Wedding Photography Prices - what to expect for different price brackets:
It is essential that the photographer you choose works in a way that you like so that your wedding photographs are a pleasure on the day and bring you enjoyment for years to come.
As a general rule, with photographers, its usually true that 'you get what you pay for'. But, when you consider that the photography is a relatively small percentage of your overall wedding expenses, it may be worthwhile stretching your photography budget a bit to get the photographs you want.
Don't forget that in a few years time your photographs will be the main way you remember your day.
Wedding Photographers under £500:
Photographers charging under £500 are often (but not always) doing photography alongside a full time job. Since they have another source of income, and little or no overheads, this can be done at this sort of price as their photography provides a supplemental income.
There are also many photographers who, just starting out in their business, are happy to offer cut-price services in order to build their portfolio.
However, this is not to say that they will do a bad job - on the contrary, there are many very capable photographers at this price range, but you will need to make sure that you ask how many weddings they've photographed, and ask to see several FULL weddings - not just the few best pics on their website.
Packages in this price bracket will often be just a disk of images, or a very limited number of images in a simple album - be sure to find out the cost of extra images in the album.
Wedding Photographers £500 - £1000
At this price point you'll find a mix of part-times, and full time photographers. Bargains are to be found at this range as many full time professionals will offer week-day specials, or other similar specials. Again, packages may contain a disk and / or a simple album.
Wedding Photographers £1000 - 2000
This is the range in which most full time professionals will operate. Its very difficult for a full time professionals to make a living charging less than £1000 per wedding after they have paid their overheads - so most professionals who have been in business for a few years will be found in this range.
In this sort of range, you can expect to have a choice of a disk of images or an album, or both. There are several styles of album out there, and as many styles of photography as there are photographers - so be sure to shop around to find exactly what you want.
Wedding Photographers: £2000+
Photographers who can sustainably charge this sort of price are generally established professionals offering excellent quality albums (and disk of images), and who work in a particular style which people are prepared to pay a premium for.
Again, so be sure to shop around to find exactly what you want, and make the effort to meet a number of photographers before making your decision.