If you’ve just started planning your wedding then you may be looking for or researching Staffordshire wedding photographer prices.
Staffordshire wedding photographer prices vary significantly and there are many reasons for this.
The price of a wedding photographer will vary according to several factors
Experience
Skill/Talent
Demand for the service
What is being offered
Because wedding photography is such a variable service, Staffordshire wedding photographers cannot realistically be compared on a like for like basis. On the face of it two photographers may be offering a similar package, but the key difference will be their level of skill and the quality of what they are delivering (both in terms of the photos themselves and any tangible items)
You may see wedding photographers in Staffordshire charging anything from £400 up to £2500. Why such a big difference in cost? There is likely to be a lot of difference between a £400 photographer and one costing upwards of £2000.
The average cost of wedding photography in the UK is somewhere around £1500 (source) Which begs the question as to why some can some offer it so cheap and why are others so much more expensive?
Speaking candidly, the fact is that it usually comes down to quality. You may get lucky and find yourself and diamond in the rough, but good wedding photographers are in demand. If you are in demand you will have higher expenses in order to fulfil your obligations and therefore you’ll need to charge more for your services. If someone is cheap there is usually a reason why.
Here are some of the reasons someone may be offering cheap wedding photography in Staffordshire.
They may not be a full time photographer (nothing wrong with this per se, but they will be cheaper because their photography business alone is not having to cover their costs and support their families. Therefore their fee is not a realistic representation of what it costs to actually be a full time wedding photographer)
- They may be inexperienced. Experience allows you to anticipate moments, be prepared for any situation and ultimately do the best job possible. As with any job, experience attracts a higher fee, so someone who is cheap is unlikely to be an experienced wedding photographer. They may still capture some nice photos, but there again so could Auntie Susan.
- They may not be a wedding photographer. People seem to think that a photographer is a photographer is a photographer. This is not the case. Wedding photography is a very specific skill and one that takes years to perfect. Someone may take wonderful photos of landscapes or birds but they may be a rubbish wedding photographer.
Staffordshire wedding photographer prices?
- They may just not be very good! It’s a sad fact that there are some really bad wedding photographers out there (not in Staffordshire specifically, but everywhere!) So many articles online share couples experiences with bad wedding photographers. So if someone is cheap it might be because they are not very good! It’s as simple as that.
- The quality of their products may be not to a professional standard. Professional wedding albums for example cost over £250 at COST PRICE directly from professional album manufacturers. Therefore, if someone is charging £600 and includes an album, what on earth is the quality of that album going to be like? It will not be a professional album that is for sure. It is likely to be from a consumer website, which you could order yourself. Which is fine if that is what you are looking for, but do not be fooled into believing that you are getting the same quality as you would be if you were purchasing from a professional Staffordshire wedding photographer who supplies professional wedding albums.
- It may be too good to be true. Every few months we hear of a photographer popping up, offering “too good to be true” deals, collecting a string of deposits from optimistic couples and then disappearing. If someone is charging £600 when most of their colleagues seem to be charging double or triple that, then yes, it’s very likely to be a scam. Not always, but often. Many couples convince themselves that the deal is simply because their photographer doesn’t like to “rip people off” or that their photographer “doesn’t charge more just because it’s a wedding.” My only piece of advice here is that if you feel you need to justify why something is cheap, then you probably already know within yourself that it’s risky.
- They may be a friend or colleague. Totally your call, but friends and colleagues don’t always make the best photographers. Things can easily become awkward if things don’t quite go to plan or you’re unhappy with what they’ve delivered.
Generally speaking, if you value photography and you want quality photographs you should look to spend around £1500 for 1 photographer which is the average spend in the UK (source) Anticipate spending around £400 more if you are looking for a 2 photographer team or a second shooter as a base price. Many teams will cost more and be absolutely worth it!
However, many photographers still cost significantly more than this. As with cheap wedding photographers in Staffordshire, there are more costly wedding photographers in Staffordshire too. There are many reasons why a photographer may be so much more costly than average.
Here are some of the reasons why a wedding photographer in Staffordshire might cost more than average.
- They may just be really good. If a photographer has received awards and accolades, and if their work is featured in magazines etc then of course they are going to be more expensive than average….because they are not of average ability or standards.
- Photographers who are good at what they do are in demand. Really good photographers typically receive 250+ wedding enquiries each year. Some many more than this! If you receive 250 enquiries your calendar is going to fill up FAST. Especially when you consider that you could only shoot maybe 40 weddings a year comfortably. 40/250 are not great odds if you’re a couple looking to book! Therefore, if you receive hundreds more enquiries than you can actually fulfil your price must increase in order to keep things under control. It’s like the housing market, if there are more people buying than selling, prices are higher.
- They offer a premium service or products as standard. For example high end albums or prints, engagement shoots etc
Staffordshire wedding photographer prices?
- There may be more than one photographer. It is very popular now to hire a team of two photographers. If there are two photographers rates will be higher to account for the fact that two photographers need paying. There will also be lots more work involved due to many more photographs to process, edit etc
- They may be catering to a different client. In the same way that Ferraris are not generally marketed at families, a particular photographer may be catering to a particular market- higher earners for example.
- They may have lots of experience or specialise in wedding photography. Being experienced in your role will attract a higher fee. If you also specialise in wedding photography then your fee may also be higher as you may be thought of as an expert in that area.
As you can see there are lots of reasons why someone may be a cheap wedding photographer. There are also lots of reasons why some wedding photographers may cost more than others. Hopefully you will now understand why the cost of wedding photography in Staffordshire may vary so much.
In summary, if you value wedding photography and you are looking to book a reasonable quality photographer for your wedding, you should expect to spend around £1500+ for a single photographer.
If you are prepared to take a chance on someone less experienced or who may not be familiar with shooting weddings you may wish to spend less than this. If you would prefer a quality wedding photographer who is experienced shooting weddings you may need to spend around £1800 to achieve this.
In the event that you have a little more wiggle room in your budget and you’d like a top quality photographer who is experienced, who perhaps has awards etc then you should be looking to spend £2000+. Possibly a little more if you also require a second shooter, or additional products such as albums.
Hopefully you now have a better insight into the cost of wedding photography in Staffordshire and Staffordshire wedding photographer costs.
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