Is Wedding provider greed ruining peoples' experience?

Aww I'm really sorry to hear that you feel this way and I do sympathise, however much I earn at the time of my wedding I know I'll be doing it on a shoestring just because I'm a bargain hunter by nature. It is true that the word 'wedding' seems to increase prices, however, don't despair, it is possible to have a whole wedding on a small budget, and you've come to the right place because lots of Hitched brides on here are DIYers and are fab at cutting costs etc. so I know they'll have plenty of tips for you.

Barns are expensive because they're in fashion right now and the price reflects the demand. To cut costs, how about doing the legal bits at a registry office and then having a DIY back garden wedding? If you do all the decor yourself you can really turn it into a lovely beautiful wedding. Also, how about doing it on a weekday as well.

Also, many brides here are planning over the next few years to separate the budget out. Another good tip is to prioritise one or two things that are really important for you, and maybe get what you wants for those, and compromise on the rest.

From my own industry, it's easy to find a cheaper photographer, you just need to accept it might mean having someone less experienced or new etc. I charge £400 and that includes unlimited printing/sharing copyrights for the couple, but I can only do this because it's not my sole source of income. If I was a full time professional, I would be living out of a cardboard box if I charged that price. Someone did the maths once, and worked out if a photographer charges less than £1200, they're earning less than a McDonalds till guy. So people do tend to say "whattt?" at the professional prices, but in reality they do have to make a living. Currently, I haven't even broken even with what I charge, I have invested £3000+ into my equipment, and I only shoot 2 a month, so I have to work for 4 months before I break even my costs, so that doesn't even include my actual living costs. That gives you an idea of why photographers will charge around £1000.

You could easily get a student photographer/someone newish for around £200, or get someone for a shorter time period, say 4 hours to do the formal bits, and just use friend's photos for the more informal parts of the day. If you want a student photographer, I can help you find one as I'm connected to a few "young photographer" networks. Alternatively, consult your local uni with a photography course and someone should step up there!

Also, here's a fb group you might like, it's aimed at brides on a budget: https://www.facebook.com/groups/468653649858575/?fref=ts

You can get secondhand decorations, dresses etc. etc. and save a lot there.

The essence of my message is... breathe, and don't worry, you can have a beautiful wedding on a shoestring ?

Most photographers are actually working on minimum wage in terms of hourly rate and are likely no better off than you. The ones you think are greedy are likely just talented and in demand.

Look to save money where possible, i.e. look for photography students to photograph the wedding for free, explore possibilites to save money by doing DIY where possible.

Weddings can be done on a budget if you are resourceful and have realistic expectations.

Hi sweet..... Sorry you are not having a good time of it. :0( I've been trying to get myself the best wedding on the smallest budget I can, and to be honest, I think I've done a cracking job so far. I can't wait to have what I see as my perfect wedding, and have actually said I'd like to help other brides on budgets. If you would like to chat about getting your perfect day without breaking the bank, please feel free to message me. I'd be only too glad to help put that smile back on your face xxx

Hi Marianne, thanks for the ideas (and calming words!) I know I sound frantic but in all honesty I have been becoming increasingly frantic every time a new quote arrives.

I have thought of doing the legal bits at a registry office but my entire family have been married in the same church and I can’t imagine doing anything else, that is top of the priority list for me. Hence the church fees eating up a lot of money leaving me on a very tight budget for everything else.

A midweek wedding is another thing we thought of, however my other half’s family have quite a way to travel so a midweek wedding would alienate the vast majority of them due to work commitments and so on :-( I myself work in a school so weekdays unless a school holiday are also a no no. A back garden reception is a lovely idea.... If I had one bigger than a postage stamp! Oh goodness.... I really am usually a happy person!! – I don’t mean to sound so totally miserable!

Thanks for the tips on photographers, I will definitely look into students and start ups! Second hand for decorations is a good idea too – eBay here I come ;-)

I am really intrigued by the photographer maths, I don’t understand this? I am honestly not slanging photographers I just really want to understand how that maths works? If I want a photographer to be at my wedding say from 11am through to end of toasts maybe around 6pm? Hours-wise that’s roughly the same number as any working professional..... Then I just want a disk of digital images (no printed book). How does this translate to over £1000? I am just intrigued and hoping someone can explain this? (nicely as I really don’t mean to be rude to anyone by asking this!)

Thanks again for the help and calming influence!

Thanks also for your reply Rhys, I am certainly going to look into student photographers. Maybe you could also help shed some light on my new found interest for photographer’s living wage above?

Mum-wants-a-hat: Thanks so much! You sound like you have the thing in the bag, you probably have loads of great lessons for me :-) I will deffo be in touch xx

Please don't be disheartened, you are not alone in feeling like this! We have a tiny budget too and we don't have a house deposit saved up either.

