Is there a catch to your prices? They seem, affordable.
Hello friends, a common question that couples tend to give us when they see our services and the pricing usually fall into one of two categories:
They believe there is some catch or gimmick behind the affordable pricing
They see the value in our services and pricing
Some couples will question why we offer $5,000 to $8,000 services at a three thousand dollar price point or less and today we’re going to explain why we do that, how we still make money and succeed in the process too.
So, What’s the catch here?
Sure, I get it, you’re thinking there is some behind-closed-doors scheme or gimmick to suddenly raise pricing.
Nope, nothing of that sort here.
In fact, we’re in a very, unique situation to be able to offer our services at a fair rate, and let me explain a bit in detail.
This is our business mission statement:
Our mission is to provide couples an amazing service at an affordable price point, all while capturing their memories to relive forever.
See, I started in this industry back in the 1990s when people still used VHS tapes and DVDs were brand new on the marketplace. That’s me on the right with my friend Jamey Singleton, ouch I had a bowl cut and red, more like orange hair.
Joshua with friend Jamey Singleton, 1993.
In my many years of being behind the camera and capturing weddings, I discovered the four types of wedding classifications when it comes to sales and some issues with that.
When I videotaped weddings back then, they were all in the high-end, luxury range couples. That’s because people with a disposable income could mostly afford to hire a wedding videographer.
So, when I went from working for someone to becoming my own boss in 2011, I wanted to create something special.
Offer a high-end service with a mid-range price point that’s more obtainable to the average couple.
And that’s what we’ve done.
Joshua in 2014 at a wedding.
It’s Where We Live
Part of what makes our pricing affordable is where we live, in Southwestern Virginia.
See, most people don’t know, but Roanoke and the surrounding region called SWVA have a much lower cost of living than DC, Richmond, and most of North Carolina, in fact upwards of 23% less in cost.
Everything is cheaper here, taxes, gas, food, utilities, and the like too.
That also includes weddings.
In fact, even if you toss in a travel fee, most times, we’ll be more affordable than professionals with the same skillset and expertise as us.
And we do a bit of traveling too from time to time, like Louisville, KY, Franklin, TN to the Smokey Mountains, to the beach of Wilmington and Myrtle Beach, Washington, DC, and several others just to name a few.
Couples We Tend to Attract
We also attract couples that spend roughly $25,000 to $40,000 at their wedding and understand a good value when they see one too.
Most are college-educated and high-skilled professionals and most want services that are more photojournalistic than the ‘light and airy’ trend of the last few years.
Many are outdoors types of people that enjoy family and being outdoors.
Additionally, we enjoy these types of people because we’ve found that they treat us more like friends than the hired help, something you tend to see in luxury-based weddings.
Our couples tend to be:
Easy going
Happy-go-lucky
Educated
See our professionalism
See our value-added services
It’s in Our Business Model too
Our business model is a unique one too, we have passive income and don’t rely on just photos and video to pay our bills either.
No, we don’t try to seek out 60 weddings a year either, in fact, we limit ourselves to less than 10 typically (COVID years have been an exception), because we don’t want couples to just become another ‘sale’.
If you’ve ever run a business, you’ll understand it’s a hard, complex machine with a lot of moving parts, even a small one such as ours.
We have no debt and very little overhead too, again that helps keep things low-cost in the business, and in turn, we can offer you value.
And Now You Know
Running a business is hard, often-times long hours with little acknowledgment, but it’s very rewarding and enjoyable too.
Along with that, Carole and I have developed a unique business model that is geared towards offering a high-level service at an affordable price.
It’s something that very few in the wedding industry do, most focus on making as much money as they can with high costs or booking as much as they can throughout the year in order to make their goal.
Our goal is different and puts our clients ahead of profits.
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