Are expensive wedding photographers better than cheap wedding photographers?

Some brides and grooms pay excessive amounts for wedding photographers. There is nothing wrong with this if you know exactly the photographer you want and you fall in love with his work. It also helps if you can afford it. However, the question is: is a more expensive wedding photographer a better photographer? Is a cheap and more affordable photographer not so qualified? Well I know of one photographer who actually charges over $50,000 to shoot an 8 hour wedding. He sold the wedding photos at ridiculous prices. Let’s say a wallet-sized photo cost $60.00. And guess what? Did the bride and groom and their family order tons of photos at those inflated prices? Do you know what the photographer paid for the photo?

Let’s say he kissed like a bandit. He wow. So basically, if that photographer was shooting just 2 weddings a year, that would be a pretty good income for most people. Many photographers have realized this and have priced their wedding photography packages to be expensive and inflated. Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with this, but if you’re wondering if these people who paid so much for their wedding photography got better wedding photography coverage because they could afford more, think again. So why did all these people pay so much money for your wedding photography? Were the photos of better quality?

Were they on diamond-covered photo paper? Did he have a special camera? No no and no. This “high-end” photographer actually once worked at a regular-priced photography studio. He left that studio confident that he could get a high price for his work and began promoting himself in more prosperous areas with very fancy-looking artistic advertisements. That was it. He only needed one or two weddings a year to live well, but what he did was change his perceived value of him. Perceived value when it comes to anything is a funny thing. Was the photograph of him so amazing of him? He was really good as a lot of photographers, but he was also no better than the art student he came in with the photos he took of his cousins’ wedding. Definitely not worth 50k in my opinion.

He photographed weddings in the same nice outfit as all the other photographers, had the same photographic equipment as most of them…so it all comes down to how he marketed himself and what his perceived value was. Word of mouth among the wealthy about this “high-end” photographer allowed him to do well in his business, but behind the scenes, he was laughing all the way to the bank. A good photographer is a good photographer. He can change the perceived value of it with a touch of marketing and words. The thing is, many photographers aren’t always big businessmen. If they were, they would open their own studios and charge whatever they wanted. In fact, often budget photographers can be true artists.

They prefer to focus more on their passion for photography and shooting weddings than being businessmen and women. This I think is shown in his work. So basically it all comes down to this; Decide how much you’re willing to spend on your wedding photography, visit only studios that are within your wedding budget, and then view a sample of the photographers’ work. This is the most important part. You have to like the style that you see in the sample work of the photographers. Look for testimonials and make sure they promise you a backup photographer if something goes wrong. If you like what you see and the price is right, you can be sure you’re making the right choice.