I’m taking a departure from my typical blog content in order to talk about Colorado Wedding Photography, by giving you a look inside what it takes to run a successful wedding photography business in Colorado and beyond!
If you were to Google “Average Cost of Wedding Photography in Colorado”, your results would more than likely come back with pages & pages of varying answers and coinciding explanations. You’ll find everything from pricing for working with beginner photographers in your area to premier luxury wedding photographers. You’ll be met with a range of prices that feel as if they’ve been thrown out to the internet purely for the purposes of shock and awe.
The next step is usually wondering if there is any rhyme or reason as to why a new wedding photographer is billing couples $500 to shoot their wedding when other professional wedding photography packages in Colorado run all the way up to $12k, and beyond. How do you begin to make sense of what feels like this hodgepodge of wildly inconsistent search results? All the while trying to learn it’s not necessarily about who is “right” and who is “wrong”. Your focus instead, should be set on finding the wedding photographer who can fulfill your needs & vision for your wedding day.
You can find the starting cost of my Colorado wedding photography packages, at this link.
In instances such as these, the wedding industry will typically weigh on their perspective. Yet again you’ll be met with even more articles and information on what you ‘should expect’ to pay and why. Suffice it to say, those articles are typically not produced by wedding photographers themselves. But instead by online publications. One thing I’d like to make clear is that I find extensive value in the role that online publications play in the landscape of the wedding industry.
However, when it comes to stepping into the role of capturing the magic of a couples once in a lifetime wedding, I always think it best to find local photographers and industry leaders who can provide more substance to the subject. On that note, I thought it would interesting, if not educational, to provide the exact outline of what I build into the cost of my Colorado wedding photography packages. Before I leave you with this food for thought, I’d like to invite you to ask questions or join me in conversation on this topic. You can find me on Instagram @jordankgresham.
What’s built into the cost of Colorado Wedding Photography?
Camera Equipment
- Cameras
- Lenses
- Flashes
- Camera bags
Photography Accessories
- Memory cards
- Batteries and chargers
Computer & Software
- Computer/laptop
- Photo editing software (e.g., Adobe Lightroom, Photoshop)
Storage & Backup
- External hard drives
- Cloud storage services
- Backup solutions
Business Insurance
- Liability insurance
- Equipment insurance
Marketing and Advertising
- Website hosting & development
- Business cards
- Online advertising
- Virtual Assistant
Website Maintenance
- Fees for website domain renewal & hosting
Continued Education & Memberships
- Memberships to professional photography associations
- Continuous education, training, and workshops
Taxes and Accounting
- Accounting services
- Tax preparation fees
- Business taxes
Transportation
- Fuel
- Vehicle maintenance
- Travel expenses for destination weddings (flights, hotels, meals, international fees)
Legal Fees
- Contracts
- Legal advice
Miscellaneous Expenses
- Hiring second shooters
- Credit Card processing fees