Average Time Spent Per Wedding Client

Ever wonder why wedding photography costs what it does? Aside from talent, training, experience, and skill, is also a huge time investment per client in order to complete a wedding from start to finish. Though it’s different for every photographer I wanted to give a general idea on the time it takes per client involved with being a wedding photographer. Take these numbers and multiply it by the number of wedding you have in a given year. For us at Epoch Moment this multiplied number would be 3,575 hours to cover all of our clients needs from start to finish (using 65 hours per client).  That’s the equivalent of 1.7 years of work (compared to a normal 40 hour per week job) and this does not include any of the other work we do or running and operating the business itself. Crazy. 

Here’s a breakdown of the average time a wedding photographer might spend per client, from initial contact to final delivery and social media posting:

Average Time Spent Per Wedding Client:

1. Initial Inquiry and Email Communication:
   • Time Spent: 1-2 hours
   • Tasks: Responding to inquiries, answering questions, discussing packages, and scheduling consultations.
2. Consultation (In-Person or Virtual):
   • Time Spent: 1-2 hours
   • Tasks: Meeting with the couple, discussing their vision, reviewing contracts, and finalizing details.
3. Contract and Payment Processing:
   • Time Spent: 1-2 hours
   • Tasks: Preparing and sending contracts, processing payments, and handling any additional communication related to booking.
4. Pre-Wedding Planning and Coordination:
   • Time Spent: 3-5 hours
   • Tasks: Reviewing the timeline, scouting locations, communicating with the couple and vendors, creating shot lists, and finalizing details.
5. Engagement Session (If Applicable):
   • Time Spent: 4-6 hours
   • Tasks: Planning, shooting, and editing the engagement session, followed by delivering the final images.
6. Wedding Day Coverage:
   • Time Spent: 8-12 hours
   • Tasks: Full-day coverage of the wedding, capturing everything from getting ready to the reception.
7. Post-Processing and Editing:
   • Time Spent: 20-40 hours
   • Tasks: Sorting through thousands of images, selecting the best shots, editing, color correction, retouching, and creating final galleries.
8. Album Design (If Applicable):
   • Time Spent: 5-10 hours
   • Tasks: Designing the wedding album, revising based on client feedback, and coordinating printing.
9. Final Delivery:
   • Time Spent: 2-4 hours
   • Tasks: Exporting images in multiple formats, uploading to galleries, delivering physical products, and ensuring everything is to the client’s satisfaction.
10. Social Media Posting and Blogging:
    • Time Spent: 2-3 hours
    • Tasks: Selecting and editing images for social media, writing captions, scheduling posts, creating blog posts, and tagging vendors.

Total Estimated Time: 47-86 hours per client

This range can vary depending on the complexity of the wedding, the photographer’s workflow, and additional services offered, but it gives a solid estimate of the time commitment involved in delivering a high-quality wedding photography experience. Check out our article in the September issue of Engaged AF Magazine to see this information and much much more.