We are introducing our new “What Does Series”. So what does wedding pricing (or portrait pricing for that matter) have to do with landscape curbing? You have probably all been told you get what you pay for. Now being professional photographers we always tell our clients that. That rule of thumb applies in all aspects of life. Several years ago everyone around us was getting landscape curbing done. It looked really pretty and really dressed up the lawns. So I followed my advice and talked to a couple of landscapers and got quotes. Now the one quote was really high and the other was more of where I thought it should be. There was my first mistake it was where I thought it should be. I’m don’t do landscape curbing. I don’t know what the cost of the products is that they buy. I don’t know their overhead. Also I don’t know what kinds of insurance prices they pay or how much their equipment costs. Yet I thought I knew what I should pay. So the first person comes out. She sounded like her company knew what they were doing. Problem number one was her price. I thought it was too high. Not only that but she had quite an attitude. It was as if she was doing me a favor even coming to see me. Well being in business you just don’t treat people like that. Now to #2. The man came out extremely nice. Most importantly his price was hundreds of dollars cheaper than the other person. He sounded like he knew what he was doing so mistake number 2 for me was I hire him. So the day comes and he shows up with his “crew”. I don’t think any of them including the owner had ever run the equipment. I actually think we were his first clients. It was then I had one of several ahh haa moments. No wonder he was cheaper. He didn’t have the experience or the know how to really do a great job. I was going to get what I paid for. Now Tom and I always do things ourselves if we can. Kind of like if you want the job done right do it yourself. This was one of the instances where we knew we didn’t have the equipment or the professional know how to do the job justice. There is an ART to doing it right. So we hired “professionals”. I watched as they struggled with the equipment. Here the owner is training his “crew” when clearly he wasn’t that trained himself. After hours and hours they finish. The result? It was an OK job. I got what I paid for. Did they care that they didn’t give their customer the job they deserved? No. The fact that all this landscape curbing will “advertise” exactly what they can do didn’t seem to bother them either. People will see it and judge their business based on that. I can tell you this. Every time I drive in my driveway that curbing that they screwed up around my grapefruit tree screams at me as if to say “you got what you paid for”. OK so what does that have to do with wedding photography (or portrait photography)? First and foremost you get what you pay for. If it sounds too good it probably is. You pay for a person’s experience. As a customer you THINK you know what you should pay for your photography when really you don’t know what the cost of doing our type of business is. How much does just one high quality lenses costs? The lenses that can truly enhance the images your photographers get. You may think you are hiring them for 5 hours to photograph your wedding when in actuality that 5 hours is only the time they are spending AT your wedding. That doesn’t include the time they meet with you to discuss your wedding. It doesn’t include their time going to and from your wedding. Nor does it include the time it takes to download hundreds of images. Then the time it takes to go through those images, edit those images, burn them to a disc and put them up in an online wedding gallery. So that 5 hour wedding could translate into 15 hours or more depending on if there is an album to design. Factor in the cost of insurances, licenses, constant schooling to improve the photographic experience you receive. The list could go on and on. So did you have an ahh haa moment realizing just what is involved in your wedding photography? We hope that you don’t go on price alone but go on experience and look at the quality of the images the photographers are showing you. Do they get rave reviews? I can guarantee you if I had asked about satisfied customers when I was getting my curbing done I would not have hired the “professional” that I did. Remember this really important fact. *These are the wedding images you will look back on for years to come. Will they be the emotionally expressive, artistically created images you dreamed of? Or will they be like my grapefruit tree that screams at you “you got what you paid for”!
Toni Nelson - Nelson Photographers
www.nelsonphotographers.com
www.specialweddingmemories.com
www.sarasotaweddingblog.com
Toni Nelson - Nelson Photographers
www.nelsonphotographers.com
www.specialweddingmemories.com
www.sarasotaweddingblog.com
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