Going rate for amateur photographer?

periquack

I'm looking to hire a student photographer with rave reviews from my sister (also studying photography). Before I start up negociations, however, I would like to know what kind of payment range would be appropriate for a standard 6 hour timeframe at his career level.  I'm not sure he's done weddings before, but it is possible.

Have any of you hired amateur/student photographers before? What kind of prices did they charge/payment did you offer for your agreed upon package? 

Thanks for the help!

~mRm~

We had a student photographer shadow our main photographer. He did the full day and gave us a disc of photos at the end of the night. We had agreed to $150 cash with half paid before the wedding and the remainder when he showed day of. He did such a great job we gave him an extra $50 at the end of the evening, so $200 total.

erinrc1

We found a photography student who has done weddings before, and he's charging us $650 for 4 hours worth of photography, which I think is a pretty good deal.  I did have a chance to see some of his other work, and that was key -- I would recommend making sure you know what you're getting!  We'll get the digital files a couple weeks after the wedding.

AMplusSK

We are going with someone who is just starting a photography buisiness. This is her first wedding. We are paying $400 for about 6 hours. Her family portriats are good, so we are hoping our photos will be good.

annabeiler

We really wanted to make sure that our photos were going to be amazing - it's not like you can have a "do over wedding day" however we still wanted to give a student a chance to build his/ her portfolio! So, our professional photographer will have a co op student along with her.  Their cut from our total photography package will be about $400. 

smwiggle

My photographer is free.  I will be his first wedding, but he does Senior portraits and the like.  I will also have him do my boudoir photos before the wedding to iron out the details and to see how he does.  I will get a disc with all the prints, the rights released to me, and they will also touch up the photos too.

When I went looking for students, I told them I was on a budget and most quoted me anywhere from $150-$400.  I think $400 is a little excessive if they have never done a wedding/only done a couple. 

asl71476

We hired a student photog for my brother in law's wedding. She agreed to $350, was there for 6 hours, and at the end of the evening we ended up giving her $450 as it was clear that she worked her butt off.

Chelsey85

My photographer is just starting her business and had no weddings when we booked with her.  She is charging us $400 and this included engagement photos taken about 45 minutes out of town and she spent a good three hours with us.  She is also bringing along a friend to the wedding who has done a wedding before and she will have done a couple of weddings before ours.  I think we are getting an awesome deal!  I will probably give her a little extra as long as everything turns out good on the day of!

springsummer

We are paying our photographer $500.  This is her first wedding, but she has done pet, nature, and family photography for 20 years.  We had her do our engagement pictures ($50) to see what we thought, and she did a goodjob.  She won't be doing any editing, but we get all of the rights to the pictures, and she is going to take pictures from the time we are getting ready (9am) until the the end of the reception (7pm).  It is going to be a long day for her, but she wanted to do it, and she came up with the price.  We thought it was very reasonable.

cukimerrydoll

It really depends on their experience so far.  Last week we signed a current student who has been photographing weddings for three years - she graduates in May, and our wedding is in August.

The contract was for $1250.  It includes photos for the entire day and copyrights to the photos.  Prints are not included in the quote, but the contract says an adendum to the contract can be added when she's a little more settled with where she would set up printing.

I wasn't worried about photo albums.  Two of my BMs love to put those together, and I have a few ideas for those as well.