Hey Montana brides, I need your input!

meadowlark2011

Hi everyone, I haven't been on the forums for a long time (since I was a bride), but I am just starting to take my photography career to the next level and would like the input of some Montana girls and guys. People who aren't from Montana aren't a great resource for pricing because our culture and economic climate is so very different from the rest of the country.

My questions are:

1. What do you think is a fair price for prints? (Not wally world prints, but professional ones) Let's say for a 4x6, 5x7 and 8x10?

2. What is/was your photography budget and what percent of your total budget did you allow for photography?

Thanks everyone!

Tracey
www.meadowlarkphoto.com

AnnaRoseS24

Not sure if I will be much help, but we are starting to price and compare photographers and some of the new ones are charging $3,000 and up for their base packages and I think that is way too much. Weddings are expensive enough without paying an arm and a leg just for photos. The one we liked pricing for was Clark Montgomery Photography. His base package was around $1,200 I think including a print credit, 4 or 5 hours of on site photo taking, a photo album, and something else that I don't remember. And the option to buy the copyrights and get a cd of all the edited photos for $600 was appreciated. A mix and match make your own package would be appreciated too. Something where you have different categories and people pick X amount from each for that total package price. Hope that helps a bit.

adktd2boots

Please don't vendor

Tatjanna

I'm a little appalled that a photographer would say  "just" photographs. At the end of the day brides take have 2 things to last a lifetime from their wedding, their photographs and their husbands. If you consider their wedding images to be "JUST" a photograph, you have no business in the wedding photography field. Our job is to capture a moment that cannot be repeated, we are here to not just take pictures, but to help a bride realize her vision and needs for her day. 3,000 to start, in Montana. I do not price that high, BUT it's a demographic. You can cater to many social classes of woman, but they ALL have the expectation of YOU (us) to bring them spectacular images. NO ONE can decide your pricing for you!! That's crazy! Your pricing comes from your outflow of your business, How much do you spend on gear, insurance, PPA, utilities, rents and you still have to live. THAT is where the number comes from. You go cheap you'll get the same clients, and you present yourself the same way, cheap! If you are a pro, you present yourself as a professional. As for 100.00 albums??? I'm not going to touch that..and I hope your brides don't either! Books, maybe, but a well bound album with acid free paper and stock with exceptional work, starts at 400.00 bare bones, that is what YOU should be paying!