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Costs

The short answer is $3,000 to $4,400 for a photographer depending on which national study you read, and this page shows exactly where both numbers come from.

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US average
$3,000 to $4,400
Los Angeles
$5,000 to $9,000
Our collections
From $2,599
That price includes
Photo and film

The short answer

The average wedding photographer in the United States costs about $3,000, according to The Knot 2026 Real Weddings Study, which surveyed 10,474 US couples married in 2025. Zola’s Wedding Cost Index, updated February 2026, puts the same figure at $4,400, because it also counts what vendors are currently asking rather than only what couples reported paying. Realistically, couples encounter quotes from about $1,500 at the low end to roughly $5,300 at the top of typical spend, with the city and the number of hours booked moving the number more than anything else. A wedding videographer averages $2,300 on The Knot figures and $3,993 on Zola figures, and 37% of couples book one.

Figures last checked 21 July 2026. Every source is linked at the bottom of this page.

$3,000

Photographer

The Knot, 2025 weddings

$4,400

Photographer

Zola, updated Feb 2026

$2,300

Videographer

The Knot, 2025 weddings

$3,993

Videographer

Zola, updated Mar 2026

The $1,400 gap

Both figures are real and neither is wrong. They are measuring different things, which is why any national average quoted without a source attached should be ignored. The Knot number is a look backwards at what couples paid. The Zola number is a look at what vendors are charging right now. For videography the same split is wider still, with Zola sitting about 74% above The Knot.

$3,000

The Knot, retrospective survey

The 2026 Real Weddings Study asked 10,474 US couples what they actually paid for weddings held between 1 January and 31 December 2025. It is self reported spend, after the fact, on weddings that have already happened. This is the better answer to the question of what couples paid.

$4,400

Zola, live cost index

The Wedding Cost Index blends real couple budgets, vendor reported list prices and budget tool behaviour across more than 1,000 locations, adjusted against CPI, last updated February 2026. List pricing sits above self reported past spend, which explains most of the gap. This is the better answer to what vendors are asking today.

One more piece of context worth having. The Knot puts the average total US wedding at $34,200 and reports that couples spend about 10% of the budget on photography and video combined. Zola puts the average wedding at $36,000, with photography at roughly 9% and videography at roughly 8%.

Ten variables account for nearly all of the spread between a $1,500 quote and a $5,300 one. Hours and geography account for most of it. Everything else moves the number by less than couples expect.

01

Hours of coverage

The most direct lever there is. Zola frames a basic photography package as 6 to 8 hours with one shooter and a premium package as 10 hours or more. Video runs 4 to 6 hours basic against 8 to 12 hours premium, with overtime listed at $200 to $400 per hour past the contracted package.

02

How many people shoot

The Knot names the number of photographers hired as a direct cost factor, and Zola notes that additional photographers raise the price. Zola separates a solo videographer from a multi person video team as its own pricing tier. Neither publishes a verified dollar figure for a second shooter, so treat the numbers on vendor blogs with suspicion.

03

The city you marry in

The single largest swing in the data. The Knot's regional photography averages run from $2,600 in the Southwest to $3,800 in the Mid-Atlantic. Zola puts New York City near $5,000 against Salt Lake City at $3,600 for photography, and San Francisco at $6,091 against Salt Lake City at $3,005 for video.

04

Travel

The Knot lists travel fees as a photography cost factor outright. Zola notes additional charges when a venue sits outside a videographer's standard service area. Ask where the service area ends before you compare two quotes, because one of them may not include the drive.

05

Season and day of week

Zola states that Saturdays during peak wedding season, May through October, command premium pricing. Off season dates and any day that is not a Saturday price below that. Moving a wedding to a Friday in March is the cheapest single change most couples never consider.

06

What gets handed back

Zola notes that digital only packages cost less than packages including albums and prints. The Knot lists editing and postproduction as a distinct photography cost driver, and names postproduction editing as one of four main videography price factors.

07

Scope beyond the wedding day

The Knot cites engagement sessions, rehearsal dinner coverage and similar add ons as expanding the photography total. Each one is a separate shooting day and a separate edit, so each one carries its own cost.

08

Experience and style

Zola lists an established brand and long experience as a premium driver, and states that fine art and stylized approaches cost more than documentary shooting. Worth knowing that 67% of couples marrying in 2026 told Zola they prefer natural, unposed documentary work.

09

Guest count

The Knot's photography averages climb with the size of the wedding, from $2,000 at 1 to 50 guests up to $3,500 at 101 guests or more. More people means more hours, more formals and more ground to cover.

10

Equipment and edit complexity

Zola places drone work and advanced editing in its premium videography tier. A multi camera ceremony with drone coverage and a long form edit is a different amount of work to a single operator cutting a five minute highlight.

