[lissykeeper]

First of all, congratulations!!! It really makes you feel great when someone likes your work enough to want to pay for it! I can't really tell you how much to charge. Only you know what would be a good rate for your area. But I can tell you what I did, and what I would have done differently. My first paid wedding I charged $125. Seriously. (no one yell at me please. I didn't know what I was doing) I had done a few weddings for friends as their gift from me and word got around that I was decent with a camera. When the bride to be ask me what I would charge her, I told her $125 honestly thinking she would not ask me to do it. I spent 5 hours at the church. Even then I didn't think I was under charging. I was getting paid to do something I loved doing. It wasn't until I started processing that I realised my error. I spent another 5 hours processing, over a period of a couple weeks. The second time I was asked to do a wedding, I was a little (only a little) smarter. I charged $350. They only wanted me to shoot the wedding and the traditional stuff at the reception, but I convinced them to do a few posed shots. I spent a total of 3 hours at the wedding, part of the time was hanging out. Then of course processing time. It was still a lot of work for only $350. I now know why wedding photogs charge so much. I don't think I will offer weddings as a service. I may still do the occassional wedding for friends, but it is so much work.