Wedding slideshow: How much do you charge? Never been asked before...new venture.

Hi. I have been approached by one of my 2011 brides to do their reception slideshow. Now, I'm not exactly a stranger to doing them - I've done a few for myself - PERSONALLY....but having never done this for a client, I have no clue what to charge for something like this. So I'm asking you people - how do I go about doing this? It's hard to give an estimate - since I don't know how long it'll take me. And I'm assuming it will be a "work in progress" since I don't expect I'll be getting all their photos in one chunk.

prairie pics wrote in post #11748741
Hi. I have been approached by one of my 2011 brides to do their reception slideshow. Now, I'm not exactly a stranger to doing them - I've done a few for myself - PERSONALLY....but having never done this for a client, I have no clue what to charge for something like this. So I'm asking you people - how do I go about doing this? It's hard to give an estimate - since I don't know how long it'll take me. And I'm assuming it will be a "work in progress" since I don't expect I'll be getting all their photos in one chunk.

Estimate a number of hours of work and multiply that by your hourly rate.
Adjust your price the next time based on whatever overages/difficulties you encounter.

hmmmm ok.

i would get the price like snails says, but then i would add a discount because is your first time doing this, just get some money and see the reactions and the do´s and dont´s of the slideshow... you can also meet with the bride to show it and get feedback?...

and a tip, if you gonna use some music, make the couple select a song, don´t grab that bone.

Don't discount just because you're new, set a price according to the quality of the work. You can see some examples of professional slide shows on the Photodex.com site and on many high-end wedding photographers sites. If your work is professional quality, charge a professional price.

A top-notch slideshow can take a great deal of time to do. Even finding the right music (because you can't use copyrighted music without permission) and syncing it stylishly to the tempo of the slides can take a few hours.

It can take me 6 to 8 hours to do a slide show..the way I want it... To do a quick one,I can not it out in about 30 minutes. So look at how much time you would spend.
I find the more the shows I do..the better I become at it.

prairie pics wrote in post #11748741
Hi. I have been approached by one of my 2011 brides to do their reception slideshow. Now, I'm not exactly a stranger to doing them - I've done a few for myself - PERSONALLY....but having never done this for a client, I have no clue what to charge for something like this. So I'm asking you people - how do I go about doing this? It's hard to give an estimate - since I don't know how long it'll take me. And I'm assuming it will be a "work in progress" since I don't expect I'll be getting all their photos in one chunk.

Are they expecting you do do it from the wedding images? Are they supplying the images in advance form their child hood?

Here is what a DJ is charging for his service


Slideshow (Photo Montage)-

$495 (complete production and presentation)
-up to 75 of your pictures set to your choice of music
-projected on a large screen at your event with full sound
-3 copies on DVD to keep afterwards

RDKirk wrote in post #11763812
Don't discount just because you're new, set a price according to the quality of the work. You can see some examples of professional slide shows on the Photodex.com site and on many high-end wedding photographers sites. If your work is professional quality, charge a professional price.

A top-notch slideshow can take a great deal of time to do. Even finding the right music (because you can't use copyrighted music without permission) and syncing it stylishly to the tempo of the slides can take a few hours.

I know what you mean. In the ones that I've done for myself & for some family get togethers, I'm really quite anal on getting the slides to "progress" with the music. Buggs the tar out of me when they're flipping at a different speed than the music.

scorpio_e wrote in post #11764616
Are they expecting you do do it from the wedding images? Are they supplying the images in advance form their child hood?

Here is what a DJ is charging for his service

Slideshow (Photo Montage)-

$495 (complete production and presentation)
-up to 75 of your pictures set to your choice of music
-projected on a large screen at your event with full sound
-3 copies on DVD to keep afterwards

Hmmm...interesting. No I won't be using their wedding images. That'd be impossible for me to do. I just don't take shots & then throw them in a show. It'll be just images from their childhood that they can round up & then I'm taking their engagments so I'll filter them in at the end of the show.

I was thinking no less than $250 for this project first of all. I guess I hadn't thought of a minimum/maximum of pictures tho. The reception hall is supplying the projector & stuff, so I don't have that expense in overhead.