I've been asked to shoot a wedding for money, which would be the first time that I've had such an opportunity. I've taken pictures at three prior weddings, two as the main photographer, but not while getting paid. (For the two where I was the primary photographer, well, they really just didn't care much about their pictures, so...)
Anyways, how does one go about figuring out a decent price to charge for a wedding? I should add that while I wouldn't mind doing this every now and then, I probably wouldn't shoot a ton of weddings, so I don't want to subscribe to some service to tell me how much I should charge.
Answer
NOTE: To some extent my answer is 'US-centric' being as I've never had to price my photography in another country. If you're not in the US, your mileage may vary.
Never, ever base your price on what other photographers in your area are charging. You have no way of knowing what their expenses are, and thus you have no way of knowing what their profit margin is. You can price yourself according to your competition and easily end up making zero profit, or even losing money, because the numbers that your competition uses will not take into account your expenses, your cost of goods sold, the value of your time, etc.! Do the math instead. It's not that hard, and that way you'll at the very least know what your time is worth.
The key with pricing for retail photography is to build in enough cushion to cover your time, expenses, taxes, and profit. There are lots of 'slow and accurate' ways of doing this which I highly recommend you use if you're going to be doing lots of retail photography (because slow and accurate does a better job of taking time, expenses, and taxes into account and by doing that you generally end up with a more accurate appraisal of what your profit will be, and the ability to adjust your pricing accordingly). If you're not planning on doing a lot of retail photography there is a "quick n' dirty" formula that you can use in order to make sure you are more-or-less covering the basics:
( T + G ) * P = Quoted Price
T = The cost of your time: how many hours you expect to spend working multiplied by how much your time is worth. Make sure to consider all the hours you will work... Taking pictures, editing pictures, making albums, ordering prints, etc. This is an 'all inclusive' number, and not taking into account all the time you will spend is the fastest way to screw yourself and ensure you lose money on the quote, so make sure to factor in everything and then add a margin, just in case.
G = The wholesale cost of your goods: simple addition of all the goods you are planning on offering your client, and any out-of-pocket expenses (hotel, batteries, etc.) plus the sales tax rate on retail goods, if you are required to pay sales taxes in your jurisdiction.
P = The profit you expect to make: This number should be no smaller than 3, and (unless your client is uber-wealthy) shouldn't exceed 4. These are 'generally accepted ballpark' numbers that are often used for 'quick estimation.' Technically speaking you can throw in whatever number you want, but if you go less than 3 (here in the US) you run the risk of not being able to cover the income tax hit (you are paying your taxes, right?)
I've been shooting weddings and portrait photography for more than 15 years now, and I find that my 'quick and dirty' calculations get me within 10% of my 'slow and accurate' calculations without exception for anything less than about $10,000 in total fees.
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