Consistently we have increased prices two a year. We increased in Jan., and again in June. We have finally reached a Plato of where we want to be in pricing, but now we are too high. We may still book weddings on referrals, but some just don't have the budget. In our area, bridal shoots are very popular. This takes place prior to the wedding and almost all brides have the shoot and a portrait to display at the wedding. We are still getting plenty of calls and emails, but they are not coming to the office like they were.
My question to you is.... Have any of you come back down in your prices? How did you handle those that are already under contract if they found out that you booked on of their friends at a lower price? Thanks, Yvette
For those that are curious, we start now at $2340.00. Our starting price before going up the last time was $1990.00. That put our average bride at $2500.00 contract.
Unless there is some philosophical agenda hidden in your question you have actually reached a plateau.
Your prices seem reasonable to me .. maybe give it some more time before rolling back the prices? If you increased this January it may be too early to really know the effect of the new prices.
If you are grossing what you were prior but now shooting less weddings. you are ok.....all depends on what your goals are for income. If you want a higher income, once you raised your rates, you put yourself into a different market.
I think what we have done is put ourselves in the higher end bracket. This was actually our goal. However, I am finding out that there are very few brides that can afford $3000.00 for wedding pictures. Every time we went up, we still booked. We were shooting in the nicer hotels, facilities, etc. We have always book from bridal shows and this year we are not. I think we finally tipped the scale and if we don't tip it back just a little, we will be doing a lot less this year. Our goal is 28 to 30 this year, and we are at 21 of which 19 are at the old pricing. In August we have 4 booked and only 1 past August. We have to get something in the fall to make it again until next spring. Thanks..
I blame it on your website. Update that thing so it looks like a hip 2008 presentation - something that a 20-something bride can relate to - like The Gap or Apple. Seek professional help in this area.
I've held on to my old HTML site as long as I could. It's brought me so much business, but it's time to say goodbye. New site & blog up this week.
What is your booking rate. Percentage 3/10 5/10. If you are over 50 percent your prices are to low. I think most pro's are conferrable with a 30-40 percent booking rate that is only 3-4 brides per 10 consultations. Every time we have raised our prices things get a little slower for 3 months or so. You have to ride it out. The other thing to consider this year is going to be the year that a lot of photographers go out of business. The market is saturated, everyone thinks they can do it and the economy isn't great. The reason I say this is its a slower year.
tomk, I agree that my site could use some work, but that's not my problem. I have 15 request for info in my inbox (came from the website) since Jan. Most of these are fall dates that I have open. Either I'm not hearing back at all once I send them pricing info, or they email and say thank you for your quick response, but you're out of my budget.
Remember, I've been at this a long time now. I've done over 150 weddings in 5 years. I use to book 75% of my brides, and now I'm not even getting them to the office. I knew I was going to be one of about 5 photographers in the area that the starting price was over $2000.00. I am in a very small percentage of brides that are actually spending $25000.00 on a wedding. I did want to do less weddings, but I don't want to stop. I'll give it a few more weeks, but this is the time I should be finishing my calendar for the year and it's not happening. Yvette
So now, you're in a black hole. Too expensive for your previous clients, but yet not marketing to new (wealthier) brides you want to reach. Thankfully, there are many many web companies standing by to help.
The sad reality is, a 20-something kid with a good eye and a rebel can shoot a few weddings, wrap them in a beautiful flash website, and immediately book more than you can. Why do people pay more for Apple products than their competitors? Packaging.
Hassy is right - do it today.
PS ... weddingreport.com - see what people are actually spending on weddings in your zip code.
Tom, let me pose the question... what if you live in an area that "high end" brides are far in between.... would marketing for high end brides kill the "normal" wedding work the same way marketing for medium range weddings loses the opportunity for high end brides?
Josh Evilsizor wrote:
Tom, let me pose the question... what if you live in an area that "high end" brides are far in between.... would marketing for high end brides kill the "normal" wedding work the same way marketing for medium range weddings loses the opportunity for high end brides?
And an additional question .. does anyone actually do any kind of research on the effects of pricing on bookings specific to their area before changing prices?
Some products have a high degree of elasticity when it comes to pricing and it's effect on demand, others do not.
Many subscribe to the "ever higher pricing" theory about wedding photography prices but there is a threshold where you will strangle your own business. And dropping prices is a potential landmine to existing bookings.
Much depends on how you value your work .. do you ask the market to value it, or do you value it yourself and hope the market will accept it? Once you understand that question many pricing questions become very easy to answer.
I think what what everyone here is saying your website is inconsistent with high end wedding customers. The website looks it was done by high-school kid. Even the bride say ok in the beginning, after looking others you may not make the cut
The gallery section doesn't show your best. Make it bigger, more P Photoshop work. The "complete section" seems to be more a proof section. Also, get rid of the "browse page" that look like a book--looks cheesey
If you live in a town without a stoplight (that's not near Aspen or Telluride), there are few couples who can spend big money. You'll be traveling to the nearest big market to catch some of that action.
Even though you can't charge 10k to shoot a wedding, you can easily have a website that looks as good as anything out there. Vendors are standing by to help. Once you have the killer site & materials, you are THEE wp in your hee haw area. Then you can plan for your next goals.
Josh Evilsizor wrote:
Tom, let me pose the question... what if you live in an area that "high end" brides are far in between.... would marketing for high end brides kill the "normal" wedding work the same way marketing for medium range weddings loses the opportunity for high end brides?
> The website looks it was done by high-school kid
let's just say it's very 1997
the strange irony here is that our customers' pages on facebook and mySpace are some of the ugliest things I've ever seen ... but that's a topic for another day.
agree here 100%. Yvette....go buy a BD site or something similar. If you are trying to attract the higher end younger brides, then your site needs to appeal to them. I can almost promise you, if you got a new updated looking web site your inquiries would increase and in turn so would bookings.
Agree, your website is grossly outdated and in turn makes you look outdated. Weddings are akin to fashion, brides want something in step and with it. This is their wedding that they put on for all to see, it's a showcase of them in a way.
Agree about the reducing prices causing major problems with booked brides, as well as the book thing needing to go.
I would also refrain from showing so many "Entire Wedding" galleries. I would concentrate on a selection of strong images and have clients come in to see the entire wedding album and consult if they like what they see. I only have 2 complete weddings and 2 complete engagement sessions from last year on my site. My studio only has 4 samples (2 of which is from the weddings on my website just to show web vs print quality) and I was able to book my entire 2008 season base on that. I concentrate my time and effort on my blog more so than my website.