Averages are only useful once they are cut by market. These are the published breakdowns, reproduced as they appear on the source pages.

Videography by region

The Knot, 2025 weddings

Mid-Atlantic$3,000
Northeast and New England$2,700
Midwest$2,200
West$2,200
South and Southeast$2,100
Southwest$2,100

Photography by guest count

The Knot, 2025 weddings

1 to 50 guests$2,000
101 or more guests$3,500

Photography by region is published as a spread rather than a full table, running $2,600 in the Southwest to $3,800 in the Mid-Atlantic. The photography quartiles are $1,500 at the lower end, $2,800 at the median and $4,700 at the upper end.

The metro extremes

Zola Wedding Cost Index, 2026

New York City, photographyabout $5,000
Salt Lake City, photography$3,600
San Francisco, videography$6,091
Salt Lake City, videography$3,005

Video in San Francisco costs almost exactly double video in Salt Lake City. Same craft, same hours, different zip code. This is why a national average is a starting point and never a quote.

Where we sit

We are not the cheapest studio in the country and we are not pretending to be. Our entry collection is $2,599, which sits just under The Knot national average for a photographer alone and well under the Zola figure. The difference is what is inside it. At $2,599 you get a photographer and a videographer, and almost nothing quoted at that price includes both.

Photographer only, The Knot national average$3,000
Photographer only, Zola national average$4,400
Videographer only, The Knot national average$2,300
Videographer only, Zola national average$3,993
Photographer and videographer, VowDeLune Essential ComboOurs$2,599

Read that honestly. The averages above cover packages of varying length, so this is not a like for like swap, and our $2,599 collection covers four hours. What it does show is that both crafts together at our entry price land inside the normal range for one of them on its own.

Booking a photographer and a videographer separately means paying two national averages. On The Knot figures that is $3,000 plus $2,300, so about $5,300 for weddings held in 2025. On the Zola figures it is $4,400 plus $3,993, so about $8,393 for 2026. Our Essential Combo is $2,599 with both, and Signature Story covers eight hours with both at $3,999.

The saving is the smaller half of the argument. Two vendors who have never met end up in each other’s frames, compete for the same angle during the vows, and hand you back two versions of the day that look like two different weddings. One team plans the ceremony, the first look and the toasts together before anyone lifts a camera, and grades the photos and the film to match.

Booked separately, at average

The Knot, photo plus video$5,300
Zola, photo plus video$8,393
VowDeLune, both together, from$2,599

Sums of the published national averages. Not a quote for any particular wedding.

Our prices

See the full breakdown

Three collections, published prices, every one of them adjustable. Each sends a photographer and a videographer, and travel across Los Angeles, New York, Boston and Texas is included.

Essential Combo

$2,599

Four hours, both crafts, one team. The day's real moments in photos and a five minute film.

What is included

Signature Story

$3,999

Our most booked. A full eight hours, the ceremony kept end to end, and your photos back in two days.

What is included

The VowDeLune Collection

$7,699

The whole day, three shooters, a proper documentary, and a private screening for the people who lived it.

What is included

Four years, more than 800 weddings and hundreds of reviews across every platform. Send us your date and city and we will send a real number back, not a range.

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Where we film

Los Angeles, New York, Boston and Texas are home, and travel inside them costs you nothing extra. Everywhere else we quote flights and lodging at cost, with no markup and no padding.

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Cost questions

Answered with the figures above, sources attached.

Most US couples pay between $1,500 and $5,300. The Knot puts the national average at $3,000, based on 10,474 couples married in 2025. Zola puts it at $4,400 in its Wedding Cost Index, updated February 2026, because that index also counts what vendors are currently asking rather than only what couples reported paying afterwards. The city you marry in and the number of hours you book move the figure more than any other variable.

There are two credible answers and they measure different things. The Knot reports $3,000, which is what couples said they actually paid for weddings held during 2025. Zola reports $4,400, which reflects what vendors are asking across more than 1,000 markets as of February 2026. If you are budgeting for a 2026 or 2027 wedding, treat $3,000 as the floor of the normal range and $4,400 as the realistic middle.

The Knot puts the average wedding videographer at $2,300, with a lower quartile of $1,000 and an upper quartile of $3,300, and reports that 37% of couples book one. Zola is higher at $3,993 nationally, with a typical band of $3,200 to $4,800. A basic package is usually 4 to 6 hours with one shooter. Premium packages run 8 to 12 hours with a team, drone coverage and a longer edit, and Zola lists overtime at $200 to $400 per hour past the contracted time.

The shooting day is the smaller half of the work. The Knot names editing and postproduction as a distinct cost driver, and a full gallery means hundreds of images culled and color graded by hand, which is usually several days per wedding. Add the second shooter, the travel, the backup gear, and the fact that a Saturday in peak season can only be sold once. Zola confirms that Saturdays from May through October carry the highest rates for that reason.

