Wedding Photography Packages

Photography became an essential part of our modern life, as many of us use pictures to share everyday life with friends, family, coworkers, etc. online.

But the most important role of personal photography is to preserve our memories and to create a chance to recall them easily through the years.

Isn’t that especially true when it comes to the such important day of your life, as your wedding?

However, with the technology growth, many of us started to underestimate the professional photography service (and it’s quite understandable, as the cameras on our phones become better and better). But let’s not forget, that marriage photography isn’t about just pressing a button of a high quality device.

So what is it all about? What are the specifics of wedding photography packages? What are the wedding photography prices? Let’s talk about all the details, (including some insider information from an elopement photographer with over 6 years of experience in NYC, or simply... me).

Evolution of Wedding Photography

For many-many years (maybe even a century) wedding photography was a “still” kind of photography, very staged and very traditional. (Among some traditions, for example, was a practice to do wedding portraits next to the local monuments, or doing only studio portraits). 

Film photography didn’t give a real chance to the photographers of those years to take truly candid shots, to capture all the diversity and emotionality of the day, as the cameras needed significantly more time and efforts to set-up, etc. 

In the last 10-15 years, wedding photography made a revolution, based on the technology breakthrough.

Digital cameras changed the marriage photography and turned it into an extensive photo reportage of the day, not just a few posed portraits.

Wedding photographers started to experiment, offering different styles of capturing a wedding - lifestyle, romantic, atmospheric, luxury, creative, etc., based on a couple’s preferences and the style of the wedding itself.

As long as elopement is also a fairly new trend (though it’s rapidly getting more and more popular), elopement photography packages have some particular details to pay attention to.

Elopement Photography Packages

Elopement wedding is usually a rather intimate, low-key, mini kind of a wedding, so it’s timing is much more limited compared to a traditional one. 

In most cases, elopement packages include 1-2 hours of service (excluding “getting ready” services such as make-up, hairstyling, transportation to the venue, etc.).

Nevertheless, every couple would love to get the most of it - especially when it comes to marriage photography. 

It’s mostly true that before the date, couples are communicating directly only with a planner, and the photographer meets the couple for the first time right at the event. 

In that short amount of time a dedicated elopement photographer should be able to establish a connection with the couple and gain their trust. It will greatly ease the process of taking pictures, make it more comfortable for the couple and improve the final results.

The key moment of an elopement wedding is, of course, the ceremony. And most of them don’t last longer than 10 minutes. These 10 minutes are unrepeatable and are loaded with rituals, tears, candid emotions, gestures, guests reactions, etc. The ability to capture all of these, not just to show a general scene, reflects the professionalism of an elopement photographer.

After (or sometimes before) the ceremony comes a love story photoshoot (and in case there are guests, group portraits are of course, also taken). Depending on the remaining timing, more or less spots on the location can be covered. 

Quantity of Photos 

Many couples want to know approximately how many pictures they will receive with their elopement photography package. And this is a very good question to find out before booking the service, as some studios provide a very limited amount of final photos in a basic package (in this case, a client is often offered to purchase additional photos for an extra fee).

The amount of final photos is not a number of pictures that the photographer actually took. Because after sorting, deleting all sorts of “defective” shots: the ones with closed eyes or non-natural face expression, the ones with wrong focus, over/under exposed and etc. there is a very different number of photos that is left. 

Quality of Photos

What goes next? 

Besides the quantity, even more important is the quality of the photos. And here wedding photography packages can also differ. Some planning studios offer again a limited number of edited photos, while the rest images are provided with little to no editing; sometimes in low resolution for printing on canvases; or with a watermark.

Elopement photography service by Perfect Wedding NYC includes ALL edited (signature color correction) good shots (approximately 200-250 from a standard elopement already after sorting), in FULL resolution, with no watermark, with FULL printing rights. Often, our couples are truly amazed by this fact!

Photography Packages Upgrades

As almost every service, wedding photo packages have possible upgrades. 

First of all, you may want to extend the timing of your package, especially if you’re planning to cover a few locations.

This is also a great option, if you’d like to have more extensive photo reportage of your wedding day. The photographer can come to your hotel room to capture “getting ready”, intimate bridal portraits, fun shots with bridesmaids, etc. before even leaving for the ceremony location.

