Determining your base pricing for your wedding photography business is so personal and can get really complex. Before I go into a lot of detail about pricing, I want you to know that there is a free pricing guide available in the description for you to download. I am going to go over the factors that you should consider when setting up your base prices.
1. Determine Your Costs
The first thing that you need to do when determining your price is figure out what you are spending!
📷 As business owners, we need to know what we are spending personally and on our business on a monthly basis in order to determine how much money we need to make.
📷 Consider your financial position: Are you the sole provider? Do you have other income? Maybe you have no pressure on you to make a certain amount of money each month.
These things factor into determining your price. In order to be successful in the business of wedding photography, you have to thrive in the industry AND pay your bills!
It really helps me to break my finances in monthly costs.
📷 There won’t be any surprises.
📷 It helps me be sure that I am utilizing the things that I am paying for month to month in my business and personal life.
2. Set Your Goals
In this case, setting your goals means determining how many weddings or sessions you want to do within a year. Be realistic when setting this goal.
📷 You may want to shoot 25 or more weddings in the year, but don’t forget to consider how many you are currently booking and where you are in your journey.
📷 Maybe you only want to shoot a few weddings, but your financial goal is a certain amount.
📷 What if you want to shoot a lot of weddings, but you aren’t quite there with your bookings yet?
These types of situations would factor into your pricing. Having an idea of how many weddings you want to shoot will help to make sure that you don’t burn out and your profit matches up at the end of the month/year.
3. Use the FREE Guide Formula
Once you determine how much money you need to make and how much you will be photographing, you can use the formula: The amount of money needed divided by the number of shoots will give you your base price.
📷 Your base price is your MINIMUM. This means that as long as you book the number of weddings you planned for, you will be able to make enough money to pay your bills.
📷 Your base price will also be attached to your base offering. This is the minimum that your client gets when they book with you (the number of hours you will work, whether it includes a second shooter or not, etc).
📷 Next, you can build your other offerings (some people call these collections or packages). I have found a lot of success in offering a variety of packages. Just like I enjoy going to a store and seeing options, things I can bundle to save and customize, clients want to be able to choose.
If you are interested in knowing about pricing in more detail, I highly encourage you to go to www.catgeducation.com and get the mini pricing course. In the course I lay out what my offerings look like, how I am laying them out, the discount tiers that I am providing, and more in just one hour.
4. Know the Market
I do not recommend just looking at what others are charging and price a little less. This undervalues your competitors and it doesn’t give you a good foundation to stand on in your pricing.
📷 You want your pricing to be based on YOUR bills, YOUR business, and YOUR experience.
You do want to have an awareness of the market, though. If you are not familiar with what others are charging in your area, make friends with other photographers, vendors, and wedding planners and ask them about the market. They can give you a pulse on what the market rate is in your area. Keep in mind that the market rate varies based on location, the venues in the area, the number of weddings happening in the area, and whether you are willing to travel. Knowing your market and having a sense of what it looks like will be valuable information to you.
5. Consider Your Experience and Portfolio
Your experience and portfolio go hand in hand.
A lot of experience brings a unique approach to wedding photography because
📷 You can think on your feet.
📷 You can get great images in awful lighting.
📷 You can make quick adjustments.
📷 You create great experiences for your clients.
These skills are so valuable to what we do as wedding photographers.
The images in your portfolio are just as important. They allow potential clients to
📷 see if you offer a unique perspective in your imagery.
📷 know if your skills are highly sought after and well-known.
📷 see your style that people may automatically recognize.
📷 understand the reasons that you are able to charge a premium as an artist.
People get attached to particular artists because their work speaks to them. This allows you to elevate your brand and give clients incentive to pay a premium in order to have your vision and you with them on their wedding day.
In closing, when it comes to pricing, there are a lot of factors that influence how you price your photography. No one can tell you exactly what you need to charge without taking a deep dive into your business and personal life.
We offer 1 on 1 coaching and the pricing course. Pricing is a very complex topic, but it can be made easier if you have all of the information. Use the information given here to help guide you in your pricing journey and understand the factors that have an impact on what you’re charging your clients.
Make sure that your pricing is valid (no arbitrary numbers). Base your pricing on truths, numbers, and facts to help guide your decision.
Lastly, don’t forget to download your free pricing guide below. ⤵️
