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Home: Video University Forums: Digital Photography for Videographers:
Novel wedding photog pricing scheme: Would you work like this?

 
 


Brackish
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May 31, 2007, 2:02 AM

Post #1 of 5 (569 views)
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Novel wedding photog pricing scheme: Would you work like this? Can't Post
Ran across this on another forum.

The pro photog said he put in a bid on shooting a wedding.
His bid: $100 flat fee to shoot it plus $1 per image that
the client wants plus (I think) $9 per CD used to deliver
the images.

And get this ... he says he lost the job because the
client said the price was too high compared to
a lower bid she received!

What do you think?


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"We'll always show up at the wedding with a gift bag for the bride. Inside we have these incredible fuzzy slippers in the teal of our branding."


RustyB
Veteran


May 31, 2007, 2:29 AM

Post #2 of 5 (562 views)
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Re: [Brackish] Novel wedding photog pricing scheme: Would you work like this? [In reply to] Can't Post
In Reply To
....What do you think?


I think that wouldn't surprise me, when dealing with budget brides.

I had no problem selling $999 unlimited coverage wedding videos, until I started charging $200/hour for each hour over 4 hours. It's still cheap considering most brides only need you for about 4-6 hours total, but in the budget brides mind, being charged extra for time makes it a dealbreaker. Once again, my bookings are drying up, despite advertising "$999" is bringing in inquiries like flies to a turd. My shelves are being cleaned out from sending out so many DVD's...but I can't close deals anymore.Laugh




the People's Video Collective blog
wedding video and the means of production


Brackish
Veteran


May 31, 2007, 3:06 AM

Post #3 of 5 (553 views)
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Re: [RustyB] Novel wedding photog pricing scheme: Would you work like this? [In reply to] Can't Post
In Reply To
... considering most brides only need you for about 4-6 hours total
You got it so easy by you: 4 to 6 hours. The only one
I think with an easier day is Terry T in New Orleans.
I believe her days are usually even shorter than yours.
I one time saw where Terry said here that she was glad
she wasn't doing 10-12 hour days.
This past weekend was a typical 12-hour day for me.
Long days like that lugging around heavy cases
of equipment makes it so a person has to turn
down back-to-back weddings. I just got an inquiry
from a bride who wanted to have me do a photo
and video combination. Trouble is, the day before
her wedding I'm booked for a 12-hour all-video shoot
so I had to turn the combination gig down.


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"We'll always show up at the wedding with a gift bag for the bride. Inside we have these incredible fuzzy slippers in the teal of our branding."


RustyB
Veteran


May 31, 2007, 4:30 AM

Post #4 of 5 (547 views)
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Re: [Brackish] Novel wedding photog pricing scheme: Would you work like this? [In reply to] Can't Post
In Reply To
In Reply To
... considering most brides only need you for about 4-6 hours total
You got it so easy by you: 4 to 6 hours. The only one
I think with an easier day is Terry T in New Orleans.
I believe her days are usually even shorter than yours.
I one time saw where Terry said here that she was glad
she wasn't doing 10-12 hour days.
This past weekend was a typical 12-hour day for me.
Long days like that lugging around heavy cases
of equipment makes it so a person has to turn
down back-to-back weddings. I just got an inquiry
from a bride who wanted to have me do a photo
and video combination. Trouble is, the day before
her wedding I'm booked for a 12-hour all-video shoot
so I had to turn the combination gig down.


Mine are typically pretty long as well....nothing compared to a New Orleans wedding. I'm just trying to discourage booking these all day affairs, and try to pick up the single-venue city wedding market more often, by charging hourly over 4 hours. Until now, I charged the same for a 16 hour 3-location day, as I did for a 4 hour single-venue wedding+reception. That sucked, but it was that "no time limit" that sold. If figure if I'm gonna charge peanuts, I might as well do it with the least amount of work.

When I was noob and still had that ignorant gung-ho vision of how a wedding video business should be, I'd say I stay until the end of the reception, at no extra charge, because I required ALL the formal events to make a complete video...including the formal departure from the reception...which they almost all have. Now, I'm not quite as delusional, and don't look quite so much like a "tool" when the photogs go home 4 hours earlier than me because they place such a higher value on their time, while I videotape countless hours of rednecks doing the Macarena until 1:00am. Laugh


As for photography, I'm currently quoting $200 per hour, for immediate delivery on data DVD disc after the shoot. I'll also upload the pictures to SmugMug with a huge markup, but don't plan on making any money that way. I think I'd do better on print sales when I actually have a portfolio of prints to showcase to potential clients, a decent inkjet large format printer, etc. Even then, I don't expect to pick up many wedding photo gigs like this, but my video business goes dead again in July, and the 9-5 job I though I was getting has apparently fell through the cracks, so who knows. I hate weddings, but I work to get paid, and who says you have to love your subject matter.




the People's Video Collective blog
wedding video and the means of production


Brackish
Veteran


May 31, 2007, 4:57 AM

Post #5 of 5 (544 views)
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Re: [RustyB] Novel wedding photog pricing scheme: Would you work like this? [In reply to] Can't Post
Yeah, things are so different in different regions.
For example, on Sunday I had my first-ever
"reception departure". They went off in horse
and carriage. Got to the church at noon and
left the reception at about 1 a.m., after the
departure. The photog stayed the whole day,
too. The photog told me he had done
a wedding the day before. But it's a lot easier
physically carrying around a camera and
lens all day than it is dragging a tripod
and video camera everywhere. Well, you know
how that is.

One thing by me is we don't have any chapel
weddings. It's 98% in churches. Never even
heard of a chapel wedding till you mentioned
it once. Same for what I hear about these
"tea ceremonies". We don't have those at all.
And ours are not racially mixed like what I
understand many of you get. It's basically
100% of all the family and guests are the same race.
The catering staff sometimes has some hispanics.


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"We'll always show up at the wedding with a gift bag for the bride. Inside we have these incredible fuzzy slippers in the teal of our branding."


(This post was edited by Brackish on May 31, 2007, 5:00 AM)