Only Good Surprises: Transparency In Wedding Photography Pricing
As event photographers working in the GTA for the last five years, we know how tight event budgets in general (and wedding photography budgets in particular) can be. While you can check out our FAQ for the basics we think it’s important to have frequent and in-depth conversations about issues that affect our clients and the event photography industry as a whole.
Conversations about issues that affect the industry as a whole are essential for the growth, sustainability, and integrity of the profession and we – the professionals – are responsible for making sure it moves in a direction that accommodates shifting client expectations, takes advantage of technological advancements, and keeps in mind emerging trends. By addressing these topics in an open forum, we want to foster a sense of community among event vendors, and encourage innovation.
Engaging in these conversations promotes ethical practices and professionalism keeping us accountable to one another, and ensures that event photography remains accessible, inclusive and diverse – no gatekeeping here! Discussing industry issues creates a more equitable space for photographers and clients alike, addressing concerns and struggles through open dialogue. Without this dialogue, misinformation and inconsistent (or exploitative) practices can create confusion for photographers and clients, and undermine trust in the industry as a whole, making the process of booking an event photographer more stressful for clients, and the attempt to develop good rapport and relationships with clients more difficult for photographers: a true lose-lose situation that we should all endeavour to avoid.
From getting-ready photos to post-ceremony photo sessions, it’s not only important that you look your best, but also that you feel your best about how you’ve spent your hard earned dollars on the vendors you’ve chosen to capture your special day.
Eugene and I recently had a debate about whether or not event/wedding photographers like us should post their prices online, and some interesting considerations for fellow photographers (and people thinking about how to choose an event/wedding photographer) were discussed. Whether you’re just beginning to think about your wedding photography budget, planning a corporate event to celebrate your co-workers, interested in pricing for a family reunion, or actively looking for an experienced wedding photographer who offers everything from full-day wedding photography coverage to intimate wedding photography packages (and everything in between), this article could give you some food for thought.
To start with, while it might make a business feel vulnerable to post their prices right on their websites, it’s vital in gaining the trust of prospective clients and helps the conversation move swiftly from potential to booked! For wedding photographers in Ontario, the number of winter wedding photographers needed are few (only the bravest of us Canadians would plan an outdoor wedding in January), so we usually end up working as summer, fall, and spring wedding photographers.
Since weddings are expensive, usually planned well in advance during the winter months, and are generally quite stressful for everyone involved, it behoves wedding professionals (photographers, DJs, MCs, etc.) to take as much pressure as possible off their potential clients and wedding planners.
We’re all working together to make your wedding as worry-free and magical as it can be, from the time you say ‘Yes’ until you say ‘I do’.
One of the best ways to do so is to be upfront with how much our services are going to cost prospective clients, making sure that everyone knows what they’re getting into from the start. We encourage future clients to check our packages for several reasons, including:
1. Developing a trusting rapport: Since couples often have a budget that they’re working within, being able to see the prices before they’ve even contacted us can give them an understanding of which of our services they can potentially afford, and allow them to compare us against our competition, which we welcome!
2. Dispelling beliefs about prohibitive costs: While we price our services based on the market and our years of experience, some potential clients might believe that if the prices aren’t readily available, it must be higher than they are able to afford – this isn’t necessarily the case, and we post our prices to remove uncertainty.
3. Helping clients gather information: We don’t want people to have to bend over backwards to get pricing information, and we know that doing research on the costs of all the aspects of wedding planning can be the most taxing part of the process – we endeavour to be helpful in removing obstacles, even if you end up going with another photographer.
4. Straightforward explanations for price increases: Sometimes prices do have to increase – if an event is particularly large, long, or there are requests from the client that don’t already have a listed price on our add-on services – but we want to make sure our clients understand why and are assured that we’re not just increasing prices arbitrarily (say because we’ve found out the parents are helping pay for the wedding).
5. Recommendations are essential: A lot of our business comes from reviews and word-of-mouth; the better our relationship with our clients, the more likely they are to recommend us to their friends, family, co-workers, etc. We want clients to feel that they’ve been treated fairly, honestly, and that we’re minimizing stress and making your journey as pleasant as your destination.
Obviously, each couple/wedding/event is unique, and we encourage our clients to pick and choose from our add-on menu to make sure their day is exactly what they need it to be. We’re also fans of even more specific customizations – we love the challenge and doing new things! Providing a straightforward list of our prices lets clients focus on the value of our photography, instead of worrying about surprise costs further down the line.
The most prominent argument against putting prices on wedding photography websites that we’ve seen is that it stops the businesses from negotiating a higher price once a potential client has given some indication of what their budget is. We are firm believers that this is a bit icky. It also has the potential to ‘backfire’ on wedding photography businesses who choose to operate this way, by forcing them to seek the client’s budget during the negotiating process, and eventually losing negotiating power as a result because you’ll never agree on a booking without setting a price in the end.
For fellow wedding photographers specifically: sharing your prices on a poorly maintained website, where the only things there are a gallery and some contact information is probably a bad idea – you have to demonstrate value, especially if you’re going to give price (or a price range) right out of the gate. You have to make sure that you’re really communicating the experience that the client is going to get for the money they have to spend.
