12 Hour Wedding - ? Hourly cost?

not sure about your workflow but for me, every hour of shooting equates to about the same amount of time post processing. Keep that in mind when you decide on what you are going to charge. Also, for digital only packages that you give high resolution files to the client you cut any potential profit from print/album sales. Another thing to keep in mind when you price your services.

I guarantee you if your lowest package come with all digital files, nobody will buy your higher package.

I charge more per hour than anyone else who's posted here so far, and I wouldn't give them a break on it. It's my time, my assistants time (who I have to pay), and processing time.

$160 an hour... easy. A shots only package that equates to that much in extra work so charge accordingly.

SchwettyLens wrote in post #13274717
I guarantee you if your lowest package come with all digital files, nobody will buy your higher package.

This is exactly what I was going to say and why I asked what was included. If you give it all away no one will ever come back for albums or prints when they can just get it done at Walmart and not know any better.

OP, I highly recommend that you make your digital only package a higher priced package, not a lower priced package. I learned this lesson the hard way my first two years in business. Now if you want the files, you have to pay for my middle package at least (I have five).

I give one day coverage, so brides and groom dont have to worry about how many number of hours I will be there on the day. I find most weddings go for atleast 12 hours min. From getting ready to end of reception. They got no stress about when im going to leave etc. Plus I rather be there from start to finish.

If the wedding is a really small one like 5 hours, then I will send them a seperate price.

siddr20 wrote in post #13300466
I give one day coverage, so brides and groom dont have to worry about how many number of hours I will be there on the day. I find most weddings go for atleast 12 hours min. From getting ready to end of reception. They got no stress about when im going to leave etc. Plus I rather be there from start to finish.

If the wedding is a really small one like 5 hours, then I will send them a seperate price.

I used to do this until I kept getting people expecting discounts because their event was only going to be 4 hours.
Now I have 2 rates. 5 hours or less and 6 hours or more.

I have only received one enquiry about a 4 hour wedding. Will see how it goes next year, but from all the meetings I have had lately they love the one day coverage. Its the first thing they always mention to me.

siddr20 wrote in post #13306690
I have only received one enquiry about a 4 hour wedding. Will see how it goes next year, but from all the meetings I have had lately they love the one day coverage. Its the first thing they always mention to me.

Same here... In fact with my album packages the end product in terms of the album is the same regardless as to whether I do six hours coverage or 12 hours. A 72 page album with approximately 150-250 photographs included in it. The time spent designing the album is the same regardless.

As the number of photos I supply can vary too (this season so far 600 lowest 1200 highest both from approximately 12 hours coverage) how much I shoot and supply is not really determined by how long I am there but more by the wedding, order of events etc.

I feel by not imposing a restriction of my time it takes one worry away from the clients. As a result clients do not feel rushed or pressured as they know I'll be there.

With one bride last year the ceremony started over an hour late (remember the rings folks). As a result we ended up doing the group family shots at the reception later that evening instead. Had I only done a limited 6 hours coverage this wouldn't have been possible. As a result instead of being highly stressed and effectively being forced to choose between bridal party shots or family shots (due to time constraints) we simply moved something to later in the day.

I have only ever once quoted for a reduced hours coverage, this was a shots only and happened to fall conveniently on a date I would otherwise have not been likely to book. As a matter of course I say to people there are my packages, they all include full coverage... basically take it or leave it (but not so abruptly).

+1 to the above.

I give anywhere from 800-1500 photos. The most I have given is nearly 2000 photos. But it was an indian wedding going over 3 days. Clients love to see everything. The less pressure you put on them the better.

To give another example, just recently the ceremony got rained out. We had to wait atleast 2 hours before the rain stopped. Clients stressing, everything got pushed forward. If I only did a certain number of hours and charged on top how would they feel.

But each to their own. As long as the clients are clear on the extra charges I guess.

You appear to have learned, but your problem here was fundamental.

It's not whether you charge 20 or 50 or 160 an hour, but you need to work out the cost of You working. So if you charge a total of 800 for 5 hrs that's is 160 an hour, why do you charge 50 for extra hours?

Simple answer, work out your business costs then set your price, rather than grabbing figures from thin air.

memoriesoftomorrow wrote in post #13276104
$160 an hour... easy. A shots only package that equates to that much in extra work so charge accordingly.

Exactly. $160 an hour is what you're already charging ($800 for 5 hours is $160 an hour), so why not stick with that?

That quote is more than reasonable and like other have said, probably too reasonable actually.