Forest of Dean Wedding Photographer

How much does a wedding photographer cost? 

Wedding photography costs can vary greatly and will depend on a number of things. Firstly the years of experience will have a significant impact on the amount that they charge. Each wedding can vary so much and requires the photographer to adapt and think of their feet.  Years of experience can help with this. 

Wedding photography costs can also vary based on the time the photographer spends at the wedding and the number of photographs that are delivered to you after the wedding. As you can see from my prices page I keep my packages nice and simple and have 2 simple packages and am also happy to discuss bespoke weddings and charges. With regards to photos, I simply give you all of the photos that are of the best quality. This normally entails around 500 photos for a standard wedding from bridal prep to the first dance.

Why is wedding photography so expensive?

If you broke down the number of hours of preparation before your big day, charging batteries, ensuring all memory cards are clear, maintaining cameras, then the number of hours with you on your big day followed by the number of hours backing up your photos, then editing and finally uploading to your online gallery and personalised USB stick, you wouldn’t feel that it is so expensive.

You also must consider the cost of the equipment involved in order to produce the highest quality images, alongside the software to edit and the cost of hard drives and cloud storage. If a photographer is very cheap, you must question why? What are they cutting back on?

How many wedding photographers for a wedding?

I mostly work on my own, however, if I feel that I will need a second shooter or assistant on the day, then I will let you know. For example, if you wanted wedding photos at bridal prep but you also wanted wedding photos of the other partner getting ready at a different location, then I would ask a second shooter to join me on the day.

How many photos do wedding photographers deliver?

The number of wedding photos that a wedding photographer delivers will really vary. Some photographers will give you a specific amount and then charge you for anything above that. Some will give you all of the photos at low quality and then charge you for high-quality prints. Others, like myself, will give you all the photos of high quality with no extra hidden costs.

In my mind, once you have paid for that photography package, all of those images are then yours for you to enjoy, so I give you all of the images at the highest quality resolution, online for you to share with all of your loved ones after the wedding. I tend to find that an average wedding that I photograph will deliver between 500 and 1,000 photos.

What cameras do wedding photographers use? What lens do wedding photographers use?

There are 3 main competitors out there at the moment with regards to wedding photographer cameras, these are Canon, Nikon and Sony. However there are many, many more brands that are equally as professional, but from my experience, these are the most popular.

I work with Canon and Sony, I have a Sony A7-3, a Canon 5D mark 4 and a Canon EOS R. I use a range of lenses for various different situations and types of wedding photography. For those candid, reportage-style images I will use my Canon 100mm lens to make the images feel more intimate without the subjects knowing I’m there. For group and couple shots, I will use my 24 – 70mm Canon lens.

How to reach out to wedding photographers? What do wedding photographers want from their clients?

The best way to reach out to a wedding photographer is to either send them an email with the date and location of your wedding, suggesting the desired package. A wedding photographer who has a lot of experience doesn’t really need too much from their clients after that, other than knowing timings, locations and added extras to expect, for example, readings in the ceremony, musicians, ice cream vans, confetti cannons, etc.

I appreciate that your wedding day is incredibly special, so you may want to meet up before booking or at least have a video call to make sure that you feel at ease around me and also won’t feel like you have any strangers at your wedding. If I haven’t been to a venue before then I will visit it to do a recce and establish the best areas for photographs.

What do wedding photographers do and how long do wedding photographers stay at a wedding?

The role of a wedding photographer can vary depending on the type of photographer that you’ve booked. Essentially there are two various styles, either candid, or reportage, which will involve the photographer literally just capturing moments as they happen naturally. The other style may be more constructed, traditional photography, with some group photos and set up poses to ensure that you get all of the people that you would like in your images. I try to base myself in between both of these. I actively try not to take over by shouting and bossing people around. I will, however, help guide and ensure that we get groups together if you have asked for some group shots. I will tend to use your bridal party to do this. I will also communicate regularly with you to let you know what I am doing and am hoping to do next.

I make it my objective to ensure that you enjoy your wedding as much as possible and don’t ever advise that we do hundreds of group shots, as you and your guests are there to have fun, not a full-on photo shoot, believe me, you and your smile will be grateful for this at the end! Photographers will tend to stay based on the package you have booked, which is mostly bridal prep for the first dance, however, if you would like me to stay until later for sparkler photographers then I will add this on as an extra, I just need prior notice.

How long do photographers take to edit wedding photos?

I will always endeavour to get a sneaky peek of your wedding photos (roughly 20) to you within a week so you can use these for thank yous. I will then edit the rest of your photos within 6 weeks.

Ready to reach out?

Now that you know more about how wedding photography works, tell me: when is your big day and what do you want your wedding day pictures to be like?

Contact me for a free 15-minute consultation →