The best wedding photographers publish a price list

What suppliers publish, and what they do not

How to compare photography quotes properly

1. Compare hours before you compare prices. A four to five hour package and a nine hour package are different products. Work out when you want coverage to start and stop, then price that.
2. Separate the album from the photography. Album packages carry a real cost in materials and design time. Price the digital package first, then decide whether the album is worth its own line.
3. Ask the day rate for extra hours. Days overrun. A photographer who publishes an additional hour rate has already told you what that costs, which is worth more than a vague assurance about staying late.
4. Ask what you receive and when. Number of edited images, resolution, print rights and turnaround. A cheap package with a long turnaround and no print rights is not cheap.

What the published ladders actually show

The photographers in this record who publish a full list all use the same structure: a short-coverage digital package at the bottom, a full-day digital package in the middle, and one or two album packages above it. The gap between the bottom and the top of one photographer's own ladder is usually larger than the gap between two photographers at the same tier, which is a useful thing to know before you start comparing names.

Day of the week is the second lever, and London prices show it most clearly. Where a photographer publishes separate Saturday, Friday and midweek figures, the Saturday premium is real money, and moving a wedding to a Friday can buy a whole tier of coverage. The same is true for the season: published winter rates sit below published summer rates in the lists that separate them.

Where a low quote usually hides

The commonest gap in a cheap photography quote is not skill, it is scope. Coverage that ends before the first dance, a second shooter that turns out to be an add-on, a turnaround measured in months, and delivery without the right to print are all ways a number gets smaller without the photographer doing anything wrong. Ask for the same four things from everyone you approach and the quotes become comparable.

The second gap is travel. Photographers who publish a price list usually publish a travel radius with it, and a venue outside that radius attracts either a mileage charge or an overnight stay. If your venue is two hours from everything, say so in the first email rather than discovering it in the contract.

Questions organisers ask before they book

How much should I budget for a wedding photographer?

Take the published package that matches the hours you actually want rather than the entry figure, then add extra hours and an album if you want them. The record here shows entry packages several hundred pounds below full-day ones, and that difference is coverage rather than quality.

Is a second shooter worth it?

It buys simultaneous coverage of two places, which matters if the two of you get ready separately or the venue is large. On a small single-site wedding it often buys less than an extra hour at the end of the night.

How far ahead do photographers book?

Popular photographers take Saturdays in peak season a year or more out. Midweek and winter dates stay available much later, which is another reason the day of the week moves the price.

What should be in the contract?

Hours and start time, what happens if the day overruns, the number of edited images, the turnaround, print rights, travel, and what happens if the photographer cannot attend. Ask for the cancellation terms in writing before the deposit.

What this costs where you are marrying

• What a wedding costs in the UK, from published supplier prices