t's what every professional is afraid to talk about... at least publicly.. Why they price the way they price. In this industry, I've seen multiple posts written by photographers telling their clients all of the things they do behind the scenes, and that's why they're priced the way they are... but no one actually talks about why they're REALLY priced the way they are.... 
 
I think I've done it all.. When I first started out, I gave clients a price that I thought sounded good... never in a million years did I think people would actually pay me 250.00 for their wedding..... but the number sounded good, it would help me cover a new lens I wanted. A few months after my first wedding, that 250.00 rate became the price for my regular sessions.. and my weddings increased to 800.00 -- because that sounded incredible... I could be making 800.00 doing something that I loved... and someone was going to actually pay me that much money. Hell yeh,.... (ha) 
 
The thing is, friends of mine got upset that my rates increased... it didn't matter that I had gotten better... all that mattered is that their friend - who had just gotten married, only paid me 250.00 for an entire day of shooting, and I was now charging them for an hour for the same rate. As much as I tried explaining that I was 'more professional' and that I had 'gotten better' -- I wasn't conducting business the way I should have been.  
 
Firstly, I should have NOT shot a wedding having NO idea what I was doing... so definitely don't follow in my foot-steps in that matter... Take my advice and second shoot with another photographer for a while first! Not only will it help build your portfolio (if permitted by the primary photog) but it will give you insight on how to be a professional! Secondly, I shouldn't have shot a damn wedding for 250.00 -- what in the world was I thinking?! 
 
I was thinking that the price sounded good... and if someone paid me for it - then I was successful... Wrong. 
 
In fact, it has back-fired... I feel as though I am just now coming away from being the local 'cheap photographer'... For years, when potential clients contacted me, they'd mention that they heard I was pretty good and really cheap... -bangs head- You NEVER want to hear that! I had failed myself by just picking a rate that sounded good and pricing my sessions that way. 
 
I have also tried the 'raise my prices per every few weddings'... and unfortunately, that just didn't work for me either... People talk.. Brides talk.. and if Brides are going to be one of my 'marketing' sources, they're going to tell their awesome friends just how much I charged them. I tried this for a long-time... and kept failing.. over and over again. This can totally work for some photogs, but it just didn't seem successful for me... maybe because I live in a small town!!! 
 
When I was just starting out, I would go and search for other photographers and see if they listed their prices publicly.... and I'd compare myself to them. ... this was failure waiting to happen... and I'll get into this in a second... but this way was not beneficial to me either..... I don't live the same life as the other photographer.... I don't have the same bills.... and I don't offer the same things. 
 
I was an idiot... an idiot trying to be a professional....  
 
I was an idiot, failing.. over and over again. 
 
It wasn't until I took a hard look at my finances that I finally got a hang of this whole pricing structure 'thing'... I was honest with myself... about my spending... about my bills.. and about what I was really offering my clients. I asked myself things like... 'what am I really worth?!' -- and that's a hard question to ask yourself... but even harder to answer honestly. 
 
When you are pricing your weddings and sessions - don't just pick a number that sounds good... don't go and compare prices with other photographers, and don't feel like you ALWAYS have to be raising your prices to be a 'professional'. It took me a while to grasp that last part.  
 
Professionals were the ones making the most money 
 
No... they were successful because they were smart and new how to run a business successfully... They kept in mind the economy... They kept in mind their market... and without comparing themselves, they kept in mind their competition. 
 
So then, what HAS worked for me?! 
 
Writing out everything... my cost of doing business.... my personal bills... my 'entertainment'.... my marketing.. . my taxes (ew)... I wrote out everything.. Your sessions and your weddings have to AT LEAST cover ALL of those things in order to 'break even'... and in order to be profitable, your sessions and your weddings have to bring in MORE than enough to just break even. 
 
So say for instance, my monthly bills/taxes/etc tallied up to about 4,000.00 I would have to AT LEAST bring in 4,000.00 to break even, but in order to be successful - I'd have to bring in well over that.... I like to at least bring in double - it makes me feel more secure. So if you take 4k x 12 months you end up with 48,000.00..... which means you need to at least bringing in approximately 96,000 a year... GAH. And these are just estimates people -- these numbers can be SO scary. 
 
So what does all of this mean?!!?!? Let's say you just wanted to bring home 6,000.00 a month -- you need to break that down into what and how much you want to shoot. 
 
If I wanted to just shoot two weddings a month -- then your smallest package would need to be around 3,000.00 of PROFIT.... Which means (follow me here) you would need to tally up how much costs of your OWN that you would be spending out of that 'package'... 
 
For example... some potential costs.. 
 
Album 
Prints 
Canvas 
Second Shooter 
Travel 
Sales Tax 
ETC 
 
Say all of those things added up to about 1,500.00 out of your own pocket -- then your smallest package would need to at least be 4,500.00 in order to bring home 3,000 of profit per wedding each month.. HOLY CRAP, right!?!? 
 
If you're struggling with your pricing, you should take some time to be honest about your finances... take a couple hours (ugh) and think costs of doing business -- personal life.. think about it all.... and then figure out how much you want to shoot each month, and WHAT you want to shoot each month... this will help you get 'valid' numbers so that you can start pricing yourself accordingly... and I say ask yourself WHAT you want to shoot, because realistically, it will be difficult selling two 4,500.00 portrait sessions each month... not that it's not possible, but it will be difficult! 
 
And now when someone asks you why you can't give them a discount.. or why you're priced so much higher than XYZ photographer or why you've increased your rates..... you can honestly say, that you're trying to provide for your family... you're trying to put food on the table, and that giving them a discount would mean not giving your own child a great college education!!!!!!! You don't have to worry about 'defending your growth as a photographer' anymore... I think most everyone understands bills -- which is why they ask for a discount in the first place. You don't have to worry about telling them all of the behind the scenes work you do (although this is important to know) -- but it's not REALLY why we price ourselves... or at least, I don't think that's what we should solely base our prices on.... because really, each photographer does all of those things.. make sense?!?!  
 
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Whew, sorry for such a lengthy post, and I really hope that it helped at least someone...  
If you need some extra 'calculator' help, check out this super helpful site!!!!