We often get this question from clients who are honestly just trying to keep their wedding costs down, as well as have a low-profile ‘simple’ wedding. When we tell them that we only shoot traditional weddings with guests with two shooters, they then ask if we can do it with one instead to save on costs.
And these are fair questions!
People planning their wedding don’t really know how the photography or videography side of things work.
The clients that book us value the same things we do when it comes to their wedding photos or videos:
- Capturing the whole story, from simultaneous looks and events in different places, to the reactions of guests, and the Candid moments in between the posed portraits – and lots of shots to choose from to tell that story.
- Making sure that they are present and experiencing their wedding to the utmost, without having to worry about capturing the images they need to tell that story
- The photos and video are the only lasting things besides the marriage that is left over from their wedding day, and will serve them for decades to come to remind them of that.
Addressing all of those values doesn’t actually change whether there are 25 or 125 people! We still need to have two shooters (learn about why here), the moments occurring happen just as fast, the total coverage time is most likely more or less the same (learn more about that here), and the pre- and post-production work is identical too (you can read a lot more about the factors that go into the cost of a wedding in this article if you are interested in learning more about that).
The answer: No
The number of guests or the simplicity of a weddings doesn’t usually impact the cost of the wedding coverage to any great extent.
The Exception
Of course there are always exceptions. We have just one: true elopements.
We define a true elopement as:
- The couple
- A commissioner of oaths (officiant)
- One or two witnesses (number depending on if the shooter is serving as a witness)
For an elopement, everything is so much simpler and more relaxed. We can control things. There are no set timelines. We are far more free to move around so we don’t disturb an audience’s enjoyment of it. So we can still deliver the story our clients want from their special moment. Of course, if getting ready separately is a part of their story, and they want to have a lot more candids and different simultaneous angles, we still love having two shooters at elopements!