Wedding season is in full swing and many newly engaged couples are now looking for their wedding vendors for their 2013 and 2014 weddings. Many couples choose to have their weddings photographed by professional wedding photographers but do not know why wedding photography costs what it does and what goes into the backend of the work that is produced for them. I hope to provide you with an understanding of  how much work, time and financial investment wedding photographers put into the final product that is provided to couples. This is meant so that couples can understand the value behind the art that photographers are creating and why their wedding photography investment is a substantial portion of their wedding budget.

Our jobs as photographers has been greatly glorified by the media and shows like America’s Next Top Model. Everyone seems to have this glorified view of what our jobs are like. We all sit at our computers all week in our pj’s, then work an 8 hour day on a wedding day and suddenly make a ton of money. Unfortunately, that is not how the world of photography business works.

On top of being photographers, we are small business owners. We have the responsibility of marketing our businesses, managing clients, creating our own websites, being our own IT department, mentoring others, learning on a constant basis, blogging, facebooking, researching, and the list goes on.

There are many uncle Bob’s and mom’s with cameras out there who claim to be professionals. Wedding photographers spend thousands of dollars and even more time in education, training, attending seminars, etc. to bring our clients the best creative genius we can. That’s only the start of it.

So once we have all this knowledge, what happens next? That beautiful album that couples receive, the software used cost about $500 just to design it. Those beautifully edited photos which require programs of the likes of Photoshop which costs thousands of dollars and photo management programs such as Lightroom and Aperture. Why not also add some effects with OnOne Perfect Photo Suite. None of this is inexpensive. Every year or couple of months there are updates. Yes, wedding photographers always update and that too costs money depending on the program.

The wedding reception venues asks wedding photographers to provide proof of insurance. That professional liability insurance is not inexpensive. Not to mention the equipment insurance because replacing one of those Canon 5D Mark III’s would be the cost of a wedding shoot for many photographers and then some.

Photographer’s who take themselves seriously all register as businesses in their state. They also owe taxes to Uncle Sam.

Couples may have found their photographer through a wedding directory via a google search. It costs money for to advertise on those sites. That beautiful website where photographers host their pictures are also charging a yearly fee. There is also a yearly subscription fee to the site that hosts the website and product orders.

That is just a quick recap of what wedding photographers have to maintain in order to keep their businesses up and running. This is where the fun part begins.

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