Yorkshire Wedding Photographer, Harrogate

These last couple of weeks we have been reviewing everything we offer and the way we present our work.  We believe that the market is changing to some degree and that we need to adapt to those changes.

We’re seeing an increasing number of photographers selling their work in beautiful albums at a knock down price.  If the images are as beautiful as the albums then of course this is great for the couple but what if the photos are not great with very little in the way of imagination or design skill in the album design?  Are you paying for the photography or the album?

Don’t get me wrong.  I love to see a beautiful and well made wedding album.  We have scoured the world to find the best in modern album presentation for our clients.  But if you are offered a beautiful and well made album at a budget price then my advice would be to look very closely at the photographs within that album.  If the album originates from GraphiStudio in Italy (who are now quite “mass market”) I would also ask the photographer you are considering if the photography within the album is their own or is it some of GraphiStudio’s stock photography – which at one time they used to offer photographers for sample albums.  Of course the majority of GraphiStudio albums will be the photographers own work but at least if you ask the question you can make an informed choice about if this photographer is the one for you.

I’ve recently read posts on Bridal forums advising couples to barter with their photographer and never accept the first price that is offered.  A few people tried that with us last year.  We didn’t drop our prices for any of them – when setting our price in the first place we charge and quote what we know to be a fair price for what is on offer whilst still leaving us an amount to live on.  Photography is our only business and it needs to provide an income for both of us full-time.  Probably about 50%  of the couples who tried to barter still booked us and every single one was delighted with the results, as the thank you letters and testimonials received from every couple, without exception confirm.  For the other 50% I’ve carefully followed through every single couple and seen their photographs on the photographers they did book blogs.  I believe only one couple will think they made the right decision – their photographs are beautiful.  The others saved themselves amounts ranging from £50 – £500 – less than £10 per week at its highest.  My heart goes out to them when I see what they ended up with – nothing even close to what they would have had from us.  It must be so disappointing.

Each year we receive between 400 – 450 enquiries for wedding photography.  We book just 30 weddings per year.  We totally understand that people have budgets to stick to.  So do we.

To put this all into perspective, if you received three enquiries saying: “We love your work but your prices are way too expensive – we have a budget of £xxx and for that we want x, y, z included, we really want to book you but photographer “x” has quoted £xxx and so we want you to quote the same….”

or “We simply love your work, our photography budget is £xxx – can you offer anything within this price?”

or “We simply love your photography. Photography is one of the most important parts of our day. Are you available on xxxxxx?  If so, what are your costs for xxxx?”

Which would you book?  I’ll give you a clue, the second two usually end up in bookings!  The first one very rarely does.