A few months ago I was constantly in tears because I desperately wanted to get married but knew we should probably have put the money towards a house, even both our families were "swinging" more that way too. But in the end, I just decided that life is too short and I am going to have my wedding and we'll start saving for the house after. This meant we had to think about what venue we could afford on our budget - we've managed to get a lovely hall, where we can do what we want and spend what we want. We'd looked at the proper "weddingy" venues and decided we just couldn't afford them, but this way, we get to spend at our "pace" - if we don't have the money for something, it doesn't matter. If we'd booked a venue with a "package" we'd have to find that money regardless. And then when we thought about it, a village hall, shabby chic kind of wedding was actually exactly us anyway.

I feel exactly the same as you, I see the prices for photographers, caterers, etc etc, and my heart sinks every time, knowing we just cannot afford it. But then I always think how happy I am to be getting married. I guess the expense of weddings is just a reflection of the modern world these days, the same could be said about the cost of houses buying and renting (which I really don't want to get started on!), I guess we just have to keep our chins up and not let it get us down. I won't let it beat me!

Not all photographers are at that price.

You mentioned in your opening post about copyright, well, that is determined by UK law as the photographer is the creative artist. You will undoubtably be given reproduction and printing rights (although do check what resolution/file size the images will be and that they will be watermark free)

hth

Peter

I understand why people 'think' wedding photographers are expensive, and some are, but for the same reason a Manchester United footballer get's paid more than a footballer playing for Ipswich Town. Most people don't realise the time that the photographer is at your wedding, is actually only a fraction of the time they spend working on your pictures. If a photographer spends 8 hours at your wedding, they likely spends 3-4 times longer culling and editing the pictures, some photographers will spend longer than that. Then you need to take into account the time spent sending emails, the time spent at client meetings, the time spent visiting venues prior to the wedding etc.

Then you have the cost of the equipment itself, the best quality equipment is expensive AND you need to buy backup of everything, my setup cost £XXXXX. Wedding work is somewhat seasonal, most wedding photographers won't have a wedding every month.

Then there is the cost of doing business, marketing (can be very expensive), educational material (expensive), Software, Computers, insurance, repairs, petrol etc.

The below link goes into much more detail...

Link

I think you are being a little dramatic about this.

You can afford to get married, you've just been shocked at how much it costs to have a 'wedding'.

The thing is with wedding suppliers is they are people, giving up their time, quite often at anti-social hours (weekends and evenings) and that costs money. The better someone gets at what they do, the more their time usually costs - it's not necessarily greed, it's economics.

People have told you the usual options to save money (the biggest one being a non-weekend wedding) and you've come back and explained why you can't avail yourself of those options. Using the weekend thing as an example - you want to marry on a weekend because it's most convenient for you, well there's a charge for that convenience.

As with all things in life, sometimes you have to compromise. If the specific church is the absolute must-have, then when you know the costs of that, remove that from your budget and split the rest between everything else. If there isn't enough, then put the date back and save for longer. If you want to save for a house deposit instead, then accept you don't need all the frills with the wedding. Cut your coat...

Wedding suppliers aren't out to ruin the wedding experience, they provide a service at a price. There's usually a range of suppliers in each area to suit each budget. The only thing that can ruin the wedding experience is failing to achieve a balance between your dream wants and realistic wants and instead becoming bitter or miserable about it.

There are so many brides on here that have achieved wonderful, beautiful weddings on small budgets using a mix of help from friends, suppliers and their own hard work. The way I see it, the reason their weddings were so successful wasn't anything to do with money but by their knowing what was important to them and focussing on that when making their decisions.

Weddings CAN be done on a stricter budget and if you look around and take advice from here, you will find a way to have the day of your dreams.

It's a shame if you really meant it when you said your joy of the proposal is fading because of the potential cost. If that's true you need to pause and remember what's most important

people who are trying to earn a wage, just like you are.

It's because what you see at the end isn't how the photo looks in the camera On average I give around 600 edited photos per wedding. After I've shot a wedding I'll spend the next few days processing every...single...photo lol As I get better this time does get cut down, but still, it would definitely take me a full day from 8am until 11pm just sitting at a computer. Then there's stuff others have pointed out like travel, insurance, time we spend on consultations, advertising costs, (some ad spaces are like £100 a month), equipment, studio rental etc. etc. so those are some of the business costs, and then there's obviously living costs like my rent, bills, food.

Factor in the fact that we only can shoot so many a month, it's not ideal to back-to-back weddings in my eyes, I've turned down 2 in the last few weeks simply because I know that shooting a wedding really takes it out of me and it wouldn't be fair to the bride on the second day. Also, most people get married on the weekends, so we'll shoot say Saturday/Sunday, and then do post processing/consultations etc. through the weekdays, so that £1000 isn't for a day's work, it has to essentially act as a week's pay because nothing else is coming in Monday-Friday. This is why any photographer you see that's cheap is pretty much guaranteed to be doing either a second job or other types of paid photography work like events, commercial etc. Specialist wedding photographers that do nothing but weddings will be charging you £1000-£2000+ because they have no other source.

Also, you're paying for their specific skillset, it isn't the same as your uncle bob taking the photo, some photographers have their own styles and the high demand photographers will perhaps have an unique look that people are willing to pay for.

Don't worry, I would say book your church on the weekend, and see what you have left over. Make an expenses list and start to cut up the budget and most importantly just ask Hitchers if you're not sure about anything

What? Wait....really?!

