A wedding photographer argues that selling by the hour undervalues the work and confuses clients. Instead, offer full-day or half-day packages that account for editing, communication, and logistics. It communicates what you actually do.
One of the biggest things I wish I could go back and tell my former self as a wedding photographer is to not structure your packages as 6, 8, 10, 12-hour packages, and here's why. First reason, because when you do this, you are completely cheapening what you offer people and what you actually do for people by this little hourly rate that kinda feels like it's giving retail worker that works for an hourly wage, when in reality, you work way more than 8 hours for them on a wedding day. All the backend work you do, where is that represented? Where is that communicated in the value, right? And then on top of that, There's also the fact of 8 to 10 hours sometimes just feels like splitting hairs. It's like, should we go with the 8-hour or the 10-hour? It's like, this is such a silly question. Just have them book you for a whole day. I highly recommend a full-day package or a half-day package if it's like a really small micro wedding or a multi-day or weekend package. These are holistic experiences that feel so much more full and rich than just saying, hey, you get this many hours with me and not a moment more.
