WEDDING PACKAGE: How Much do You Charge?

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Full Arm-o

Member
Hey Guys
I wanted to see what a few of you guys are charging for weddings out there. I want to hear from others in NYC especially - figuring the rates usually are higher here.

I am a one person crew: HVX200 (probably shooting SD 24p) Wireless Mic etc...

Of course I will be doing all the editing and DVD authoring and giving them a finally product with BAby Pics and whole works...

I know there are experts out there who do this for a living, I am more experienced with narrative, so if you could advise me in a price range for these services, it will be much appreciated.

:dankk2:
 
I charged around 3,500 for a package like that the wedding industry is as varied as the talent in it. Average starting price is around $2K with upper end videographers charging up to 8K.
 
My uncle Ned charges 35 cents an hour if you supply him with booze at the reception but you can't count on a real quality product from him :)

Seriously I would recommend looking at nearby facilities in NYC, do a little research to see their equipment and workflow and see what you can do to one up them and still make a profit.
 
Whatever you do, try to get a second camera for the master shot you won't regret it. I will add production value to your shoot. single camera weddings don't give you a lot of choices in the editing. If you don't have alot of experience I would say a good starting price is $75-$100 per hour for shooting and editing.
( Edit) If this is your first wedding do whatever it takes to get the gig. Then do your very best work on it even though you may not get what you want as far as pay. Remember this will be your calling card for the next wedding. You need to build a solid reel first and foremost! Raise your prices as you go.
 
We don't particularly like to weddings, but have developed an approach when it's a one cam shoot.

We have an assistant taking photos with our Nikon D200, and then create sort of a "B" roll with pan/scans of those photos.

Works pretty well and the client's enjoy the variety.
 
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its all about expeirence and looking like mr proffesional, I think its hard for people to understand paying 2gs unless they see a shmazzy website regardless of the quality of your product its too bad....but deffinetly factors into it. I did my first and only wedding for 700 with 1dvx and a highend microphone (no wireless so sound was still awful). I also showed them samples of other film work I had done before hand....which made them feel better about it i think....when I first quoted 700$ the lady looked shocked....but after seeing the product they were very happy.
 
Thanks for the imput guys. I did contact a few wedding production houses here and they're all dodgy about giving up their information. It's funny right? Competition must be solid in the Wedding Industry.

I do have quite a bit of experience shooting (but only 3 weddings thus far) and my equipment is brand new: HVX200, Wireless mic, Cartoni Tripod.
For some reason I believe 4-5K is the standard number here in NY? I do know photographers get that as a base here and go up to 12K. So I don't think it's much to shoot for. But I do agree on all your saying about the margin of creativity and capability that separates the price range.
Just wanted to get some feedback from the DVXuser community (I apologize if the subject is redundant)
 
Full Arm-o said:
Hey Guys
in NYC especially - figuring the rates usually are higher here.

I am a one person crew: HVX200 (probably shooting SD 24p) Wireless Mic etc...

Of course I will be doing all the editing and DVD authoring and giving them a finally product with BAby Pics and whole works...
Click to expand...

I know you said its hard getting your competition's rates, but when you call or email, you could tell the TRUTH and say why you are asking. You don't want to lowball the market for everyone's sake and that is why you want to know.

Sadly, if you are just getting started, the fact that you shoot with the HVX, it won't get you much farther than if you shot with a DVX. Somewhere in your sales pitch, but not a primarly topic, you should mention how few others will offer this caliber camera. When it comes down to it, people will buy how they FEEL about your work-how it makes them FEEL, not your camera, but it is worth mentioning.

Just thought I'd share...I avoid the Baby Picts whenever possible. I'm a videographer, after all. I'd rather spend the time telling a good story about the day than scanning.
 
http://www.emotionmediahawaii.com/

Here's my personal web site just for weddings. Its not NYC rates but it workls in Hawaii. I separate my wedding videography from my other video production. There is a pre-judgement from most clients that if you do commercial work, you're too expensive to do a wedding and if your a wedding videographer, your not experienced to do corporate work.

Its just easier to separate the two for me.
 
Good Point Dpavid... appreciate the website, found it very helpful.

Alexa, I feel you on the baby pics, just happens in this case it was requested.
 
dpavid said:
http://www.emotionmediahawaii.com/

Here's my personal web site just for weddings. Its not NYC rates but it workls in Hawaii. I separate my wedding videography from my other video production. There is a pre-judgement from most clients that if you do commercial work, you're too expensive to do a wedding and if your a wedding videographer, your not experienced to do corporate work.

Its just easier to separate the two for me.
Click to expand...
Aloha, I did some wedding editing in Hawaii about 15 years ago and the company I worked for always pulled music clips from CDs, and did not worry about the coyrights because the video was destined for very limited release. Now with the internet so much a part of promotion I was wondering if you have any problems with copyright laws using artist material as it now has crossed over from limited distribution to a wider audience. Just wonder if there is anyone has any thoughts on this. By the way you web site worked and looked great to me, best of luck.
 
I always make the client give me the actual CD's and request that I use them for their video. That way I know they purchased the disc and out right own them. I also understand that this does not give them the full right to use the audio however, it is for limited use.

Good point about posting it online though. I overlooked that a quick sample video for potential clients would be broadcasted worldwide over the net.

Interested to see others opnions on this matter as well?!?!?!?
 
dpavid said:
I always make the client give me the actual CD's and request that I use them for their video. That way I know they purchased the disc and out right own them. I also understand that this does not give them the full right to use the audio however, it is for limited use.
Click to expand...

If you do not have rights to the music for the purpose of producing a video or a DVD, it is a copyright violation.

There is really no way around it.

I don't know of any doctrine in the law of "limited use."
 
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