The information provided below is a ‘guide’ on current wedding photography pricing across the UK and what to expect for the different levels of investment. It is by no means definitive and of course there will always be exceptions to the rule.

I fully understand that couples will have varied priorities and budgets for their photography and will often have vastly differing expectations of what is available for that investment. If this is the first time you are considering hiring a professional wedding photographer, I feel the following information will be of an aid in understanding what you can expect for different levels of investment.

Preface; This article was first written in 2010 and has been updated at regular intervals to include more up to date information and change in pricing. This is also single-handedly the most commented and discussed article I have ever written. While most of the comments are positive, undoubtably with everything released over the internet, I receive backlash from some whom believe this article to be unfair. For clarity and background information on why my opinion matters; I have been in the photographic industry since 2001, I have worked for several international companies working on high profile labels and individuals. My previous job titles have been from Digital Artist, Artistic Director, Media Creator and Senior Photographer. I have actively work on over 5000 photographic shoots, 1000’s of weddings. I have been running my own company for the past 15 years and am one of the biggest employers of creative talent in the county. There is plenty of more information about me and my companies online.

Most of the couples I speak to, irrespective of their personal budget, have two things in common. They want the very best photography of their day possible, and they only want to trust this vital task to a dedicated and professional wedding photographer. Without doubt, this investment is not ‘cheap’. It is however less ‘expensive’ than getting this important decision wrong! As you have probably heard many times before; you have one shot at getting the photography of your wedding day right. This is not like you can do it all over again if you are unsatisfied with the results. And contrary to popular belief, Photoshop cannot ‘fix’ a badly executed image.

Photography in the UK is currently unregulated and the market is flooded with 1,000′s of poor quality photographers. This is largely in part of two factors which have come into play in the last two decades; 1. The cost of equipment has decreased to a point where it has become accessible to the masses. As always, over time, advancements in technology makes retail prices cheaper. 2. While equipment has become cheaper the time it takes to develop and master the craft has not. Many amateur photographers rely on Youtube or the alike to learn. The issue here is that even most of the Youtubers are giving incorrect advice and techniques. This largely stems from the fact that it remains incredibly hard to secure an actual full-time position with a reputable company within the industry to learn the absolute bare basics. I guarantee that more than most ‘photographers’ will have had absolutely no industry experience or basic training from a company or competent experienced individual before they started their own business.

It is imperative to understand that just because you ‘pay’ someone to photograph your wedding, you should not, by any means, assume that you’ll end up with ‘professional’ results. This guide is designed to help you with your choice, inform you of what to expect as a result of that choice, and hopefully will go some way to explain why full-time, professional wedding photographers in the UK are worth every penny of your investment:

To keep things concise I have grouped and broken down photographers into three categories.

Category 1: The amateur wedding photographer – Expect to pay from free to £300:

A mixture of hobbyists looking to generate some pocket money to cover the cost of their equipment, together with student photographers, a few part-timers and family members/friends. These people are unlikely to be insured, unlikely to pay tax and NI on their photography income and unlikely to be around if (when,) things go wrong.

Due to no or limited wedding photography experience, the quality of photography is likely to be low at best, poor or even ruined at worst. These photographers are likely to ‘shoot & burn’ (supply images on CD’s with no editing/colour correction/retouching or support). Or more commonly from 2018 onwards; batch edit cheaply purchased Instagram style filter over every image to make them ‘look better’.

This means you are generally left to do the pain-staking photographer’s job by sorting out the 100’s if not 1000’s of poor expressions/blinks taken.  They are also likely to have nothing available in the way printed products or display options and/or the knowledge to deliver great printed results that will last the test of time. Any albums offered will be poor quality items available from the high street and using low-cost printers. Expect at most, a simple/poor templated website with only a mobile phone number as their method of contact. These photographers are unlikely to have any insurance and limited/no back up equipment.

Category 2: The part-time wedding photographer – Expect to pay from £300 to £700:

A mixture of part-time ‘new’ wedding photographers looking to break into the local market and establish themselves, together with full-time just recently left their full-time jobs to become full-time photographers and are now realising they must charge more for their work in order to make ends meet. Again, at the lower end of the pricing scale, it is unlikely to find these people with business insurance and most will have ‘other types of employment’ to supplement their less than commercially sustainable rates.