If you’re expecting to have many guests at your wedding, adding extra time to your photography package would be also on point, as a decent amount of it will be spent on organizing and photographing various group shots with the newlyweds after the ceremony.

For the perfectionist couples, professional retouching of selected images can be additionally ordered. Wedding photography service by Perfect Wedding NYC gives you an option to add as little or as many retouched photos to your original wedding photography package (for an extra charge).

For traditional weddings with over 50 guests, booking a 2nd (assisting) photographer is usually recommended. This would give the main photographer an opportunity to focus mainly on the couple and avoid missing some important moments/details.

Rarely, Elopements in NYC can get unpredictable - for example, the couple may get stuck in a heavy traffic on their way to the ceremony location, or it may start raining heavily during the event. In such cases, if there’s no time/chance to get a variety of couples’ portraits, we offer an upgrade as booking a post-wedding love story photoshoot for the couple. This additional session can be scheduled to any available date and time and preferred location.

Wedding Photography Prices

Pricing for wedding photography packages, especially in NYC, can really vary. It is based on a few main factors. 

Timing

Of course, the first factor which affects the price, is the amount of hours a professional will spend at your event. Depending on how many photos they will take, a certain amount of hours will need to be later spent on a post-production (sorting and editing of the images). So the clients shouldn’t count the amount they are investing in the photography service, including only the actual hours of a photographer’s presence at a wedding.

Usually, wedding photographers offer hourly rates, especially when it comes to the elopement photographers (full-day professionals often present common options, as “8/10/12 hours of service”).

However, some elopement photography packages have lower rates for the additional hours of service, if compared to the basic timing option available.

Check the pricing for an extra hour(s), and maybe, you will consider booking more time. In that case, you won’t stress out rushing with your photoshoot.

Service Included

The price for non-edited, lightly edited, artistically edited and additionally retouched photos obviously can’t be the same. 

If you think you can reduce your wedding photography cost by choosing low-editing options, think twice - as getting half-quality images from your wedding can be quite disappointing. As later you would want to proudly share them with your family and friends (and perhaps, future kids!) and be able to use them for printing on canvases, etc. 

Photographer Experience & Style

Photographer’s experience, style and rating can also affect the price of the wedding photography package. 

These factors usually mean a certain level of professionalism, which can give a couple a feeling of comfort and trust from the beginning to the end of the process.

The personality of each individual photographer matters, and it’s very important to understand that price is based on overall quality of the service and not only the photos. Communication is one of the most important aspects too. I’m not speaking about language skills. Photographers should be able to explain to you how to pose, and getting along with the fact that not all people can do it, the highly experienced ones will get the job done even if the couple has never had any photoshoots before. 

Would they just show the pose to you, or explain in words (sometimes, doing both gives the best results), it’s important to build the connection and work at a pace fitting the clients personalities. 

Does it mean that less popular photographers (with for example less amount of followers on social media), will provide worse service? Not necessarily. 

Some popular photographers can be a little/very overpriced because of the demand on their service. They may also have limited availability and are not easy to book in a short time in advance. 

Photographers Investments 

Finally, it’s important to realize that a photographer’s cost also forms from money they invested in the gear (cameras, lenses, flashlights and accessories, reflectors, tripods, camera bags, etc.), advertisement and education. Education and experience worth much more than even hi-end gear. And it doesn’t mean that a wedding photographer has to have a college degree (I don’t even think there is such a particular major in any college) - but they often deepen their knowledge by attending seminars, individual and group courses, master classes and etc. 

Wedding Photography Team

Wedding photography packages of a higher cost sometimes include an assisting photographer or an assistant. They are usually in charge of working with the reflector, capturing some backstage, assisting with the gear, etc. They can also help to “clean up” a photographed area, hold the bride's veil/bouquet in a certain position for the picture or anything a photographer may need help with.

When booking a photography package for your wedding, remember that it’s one of the most important investments into your elopement experience, as this is the one that will stay with you after the big day will be over. So we highly recommend allocating a deserving budget for this service.

If you have any questions regarding our elopement photography packages, please feel free to contact us. 

If you’re interested to learn a difference between specifically elopement photographer and other photographers, check this blog post: