Wedding Videographers Make Less Than Fast-Food Workers

Should be a crash course for anyone about to get into this industry.

More than likely, in your first year, you won't make a penny. The problem we have as an industry is that people come into business and go out of business faster than most other industries. They bring the average cost for weddings down by working other jobs and doing it as their hobby. I've seen super talented people work for £1,000 per wedding. I've also seen some horrible work for £2K. There's no price that everyone agrees should be our minimum. Most people in the UK charge between £795–£1000 in their first year because they're supplementing their business with their own incomes outside of the industry. We must offer premium customer service, premium looks and premium films if we're going to stay around in the industry for long, but over here, I'd say the average is around £1500 for a true professional videographer, and even then, you're only making £45,000 a year, and you're busting your gut to shoot 30 and edit 30 cinematically. Average salary in the UK is £27,600. If you just buy your equipment alone, then you're already at that figure, assuming you start at a professional price. There's no way that you're getting 30 weddings without any advertising at a professional rate, so more than likely, you're doing 30 weddings at £795, which is just under £24K. As I said, in your first year, you won't make a penny. The average cost for a wedding videographer in the UK should be around £2K, but that's the cost of an assumed, accomplished videographer instead. Sounds like the market in the USA is way ahead of the market in the UK.

Hi Rob, thanks so much for sharing this. This is exactly what most of us need. I really hope this helps change the mindset of most wedding videographers and hopefully one day we can finally start earning the money we truly deserve. Thanks for taking the time to make the spreadsheet. Much appreciated!

Great video! When I started out I remember the first time I charged $1,800 and I thought I was rich. A month later I calculated my expenses and realized I made $0. I wish I would have seen this in my first year! Thanks guys!

Thank you for sharing this! This is what people need to be talking about more. MAKING MONEY. It drives us up the wall seeing all this inspiration crap online and people not charging for their time -its a pleasant change. Everything you said resonates with us and how we approach mentoring videographers in our area. Thank you for teaching things that bring value to this community and help raise the bar! Cheers from Canada~

Wow, thank you for this. Wish I had this when I started

“Uncle Sam is going to reach into your pocket and juggle your balls a little bit “ 😂

In the words of Metallica.....Sad but true!

Eye opening

Great stuff. You don't have commissions or referral fees to coordinators or venues. That really adds up. In Hawaii it's common to give between 10-20%.

Preach brother, preach. SICK to the back of my teeth with people charging absolute peanuts for high quality wedding film productions in my area. IDIOTS. Ruining it for everybody.

So true... Great video!

Please let us know what you think and also PLEASE share this video so we can get it in front of as many newcomers as possible
Let’s change the way wedding videos are priced.

The UK wedding video industry is even lower priced than in America.

That's ABSOLUTELY TRUE. Especially in Italy where destination videographers came from all over the world giving video for FREE just to make portfolio in our beautiful country mainwhile local videographers ask 1500 euros for 12hrs wedding !! IT IS A CRAZY BUSINESS

Not wholly accurate (as rob admits) but I get the idea, and I’m all for encouraging this conversation, we should be pushing prices.

Coming at this from a UK standpoint but the bottom line is charge what you want/ shoot as many as you want for the income you want to earn. Everyone has different lifestyles and whys. Don’t judge yourself on the other guy charging more.

Thanks so much Rob for sharing this, I really hope this helps most wedding photographers and videographers, to start earning the money we truly deserve. Very much appreciated! To make it even better, I would add a cell named "talent/skills", which would probably shift all the numbers: with a huge/small talent you may charge much more/less. What do you think about it?

As a Kentucky wedding videographer charging $3-4k per wedding, I needed this. Thank you.

can i add on gym yearly? as i/we need to exercise?

Share this everywhere. Even brides can benefit from watching this. It sounds absolutely ridiculous to some people that you want to charge $5k+ but what a great breakdown for them to see what actually goes into a wedding film and the business behind it.

So good, just getting started and this is exciting. 🤘🏼

Yeap, sad but mostly true. We keep telling our „ competitors” to rise prices. Funty but true. When you start a company like this you probably do not have this money for 2 bodies, insurance, etc. When you start you are less responsible and you rather shoot and Edit by yourself kicking the shit out of yourself even more... ;) However, When it comes to next years of running your business it starts to match exactly what you pointed out. People do not value their work properly as they probably do not value themselves right. Sad but true. It is not only a successful entrepreneurial problem but also psychological. Good video. Let’s share it internationally and open more eyes! Rob, good job!

depressing knowledge. It's much easier to live in the imagine fairytale. It's similar what UBER driver is making and he/she has probably less stresfull job.

Currently the people don't value digital content, digital era devaluate photographers and videographers work.

As a videographer I do appreciate a lot of the points that are brought up in this discussion, but I think there's a bit of stretching going on and it's all spoken about in a worst case scenario kind of tone. I think the biggest lie is to say videographers make the same wage as a fast food worker. Their method of comparing the two was unequal. They compared a videographers net wage after taxes and business expenses against a fast food workers wage before taxes. $14/hr after taxes is a lot more than $14/hr before taxes. They also didn't mention that videographers do become more efficient as they have more experience.

In regards to the Knot's low estimation of a wedding video, I believe that number is affected by a large number of people who deliver what most of us would consider a severely sub-par product. I've seen it first-hand from friends who decided to hire a $500 videographer, and he delivers what's essentially raw footage with on-camera audio. Regardless if that's what's bringing the price down, I think the main solution is educating customers and beginners on what should really be expected for compensation.

Dude! Just realizing this was up. Totally clicked the bell. Thanks for the content!

True words

The southeast is a brutal market. It's pulling teeth to charge $3,500 per wedding in this region. There is a lot of uneducated entrepreneur saturation in the market. And it's compounded by the fact that it's a revolving door. Companies start, fizzle out, and are replaced by new people making the same mistake: low prices.
The other problem is the Southeast is slow to adopt new trends. Most of the clients we dealt with expected the old Documentary-style videos for cheap. When we sold wedding films in our market, most people looked at us like we had two heads. Even after showing them examples of wedding films, they just didn't get it. We left the wedding film industry a few years ago to focus on commercial and we are happy we did. I know from friends still in the industry that it hasn't changed in this market region.

Terrible card haha

1200 for web hosting, wtf? lol

Even if you are an LLC, if you get suited they can and do come after you and everyone that is listed on the business. Nothing is safe.

GREAT video by the way!!!

I’m in STL and out of the 140 wedding filmmakers on The Knot the highest price is maybe $2500-$3000 most are about $2200. It is impossible for someone in NY or CA to give pricing advice to the rest of the country, especially the Midwest. All that being said I loved the video and I will use your spreadsheet ASAP! That’s for the info.

Dude this is fantastic information. We did an excel sheet like this last year and it was super eye opening. Pretty much a 3-5 year investment in gear in order to see a profit. First year is a wash

Based in Queens NY. Been filming for about 9 years. Past 3 years couldn’t book a wedding for more then $2k. That’s with a 2nd shooter.
Started working as a GC getting renovation jobs. Made $19k in 3 weeks. IPHONE AND AI KILLING THE WEDDING VIDEOGRAPHY GAME

TBH I've follow a rule that even after crunching the numbers then I raise the price up to a point that makes me feel a bit uncomfortable. So far it works and you test the waters for what the market can pay.

Now the question is how do we raise expectations without insulting couples?

When it boils down, none of this really matter (it does, but it doesn't). I've worked at Walmart, Target, Amazon, and other places. I much rather make $14/hour or more doing something I love and I'm passionate about, versus working a job I hate.

why r u so pesimistic?