Three packages, every price on the page, and no add-ons you did not see coming. Here is exactly what each one costs and what you get.
Auckland prices run a long way, from a few hundred dollars for somebody starting out to well past ten thousand at the top end. The number moves with hours of coverage, experience and what you get afterwards, and most of the time the published figure leaves things out.
So, plainly. Mine start at $2,950 and the premium package is $5,995. All three packages include a full edit, an online gallery and your custom magazine cover artwork. Nothing below is an extra.
Need longer on the day? Extra hours can be added to any of the three. Tell me your timeline and I will tell you honestly which package fits, including when the cheaper one is the right answer.
Secure your date with 25%. After that you pay the balance however suits you, and most couples book about a year ahead and put a little aside each month. No interest, no fees, no minimum payment. The balance is simply settled a month before the day.
Two things included that people do not expect. Every wedding gets custom magazine cover artwork, one for the bridesmaids and one for the groomsmen, and the artwork is yours to print wherever you like. And after every wedding I design a full album from your photos, laid out as the story of your day, and give you a finished proof. The design and the proof come with every package. Printing is only included in Complete Story, and there is no obligation on the other two.
You do not get to reshoot your wedding. The phone photos your guests take are lovely and they are perfect for your socials, but they are not usually good enough for the album you will still be handing round in thirty years.
I design it straight away, while your day is still fresh in my mind. Plenty of couples pay well for a photographer and never end up with the album, sometimes having already part-paid for one, and by the time they come back the work has been archived. So you get yours while it is all still alive, and from there we take our time working out the album you actually want, at a size and a price that suits you.
Telling the story in order is a skill, and it is the part I enjoy most. You see the whole thing finished before you decide anything. The process is painless: most couples come back with four or five changes, usually swapping out one of the family group shots, and it is done. You end up with a family heirloom rather than a folder of files.
Some couples want a winery shoot, or the black sand of the west coast, or an engagement session beforehand. All of those are booked as their own shoot rather than bundled into a package, and there are two kinds. They are very different pieces of work.
A beach, a park, somewhere that means something to the two of you. A couple of hours, working with the light that is there. This is the straightforward one and it is what most pre-wedding sessions want to be.
The wine barrel frames in my portfolio are this kind of shoot. A full off-camera lighting setup, built and lit like a magazine cover rather than photographed as found. It is highly technical, and it is the one situation where I have needed a second pair of hands on the lights.
Two things to know before you set your heart on a venue. The venue has to agree, and somewhere like a barrel room will usually only open up if you are hosting something there, so it needs arranging well ahead. And whatever it costs to get access to the venue sits on top.
For a session like this I will ask you to send me the photographs you love first. A Pinterest board, screenshots, anything. It is the fastest way for me to understand the style you are after and which shots actually matter, so we spend the time making them rather than working it out on the day.
I do not publish a price for these, because what makes sense depends entirely on where you want to go and how much setting up it takes. Tell me what you have in mind when we meet and I will put something together that works for you. Couples booking a wedding with me always get something special.
I photograph weddings right across the region. If you are out west, the West Auckland page has more on those locations.
Send me your date and timeline. I will tell you which one I would actually recommend, including when it is the cheaper one.
Check my date is available