Have you ever asked yourself, “Why is wedding photography so expensive?”

Well, a wedding photographer doesn’t just turn up and take photos. A lot of time (and expense) goes into creating those images that you cherish and want to put on your walls and mantelpieces. To help you understand, and not many photographers will be this transparent, here’s a breakdown of my typical wedding process and my business expenses.

TIME

Emails: From the initial inquiry, to consultations, sending contracts and invoices, planning engagement sessions, discussing timings and desired photos, delivery of your sneak-peak images, and final gallery delivery. On average, 20-30 emails per wedding = 2 to 3 hours
Booking, contracts & invoices = 1 hour
Pre-Wedding Consultation = 1 hour
Planning & final preparation = 1 hour
Travelling: to and from the first meeting or venue scouting (if I’ve not shot there before), travel to the engagement shoot, or wedding. Depending on how far all the locations are = 2 to 8 hours
Shooting = 5 to 12 hours
Backing up images – 1/2 hours
Editing: 8 to 20 hours
Gallery preparation and delivery – 1 hour

Total = 24 to 40 hours per wedding

EXPENSES/OVERHEADS

Travel expenses: to and from the venue, any meetings, engagement shoot location, etc. Hotel stay if required.
Business Insurance: Most venues require me to have public liability insurance up to £5 million. Then there’s insurance for all my equipment too. My current policy is £1,000/year, this rises every year (typically above RPI)
Internet connection & phone: To reply to all your emails, upload your images, and contact you when out and about, and on the day if needed = £600/year
Online Gallery and Client Management software fees: Hosting your memories in a beautiful online gallery, and making sure everything you need is in one place = £600/year
Editing software: my subscription to Lightroom & Photoshop costs £180/year

EQUIPMENT

2 x Cameras + 1 backups
3 x Lenses, and 1 backups
3 x Flashes
Memory cards + backups
Batteries + backups
Top-spec editing laptop/PC
Hard drives, and backups

This list is by no means exhaustive, but it covers the bulk of my gear.

Altogether, my equipment is worth around £20,000 and will need replacing/upgrading every 3 to 5 years = £4,000+ per year outlay.

EXPERIENCE

Training/workshops: I take training/workshops to keep my skills sharp, learn new techniques, and stay up to date with new technology to ensure I am offering the best product I can for my couples. For example, I took a course in March that cost me £720. I’d typically try to take at least a couple of these a year.
Skills & Experience: It has taken me thousands of hours of training and practice to be able to do what I do. Like anybody who goes to university or trains in a certain field, you expect to be paid more highly based on your specific skills and experience.
Pressure: Being a wedding photographer is a high-pressure job. Alright, no one’s life is on the line like a surgeon’s, etc., but it is one of the most important days in a person’s life—you can’t get it back if it goes wrong. People in higher-pressure jobs or jobs with more risk command a higher hourly fee as standard.

MARKETING

Advertising: Last year, I spent £2,100 on online advertising
Wedding fairs: Last year, I spent £1,800 on wedding fairs and open days
Printed material: leaflets, business cards, etc £300/year.
Website: £600/year

Taking photos is only around 10-20% of the work. Around 50% is time spent editing, and the rest is split between travelling and admin.

My business costs run at around £20,000/year, which is an average of around £500 per wedding based on photographing 40 weddings a year.

To put this into context, my 10-hour package (2025 prices) (30 hours total work on average) works out at £66.67/hour, with my take-home pay after expenses being £53 per hour. Then subtract around 25% to be set aside for the tax man and 10% to the pension fund. Let’s call it £35 per hour take-home pay.

And remember, most photographers are self-employed, meaning we don’t have the benefit of company pensions, holiday pay, or sick pay. If, say, a global pandemic hits, we don’t get paid—we have to rely on savings. So, carve 15% off that to put in a rainy-day fund.

To put it into perspective, come 2024, I expect to be earning around £45,000-£50,00 per annum before tax. According to ONS, the 2021 average salary is £38,131. Factor inflation into this, and for 2024, it will work out as around an average UK salary.

This means you’re getting great value for someone with my specialist skills. How much per hour would a solicitor charge you, for instance? Potentially the same per unit (6 minutes) as I charge per hour. Even a plumber or electrician is likely to command a similar, if not higher rate.

So, what is a “reasonably priced” wedding photographer?

A phrase I hear bandied about often is that wedding photographers are often not “reasonably priced” and “overcharge.” After reading this article, perhaps your opinion of what is good value and “reasonably priced” has changed.

Don’t get me wrong, we all have to start somewhere! I shot my first wedding for £400. But I also didn’t have the spec of gear I have now, my insurance premium was lower, etc; I was lacking in experience and have honed my skills since.

The average price for a wedding photographer based on a full-day starting package is £1,620

Before you decide to book a ‘cheap’ photographer, ask yourself this: why are they cheap? Are they cutting any corners? Are they insured? Are they using the right equipment? Do they have backup equipment should anything go wrong?

I understand that sometimes people have a limited budget. But the saying “you get what you pay for” frequently rings true in life, and wedding photography is one such time. You might have a friend or relative who’s an amateur photographer or know a photography student but choosing someone inexperienced is a risk not worth taking. It is recommended that you spend around 10-20% of your overall budget on your wedding photographer, more for small weddings and elopements. If it means saving an extra £5 per week, less than the cost of a couple of high-street coffees, from now until your wedding to get your dream wedding photographer, wouldn’t that be worth it?

After all, your wedding photographs will be the only thing left once the flowers have wilted and the cake has been eaten – so make photography a priority and invest in your memories.