Six to eight hours covers getting ready, the ceremony, portraits and the first stretch of the reception, which is what Zola describes as a basic package. Ten hours or more is a premium package, and that is what you need for a send off, a second location or a multi day celebration. Hours are the most direct lever on price, so settle the timeline first and price it second. Our Essential Combo is 4 hours at $2,599 and Signature Story is 8 hours at $3,999.

Usually yes. Booking two studios separately means paying two averages, which comes to about $5,300 using The Knot figures for 2025 weddings or about $8,393 using Zola figures for 2026. Our Essential Combo sends a photographer and a videographer for $2,599, and Signature Story covers eight hours with both for $3,999. Price aside, one team plans the ceremony angles together instead of two vendors competing for the same spot during the vows.

Sources

Check any of these yourself. Figures we could not confirm on a primary source page are not on this page at all, which is why you will not find luxury tier numbers or a dollar figure for a second shooter here. Both circulate widely and neither appears on an industry study we could read.

  • The Knot, Average Cost of a Wedding Photographer

    $3,000 national average. Quartiles of $1,500, $2,800 and $4,700. Regional spread of $2,600 to $3,800 and averages by guest count. Real Weddings Study, 2025 weddings.

  • The Knot, Average Cost of a Wedding Videographer

    $2,300 national average and 37% of couples booking one. Quartiles of $1,000, $1,900 and $3,300, plus the full regional table. Based on 10,474 US couples married in 2025.

  • The Knot, Average Wedding Cost

    $34,200 average total wedding, with $3,000 for photography and $2,300 for videography. The Knot 2026 Real Weddings Study.

  • The Knot, Wedding Budget Breakdown

    Couples put roughly 10% of the total wedding budget into photography and videography combined. Nearly 11,000 US respondents married in 2025.

  • Zola, Wedding Photographer Cost

    $4,400 national average, with most couples spending $3,500 to $5,300, about 9% of budget. New York City near $5,000 against Salt Lake City at $3,600. Updated 19 February 2026.

  • Zola, Wedding Videographer Cost

    $3,993 national average with a typical band of $3,200 to $4,800. Salt Lake City $3,005 against San Francisco $6,091. Overtime at $200 to $400 per hour. Updated 4 March 2026.

  • Zola, Average Cost of Weddings in 2026

    $36,000 average wedding, photography $4,400 and videography $3,993. Wedding Cost Index plus the 2026 Wedding Spend Survey. Updated 6 March 2026.

  • Zola, Inside the Wedding Cost Index

    The methodology page. Real couple budgets, vendor reported prices and budget tool data across 1,000 plus locations and 10 plus vendor categories, adjusted against CPI.

  • Zola, The First Look Report 2026

    Photography at about 9% of budget, peak season Saturdays carrying the highest rates, and 67% of 2026 couples preferring natural documentary style work.

The Knot figures describe weddings that took place in 2025 and were published as the 2026 study. Zola figures were last updated in February and March 2026 and describe the 2026 market. They are not measuring the same period, so we state the year every time we quote one.

What it costs in Los Angeles

Why Los Angeles runs above the national average

The national surveys you just read, the ones The Knot and Zola publish every year, describe a whole country averaged together. Los Angeles is not the average. Photography and film both run higher here, and not because anyone is padding an invoice. Demand sets the floor first: more couples marry across LA County on a single Saturday than some states see in a month, and the shooters worth hiring get booked a year or more out. Then comes the geography. One LA wedding day can start in a getting-ready suite in one county, move to a ceremony in another, and end at a reception forty freeway minutes past that, and someone has to be paid for the hours the 405 quietly eats. Venues here pay Los Angeles rent too, and that pressure rolls straight down the invoice to every vendor standing in the room.

What LA couples actually budget

So what does a real LA couple actually set aside? Most who care how the day gets remembered land somewhere between five and nine thousand dollars once photo and film are both counted, and plenty go past that on the Westside. The total climbs fastest when you hire the two crafts separately, because then you are paying two businesses: two deposits, two travel fees, two of everything. A photographer alone rarely feels cheap in this market, and then the film quote arrives and the number quietly doubles.

One team, one price, starting at $2,599

That gap is exactly what the VowDeLune model is built to close. Every package sends one team that shoots stills and motion side by side, which is why the Essential Combo starts at $2,599 with a photographer and a videographer already inside it, not added on afterward. For an LA couple weighing that against two separate local quotes, the difference usually runs into the thousands, and it saves the headache of syncing two vendors on top of the money. The footage also comes back in days rather than the two months most local studios still quote, so the day is yours to relive while it is all still close.