I am not in favor or overcharging anyone, that will surely not help your business at all. That wasn’t the point of this blog post. Let me rephrase in a way that you may identify with better. Let’s say you’ve worked at your job (customer service representative) for 7 years. You have grown your customer base, you are well known for your expertise, enthusiasm and commitment to serving both your internal and external customers. You are paid $20.00 an hour.

Lo and behold, someone else comes along that is fresh out of college, no career experience but very enthusiastic and earnest. This person tells your human resources that she will do YOUR job; just as well, have more commitment and will serve your customers better, for only $12.00 an hour.

You are fired and the new recruit is hired.

This is what we face, as any industry. It’s fair market trade and value. However, if you are self employed there are so many more expenses to consider than when you just show up at a job from 8-5.

THAT was the point and the being a vendor-to-vendor blog, understood by many. Good luck with your destination wedding I wish you all the happiness on your big day.

Just keep it up and you will have less and less clients.

Even the wealthy fathers and banker fiances know the “true value” of a replicated filet mignon, a key chain, or flowers used for 4 hours.

My observations:

If I may be so bold, when I read your justifications on your pricing, it seems you are still thinking of yourself as an employee, with “ceiling” to your earnings. Some of the biggest reasons people become entrepreneurs is to break away and achieve their desired goals. These goals may include freedom of expression, flexible schedule (although any full time entrepreneur knows that you will work longer hours and harder to make your business successful. It’s just more rewarding) and to make money.

There is nothing wrong with making a profit in your business. Making a profit is NOT price gouging. You have at least given it some serious thought as to what you are making. I hope you are remembering to include hours that you meet with the bride for consults, revisions to the photos after you deliver, money saved for emergencies: camera breaking, insurance, etc.

The wedding industry is changing, but some things will remain constant. For instance, we will always have a low, medium and high price range for consumers, just like any other industry. The truth is the low to medium is the bread and butter of this industry….the higher end market is such a finite niche that MOST of us do not tap into.

I ask this because I have set my prices (which to many veteran vendors are low) after spending many hours analyzing my overhead cost and how much I am comfortable taking home an hour. Let me explain…

I am a college trained graphic designer. In my case going to college was completely free because to be frank I am smart, got GREAT grades and had grants and scholarships that completely paid my way through school and for my professional camera equipment. I was lucky!

Where I currently live in south Texas my peak pay scale as a professional graphic designer is $11/hr. You read that right. But I am moving to Dallas so that means the average pay I can expect is $21/hr. That’s before taxes, commuting expenses, cost of lunch, etc… Oh and working in the high-stress, fast-turn-around industry I’m in is no picnic… but I have no choice… everyone has bills to pay.

But as a photographer I am doing something I love on my schedule. I can pick which jobs I choice to accept. And let’s do the breakdown…
I charge $450 for a full day of coverage with editing. I have never worked more than 10hrs on day-of and it takes me about 10 -15hrs to edit all those images. So that’s 25hrs of work max.
Let’s keep in mind: my equipment is completely paid-off. My car is paid-off and gets 37/mpg so I never spend more than 5 bucks in gas. My clients pay for my meal. And my website costs me $2.50 a month. So I’m bringing home $17.50/hr before taxes.

As a life mission, I have chosen to live a life style that allows me to only work part-time so I have all the time I need for my volunteer endeavors. That’s my personal decision. No matter what job I have, that’s mandatory. So who has a right to complain when I am making 3 bucks less an hour doing a job I love and is relatively stress-free compared to the career I trained for. I’m still doing a lot better than most people I know.

I truly believe that the wedding industry is changing. Look at now famous brides like The Broke-Ass Bride, The Budget Savvy Bride, and Sarah from 2000 Dollar Budget Wedding. They highly “valued” their special day and the people that made it possible but they also valued their wallets and marriages more. Those are the kind of people I like to work with. And when we look out for our clients and not gouge prices because we want a higher standard of life as “professionals” we get to help create a more Utopian society. And I know that the majority of my accounts have been from referrals because of this

But here’s more to think about when using the Walmart analogy: they source their products in China, their own work force is low-paid, they have a history of shady business practices, and – wait for it, wait for it – they just laid off 12,700 workers in January. Even the MegaCompany has to adjust to remain sustainable.

Something else at the ‘mart: they routinely price certain items at a loss because they can make up for it with other products that are priced higher than standard mark-up. They entice you with $1.00 of peanut butter but make up for it with a $4.00 loaf of bread. If your service offerings are at peanut butter pricing you have no way of balancing or negating losses.

Saundra is trying to help businesses make more money by pointing out common pitfalls and practices. I don’t see any judgment or finger-pointing; just straight talk.