How much should i pay a photographer ?

Pricing can vary wildly. Unfortunately, so can skill and experience. Far too many people who are camera owners like to think of themselves as professional photographers, when in reality they are far from it. Some things you need to ask about are these: Ask the photographer if they have full back up equipment. If they cannot tell, and better yet show, you their back up camera body and flash and lens, then do not even consider them. Ask what options they have for your prints. If all they can do is hand you a CD or 4 x 6 photos in a Wal Mart album, run from them. They should be able to SHOW you fine quality albums with no cheesy designs or "effects". Ask what lab they use to have prints made? If they cannot give you a name other than Costco or Walmart or Shutterfly or any such idiocy, walk away. They should be using a pro level lab such as Bay Photo Lab, or Mpix, or Millers, or White House Custom Color, or Meridan. There are plenty of others, but you can tell when it is a real lab or some cheap, amateur level print service. Ask to see the contracts they use. If they have no contracts.... RUN out the door. When they give you a price, ask if tax is extra or if it is included in the price. If they hem haw around and say something like there is no tax, then they are not operating in any kind of legitimate business structure. That will eventually come back to bite them instead of you, but it does show that you are dealing with an amateur when it comes to business, and all the other things that can entail, such as: Insurance. Ask who is their liability insurance carrier in case of any accidents at the wedding. Ask who is their back up photographer(s) in case they are unable to do the shoot. As you can see, a REAL pro photographer, along with their skill level and experience, has lots of business burden on them that has to be a part of their price. When you see someone promoting themselves as a "wedding photographer" and saying they will shoot the wedding for two or three hundred dollars and then hand you a piece of plastic, (CD), .... well, you are getting what you pay for. You will get photos that are just average snapshots and be taking all sorts of risks about other matters. Pay some extra money and hire someone who can snap off answers to the above questions without hesitation. steve

You don't dictate the price. You look around for a photographer and ask his price. If you don't like his price, go ask another. Ask what are included in his package. If you think you don't need some of his items, haggle.

150-200

A competent wedding photographer will charge between $1,500 and $2,500. A good wedding photographer will charge between $2,000 and $5,000. A high end luxury photographer will charge between $5,000 and $25,000. A celebrity wedding photographer like Joe Buissink will charge between $50,000 and $1,000,000 per day.

If you truly only need someone for 3 hours you can probably expect to pay in the neighborhood of $1,000-$1,500. My average price is about $3,000 which is just my time. It does not include prints, cd's, books or anything else. The average wedding is considerably longer than 3 hours. I would contact local photographers and ask them what they will charge. If you really only want them for 3 hours I suspect you can keep the price in the range I mentioned. The problem will be that they are all looking for a more typical wedding shoot and wont want to turn away a $3,000-$4,000 job for a small one. You might need to call a bunch to find someone who is available.