Hourly rate for photographer-photographers impute greatly appreciated too please!

I'm in dc area, and most photographers we looked at were about $150 per hour. That only gives you a DVD with unedited pictures though. At least for us any sort of a package, even the cheapest one made more sense.

Where in FL are you? I'm having my wedding in SWFL, and I can't even begin to tell you how many photographers I contacted in SWFL and in the Miami-area (where we live). We decided against going a packaged deal, and decided to go with hourly rates. For 7 hours, we got qoutes from $1000 to $4000. The photographer that we decided to go with has absolute gorgeous pictures, great reviews, and is very professional. We're paying $1750 for him and his assistant to be there for 7 hours.

I would suggest that you get wedding package that cover your entire wedding and meet your needs and desires. Every photographer has a least 3 or 4 wedding packages at various prices. Take a look at their websites.

Ok...I think the quotes I have gotten may be over priced a bit then. I'm in Daytona, so its not a hot spot by any means.

Andrea that sounds like an awesome deal!

Yeah, well prices were definitely more expensive in the Miami-area than in the Naples-area...we're saving a lot of money by not having our wedding in Miami.

We'll end up paying more than $1750 once we decide to purchase photos, etc. The price only includes his time and a cd with copyrights to our images. I was skeptical of the photographers who only wanted to charge $1000...I was scared that there would be a reason why they charged so little. This guy works out of his house (reducing his overhead), and he has perfect reviews on WW and on the Knot, so I figured, why not?

We are having our wedding in Lake Havasu City, Arizona. A little more remote than most weddings. We are paying about 1100.00 and it includes a FREE engagement session with 1 enlargement. Then for the day of she will be with us for 5 hours! This includes 500+ pictures to choose from, a CD with ALL our pictures, and 4 enlargements. She's awesome!!! I couldn't be more thankful that we found her as our photographer

Whatever you do talk to the photographer and tell them exactly what you want. Be upfront about your budget and many will work with you to meet your needs. $150 an hour is on the cheaper side of things.

My brother is a professional photographer (in our wedding so not photographing it, but did help us find a good photographer) and I know that for every hour of work he does at the wedding there are 6-10 hours worth of work after the wedding and even more if he is doing an album. You want someone where you can see a track record of beautiful weddings from start to finish and not just a few of their best of images online.

Having a DVD with digital negatives is is nice, but you are really going to show off an album. Your coverage should be from getting ready through the first hour or two of your reception.

I talked to a photographer in Dallas about doing just two hours for my wedding in San Diego.

I just want photographs of the ceremony, some nice romantic portraits, and nothing else. I really love his work, so that's why I'm paying him to come down all the way to California. I know that he's made trips just to do engagement sessions.

I agreed to do a wedding on a weekday (Monday-Thursday) to get the lower number of hours. His typical pricing is $3,500 minimum, but I'm aiming around $1,500 (including travel fees). Minus travel fees, it amounts to $500 / hr. which is not typical.

I know that photographers ask for a base price because of all the time and effort it takes AFTER the wedding to put together and edit the photos. $250/hr. may seem a little ridiculous, but factor in the hours prepping before the wedding, the hours editing, and prorating the price of equipment, and I think $250 is fair. Of course I'm paying $500/hr, but that's for the quality of images I want.

@ Peony - I think you are smart to go for quality on something that is important to you.

For us an album was important. I know I love to look back at my parents album from 40 years ago. Their photos have all turned yellow, but as their son I love to see how they looked on their wedding day. I know my soon to be wife feels the same way about her parents. They only have 5 photos from the day because the photographer disappeared after the wedding, so you want to make sure you go with someone that has a good reputation and is not in it for a few months to make some extra money. Again, I say be honest with the photographer you are considering and they will be honest with you about what they can and can not do.

We are here inLos Angeles, we dont charge by the hour, the package we have is for all day, no additional or whatsoever.. i say 150 to 250,/hr,

I agree with @clifford, leave the album layout and design to the pros...you invested on other things, might as well do it on this since it will be there years and years from now

Our photographer had a variety of options. She had three packages to choose from or we could build our own package from alacarte pricing. Her hourly pricing is about $250 an hour for two photographers. I had to ask why so much and we ended up having a long discussion about truly goes into the photography. I guess I didn't understand all the time that really goes into a wedding for a photographer until talking with Carla. Its not like your DJ that is there for 5 hours and you never see them again. Or the baker that makes the cake before hand and then again you never see them again. Someone that is experienced and talented at what they do deserves to be compensated for their time. You wouldn't work for nothing, would you?

Thank you all for your responses. I am in Daytona Beach. Wedding is January of 2013 so its the dead season here.

Mags,

You are a little bit far from me but I would like to offer you my services! Please check out my website www.rachelarcherphotography.com. We can talk about what the charge would be depending on your budget! Thanks.

Mags, I would recommend first looking at galleries for photographers in your area. You can go with an hourly rate/alacarte but with some companies it is actually more expensive in the long run. We offer 5 packages and plus a build your own package. We also send two photographers to cover most weddings and this is included in the package price.

Feel free to check out galleries from other weddings we have photographed at: http://anyoccasionphoto.zenfolio.com/ .