Wedding photo budget: how much should you really spend?

Photography is one of the few wedding expenses that still leaves something behind the next day. Flowers wilt, the meal is digested, the dress goes to the dry cleaner’s; the pictures, though, you will look at for thirty years. The question is how much to put into them.

The 10 to 12% rule

Most wedding planners recommend spending 10 to 12% of the total budget on photo and video. For a €15,000 wedding, that is €1,500 to €1,800, video included. It is a guideline, not a law: if photos matter a lot to you, go up to 15% and cut elsewhere.

Ballpark figures

Photographer, full day: €1,200 to €2,500. Below €1,000, be wary, or check very carefully the complete gallery of a whole wedding (not just the five best photos on their website).
Photographer, half day: €700 to €1,200.
Videographer: €1,000 to €2,500, often as much as the photographer.
Second photographer: an extra €300 to €600.
Photo booth: €350 to €900 (the breakdown is in how much a photo booth costs).
Printed album: €300 to €800 through the photographer, €50 to €150 if you make it yourself.
Guests’ photos: €0 to €40.

Prices vary a lot depending on the region and the season. Always get two or three quotes.

Where not to cut corners

The main photographer. It is the only item you truly can’t make up for. A bad caterer becomes a funny story; ruined photos can’t be retaken. They are also the one orchestrating the moments you can’t replay, like the wedding group photos.

The number of hours. The most common mistake is choosing a package that ends at 10 pm, before the real party. Yet the peak of emotion (and of photos) comes much later (see what we learned from 120 weddings). Better a slightly less famous photographer who stays until 1 am than an excellent one who leaves at dessert.

Where you can save without regret

1. The album supplied by the photographer. Take the files and make the album yourself: you often save €400 for a very similar result (see making a photo book with your guests’ photos).

2. The photo booth. It is the item with the worst price-to-memories ratio on the whole list. The same fun photos can be had for twenty times less, and all over the room rather than in one spot (we do the maths on our wedding photo booth alternative page).

3. The second photographer. Useful at a very large wedding. With 80 guests, your guests themselves already cover everything a second photographer would go looking for, as long as you give them a framework.

“We dropped the photo booth and kept the photographer an hour longer. It was the best decision of the whole budget.” Léa & Marius · 2026

The split we recommend

On a photo budget of €1,800: €1,500 for a photographer who stays late, €200 for a good-quality printed album, €30 for the guests’ digital disposable camera, and the rest on prints to give away. You cover the official day, the party, the behind-the-scenes, and you still have something to hang on the wall.

Time to Flash is the small €30 item on this list: one QR code, no app, and your guests’ album revealed the next day.