It goes without saying that weddings are a costly affair. From the venue to the caterer to the wedding favors, the tab just keeps getting higher, and it often seems that wedding photographers are charging a large chunk of that tab. But have you ever though why wedding photography prices are so high? It’s because of the associated costs of being a wedding photographer.

“Hey Austin, come shoot my wedding for free, have a laugh…”

Being a good photographer is an expensive investment. Sure, you can find cheap wedding photographers out there, but they’re cheap because they’ve possible cut corners on equipment, and insurance. Or they’re just plain stupid (you hired cheap and stupid?) So let’s take a look at what goes into a photographer’s overhead that adds up to the final cost of your wedding photographer.

1. Labor costs. This one is pretty standard across all industries. A photographer’s work doesn’t end when your wedding does. After the 5-10 hours they’ve put in working (on a Saturday, no less) at your nuptials, the photographer spends hours and hours editing your images so you get a wide array of perfect photographs by which to remember your day. Its not uncommon to work a full 3-4 days editing a wedding. Their time is even more valuable when you factor in the limited number of weekends in a year there are for a photographer to work.

2. Staff salaries. If you book a photographer that comes with assistants or second photographers, your cost is going to be higher. In return for getting more images from various places on your day, your photographer is going to have the pay those assistants.

3. Equipment. The pieces of equipment a photographer carries around is not your typical point-and-shoot. High-end lenses and bodies average around £1500 each. Photographers also carry back-up equipment in case their primary equipment fails, which adds to the cost of the wedding photography prices. In case your photographer is living in the Jurassic period and hasn’t switched over to digital (there are a few out there, somewhere), you also have to factor in the cost of film. Good wedding photographers easily can bring over £10,000 worth of equipment to shoot your wedding. Add in the prices of computers and editing programs like photoshop ( you did buy it right?) and costs begin to skyrocket. Luckily, its not always necessary in the UK to own a car so let’s not go there.

4. Insurance. Because cameras and equipment cost so much, photographers are smart to insure them. Just in case your drunk (who your mom insisted on inviting) cousin Jimmy decides he wants to spray champagne all over the wedding photographer’s equipment for a joke.

5. Web site. In this day and age, a photographer has to market himself with a very high-tech, professional Web site, which can cost a lot to design and maintain if the photographer doesn’t have web design skills. Its not unreasonable to spend over £5000 a year on website updates, and online marketing such as the sponsored links on Google.

6. Advertising. In that same vein, photographers also have to spend money on other types of advertising such as ads in the newspaper, business cards and brochures.

7. Photo extras. If you knew how much albums cost you’d have a heart attack. Albums are extraordinarily expensive and are often added into the wedding photography prices. Don’t forget the time it takes to design them as well.

8. Education. The more educated a photographer is, the better techniques and specializations will be used while shooting a wedding. As everything else, that education comes at a cost through instructors, college degrees, extra classes and seminars, etc. Intangibles such as expertise aren’t easy to measure monetarily, although we try!

So while you may be asking, “why does photographer X cost so much more than photographer Y?” the answer might be simple: Photographer X has spent more money developing his or her business into a full-fledged photography service, which ends up costing more money than an inexperienced photographer who moonlights part time on the weekend.

….Or those Porsche’s we drive up to your wedding in just don’t pay for themselves now do they?

About the Author: Randolph Quan is a UK based wedding photojournalist. You can follow Randolph on Twitter or click here for his wedding photography prices

Wedding cakes have come a long way from when Steve Martin sputtered at the notion of paying $1,200 (roughly £800) for the sweet treat in the early 1990s movie “Father of the Bride.” Although you don’t have to shell out that type of money for a beautiful wedding cake, there are some new fresh looks for wedding cakes out there that you might want to glance at:

Black and white cakes
No longer is black eschewed as a morbid color that shouldn’t be allowed near weddings. Instead, black and white is a sophisticated, clean color palette that can create a gorgeous cake. Damask patterns are an especially popular wedding cake trend.

Abnormal shapes
A round cake will always be classic, but square, octagon and other shapely cakes are creeping up more frequently. For a funkier vibe, pair different shapes together.

Not a cake at all
Everyone knows about the cupcake trend that swept the nation. Many brides are still going that route, but for a new wedding “cake” trend, couples are serving assortment of pies, cheesecakes and other desserts with just a small wedding cake for cutting.

Exotic flavors
Only the crazy would turn down a really well-made classic vanilla cake and buttercream combination. But to be a little different, a lot of couples are choosing unexpected flavor combinations for a wedding cake twist. Some flavors that are at the top of the wedding cake trends are coconut, passion fruit, mango, espresso, amaretto and blood orange.

