Frequently Asked Questions
What are your prices? For a Saturday wedding the package price is $2150. The only other package for Saturday is $2550. (There is a big discount for other days and a variety of offerings for days other than Saturday). There has been such a huge demand for the storybook style album, we will be increasing prices for the next year, so book soon. Are storybook albums generally more expensive? You may find the few photographers who do the storybook style album will charge more for it than a traditional style book. For a storybook album the photographer must do the layout and design or pay someone hundreds of dollars to do it. The design can take several days to complete. A traditional album can be done much, much faster. Due to the high demand for this style album, we will be increasing the price for for 2007... but we may then offer a traditional style album at a price which is less than the storybook style... however this year we have not had one request for the traditional style book. What does that include? In any Saturday package you get an engagement session with proofs, a bridal session with proofs and a 16x20, retouching on photographs as determined by the photographer, a traditional or storybook style album, and a CD of all wedding day images. Many photographers are charging $500 for a CD or negatives... if they will turn loose of them at all. How many pictures do you shoot? Depending on your wedding activities and how long we are there, somewhere between 100 and 400. 250-350 is common. How long are you there? Six hours with the $2150 package, 12 hours with the $2550 package. How many photographs will be in the album? It varies depending on what size photographs you want and how many you'd like to be in the albums, but generally speaking, between 80-120 in the $2150 package and 100-150 in the $2550 package. It also depends on the activities at the wedding and how many we shoot. Do you shoot digital or film? Primarily digital using 8mg pixel Canon cameras. I can shoot film using a medium format Mayima 645 camera. If you choose to have film used, it will be more expensive to convert for use in a contemporary style album. Why is Saturday more expensive? Supply and demand. Saturdays in May, June, July, and August are almost instantly filled up by the first week or so in January. What does it take to reserve a date? There is a $500 booking fee. The rest is due before the wedding day. Your date is not secured unless the $500 has been received. There is a printable contract online. Why are some photographers more expensive? A number or reasons. Some are great. Some do it as a hobby and don't care about making much. Some are part time. Some are fulltime and it is their only source of income. To have an income and eat and pay rent, wedding photographers need weddings. Brides generally choose Saturdays to get married and that means there are but so many weddings a photographer can attempt to shoot in a year. Some charge more so they don't get too many weddings each year. Some photographers are in more demand and they limit the number of weddings they do each year by raising prices. Some have expensive studios to maintain, some work only on location. State of the art cameras and lenses run many thousands of dollars (which should be insured, which costs money). The latest Nikon and Canon digital cameras can run between $6000 and $8000. Many photographers will show up at your wedding with multiple cameras, many lenses (each of our lenses on average is over $1000.00). And then there will be several flash units, compact flash cards, and an assortment of other gear. And of course they had to use a vehicle to get there... and the wise ones will be members of professional organizations and they will carry liability insurance. Then there is the "digital darkroom". A professional grade graphics oriented computer, monitors (often two are used), and software will run between $5000 and $10,000. Some photographers have never had professional training while others spend thousands each year to stay on top of their game. Some are sticklers for quality and supply only the best in albums and photographic prints. Others, however, buy cheap albums and make prints off their home computer. The dealer cost of the high quality albums we use will run about $200 with no photographs included. Some photographers spend a fraction of that. In the old days a photographer could drop film off at the lab after the wedding, pick up the pictures a week later, put them in an album, and pretty much consider the project finished. Now, there are hours of retouching engagement and bridal photographs, many hours cropping, retouching, and tweaking wedding photographs, and many, many hours laying out and designing a contemporary wedding album. It is a very labor intensive process. So, how do I choose a photographer? Some people joke that it's often like finding a date. It could be reputation. Or money (or in this case, price). Some go for looks (or what the pictures look like) and others go for personality (of the photographer). Or, a blend of any of these. Find a photographer you like... one you can talk to and one who has the style of work you like. One bride may not care for a photographer's style, while another bride may love it.
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