What to charge per wedding — the math freelancers famously botch
| Annual cost line | Photographer | Videographer | DJ | Full planner | Coordinator |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Insurance (liability + gear / E&O) | $1,000 | $1,000 | $800 | $1,200 | $900 |
| Software & subscriptions (editing, gallery, CRM, music pools) | $1,500 | $1,200 | $1,200 | $1,200 | $800 |
| Gear amortization (bodies, glass, audio, lights, booth/sound) | $4,000 | $5,000 | $2,300 | — | — |
| Website, marketing & bridal shows | $2,500 | $2,500 | $2,000 | $3,000 | $2,300 |
| Accounting, contracts & education | $1,000 | $800 | $700 | $1,100 | $1,000 |
| Total typical overhead | $10,000 | $10,500 | $7,000 | $6,500 | $5,000 |
Typical planning figures for a solo operation, not quotes — the calculator loads them as defaults precisely so you replace them with your own. Real overhead swings with gear taste, market advertising rates, and how many bridal shows you do.
| Craft | Event hours | Edit + admin hours | Total per wedding | Weddings/yr norm | Couples-side typical* |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Photographer | 8 | 32 | 40 | 20-30 | $2,600 (8h, mid-size metro) |
| Videographer | 8 | 40 | 48 | 20-30 | $2,000 (8h, mid-size metro) |
| DJ | 5 | 7 | 12 | 30-50 | $1,400 (standard 4-hr base) |
| Full-service planner | 12 | 88 | 100 | 10-20 | $3,800 (national average) |
| Month-of coordinator | 10 | 20 | 30 | 20-35 | $1,700 (typical flat fee) |
*What couples pay in a typical mid-market booking, from our couples-side calculators: photographer, videographer, DJ, and planner grids. When your minimum sits above the market typical, the gap tells you what has to change: volume, costs, market, or offering.
This is the vendor-side twin of our couples-side cost calculators. Couples tools answer "what will I pay?" This one answers "what must I charge?" — the question photographers, DJs, and planners ask at 11pm in a spreadsheet, usually by guessing. The formula is old small-business math, and it doesn't care what you think you're worth.
Minimum package = (annual overhead + target take-home income) ÷ weddings per year + per-wedding direct costs. Overhead is what the business burns whether you book or not: insurance, software, gear amortization, marketing. Direct costs are the ones that only exist when a wedding does: second shooter, album, travel, assistant. Income is take-home — the money that lands in your pocket before income tax and the 15.3% self-employment tax, which is why realistic targets matter. This is a planning estimate, not tax or legal advice.
Pick your vendor type to load typical presets for overhead, direct costs, weddings per year, and hours per wedding — then replace every one of them with your real numbers, because the presets are averages and your business isn't. Set the income target honestly: what you need to pay yourself, not what sounds modest. The result is a floor, not a quote. Above it live profit, equipment upgrades, and the Saturdays you don't work.
A solo photographer: $10,000 overhead, $60,000 target income, 25 weddings, $800 direct costs per wedding. Minimum = (10,000 + 60,000) ÷ 25 + 800 = $3,600. Across 40 real hours per wedding that's $90 an hour, and the reality check holds: 25 × $3,600 = $90,000 revenue, minus $10,000 overhead and $20,000 direct costs, equals exactly $60,000.
Now the uncomfortable part. The couples-side typical for a mid-size metro is $2,600. Charge that for 25 weddings and you net $65,000 − $10,000 − $20,000 = $35,000 — $25,000 short. Two exits: book 39 weddings at $2,600 (39 × $2,600 − $10,000 − 39 × $800 = $60,200, and good luck finding 39 Saturdays) or charge the $3,600 your costs demand.
Run the same math for a DJ: ($7,000 + $60,000) ÷ 40 + $150 = $1,825 — almost exactly the $1,800 couples-side national average, which suggests DJ pricing in most markets is honestly set. A month-of coordinator lands at $2,417 against a $1,700 market typical; closing that gap takes 45 weddings a year at market price, which is why coordination is usually a part-time lane or a stepping stone to full-service planning, where the same income needs only 15 weddings.
Start from the bottom-up formula: minimum package = (annual overhead + target take-home income) ÷ weddings per year + per-wedding direct costs. A photographer with $10,000 overhead, a $60,000 income target, 25 weddings a year, and $800 of direct costs per wedding (second shooter, album, travel) needs to charge at least $3,600 — about $90 an hour across the 40 hours each wedding really takes. Couples-side pricing runs $1,880-$4,000 for 8 hours by market, so the number is achievable in mid-size and major metros, and tight in small towns.
The floor is where revenue covers your annual overhead, your per-wedding direct costs, and the income you need to stay in business: (overhead + target income) ÷ weddings per year + direct costs. Below that, every booking pays you less than the year costs. Price above the floor for profit, marketing, and the weddings that cancel; price at it only while building a portfolio, and with a dated plan to raise.
Working norms by craft: photographers and videographers shoot 20-30 weddings a year (each one carries 30-50 hours of editing), DJs run 30-50 (the event plus prep and setup is 10-15 hours), full-service planners cap at 10-20 (roughly 100 hours per wedding across the engagement), and month-of coordinators handle 20-35 at about 30 hours each. Seasonality matters too — in most US markets, two-thirds of those bookings land in May through October.
Typical planning figures run $5,000-$10,500 of annual overhead for a solo operation: liability and gear insurance ($800-$1,500), software and subscriptions like editing suites and a CRM ($800-$1,500), gear amortization ($2,300-$5,000 for photo and video, none for planners), website, marketing, and bridal shows ($2,000-$3,000), plus accounting, contracts, and education ($700-$1,100). Replace the defaults in the calculator with your own numbers — that's the whole point of the math.
Three signs. One: you're booked solid a year out and still can't pay yourself — demand outrunning price is the market asking you to raise. Two: your effective hourly rate (package price ÷ total hours per wedding, including editing and admin) falls under $50. Three: the reality check — revenue minus overhead minus direct costs lands well short of your target income. A photographer charging the $2,600 mid-market typical for 25 weddings nets about $35,000, not $60,000; getting there means more weddings (39 at that price) or a higher price ($3,600 at 25).
Yes — the formula is craft-agnostic; only the presets change. A DJ with $7,000 overhead and a $60,000 target needs $1,825 a wedding at 40 bookings, almost exactly the $1,800 couples-side national average. A month-of coordinator with $5,000 overhead faces a $2,417 minimum at 30 weddings against a $1,700 market typical — which is why most coordinators run it as a part-time lane, a partner's income, or a stepping stone to full-service planning.