My career with event planning started just shy of my 20th birthday! I attended the University of Connecticut (go Huskies!) and joined an on-campus committee where I responsible for planning a large array of events for the entire campus community – parents and visitors, too. This is where I got my first taste of planning for an array of people, needing to meet their needs and creating a memorable, worthwhile, and intentional experience.
Shortly before graduating, I became an intern with one of the leading planning companies in New England (spoiler alert: Jubilee Events!). I knew the hands-on experience was necessary because there was so much behind-the-scenes that a client and even the fellow creative didn’t see. Weddings were not what they were 10 or 20 years before, a sentiment I find myself recalling quite often these days!
Fast forward nearly a decade and a half and as the owner behind Jubilee Events, I have produced hundreds of events in a variety of venues and locations across New England, New York, and North Carolina, and even some overseas. I’ve partnered with some of the best, most creative and talented professionals this industry offers and have faced just as many once-in-a-lifetime, sweet, funny, and irreplaceable moments as I have the less-than-fun-to-talk-about. Every experience, event, couple, family, and experience we’ve been a part of has allowed us to grow and strengthen the values and purpose behind this business.
My team and I live for the moments that matter, and the personal connection we’ve grown with all we’ve partnered with throughout our years provides us the ability to create unique, personalized, thoughtful, and fun experiences that our couples and their loved ones remember forever.
Do you feel like the industry charges more “because it’s a wedding” and they know it’s an emotional purchase?
Do companies think that they can charge more for weddings since the bride and groom may be willing to spend more on their dream wedding?
Hey wedding pros – is this higher price tag justified? Why? Do you charge more for your service if it is a wedding?
This is a taboo topic, whispered but not discussed… until now.
Welcome to The Uncorked Project!
2 comments
I have been asked this so many times... does the wedding industry inflate prices when they hear it's a wedding?
Here is my honest answer (as a former wedding photographer)... NO. Did I charge more for a wedding than a 50th birthday party or a family portrait session? Yes, absolutely. I charged A LOT more for a wedding.
Was I taking advantage of the emotional sell? Absolutely not.
The main reasons I charged more for a wedding were: the unseen amount of work involved in the 12+ months leading up to the wedding, the skill level needed on the day, the INTENSE pressure to create perfect "portfolio level work" no matter what the reality of the situation- but mostly it is to compensate for the time AFTER the wedding in post production.
Little known fact about wedding photography - the real job is sitting at a computer editing photos. Photographers spend many hours behind the computer carefully selecting and editing photos. They make adjustments, crop, and adjust colors to ensure each image it's best. Don't forget the time it takes for batching, renaming, importing, exporting and uploading the photos and preparing them for delivery.
Do you think this justifies why photographers charge more for weddings than for other types of shoots?
Couldn’t agree more! And on the videography side its an absolute ton of data + editing discipline.
Its a double sided coin- weddings are extremely high pressure but also high reward when we nail it.
Our products (photo video) in particular are the only thing that genuinely will last forever . Having fun and ALSO nailing the product is worth the price of entry and frankly more.