If you’ve read my “Top 6 Wedding Planning Tips” blog, you’ll know that creating your budget is one of the first things I recommend doing. If you want to prioritize wedding photography costs in that budget, it’s essential to know how much it costs! In this blog, I’ll not only be giving you exact numbers, but I’ll also be breaking down why wedding photography costs what it does.
The wedding photography cost can vary depending on where you’re located, but for those looking for wedding day coverage in the Seattle-Tacoma area, one should expect to spend anywhere from $3000-$10000.
My starting rates for wedding day photographic coverage start at $3000, which breaks down to $500 per hour. 6 hours of coverage is pretty standard for weddings, but some couples need more, and some couples need less! For example, if you want ‘getting ready’ photos as well as photos during your reception exit, 6 hours most likely will not be enough for you. Be sure to chat with your photographer so that you both know exactly how many hours of coverage you need.
Photographers spend a lot of money on high-quality equipment to make sure their photos come out as beautifully as possible. Camera lenses alone can cost thousands of dollars, not to mention the actual camera bodies as well! In addition to that, we invest in external hard drives to keep your photos safe, SD cards, camera bags, lens caps, and more. Being a photographer is definitely not an inexpensive job!
Adding to the hours of coverage we’re physically present for on your wedding day, there are also hours and hours that go into culling and editing your photos. First, once we get home, we have to back up all your photos onto a hard drive. Then, we look through every single photo and remove the duplicates and blurry ones. Once that process is over, it’s time to edit the final ones!
All the time that it takes to answer emails, create timelines, contact vendors, and market ourselves on social media is a LOT! Photographers don’t technically bill for all the hours of admin work that we put in every single day. If we did, we’d be millionaires! So when setting our prices for photography, we have to take into consideration at least some of those hours. Most of us pour our hearts and souls into the behind-the-scenes work for our clients, and we wouldn’t have it any other way.
As much as we wish we could do everything ourselves, that’s just not realistic. We have to invest in other service providers for things like web design, branding, and marketing. And because we want high-quality work, we pay a high-quality price tag! We would lose our minds if we didn’t have the option to outsource parts of our business that we’re just not educated on, not to mention don’t even have the extra time to do ourselves.
At the end of the day, most of us photographers aren’t in it for the money. We simply want to do what we love while being able to pay our bills and feed our families. Our passion is documenting love stories for years to come, and we’re blessed to be able to do that for a living!
I would love to get to know you a little more and learn about what you want your wedding day to look like. To inquire about your date, you can fill out my contact form and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can!
WOW… I do not know where to start! I did not know Lessie before our photoshoot but I am so glad to have met her and chosen her to capture our engagement pictures! She was so easy to communicate with and so so helpful from start to finish. I am absolutely obsessed with the photos she captured of my fiancé and I! Not only do the photos look beyond amazing but our experience with her throughout the photoshoot was out of this world! She is extremely talented and was amazing at capturing natural and real moments!
- AMANDA + THOMAS
Lessie is the most compassionate, easy to communicate with , professional photographer I have ever had the joy of working with. Lessie has a skill set the surpasses many others, her attention to detail, her willingness to try new things and her commitment to the highest quality photos and experience for all who have the honor of booking with her is unprecedented. Lessie has a soul that is so invested in producing authenticity that many photos seem to lack.
- EMILY + DANIEL
Lessie was awesome! We are so happy she was the one that captured our special day! She was so professional. She was great at communicating with us in a timely manner and was extremely flexible when we had to reschedule our endgame to pictures. And my husband and I absolutely loved our wedding pictures as well. Lessie was able to captures so many great memories that we get to treasure forever!
- YESENIA + ROBBIE
Lessie is the most compassionate, easy to communicate with , professional photographer I have ever had the joy of working with. Lessie has a skill set the surpasses many others, her attention to detail, her willingness to try new things and her commitment to the highest quality photos and experience for all who have the honor of booking with her is unprecedented.... My gosh I am so grateful we booked with her! Lessie has a soul that is so invested in producing authenticity that many photos seem to lack.
- EMILY + DANIEL
Lessie is an amazing photographer. We could not be happier with our wedding photos. I love that she included many unique shots that I wouldn't have thought of but that I really love. Also, along with the photos of my husband and me and photos of both sides of the bridal party, she captured many of the wonderful smaller moments and details that are hard to notice amidst the busy-ness of the wedding day. We loved seeing those smaller details and the candid photos of friends and family as well. They're all very special to us.
- ABBIE + TONY
The trademarks, logos, photographs, and the content appearing herein, is exclusively owned by Lessie Blue Photography, and/or its licensors, and are protected. Any unauthorized use, sale, reproduction or distribution, shall attract suitable action under applicable law.
Seattle Wedding & Elopement Photographer Serving The Pacific Northwest
© 2015-2023 Lessie Blue Photography LLC | All Rights Reserved
Email: Contact@Lessiebluephotography.com
Mobile Phone: (252) 679-8402
Be The First To Comment