But the alternative – not being transparent with your prices – will mean you’re also spending more time fielding calls and emails from clients who simply aren’t ideal. Would you post pictures of candid wedding photography if you were a documentary wedding photographer? Unlikely, because you want people to know what to expect and not be surprised when their photos are delivered. Pricing is similar; clients who are unable or unwilling to spend the amount you want to charge, might not be the people for you, and there’s a high likelihood of wasting everyone’s time if you don’t make this known from the start.
We know how hard it is to put yourself (and your prices) out there; you don’t want to charge too much and maybe not book as many events as you could, but you also don’t want to sell yourself and your skills short.
But, at the end of the day, this is a service-based business we’re in, and it’s essential to your continued success to keep the potential client and how they’re experiencing your website in mind when you’re making decisions about it. Keeping your prices a secret because you think clients should be willing to pay any price to have you as their photographer is a little misguided; there are lots of great photographers out there and clients will often abandon conversations if it is clear that you’re more interested in taking them for all they’re worth than you are in providing a valuable, experience-enhancing service.
Here are some things to keep in mind when moving towards pricing transparency:
Provide a clear breakdown of your services: offer tiered packages (elopement, intimate, timeless, signature, bespoke, etc.) to make it easier for clients to see what they’re potentially paying for – and what they might be able to afford for a slight increase in the price. Also be sure to specify what else each package includes, like editing services or image limits.
Be flexible about additional choices: make sure you make it clear that customization is possible and have an itemized list of possibilities – since every event is different, and clients want to make sure what they pay for fits them perfectly.
Don’t be worried about competition, let your work speak for you: You might not be affordable to everyone or your photography might not be everyone’s cup of tea; don’t let this deter you from disclosing the cost for your services up front. The trust you’ll build with potential clients is worth more than the one or two clients you might be able to talk into spending more. You’ll most likely gain more clients more efficiently with a transparency model because you won’t spend time chasing unattainable leads or being ghosted by clients who don’t have time to negotiate and renegotiate prices.
The future of your business starts now: if you’re like us and in this for the long-run, the brand you’re developing is as important as the current clients you’re getting. Reviews and recommendations are a cornerstone of a service-industry business like wedding photography, and you need to make sure your prospective clients become future advertisers. In our increasingly-connected world, it’s a lot easier for clients to compare prices and find services like wedding photography near them. Why would they choose your services over someone else’s when that person is also a skilled and experienced photographer who doesn’t make them take extra steps to find out how much their services will cost?
Pricing transparency not only makes financial sense, but is a more genuine and honest way of going about running a wedding photography business. Wedding photographers who adopt this approach not only exceed customer expectations (since many wedding photographers and vendors still don’t do this) but are likely to become a non-negotiable aspect of booking clients – having this already implemented gives you a competitive advantage, and demonstrates that you’re running your business with integrity, honesty, and are genuinely interested in helping clients achieve the event they envision. Using transparency to emphasize the value of personalized solutions helps clients justify higher price points when they are necessary, because future clients can see exactly how their choices influence the cost. If they’re interested in a particular add-on they know up front how much it will cost, and can potentially take that amount from elsewhere in their budget if they’re really keen on including it – making you more money in the long run, while allowing a client to customize their event and feel that they’re getting a truly unique, tailored affair.
Letting clients know your prices up front isn’t some new trend – it’s a transformative shift shaping how service-industry businesses, like wedding photography, interact with their prospective clients.
With the increase in the use of AI and machine learning, future clients have access to services that are capable of aggregating information for them; they can explore pricing quickly and efficiently, narrowing down businesses that provide wedding photography services within their price range and dismissing ones that don’t. A lot of these services also removed the pressure of sales interactions that those who don’t engage in transparent pricing rely on – if a client has the ability to avoid your sales pitch, you’re missing out on even more potential clients than if you had just posted your prices to start with, regardless of how good your wedding photography skills might be.
Wedding photography businesses can also use these tools to provide even higher levels of transparency. We can provide real-time quotes tailored to customer needs (by allowing them to calculate the cost of their preferred wedding package and add-ons immediately on the website), predict additional costs based on trends that can be observed by monitoring the industry as a whole (Are small, boutique weddings in more intimate locations becoming the norm? Are destination weddings becoming less popular because of economic constraints? Are corporate events increasing in scope and popularity now that many are returning to the office?). Offering dynamic pricing that remains transparent while accounting for fluctuating factors and trends will allow the modern wedding photographer to anticipate how clients' needs will change and evolve.
Consumer protection is also becoming an issue that more government and regulatory bodies are interested in; wedding photography businesses that proactively post their pricing are better positioned to comply with future regulations and are less likely to be behind the times (and potentially suffer damage to their reputations) as more and more wedding photographers and vendors adapt to this transparent pricing trend.
Wedding photography businesses should invest in technology (not just cameras and lenses, come on people) by embracing AI and machine learning tools that simplify and enhance the booking experience. While we should always take a customer-centric approach, we also have to continuously improve and have important discussions about how to balance what we want as a wedding photography business with what our clients want and deserve.
Whether you only offer full-day wedding photography coverage in the GTA, love doing elopement photography in exotic locations, or have a passion for modern, artistic wedding photography, your relationship with your past, current, and future clients should be your primary concern, and price transparency is a big part of your relationship with them. Building trust is essential when you’re going to spend an important (maybe the most important) day with clients that can recommend you and your services to their friends, family, and coworkers. Hopefully this article gives you some interesting things to consider!
