Will your wedding photographer still be around

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Written by Andrew Miller

Professional Bristol wedding photographer. Andrew captures stunning photographs of your wedding day and designs amazing handcrafted Italian wedding albums from your wedding photographs.

A photographer for 33 years, the last 18 years as a full-time professional, Andrew has photographed hundreds of wedding around Bristol, Cheltenham, Cotswolds, Home Counties, North East, South Wales, Europe, USA and South East Asia.

A specialist at capturing those 'Signature' shots at your wedding, Andrew goes the extra mile time after time to the photographs that count.

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13th April 2019

Will your wedding photographer still be around

Let's kick this off with a statement:

"This blog post is NOT about slagging off wedding photographers who don't charge a lot."

There, with that out of the way let's crack on.

So you are getting married and are doing the rounds on the Facebook forums looking for wedding suppliers. Great, give us a hand here and give some details such as the date of the wedding and location of the wedding. If all you are doing is looking around for prices - use Google. It takes a real person's time to answer your comments on FB and many people will have the same info on their websites anyway. If they don't have a website...well that's a different story, isn't it?

Back to the main subject - "Will your wedding photographer be around"

I run a small friendly FB group and was asked how the person/s providing this wedding photography package can make any money -

8 hours of photography
2 shooters
3 hours of photobooth
Video highlights

All for £550

Nothing wrong with that except it got me thinking. More and more we hear about wedding suppliers, including wedding photographers, not being around when it comes to the wedding. They are either missing in action (i.e. have removed the FB page) or have blocked people or no longer in business etc. Why is this? Because they have suddenly realised that despite them saying things like "professional wedding [insert business here] shouldn't be expensive" it really is expensive. So they end up closing the business down and letting clients down.

Update - when this wedding photography price is discounted by 40% as a way of helping couples who have lost out due to fraudsters the photographer is actively loosing money hand over fist.

Pricing Structure

The above example is one such example of where that business pricing structure is totally wrong. The base price is fine, but what is included for that price is too much. And if it looks too good to be true then it usually is.

That pricing structure won't support one person adequately let alone two people.

example

2 shooters = 4 cameras, plus lenses. The cheapest DSLR I can find is around £400 and includes one lens. That is £1600 on camera bodies alone. Or three weddings to pay for it all. Why 2 bodies each? Because cameras break, and low cost "cheap" consumer cameras break quicker and easier than high cost "professional" cameras. It is how they are designed by camera manufacturers. Plus the other stuff you need - that's a big investment that £550 will not cover in the medium term let alone long term. Longevity is what I'd be looking for.

Photo booth for 3 hours. No idea if this is a full-on photobooth or just a backdrop with some stands and props. I hope it's a backdrop because if it is a real photobooth then some serious problems arise over the longevity of being able to provide all of that at that price...and that is the crux here.

Longevity of business.

I'm not saying only book business that has been around a long time.

I'm saying book business that charges appropriately for what they provide and can make a profit margin so they can continue to provide that service. And if you book way into the future (side note I have bookings for 2022) then you really want them to be their, in the future, or you have wasted (thrown away) your money. If it looks too good to be true it probably is.

Business NEED to be able to make a profit. Couples NEED business to make a profit. (WOW, fancy that!!!)

That profit goes towards paying taxes for a start, but also new and updated equipment when old stuff breaks or wears out. It goes to pay for insurance (photo booth insurance is around £139 a month according to my research - see the image below.). That profit margin also pays for things like personal items, mortgages, holidays, cars, children's school outings, food etc.

If the business doesn't make a profit - where is the money to pay for the extra stuff going to come from? Usually from another household income. Again NOTHING wrong with that...except you are using the household income to subsidise a business that is losing money...which will eventually fail...and disappoint couples. What will usually happen is that any relationship will usually breakdown over the stress induced in this process as well.

So, by all means, go for the lowest cost you feel appropriate for your wedding but you need to take into account the real risks involved in your wedding supplier NOT being around when your wedding is here.

Update July / August 2019

There has been a lot of cases recently where wedding supplier business have failed, in some cases done a runner with peoples money.

This is very sad...but in the vast majority of these case the business in the first were NOT charging enough to cover basic costs in the medium to long term. They were NOT charging enough to reinvest in the business. They were running a cash business. Taking from Peter to pay Paul. That is NO way to run a professional business.

If the price you have been quotes looks amazing and low - then THINK. Ask yourself why is it so low? e.g

Wedding cake
8 x 6ft tables
All table cloths
Top table & twinkle backdrop & skirt
Cake table & twinkle skirt
Giant love letters
100 chair covers & sashes.
LED dancefloor.
Photo booth
Candy wheel
Popcorn stand
Postbox
Doughnut wall
Fererro rocher stand
Cake stand
Table runners

If that lot costs less than £1500, possibly more, then there is something wrong. Storage costs, setting up costs, collection costs, transport costs, staff costs, wear and tear costs, insurance costs, reinvestment costs for damaged materials, consumable costs etc etc.

To buyers

If it looks cheap there IS a reason. Whilst I have every sympathy for people who have been de-frauded I also can't help but think of the risk they were taking with the money they had saved.

To business.

Being cheap is fine. Being low cost is fine. Just make a real profit and make sure you can be around for the long term. After all, it is the new business and younger people that will be paying the tax that pays for my pension in my old age! I want them to succeed!

Photobooth Insurance.

1-2 years in business
£25,000 or less turnover
2 subcontractor staff
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About Andrew

Andrew is a full-time professional wedding photographer with 13 years behind him. He is an international speaker on running a wedding photography business and regularly runs UK based workshops - "The Business of Wedding Photography".

He is a qualified adult trainer and holds a masters level qualification in mentoring.
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