STG Studios

Wedding photography invoice/ itemized pricelist.?

I have a final in my Business of Photography class to create an itemized pricelist or invoice for a wedding or what we would charge if we had a wedding photography business. I have an idea of what I want to charge for what and the different packages, but I would like to know in how many categories I should break it down into as far as time, prints, albums, DVD/CD, etc. Any websites I could go to to see what other people show on their invoice or how many categories they break their bill down into?? Anything would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Hi Lizz,

Good luck with your final! Hope I can help.

I'm a professional wedding photographer in New York. I want to be adequately compensated for (1) my time, not only at the wedding itself but the preparation and many hours of post-production editing, color correcting, cropping, and retouching the photographs (2) my talent, and that includes the schooling, workshops, studying, practice, etc that I've put in to reach a certain level of excellence (3) my technology. I bring about $10,000 in camera gear and accessories to a wedding, and there's another $5,000 in computer hardware and software to process the images so I need to charge enough to pay off that investment and keep my gear up-to-date (4) my out of pocket expenses, for transportation to and from the wedding, for prints, frames, album design, printing, and binding services, etc.

Like most professional wedding photographers, I offer primarily "packages" rather than a-la-carte pricing for each and every item. The concept is relatively simple. Most brides want certain basics, so you include those in the package, with variations on the quantity and quality at each price level. Packaging the elements together reduces haggling about each and every element, and helps a bride to commit to additional products or services, like an engagement session, and for an album. Brides feel they are getting a bargain, since the package price is lower than the total of the individual elements.

All of my packages include certain things - an online internet gallery to preview the images, an album, and an archival CD with JPEG digital image files. What varies is the number of hours, the number of photographers, the album's physical size, number of images and quality, and whether it includes extras like an engagement session.

I offer 4 packages, at $2,000, $3,500, $5,000 and $8,000. The smallest package includes one photographer for four hours, and 20 pictures in a simple 8x8 inch album with a man-made cover. The most extravagant includes 2 photographers plus an assistant, for 12 hours, 90 pictures in a large 12x12 inch elegant "storybook" flush-mount leather bound album with gold edge pages, and multiple engagement sessions to create a "seasons of our love" series shot throughout the year before the wedding as well as a framed 16x20 portrait from either an engagement session of the wedding, printed on canvas.

My packages are designed and priced to guide brides towards the middle two choices, and that's what most of them choose. These offer a good balance between the simple "starter" package, and the over-the-top high end. They are named Lexington Avenue, Madison Avenue, Fifth Avenue and Park Avenue, in that order from low to high price. That also "tracks" with most New Yorker's perceptions of the prestige of each of those addresses.

I also have an a-la-carte price list which enumerates the cost for (1) Photography, by the hour, with different prices for Principal Photographer, Second Shooter, and Assistants. (2) Albums, in three different sizes 8x8, 10x10 and 12x12 with 20 pages, plus cost per additional page, (3) Album Design Fees for creating an artistic "storybook" flush-mount album design, cost according to number of pages (4) Upgrade Charges for different album cover options like Ostrich Leather, Image View Cover, two-tone leather, page gilding, etc. There's also a separate print price list, for ordering additional prints not included in any package.

There are a couple of good links you can check out below for more information.

Regards,
George Delgado
Certified Professional Photographer

http://www.NYPortraits.com

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