Why is wedding photography and cinematography so expensive?

We understand planning a wedding is a process, and many expenses add up overtime. So, when couples are budgeting for photography and cinematography, the initial cost of our services might come as a shock. Here, we will break down our prices and explain why they are the way they are, and hopefully, this will help you understand the full scope of what we offer.

First, we need to understand the industry a little better. There are many creative studios who offer photo and video services across the country. We are based in the Boston area, where the general cost of professional services is generally more expensive than the rest of the country. Boston is a high cost area of living and our prices reflect this area. It’s hard to compare Boston prices to a small town area in the Midwest. The average cost of a wedding photographer (not including video) in Boston, for an 8 hour, non-denominational wedding is $6,000.

Second, our rates are based on many years of experience. Both Neal and Thuy started their creative journey in 2013. And since 2015, we’ve specialized in capturing multi-cultural weddings. With an average of 20 weddings a year, we have captured well over 200 weddings. From small intimate events to extravagant 800+ people weddings, we have seen it all. In addition to our years of experience, we’ve worked with a wide variety of couples, parents, and vendors from across the globe. We pride ourselves in understanding the culture and traditions of the important weddings we shoot.

Third, we are a small boutique studio. We are not a volume company, booking every wedding and scrambling to find workers to shoot these dates. When you work with us, you are getting our undivided attention, and the peace of mind that you will be working directly with Thuy & Neal. You are paying for our experience, our expertise, and our creative eye. Please beware of large wedding companies advertising extremely low rates. They book by the volume and hire cheap, inexperienced shooters who have no stakes in the wedding they are shooting. Many of these company’s methods are unethical and unsustainable, leaving many couples without their paid for wedding photos or films. Here is a great deep dive article about such a company and many like them: https://petapixel.com/2023/08/23/tolman-media-may-be-back-with-a-new-name-but-the-same-staff-and-issues/

Wedding photography and cinematography is a comprehensive process that involves more than just shooting and editing. From the moment of inquiry to final deliverables, most couples are spending the most time with their photo and video team, compared to other vendors. All vendors will work with you planning up to the wedding day, and most/all of their responsibilities are done once the event is over. The day of the event(s) is just a small scope of what we need to do. In addition to all the pre-wedding, wedding day, and post-wedding work, we’re taking on different duties on the wedding day. From fixing wardrobe malfunctions or crowd control, we’re happy to help anyway we can.

We understand that every wedding vendor plays a crucial role in making the day special. However, it can be challenging to put the costs of services into perspective. For instance, while beautiful flowers are a staple of weddings, they don’t last long. It’s common to pay thousands of dollars for flowers, but the idea of spending the same amount on photo and video services, which will last well beyond the wedding day, can be difficult to comprehend. We hope that the following breakdown will help you better understand our pricing.

Here are some extra expenses that’s part of running the business:

·       $4000-$6000/YR - Yearly Gear Acquisition – Keeping up with the latest technology is vital to ensure we provide the best quality images and film.

·       $500/YR – Business Insurance

·       $450/YR – Online Gallery

·       $600/YR – Video Hosting

·       $1500/YR – Photo, Video, and Audio Editing Software

·       $500/YR – Business Domain, Hosting, and Email service

·       $400/YR – Customer Relationship Management Tool

·       $250/YR – Cloud Backup

·       $1000/YR – Physical Hard Drive Backups

·       $1500/YR – Auto Maintenance and Fuel

·       $1500/YR – Accounting and Legal Services

·       $1000/YR – Office Supplies, Printing and Postage

·       $2500/YR – Utilities (Phone and Gigabit Internet)

·       $14-$17k/YR – Second Shooters, Support Staff

It costs us roughly $30-35K a year minimum to keep the business running. These costs doesn’t include our own salary, self-employed health insurance for two people, 401k, travel, meals, or unexpected expenses.

Hourly Breakdown:

During wedding season, it’s very difficult for us to take any time off. When we’re actively shooting a wedding, we’re generally working 7 days a week.

·       Shoot days are generally all day long (up to 16 hrs/day)

·       Editing days can be as long as 12 hours a day on the computer

·       When we’re not editing, we still spend countless hours maintaining the website, emailing, meeting new clients, backing up footage, maintaining/cleaning gear, album design/revisions, bookkeeping, scouting shoot locations, and staying up to date with the latest trends and technology.

Most weeks we are both working 60+ hour weeks, and can be up to 80 hours during very busy shooting weekends.

We hope this article has been helpful in understanding how we structure our business and how our rates reflect the cost of running a legal and professional business.