or two, or three) of paper and start by adding up all your annual business expenses. The more accurate you are here, the better – do your homework!

If some of the expenses are monthly, simply multiply them by 12 to get your Total Annual Business Expenses.

Here’s a list of some of the more common expenses you’ll have as a wedding photographer:

Business license
insurance
accountant fees
website and hosting
client proofing gallery
software
templates and presets
computer equipment
office supplies
camera equipment
phone
internet
education and training
subscriptions
membership fees
advertising

Think of anything and everything that you would write off as a business owner as an expense.

Next, you’re going to need to know your tax rate. If you’re in the U.S, you have to pay Federal and State income taxes, as well as Sales Tax. We’ll cover Sales Tax later, so just concentrate on Income Tax for this portion. Income Tax rates vary according to your location and business structure. The easiest way to figure out your tax rate is to ask your accountant.

I highly recommend getting an accurate number for this. If you’re in a hurry and just want a ballpark, you can use the national average of 25%, but you should definitely take the time to get the accurate rate for your records.

Take your Target Net Annual Income (Step One), divided by 1 minus your tax rate (1 – 0.25 = 0.75), then add your Total Annual Business Expenses.

For example:

Target Net Annual Income (cost of living + wants) adding your tax = 50,000 / (1 – 0.25) = 66, 670 (rounded up)
Total Annual Business Expenses = 12,500
Target Gross Income = 79,170

That number is your Target Gross Income, or, the amount of money you want to be bringing in before all the expenses and taxes.

You might be wondering why we are not just multiplying your annual income by the tax rate to get a figure. If you do that, you will end up with an incorrect calculation. What you want to earn is after tax. For example, if we did the above:

Target Net Annula Income = 50,000
Tax Rate = 25% = 50,000 x 0.25 = 12,500
Sum (Target Gross Income) = 62,500.

The reality is you get taxed on the full $62500 @ 25% = $15,625 leaving you with $46,875 a costly mistake.

You will have left yourself $3125 short of your goal.

You can use a tax calculator and play with the numbers to get your take home value (again make sure to consult your local tax authority for the most up to date figures):

Step Three: Determine your Workload

So, how much can you work? Or how much do you want to work? To figure out your pricing, you need to know how many weddings you’re going to be shooting in a year. Think of it this way – there are approximately 52 weekends in a year. Weddings typically happen on weekends, and usually Saturdays. They also tend to happen more during nicer weather. Also take into consideration whether you’re capable of shooting weddings back-to-back, or two days in a row. For me, I try to avoid that because my body is in full out protest the day after I shoot an average wedding, and it’s hard for me to be at the top of my game. Think about holidays, family time, vacations, or anything else that might affect the number of weddings you’ll be able to photograph.

Write down your Weddings Per Year.

Step Four: Your Rate Per Wedding

One last thing before we get to the good stuff! You need to figure out your Expenses Per Job. These are expenses that only occur if you’ve booked and shot a wedding. They can include client gifts, USB’s, equipment rental, postage & delivery, hiring an assistant/second photographer or outsourcing your editing. Write down your Expenses Per Job.

Step Five: Setting Your Price

Here we are. The moment of truth. Let’s figure out what you need to charge for your wedding photography!
Take your Target Gross Income, divide it by your Weddings Per Year, and add your Expenses Per Job.

That’s it! You’ve just figured out how much money you need to bring in per wedding to reach your Target Gross Income! That’s totally awesome – you didn’t guess, or pull a number out of a hat, or ask your mom what she thinks you should charge. You did the numbers, and now you have a legit handle on your pricing.

Perspective

Now that you have the magic number, you can start to consider the variables I mentioned earlier. There’s no formula for this, and every business will be different. If you shoot sessions other than weddings, you can take those into consideration (how many sessions per year, and how much will you be bringing in after your expenses and taxes?). If you feel your number is way too high (again, try not to let your self-doubts factor in here) then maybe you can adjust some of your “Should Have’s” & “Wants”, or plan on working more. Or you could rely on product sales to make up the difference. Spend some time tweaking your numbers until you feel somewhat comfortable with the result.

Let’s talk about your value and your market. In a perfect world, pricing would only be based on the numbers, and that would leave little room for question. But you do need to look at the market in your area. Try not to get sucked into the “but I’m from a small town and no one wants to pay anything for wedding photography” attitude. Large metropolitan areas typically have a higher average cost for wedding photography, but that doesn’t mean that if you’re not in New York City or L.A., you can’t charge more than $2000 for wedding photography.

Here are some figures to consider:

As of 2016, the average a couple invests in their wedding in the US is $35,329.
Of that amount, what do you think is the most important investment they’ll make? You know, the one that’s going to be around for years and years after the wedding is over? That their kids and grandkids will look at? (Hint- it’s not the centerpieces)
Wedding Wire’s annual Wedding Photographer Cost Guide states that a “wedding photographer will likely comprise about 12 percent of your overall wedding budget”. That’s $4239.38 if you do the calculations.

Your market does have an effect on what you can charge for your wedding photography, but it doesn’t have as much power over prices as you might think. I recommend doing some market research – look at the average cost of wedding photography for your area. Search for the best wedding photographers in your city and see if they list their prices. Or just ask them nicely. It helps a lot if you clearly state the reason for your inquiry and mention that you’re just trying to gather information on your market and educate yourself to price yourself correctly. You might be surprised at the information you receive.

Guide: How to Set Prices to Succeed in Wedding Photography - umephotography.com 9 — Andrea, Lume Photography

Emotions

It’s so, so hard to put your emotions aside and think like a businessperson when it comes to your pricing. But you aren’t doing anyone any favors by thinking negatively about yourself or your work. In fact, you’re doing the industry a dis-service by not pricing yourself the right way. Here are two awesome links that might help you shift your mindset:
Sue Bryce on Confronting Fear
Alex Szczesniak on the Value of Wedding Photography

How to Set Prices for Your Wedding Photography Business

How to Price Yourself for Success as a Wedding Photographer

Your yearly income needs to equal your cost of doing business, plus your target profit

Step One: Figure out your Target Net Income