What are you really paying for?

     You are probably wondering why photography costs so much. It’s a perfectly reasonable question! There are a lot of different things that go into wedding photography, and different photographers all have different offerings. I can’t speak for the other 17 billion wedding photographers, but perhaps I can explain some of the "behind the scenes" stuff.

     I believe that we should be covered for any eventuality, so we carry a full liability policy covering our equipment, your guests, and just about everything else under the sun. Much to my chagrin, that peace of mind costs all of us a fair bit. You’d be surprised just how many photographers out there are uninsured because of that significant expense.

     Would you believe me if I said that the shortest period of time I will spend on any one vital portion of your wedding is quite possibly your wedding itself? It sounds crazy, but it’s true. For example, let’s take a 6 hour wedding with one portrait session. I don’t put a time limit on portrait sessions. I will go as long as you would like and the light will allow. Usually, that’s about 3 hours. For a 3 hour portrait session, I spend about 10 hours sorting and editing those images. For the wedding itself, I will spend 20 hours between the initial sorting and editing. That’s just to get the gallery up so you can see your proofs.

     Between e-mails, sorting, and editing I can easily spend 35-40 hours of computer time on one of our mid-level wedding packages. Every single image gets my personal attention. Every single image is adjusted for exposure, color and density. You don’t see an image until I’ve made certain it meets my standards. It takes a lot of extra time, but I think it’s worth it to give you great wedding photos.

     Now, I’ve talked about the time that goes into your actual wedding and photos, but I haven’t talked about the other time it took me to gain the knowledge and skill to create such images. I’ve spent over 10 years learning about photography and perfecting the techniques I use. To some degree, you are paying for my expertise.

     The last thing I want to mention are the things I don’t charge for. I don’t charge for travel anywhere in DFW for your wedding and I am more than happy to do a free consultation anywhere in the metroplex as well. I don’t charge for minor retouching to images. When it comes to communication, I am extremely available. I’ll consistently answer e-mails or phone calls within 24 hours. I believe that good customer service is priceless.