I don't look that flawless in reality??

*wails*

I'm sure Marianne is only referring to things like white balance and exposure! ? ?

I've knocked out a few body parts before in post processing

Best thing I've had to photoshop out of a photo was a golfer.

The big blogs are around £130 - £150 for basic listings. To get at the top of the biggest UK blog, you need to spend £240 a month.

*sighs with relief*

I'm happy my angelic glow must therefore be ever-present and nowt to do with the photo-wizardry

I'd have been pretty unhappy if there had been golfers in my wedding pics!

Seriously though, the pictures are the lasting memories of the wedding and my Tog was worth his weight in gold (as I'm sure the Togs on here are too), I don't regret a single bit of what he cost.

Woah, I spend a fiver per month on Hitched since signing up in Jan and I'm like 3/4 full for the year already. Granted I only take on a limited number per month but it's clearly enough for me, I would not enjoy spending £240 a month...

I think once you up your pricing the pool get's exponentially smaller, and thus maybe a need to advertise. Tbh I haven't spent anything on advertising except on hitched, but will be advertising on one of the big blogs in the next few weeks.

I'm gonna drop u a msg about something because it's unrelated to Hitched

Really? I feel duped I thought they just recommend people they liked/featured. #naive

I think if you look at it, it depends on what you want, yes some fees are expensive, but if you look round and are willing to compromise then that's what you have to do!

The venue I am having my reception is not the place I wanted but it was within my budget so that's what I have got, if you are set on what you want then you need to prepare to either pay for it or not have it!

I am neither getting in debt or Rich to pay for my wedding, working and saving is how over 2 years I have paid for it!

Also try asking friends and family to play to their strengths or instead of getting you a gift after the wedding paying for something before!

My sister has paid for my DJ as my wedding present, my Nana for my cake, my nan for my flowers and the in laws for the mens suits!!

Also look at ceremonies that start later in the day, and just doing an evening reception not a full sit down meal, also hotels that offer £1000 days are worth looking at!!

Don't throw your toys out of the pram of silly material things when if you want a marriage then that is not a wedding!

Just to add to sorry OP you feeling this way but stick around these parts and you will soon learn you can have an amazing wedding on a budget.

I agree with everything already said. Touching on the price of barns, they are expensive and yes they are in trend at the moment but the cost of maintaining these buildings is huge!

I shot at a specific barn the other month that has the threat of a new railway line running where it is now built and the manager was explaining about what a waist the millions of pounds spent on it was. Yes, millions. The upkeep of the land alone was silly money but money they had to spend. Then it's the 15 staff members that have to be paid when serving your guests on the day. The food, electric, heating, gas etc.

I got married in 2008 and it was very expensive then. Some of the nicest weddings I have shot have been in village halls. It can be done at a budget and the good thing about them is it's like a blank canvas.

The people on here are fab at giving you money saving advice if you need any help x

No you don't pay or get paid for being featured, but if you want a little picture in the sidebar of their site you have to pay.

Also they will often only accept advertising from togs who reflect what the blog is about, and are a decent standard.

Well said Yoda84, I agree - I want to save for a house with my husband, not save for a house insted of being married to the love of my life.

We started looking at village halls too, we found a pretty one but came accross a full stop when it came to food and entertainment. We can decorate ourselves and we have a friend that may be able to help with a cake however.... We are struggling ti figure out how to feed our guests and get them dancing. How have you got around this? Also with the hotel venues etc there is a ready-made bar already there for guests to buy their own drinks but not in a hall?

Nope, those banners down the side are paid for! When you see a feature though, that is because the blog likes that wedding and not because the Photographer has paid.

Thank You, this is exactly what I wanted to know! I hadn't thought of half of this which is why the numbers seem so out of proportion to me. I was (somewhat naively apparently) assuming a photographer would arrive, take a load of photos then stick them all on a disk for me to look through/save. I had not considered any post production work.

I think the term 'greed' is actually quite unfair....people who work in the wedding industry run a business and want to make a profit. I'm not saying people don't overcharge when it comes to weddings, but they're not the only ones

Bet you don't call Topshop greedy when they sell a dress you like for £40 when in reality, it cost them £10 to make? If youve Put petrol in car recently, bet that doesn't reeeeeally cost £1.35 a litre!

people manage to find weddings on a budget...you prioritise what's important, them you work hard to find what fits your brief & budget. Simples ?

Groupon also do deals on wedding venues and packages. I'm not sure of your budget but these go for around £2999 and feed and water about 50 guests I think. Is this possible for say a 2015 wedding?

I've mailed you a question ?

What is most important is that I marry my partner and my closest friends and family are able to share in the celebration of this. I can make things look pretty myself but finding a place to put my friends and family and being able to give them some food and a place to dance is (I think) not a lot to want to do – it is upsetting therefore to find that even this is so difficult.

The venus though? £5000 for an empty room? A "party" in a hotel with food etc for around £400 but a "wedding" with food and a master of ceremonies (i.e. duty manager) but for the same number of people becomes £2000?