One of the most popular questions I see on wedding Facebook groups all over the country is a simple one; “How much should we be spending on wedding photography?”

The answer to the question is really a mult-part one, so today Carole and I are going to dive a little more into it to help provide you the best answer possible.

What You Should Spend on Wedding Photography?

First things, first, if you don’t know how much you’re overall wedding budget is, you should.

The budget will best determine how much you should be spending for every line item in the wedding. From your venue to the wedding photographer (like us), the flowers, dress down to the menu.

The budget is a true test of being an adult and let me tell you that it’s hard at times!

Nationally, you should take 10%-12% of your overall budget and that should be the wedding photographer range that you’ll be spending.

If by chance you don’t know the number, we’ve taken the liberty to create an online wedding photographer cost calculator for you, just put in your overall wedding budget with the slider and it will figure it out for you.

You’ll notice their is a low, medium and high number to work with and we do that for a reason. You want to find professionals that work within a range, not a flat rate and thats something couples don’t think about.

For example, if the photographer’s rate is $1,800 but your budget is $1,600, you would still want to consider them in the running.

Why you might ask?

Because someone that is slightly higher or cheaper will be able to offer you some flexibility when negotiating with vendors. If the person offering services at $1,800 includes something added, you may be able to tell the $1,600 person and see if they would toss in that added thing as a freebie.

My point here is that it doesn’t hurt to ask.

Does Region Effect a Wedding Photography Price?

Yes, it does to a point.

Here is the truth.

“Someone with a $5,000 wedding is going to hire a $4,000 wedding photographer and someone with a $100,000 wedding budget will not be looking for a $1,000 photographer.”

Well, the same also applies to the region where you’re having the wedding.

Here in Roanoke, for example, vendors cost less than an hour and a half up the road in Charlottesville, Virginia.

What we charge in our region of Virginia is considered affordable, yet in the Washington, DC marketplace or Charlottesville market, we are considered underpriced.

It all boils down to the cost of living within your area and for the most part, how much your overall wedding will cost. Let me give you some figures from Value Penguin, a company that’s part of Lending Tree.

Wedding Costs by Region

Getting married in Kentucky for example is a LOT cheaper than getting married in Washington, DC if you glance at the chart so yes, price will depend on where you live and which region of those states you are also in.

If you’re comparing a neighboring area, you may find cheaper priced vendors and that’s a valuable asset that you have to work with.

If you find someone in you region for $3,000, chances are, if you live nearby a market thats cheaper, you may be able to find someone at a lower cost, even with a travel fee that can do the job equally as good as the higher rated person can.

In our line of work, we do alot of work in North Carolina and Tennessee because our rates tend to be more affordable than our counterparts that live in those regions.

Is it Better to Hire a Company that Does Both Wedding Photo and Video?

That depends on a few factors.

Someone like us, my wife Carole and I, yes, it is although it’s for a few reasons.

First, we are a part-time business, not full-time and that DOES make a difference in price.

A few years ago, I operated full-time and when I did, I NEEDED lots of income to keep my overhead going. Things like rent, power bill, gear costs, marketing and advertising, travel, multiple crews and the like, it became expensive, fast.

Since we operate part-time, we don’t have as much expense and we operate out of our home.

And thats something to look for when choosing a wedding vendor or photographer if you want to save some money.

Part-time companies are not going to be as ‘money-hungry’ as full-timer’s because it’s not our livelihood, thus typically, you can see they offer better rates for the same kind of work.

Additionally, some companies focus on one thing first like photography, then offer video as a second tier. It can be good if they have a dedicated professional doing it with the right gear (think like microphones and lights, etc). Although, I’ve seen some companies offer video with nothing more than one of their second shooters grabbing video and it’s well…. horrible.

One of the common misconceptions is that video and photos are basically the same, well, they’re not. While they share in some technology, the truth is that video and photos operate differently at your wedding. Let me give you an example.

During a speech or toast, a videographer will record the entire thing, with proper lighting, hopefully a good audio source and the camera being on a tripod, monopod or gimbal. The photographer on the other hand will take a handful of images then stop.

While they captured the same thing, one had to do more work to get it.

Honestly, you need to see samples of the company and what they offer in order to tell if what they produce is worthy of the cost.

The one true benefit to hiring a company that offers both is that they usually work great together and you don’t have poor communication. That’s usually the downfall of a wedding photographer and videographer, if they don’t communicate well, both could suffer during the wedding with getting the shots they need.

Should I spend More On Photos or Video for the wedding?

That’s a great question and truthfully the answer lays with you.

There is always a rivalry going back and forth among wedding photographers and videographers alike saying that one is better than the other, hey I get that, after all we’re in the business too.

Usually, photographers will tell you that you can’t hang a wedding video on the wall or showcase it above your fireplace and they are right.

Videographers on the other hand will tell you that you can’t hear word spoken in an image or be able to relive what someone said or did during the wedding and yeah, that’s true too.

In many ways they’re both right on the points that they make but honestly the answer depends on how much you value each. I can tell you from my experience as a filmmaker that couples love watching and sharing the smaller highlight or feature films with friends and family. They will usually watch their video once a year or so and tuck it away.

Photos on the other hand are great for putting up on the walls in the home, although, I don’t see many wedding photos over the mantle or fireplace these days.

In fact, I asked couples that recently got married if they got physical prints of the wedding day or an album of the day to display in the home, like a coffee table and the results were surprising. Just 21% said they had some form of physical prints for displaying, 44% said they had just a digital copy of their wedding images, 31% said they had both digital and prints while the remaining 4% said they had not decided yet which to get.

On a national average, I will tell you that wedding photographer is about 9-14% of the wedding budget while video runs 8-12%. If you don’t know what you should be spending, check out our wedding budget tool.