Why are wedding photographers and videographers so expensive?

The short answer

Because the wedding day is only the part you see. A booking holds your date for you alone, covers a full day of continuous coverage, and is followed by days of careful editing of your photographs and films. The price pays for all three, plus the backups, insurance and travel that keep the day safe.

Our packages start at £1,999 for photography, £1,999 for videography and £3,699 for both together. The rest of this guide explains what that covers, so you can compare like with like.

Your date is held for you alone

A non-refundable £120 deposit holds your date exclusively. From that point the day belongs to your wedding. We photograph and film about 40 to 60 weddings a year together, and each one is a whole day set aside.

Travel across England and Wales is included in your price. When the drive is over two hours we stay in a hotel the night before and cover it, so traffic cannot affect us on the morning.

The work before the day

Booking starts a conversation, not just a date in a diary. We reply to enquiries within a few hours and check your date, then offer a call of about 15 minutes, or you can book straight in. You receive a receipt after each payment, and the balance is due a month before the wedding.

About a month before, we have a planning call to talk through your venue layout and any officiant rules, how to cover the morning, where family photographs happen and any first look, reading or surprise. We also check sunset, light and tide times in advance, and on request we send sample galleries or films from your venue.

The day itself

Standard coverage is 10.5 hours, and it runs continuously. It usually begins about two and a half hours before the ceremony, and we never leave before the booked hours are done. Luxury coverage is 11.5 hours and Platinum is 13.

If you book the team, two of us work together, each capturing a different medium and often sharing angles. We move around each other instinctively and agree where each of us will stand so your guests are not blocked. A photography-only or videography-only booking is one professional photographer or videographer.

The day is protected as it happens. We bring backup cameras and kit, and use two memory cards in the cameras. A wedding only happens once, so the equipment and the plan have to hold.

The work after the day

This is the part couples rarely see. Everything is edited in-house, to one shared look. A complete photo gallery takes around two full working days to edit, and each video cut takes around four working days. Your gallery holds 600 to 800+ photographs, and there is no hard cap.

If you book the team with the highlight film and the documentary, that is around ten working days of editing for one wedding. The highlight film is a 7 to 10 minute cinematic retelling of the day with speech audio, vows and laughter. The documentary is typically 40+ minutes, with the full ceremony and speeches in order.

Sneak peeks come first, then the photographs, the highlight film and the documentary, with roughly a month between each of those pieces. In peak summer the timings can vary. Two separate backups are kept on hard drives after the wedding, and your photographs arrive in a private online gallery with your films online, both with digital downloads.

What else sits behind the price

Experience is part of it. We have been in business for a decade plus, and we have each captured about 400 weddings. Insurance is part of it too: we hold full indemnity and public liability insurance, should your venue require it.

So is planning for the unexpected. In over 400 weddings we have never missed a day, and we have a network of photographer and videographer friends who would step in at a moment’s notice. Our guide to what happens if your photographer or videographer is ill explains how we plan ahead.

If you book photography and film together, the price already includes a £300 saving compared with booking them separately, with one agreement, one deposit, one planning call and one timeline.

If the price still feels like a stretch

Start with what matters most to you, then see what can flex. Our guide to saving money on wedding photography and video covers the dates, hours and films that bring the price down, and our cost guide lists every package price.

When you are ready, send an enquiry with your date and venue and we will reply within a few hours. An enquiry does not reserve your date; the £120 deposit does, once you are happy to go ahead.

Questions couples ask