The quality of photography is likely to be average at best, with little in the way of uniqueness to set it apart from the 100′s or 1,000′s of other photographers out there. It is very common to see the same ‘cookie cutter’ or generic filters laid over the images which is passed off as ‘their own style’ (pastel green haze filters a plenty).

Their websites will be guaranteed to have only ‘the best’ images they have taken and will NOT give you a full uncut example of what you are likely to receive. Some printed products, albums and display options are likely to be available, but the quality is likely to be low to average at best. Any albums supplied are likely to be designed using template software and by the album companies themselves, meaning that your album will look the same as the last one. The images taken are likely to be heavily ‘templated’ meaning they will shoot the same pose in the same place at the same venue for every couple. Nothing personalised at all. The biggest give away is the lack of thought in the underlying image. Badly composed, all shot with the same focal length.

Most will have a simple website that seems to focus on many different and often ‘un-connected’ areas of photography, with a mobile phone number likely to be the only method of contact. It will be highly likely that they will advertise to work in more than one or all photography areas; wedding & portraits, commercial, landscape, product, model portfolios etc. Expect them to have limited or no insurance and limited or no back-up equipment if things go wrong. These photographers are unlikely to restrict the number of bookings taken for each year, meaning that long waiting times and poor service quality is usually a feature of their business.

Category 3: The dedicated and professional wedding photographer – Expect to invest from £1,100 to £5,000:

These people are experienced and dedicated portrait photographers who photograph weddings as their sole occupation. They run their small business as a photographer and are likely to be paying full business rates, full business insurance, tax and NI on their income and must cover the less than cheap costs of running a small business, solely from the turnover they produce. More importantly they will also be dedicated to improving and learning their photographic skills by attending regular seminars or work course run by the country’s top wedding professionals.

Each wedding photographed is likely to take up more than a full week of the photographer’s time. Numerous hours are spent meeting, calling and emailing couples in the run-up to their big day. The photographer will be with you 8-12 hours on the day itself. There will then be 7-9 full days of primary image editing, followed by more meetings with couples. This is then followed by 2-3 full days of secondary image processing, including album design and print processing. It is not unusual to therefore spend 80-100 hours on each wedding photographed during the year.

The quality of the photography is likely to be high, with unique shots which are not templated and a personal photographic style that is distinguishable from the next photographer in the same category. They should also have a vast range of technical ability, offer advice on what’s best and most importantly, follow through with impressive results.

The quality of albums and display products available from these photographers is likely to be extremely high, with most of these photographers using the same few high-end album supply companies from Australia, New Zealand and Europe. Albums are likely to be uniquely designed by the photographer themselves (not the album company,) ensuring that your album will be personal and completely unique to you and your day.

Most will have professional looking websites that focus only on wedding and portrait photography. They are also likely to have dedicated ‘wedding studios’ either as part of their homes, or in high street locations. They are likely to be fully insured and carry with them back-up equipment (and indeed back-ups for their back-ups.) The level of service and attention to detail from these photographers is likely to be high, as they will limit the number of weddings photographed each year in order to maintain their high standards and level of service.

Category 4: The Celebrity wedding photographer – Expect to invest from £5,000 to £50,000

These few talented, or in some cases lucky, individuals can virtually ‘name their price’ for their wedding photography services. Photographing royalty and the rich and famous worldwide with highly unique photographic styles.

Their albums and display products will be sourced from the same companies as the category 3 photographers above. Expect them to have studios in London, New York, and/or Paris, and teams of employees and assistants helping them with their wedding ‘productions.’

In Conclusion:

It is important for me to clarify that there is no right or wrong choice here. Everybody is different, photography is subjective, we all have different budgets. The idea of this article is not to push anyone towards hiring myself to shoot your wedding/ family/whatever, it is designed to be informative in relation to why photographers (or any individual in business) has to charge what they charge.

To leave you with something to think about; I once dealt with a complaint from a customer who had called a high street studio to complain that the price of a photograph, she wished to purchase from her 2 hour long family photo shoot was £7.00. Her reasoning to complain was that the print, at 6×4” in size, was just a piece of paper with a bit of ink. She could not fathom how she could expect to be charged £7.00 for a piece of paper. She justified that she could purchase a whole ream of A4 paper for that price. My response: Yes, you could, but you would not have the image.