THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A CHEAP & AFFORDABLE MELBOURNE WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER
It is a matter of opinion as to what is cheap and what is an affordable wedding photographer. The fact of the matter is, it all depends on your budget and what you are prepared to spend on a Melbourne wedding photographer.
If you do a Google search for cheap or affordable wedding photography, you won’t find a shortage of options. What you will find is a minefield of amateurs, hobbyists and professionals. Some claim to be cheap but that is just a gimmick to get you to click.
Just because a wedding photographer claims to be affordable, doesn’t mean that they provide any lesser service or product than the larger studios. Generally speaking, an affordable wedding photographer doesn’t have the high overheads of more expensive wedding photography studios. Larger studios have rent, multiple photographers on their books and other associated costs that smaller boutique photographers don’t have.
They generally provide the same quality of service, if not a little better as you generally deal with your photographer from start to finish. Whereas with larger businesses it can be whoever is available on the day as the larger wedding photography studio have numerous photographers on their books.
Cheap wedding photographers ($50-$100/hr or less than $800 for an entire day) are to be avoided if you can afford to. They are normally (international)students, just starting out, or do it as a “side gig”. No one can make a living of doing it that cheaply. They usually don’t have insurance, don’t pay GST or use sub-standard photographic equipment. The ideal cost per hour is around $180-$300 per hour. It depends purely on what is on offer.
Research your wedding photographer thoroughly before hiring anyone. Be wary of recommendations from wedding venues as they are generally paid placements and not necessarily there for their service or product.
You might be lucky, and get a cheap wedding photographer that is good at what they do and that is just starting out but needs to build their portfolio. But you wouldn’t trust the important photos from your most precious day to a newcomer? Experience and a track record are very important.
