Mileage & Travel Time

[Mark_48]

Most weddings I've done have been reasonably nearby and I've based my pricing without taking into account any mileage or time traveled. I have a client I'm seeing this week that had not made it clear up front and I unfortunately neglected ask, the location of the wedding and reception which is 80 miles from my town. This equates to 160 miles round trip and roughly 3 hours of total drive time. I'm presuming most of you charge a mileage rate, which I believe the standard is around $.32 per mile presently (IRS guidelines?). I'm not sure what I should do about the 3 hours of time, if it is appropriate to charge an overtime rate based on travel time. And if I do charge overtime for the travel, at what rate do I charge. Would I base it on what I charge for the wedding based on its 5 hours of time.

[jaypie77]

I don't think you can charge mileage AND overtime for driving, or at least I haven't ever seen that.

Also, the new IRS rate is $.40/mile I believe.

[defordphoto]

Current mileage rates are 40.5 cents per mile.

[pradeep1]

I don't think you can charge mileage AND overtime for driving, or at least I haven't ever seen that.

Also, the new IRS rate is $.40/mile I believe.


You can take the mileage allowance on your taxes. You can charge the wedding party for your time, gas, hotel, food, etc. as a flat fee. Bloo Dog's $175 out of town flat fee seems reasonable, but you'd want to limit that to a reasonable distance. If you had to travel over 150 miles one-way, you might consider charging more.

[Mark_48]

After reading the responses here and some thought about the matter, I ended up pricing with mileage, but not overtime. The instances where I may have a wedding well out of town are far and few between, so I guess it all averages out if I consider the number I shoot that are really nearby.

Thanks for the help, it's well appreciated.

Mark.........