Ocean colors
Turquoise, aquamarine and baby blue are not only ruling the fashion runways, but it’s take the cake world by storm, too. Inspiration from the ocean creates some of the most coveted wedding colors — but stay away from seashells and starfish unless you’re actually getting married at the beach. Not into blue? Pink is the second color dominating wedding cake trends.

About the Author: Randolph Quan is a UK based wedding photojournalist. You can follow Randolph on Twitter or check out his wedding photography here.

The first step to building a wedding website is figuring out where you’re going to put it. TheKnot.com offers free wedding websites with more than 40 designs to choose from. The sites are going to be simple, though, and the URL will start with www.theknot.com. Knot members can upgrade to a premium wedding website hosted by Wedding Tracker for 50 percent off. Wedding Tracker gives you a personal .com address and a much glitzier look. Other options include www.ewedding.com, www.momentville.com and www.myevent.com. Blogging is all the rage these days so one option is to set up your own blog. Wordpress is one of the most popular in the world with thousands of themes to choose from, you can sign up for a free account at www.wordpress.org. You can also purchase your own domain name and create your own site, if you have the web design skills.

Step two: Figure out what information you want to share. It could be as simple as an engagement photo with the basic information. Many brides like to provide multiple details to share with friends and other brides, and continually update the site up through and after the big day. Obviously you’ll want to includes the basics, but also consider including photos and extra information, such as where you’re registered, what activities are around your wedding location and what kind of wedding you’re planning to host. This gives guests extra information to plan their trip to your wedding.

Last, step three is to share your wedding website with the world. The easiest way to do so is to include a small card in your invitation sharing the URL. You can also e-mail selected friends and family members the link. If you’re a member of an online brides forum, many women include their web site in their “signatures” so other brides can browse their site and be inspired. Finally, make sure your immediate family and bridal party know the address so they can pass along the information if necessary.

About the Author: Randolph Quan is a UK based wedding photojournalist. You can follow Randolph on Twitter or check out his wedding photography here.

I’m always a little surprised when couples ask me this question, not because it’s a question I can’t answer, its because somewhere a long the line they’ve spoken or seen other photographers who specifically limit the amount of black and white wedding photography a couple can have.

I wish all my couples would ask me this question. It gives me a chance to flex my photography brain and show couples I really know what I’m talking about. There’s nothing like body slamming a competitors business practice and then showing how much your way makes more sense! YAR!! (I’m a child of the eighties, Hulk Hogan rules!)

One recent example of this was a couple who recently booked their wedding with me. The bride had recently told me that she had seen 4 other photographers and they ALL told her she could only have a limited amount of black and white wedding photography. One photographer said that he would only give 30 images, one even went as far to say he’d only shoot in black and white at a specific part of the day.

While the top image is pretty good, when converted to black and white its given the timeless feel.

Are these photographers insane?! When I’m shooting I’m not thinking “oh this is a black and white moment I better switch the camera settings” I generally have no idea until after my shoot which pictures should be in black and white and ones that should be in colour. Lets just assume most photographers are shooting digital. I can totally understand if there are a few dinosaurs out there still shooting film, which limits them to either choosing colour film or black and white. As a digital wedding photographer, I’m no longer handicapped by which roll of film I choose. All images originally shot in colour can be converted to monochrome quite easily on the computer.

Now I’m not advocating that couples should get a finished product of 200 colour and 200 black and white wedding photography images. In this case less is definitely better. Giving too many images dilutes a product, and doesn’t make a wedding package very special or unique. What I do tell couples is that out of a finished product, I’ll choose the images that best suit conversion into black and white. Some images work best in colour some images look completely timeless when converted. So if their wedding is especially colourful I might not convert that many, I give an estimate because I honestly won’t know how many black and white photos they will get until after I finish their wedding.

It might seem like there are many shades of grey in wedding photography, however, its quite black and white when some photographers are just being plain lazy. Be weary of the shooters that want to save time by only giving you a predetermined number of B&W images. A good photographer should be able to properly edit your wedding and know which images should be in colour or not. However, if there’s a specific image you think needs to be converted just tell him. The person you hire will also be able to correctly identify most of your images, but photography is still subjective and based on style and taste.

About the Author: Randolph Quan is a UK based wedding photojournalist. You can follow Randolph on Twitter or check out his wedding photography here.

http://twitter.com/RandolphQuan

I’m also on Facebook too!

MySpace is a bit 2005 so lets not go there….

-R

About the Author: Randolph Quan is a UK based wedding photojournalist. You can follow Randolph on Twitter or check out his wedding photography here.