How do you determine when to raise prices?

My wife and I are in our first year as wedding photographers. We decided to start being "professionals" in October of 2011 and have booked 11 weddings for 2012 at our current prices with a base package of $1800. We booked 7 of those weddings after 2012 had already started and 4 in November and December of 2011.

Now that we have a better and more extensive portfolio, a lot more word of mouth advertising, and a lot more time to book weddings I feel like we shouldn't have too much problem hitting our goal of 20 weddings for 2013 if we keep our current prices. We have 5 weddings booked so far for 2013 and a few more in the works.

I have compared our work to other photographers in our area and I feel like we can still compete very well (although obviously i'm biased) with photographers charging $2000-$2300 for what we are charging $1800. Based on survey done by theknot most brides in my area spend between 2000-3000 on photography.

So, my question is, do you think we should raise our base package from 1800 to 2150?

When you get too much business.

Sounds very retroactive. I like to be proactive.

Numenorean wrote in post #14790969
When you get too much business.

I think the best thing to do is raise your prices BEFORE you get too much business
but that is a very hard thing to know!

I'm a nobody honestly, but i think based on your OP, now would seem like a good time to raise 'em.
I heard from someone that "if everyone you talk to, book you, you need to raise your prices"
I sort of agree with that philosophy..

When it looks like you're going to have too much business. Or, perhaps, when you don't have enough business.

I'm also in my first season. I've made it a rule to increase my rates every 3rd wedding booked until I reach my target price. I came to this plan after I heard Jasmine Star say she did this when she first started out. I believe she started at $1000, and increased her prices 20% every 3rd wedding booked. When that 20% got to be a bit of a big jump, she moved to every 5-10 weddings. I like having an easy-to-determine guideline.

tim wrote in post #14791339
When it looks like you're going to have too much business.

This. If you increase your rate by 30% and your booking rate does not fall below 75% of where it is today (ok 76.9% to be exact) you are still winning. Less work and same return and you have more time to focus on your creative work.

Don't base your business on unscientific surveys.

Read up on supply and demand and then apply it to your situation with as much hard data as you can.

tnis0612 wrote in post #14790936
Based on survey done by theknot most brides in my area spend between 2000-3000 on photography.

Are you trying to be a photographer for "most" brides?

Double your rates. If 80% complain of your pricing, then you are priced about right.

I'm not basing my business on that. Just stating why I don't think I would be pricing myself out of my market if I were to raise prices.

Thomas Campbell wrote in post #14791770
Don't base your business on unscientific surveys.

I do have a fairly good understanding of supply and demand (finance undergrad and wife econ undergrand with MBA). I think the hardest part is forecasting demand.

RangersForever wrote in post #14792229
Read up on supply and demand and then apply it to your situation with as much hard data as you can.

No i'm not trying to be a photographer for "most" brides. But I don't think it's a bad thing to move into a higher priced market especially if it has more brides.

BTW i've been to Bel Air, MD many times..beautiful area..my sister in law got married there.

Gatorboy wrote in post #14792284
Are you trying to be a photographer for "most" brides?

Double your rates. If 80% complain of your pricing, then you are priced about right.

Figure out how much you want to make per year. Figure out how many weddings you want to shoot per year. Divide the first number by the second. That's your price.

But isnt that completely dependent on how good you think you are and what you consider to be a good living, which could be very different than what others are willing to pay you?

brokensocial wrote in post #14795090
Figure out how much you want to make per year. Figure out how many weddings you want to shoot per year. Divide the first number by the second. That's your price.