700 dollars and unlimited time?!!?!

[metric_photography]

Originally Posted by Photoboothguy

Pricing: Could I charge more than $1000? Absolutely. But look at my marketting tip...a lower price point will get you more weddings...more weddings get you more referals, which leads to more weddings. As you gain market share, you can slowly pull up your prices. 10 weddings a year at $1000/each isn't much, but in a couple years you'll be at 30 weddings at $2500/each.

But how can you charge $2500 when the next new up and coming wedding photographer is charging $1000?

[Jim Bryant]

Originally Posted by Photoboothguy

I shot a wedding this weekend for $1000, unlimited time, and provided a second-shooter.

Ended up being a 14-hour day.

Don't quite get the fuss. Fourteen hours of shooting + 1 pre-meeting + 5 hours of editing = 20 hours.

$200 for the second photographer.

$1000-200 = $800/20 = $40/hour, which is more than I make at my day job.

All my gear is paid for, and my day job covers my health insurance, so $40/hour is plenty. Not a lot of careers where you can make $40/hour without any formal educaiton.

Wanna hear the worst part? I give away the full-res digital files when I'm done!

You must be one of those weekend warriors a lot of us pros seem to bitch about charging cheap prices because you already have a full time job with bennies. Somehow, with all the work involved $40.00 doesn't seem so high. I'm just glad you're not in my area, there's enough here already.

[Biomech]

^^ True story bro, the key phrase being "my day job".

Not a lot of careers where you can make $40/hour without any formal educaiton.

Not really a career if it's on the side though is it.

Now lets say it IS your full time job. That's $40 an hour WORKED right? So you pay the second shooter $200, leaving you with $800 from that wedding shoot. Most people get married on a Saturday, there is only 1 Saturday a week. So now your $40/hour has become $800 a week.

Still doesn't sound too bad I guess. But first you have to take off corporation tax, in the UK that's around about 20%; so deduct $160. (eq $640).

You, of course, have your public liability and kit insurance, mine is about £46/month so what's that... $72. (eq $568).

Lets not forget you paid that guy $200, if we assume that's already taken into consideration his tax, you have to pay the IRS/HMRC "employERS" tax, which (I don't do this bit but) I think it's around 14% so thats... $28 that you have to pay in tax for the privilege of employing someone.

We're now down to $548 a week.

Let's say you work a 40 hour week, that's $13/hour BUT WAIT!!.........

Now deduct time and travelling costs for that pre-meeting, marketing costs, electricity, gas, water, premises/rent, petrol, car tax, car insurance, personal insurance, materials, replacement gear, print costs, printer, ink, paper, ISP, pens for the office, diaries, telephone, telephone bill, bank payment charges...

I'm sure you can see that you're not going to end up with much at all by the end of it...and we haven't even got to actual living expenses, food, mortgage, beer.

It's a common problem with business that people do not factor in all of the expenses that are involved. I was guilty of the same when I started. It really isn't a case of "I did a wedding for $1,000... that means I made $1,000 profit".

14 hour wedding ....+ 5 hours of editing

On a lighter note, I've been spending the last few days working on photos at 30mins each :P
As a general rule I factor +1 for editing. So a 10 shoot would take 10 hours to process = 20 hours total. Makes it easier for the rates too, people wouldn't pay for PP when it was £40/hour +£40/hour PP. But they will when it's just £80/hour "and that includes all of the PP work" (unless it's heavy Pshop)