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[chen12]

I have been photographing weddings and portraits for a few years now, but do not consider myself of professional cantor. I "apprenticed" under a couple of other wedding photographers for a while and have shot at more than 5 weddings as either solo or 2nd shooter. I do usually get good reviews on the photos I take and people tell me I should become a professional. I am just not 100% confident about my work(I still have some areas that need improving).

My sister-in-law asked me to shoot her wedding in California. I was honored. I figured I was doing it for free since she said they didn't have enough money to go on a honeymoon. She just asked me how much I wanted to be paid. My usual rate is $500 for a wedding, but I was about to raise it up to $800. I don't feel that I can ask for this much money from them. I want to paid what I am worth, but its hard with family. I thought about just asking for enough to cover expenses(travel and rentals), but I feel like maybe I should ask for a bit more for my time/editing and talent.

Thoughts?

[parnell]

In my opinion its usually best to not mix family and business especially when it involves a family member's wedding. If you mess it up your whole family is going to be down on you and even if you do a good job there will be some family members who will think you were wrong to charge your own sister for her wedding pictures.

I suggest you politely decline and maybe offer to help them pay someone else.

[ealahweemah72]

In my opinion its usually best to not mix family and business especially when it involves a family member's wedding. If you mess it up your whole family is going to be down on you and even if you do a good job there will be some family members who will think you were wrong to charge your own sister for her wedding pictures.

I suggest you politely decline and maybe offer to help them pay someone else.

They're pretty much broke - the question is, how close are you to the couple. It would be a very nice gift if you were to do this for free -- but they have to pay for the travel and hotel (etc.) You either do it this way, or turn it down completely and be a guest at the wedding (this means it will cost you to fly out there plus etc.)

p.s. Or you can charge them whatever amount you think is fair, but even at $800, you will not be making much because it will still cost you to fly there and back.

[coinleain]

Professionally, I would say 15%-30% discount since that's what companies usually do for family and friends discount.
Personally, I would do wayyy less than that just out of consideration for her money difficulty.

Good luck!

(Ps, next time, you should ask earlier in the day to get more traffic)

*edit: Eric Lefebvre: Of course, but people in Japon aren't likely to come to YA USA and see the question. The asker will get better results on YA USA if they follow the American schedule.

[freedom97]

I absolutely refuse to do friends and family weddings.

Far too much can go wrong ... point in fact:
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=ArrkYOlodNAoLLg_Oj8NTHDty6IX;_ylv=3?qid=20110719135144AA9WSgO

YOU CHARGE ONLY 500$ FOR A WEDDING? That doesn't even cover my cheapest package ... heck it doesn't even cover the cost of the shoot!

Ok, I'll start by answering your real question first but read further down for an explanation of why you are going to go bankrupt at that price.

You should not charge for a family wedding. Just tell them you'll do it for free as a gift. The moment you accept money for it, it falls under Work for Hire and you suddenly have massive legal obligations and you set certain expectations. Failure to meet the expectations can result in legal action and when family/friends are involved it makes your life a living nightmare.

So don't charge or don;t do it at all.

Now let's address your ridiculous price:

Have you sat down and done an actual cost analysis of a shoot / running a photography business?

COSTS ASSOCIATED WITH THE SHOOT
Travel to and from (include a bit for wear and tear on vehicle)
Gear rental (if you don't have all the gear needed and backups to that gear)
Printing costs of final product

COSTS OF OPERATING A BUSINESS
Web hosting / domain name registration
Business cards
Hard copy portfolio
Office supplies (paper, pens, schedulers)
Phone / Cellphone
Electricity
Internet access
Legal fees
Accountant fees
Business licence fees
A fund to replace dying gear
A fund to buy new gear
Computer(s)
Backup systems
Liability insurance
Equipment insurance
...

TAXES
Then you have to tack on taxes (or maybe not ... depends)

SALARY
Finally how much do you want to take home.
When figuring this amount, don't forget that a 8 hour wedding is actually more like 14 hours once you factor in meeting the clients, shooting the wedding, post processing work, archiving, ordering and retrieving prints, meeting the client again ...

Let's just do a little pretending here.
500$ for an 8 hour wedding (from prep pics to bouquet toss).
I'll pretend you actually have a backup camera but only ONE fast lens (50mm f1.8).

RENTAL
24-70 f2.8 (30$ day rental)
70-200 f2.8 (40$ day rental)
2 X 580EXII flashes (16$ day rental total)
50mm f1.4 (already own a 1.8 so no need to rent the f1.4)
RENTAL COST: 86+tax

TRAVEL
So let's say you are traveling 100KM in total for the shoot. I budget 55 cents a KM so 55$

FINAL PRODUCT COST
Let's say they are getting a photobook. Your cost for this would be about 90$ taxes included.

So from your 500$ we deduct 231$ That leaves you with 269$

Now we get hit by the evil 44% income tax. We do this on profit so your costs don;t get included in this. 44% of 269$ = 118.36$

So you are now left with 150.64$

Let's put half of what we have left aside to help pay for our business operational costs: 75.32$

That leaves us with 75.32$ in our pocket.

75.32$ / 14 hours = 5.38$ an hour is what you are paying yourself. Now ask yourself ... is it worth it? You could be making more money working at McDonalds.

The math above is a bit flawed but we're just going for ballpark at this point.

At that rate, you would have to work 3717 hours a year just to make 20,000$ That's 265 (8 hour considering an 8 hour wedding is 14 hours of work) weddings a year. Considering that weddings are mostly on weekends it 's not even possible in a one year period even if you shot every Friday, Saturday and Sunday (that's just 156 weddings or 11750$)

PS: LUCEE
The internet is a WORLD WIDE web. It's early in the day somewhere in the world.

[galvin]

When I have friends and family ask me to photograph a wedding for them, I start off by being very upfront about my prices.

I start by saying, "Normally I charge $5,000 per day, but I'd be happy to work with you since we are friends/family."


I try by making it very clear as to what my time is worth. Also, if I do it as a "wedding gift" do they really expect their other guests to be bringing $5,000 wedding gifts.



Where we go from there depends. Sometimes I will just tell them they I would rather be a guest and that I would be happy to help them select a professional wedding photographer.

Sometimes if a couple is having a destination wedding, I will ask that they fly me and my wife out there. She is my assistant who usually accompanies me on destination weddings. But then I will suggest that instead of just paying for our hotel for three nights, that they pay for the entire week so we can get a little vaca in before the wedding. Then I wave my $5,000 fee.


Other times I will just offer to knock $1,000 from my fee (20%) and treat it like any other wedding.


The bottom line is that I want them to be aware of what my normal rates are up front. Then I will offer them some options, but for me to just shoot a wedding for free is probably not going to happen. I don't usually give people $5,000 wedding gifts.