Cost of Wedding Photographer in New Zealand

Photographers are one the first vendors you book when planning your wedding. Let us show you the cost so you can make an informed decision that suits your budget!

All these costs are based on a full day 8-10 hours of coverage

Entry Level Photographer: FREE-$1,000

Every wedding photographer has got to start somewhere and so in this bracket, you will find the fresh faces of the industry who eager to start their journey as a wedding photographer. Ideally, you want to get someone with 1 or 2 weddings under their belt so they can help run the day as a typical wedding photographer holds a lot of responsibility of a wedding day in ensuring things stay on time.

As wedding photography is a job that many many people do as a side hustle, be prepared to search long and hard to find the good ones. There will be photographers who have shot weddings spanning years but never advanced due to their skill level or possibly a full-time job. Be careful with some of the photographers here as their camera gear could be aged and you are putting a lot of trust in their hands. If they have shot weddings before, make sure you ask to see examples of the full galleries. This means you get to review the work they capture across an entire wedding day so you can better gauge what they will deliver to you.

If you are choosing a photographer in this bracket, our tip is to make sure you are as organised as possible and have a well-thought-out run sheet. Experienced photographers are great at time management and keeping you on time, but as your budget won’t allow for that experience, you’ll need to step in to make sure things run smoothly.

Amateur Photographer: $1,500-$2,500

Photographers here should have a good understanding of how a wedding day runs and will have shot around 20+ weddings when they start charging this fee. They will be second shooting for a lot more experienced photographers, so you can find some really good photographers in this range who are being mentored and taught by the best photographers out there. That means you will get the style, and posing of someone much more advanced at a cheap rate.

Photographers can stay in this bracket for a long time as it can be hard to charge higher fees without making it a full time job. So here, you can easily get people who have been shooting 5+ years but they don’t charge a large fee as they do this on the side. So again, you get a great bargain as these photographers can be really experienced so you don’t jeopardise your wedding photos.

On the other side, there can also be photographers charging this rate that really are only just entry-level photographers. They buy all the fancy gear and so they think they are worth more than what their experience levels are. Once again, always ask for full galleries as there are a lot of ‘fakers’ out there who can manipulate their websites/social media to create beautiful photos from staged wedding photoshoots, but they can’t perform on an actual wedding day.

Experienced Photographer: $3,000-$4,000

This was the most popular price for a number of years as you had a huge range of photographers that stayed in this price range for 3-4 years. These photographers had 5+ years under their belt, invested in the best gear, and produced top tier photos as well. Only recently have many of these photographers now priced themselves above this bracket but that doesn’t mean you won’t get a great photographer. Photographers in this range will have a wealth of experience, likely over 100 weddings when they get to this stage.

If you are looking for a photographer in this range, prepare for the overwhelming research and decision-making involved! This is likely still the most saturated price range as at this price range, wedding photographers can make this their full time job. Because of this, you can get the odd-photographer whom is overcharging as they want to be full time but don’t necessarily have the experience. Be careful and really analyse the work of any photographer you like. Be sure to have a meeting with your potential photographer, and ask all the right questions - how long have you been doing this? What’s your deliver process like? How do you operate on the wedding day?

The great thing about being in this budget is that there are still a host of photographers still undercharging for the work they produce. Some photographers are more about the creative side instead of the business so they will be slow at increasing their prices accordingly. Hence, you can find a photographer who should really be charging $5,000 but only pay $3,500. So shop around for a great deal and you won’t be disappointed!

If you are having a smaller wedding, this price bracket will get some truly amazing photographers across New Zealand which is a great benefit when elopement or only having under 20 guests.

Seasoned Photographer: $4,500-$6,000

With the cost of living increasing over the years, this is becoming the new standard price range for a photographer in New Zealand that you can trust your day with. These photographers will have everything down to a tee - they have been doing weddings for a long time, likely shooting over 300+ weddings at this price.

The experience comes with a hefty price, so be prepared to shell out a large part of your budget for a photographer here. They would have likely shot at the majority of venues in their region, so use that expertise to your advantage. Ask for vendor recommendations - these photographers would have worked with a tonne of vendors over the years and they know the good ones but can also tell you about the bad eggs who you want to avoid.

In the price range, you can be looking at getting two photographers across the entire wedding day. One photographer is enough right? Sure it is, but having a second photographer takes off a lot of stress off the lead photographer and allows for more creativity for the wedding day. It may seem excessive, but two people is definitely better than one in this instance.

If you want to be able to get comfortable with your photographer before the wedding, in this price range you can likely add on a pre wedding shoot (or engagement shoot) as part of the photography package. This allows both of you to see how the photographer works on the wedding day and get some lovely photos that you will cherish.

Now let's get into the nitty-gritty for this price range. Photographers in this range could have been in the industry for a long long time. While that might sound good, it might also mean the photographer could be burnt out, they could be very set in their ways and unwilling to work with different views. Sound crazy? It may but we have seen this over the years so be sure to check your photographer still has that passion and spark in creating the best photos for you.

Luxury Photographer: $7000+

If you are finding yourself in this price bracket in New Zealand, then you get to pick the best of the best. Every photographer wants to be able to charge this amount but there are only a few photographers that exist that can sustain enough clientele at this price. These photographers will likely be operating in the luxury market - a market where you are expected to be at the top of your game every single time. Here, there are no photographers that get it wrong. They are spectacular photographers who shine in their craft and their work will be constantly featured in magazines and blogs.

There isn’t much to worry about in this budget, Photographers are at the peak of their careers and can deal with anything thrown at them. They constantly produce wedding work that everyone envies at are responsible for setting trends. Many other photographers will look up to photographers in this price range and try their best to emulate their work. The customer experience is carefully curated to ensure that couples are treated thoughtfully and looked after every step of the way.

Photographers in this range often start heading into photography education as this can signal them trying to shoot less and earn income through other income streams.

One reason the photos from photographers in this range always look next level is heavily influenced by the weddings they book. Couples with large budgets have the budgets to spend more to make every aspect of their wedding look like an Instagrammers dream. Weddings in this price range would likely be occurring in places like Queenstown as this is seen as the pinnacle of luxury weddings in New Zealand.

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