If you’ve started researching wedding photographers in St. Augustine, you’ve probably already noticed something: the prices vary wildly. You’ll find photographers charging $1,500 and photographers charging $10,000 for what appears, on the surface, to be the same thing. A person. A camera. Your wedding day.
It is not the same thing.
I’m going to break this down as honestly as I can — including what I charge, why I charge it, and what you’re actually buying when you invest at the higher end of the market. Not because I want to talk you into anything, but because you deserve to make this decision with full information. Your wedding photos will be the only thing left when the flowers are gone, the cake is eaten, and the dress is boxed up. This choice matters.
Why wedding photography pricing varies so much
The range in wedding photography pricing isn’t arbitrary. It reflects real differences in experience, approach, equipment, time, and what happens after the shutter clicks.
Here’s what’s actually behind the number:
• Experience: Years of experience on real wedding days — not just styled shoots or portraits
• Post-production: Time spent editing, culling, color grading, and delivering a gallery that looks intentional from frame one
• Equipment: Professional-grade camera bodies, lenses, lighting, and backup equipment
• Skill under pressure: The ability to read a room, adapt to any energy, and make decisions under pressure in real time
• Artistic vision: A distinct visual style that translates consistently — not just on perfect days in perfect light
A newer photographer charging $1,500 isn’t necessarily doing anything wrong. But what you’re paying for at $8,000 is someone who has seen almost everything, stayed calm through all of it, and still came home with images worth keeping. That’s not a price tag. That’s twenty years of experience standing between you and a wedding day you can’t get back.
What I charge — and what’s included
I keep my offerings simple on purpose. Two options. No confusing package tiers. No nickel-and-diming for things that should just be included.
I don’t sell packages. I sell an experience. Here’s what that looks like.
Full Day Coverage — $8,000
This covers approximately 6–8 hours of wedding day coverage — from getting ready through the reception. For larger weddings (150+ guests) or days with a lot of moving pieces, I bring a second shooter so nothing gets missed. I also include a few rolls of film woven throughout the day at my discretion, because there is simply nothing that captures the warmth and texture of a wedding day the way film does.
What you’re investing in at this level isn’t just coverage. It’s two decades of knowing exactly where to stand, when to disappear, when to direct, and when to simply let a moment breathe. It’s a photographer who treats your wedding day like art — not a checklist.
Full Wedding Weekend — $12,000
This is for the couple who understands that their wedding isn’t just a day. It’s a weekend. A gathering. An experience for everyone they love.
The Full Wedding Weekend includes:
• Coverage of the night before — rehearsal dinner, family gathering, whatever the evening holds
• Full wedding day coverage with a second shooter
• An optional morning-after session — just the two of you, somewhere beautiful, intimate and unhurried
• Film woven throughout the entire weekend
The morning-after session alone is something I feel strongly about. The wedding day moves fast — faster than anyone ever expects. The morning after, the world is quiet again. You’re still in it. Still wearing your rings for the first time. Still newlyweds. Those images tend to be some of the most honest and beautiful of the entire weekend.
What a full wedding weekend actually looks like
I traveled to North Carolina for a wedding that I think about often when I describe this offering.
The entire family came from out of town to celebrate the whole weekend together. They rented out a vineyard — the whole property — and stayed in the little chateau on the grounds. It wasn’t just a wedding. It was a reunion, a celebration, a few days carved out of ordinary life for the people they loved most to simply be together.
One of the details that stuck with me: they had a small white bounce house set up on the side of the venue for the kids. A huge box of Legos on the porch. I haven’t seen that at a wedding in a long time — a couple so intentional about everyone having a good time that they thought about the smallest guests too. The wedding felt like exactly what it was supposed to be. A real celebration. For everyone.
That’s the kind of couple I travel for. The ones who think about everyone in the room — and trust me to capture all of it.
A full weekend with a couple like that isn’t work. It’s a privilege. And the images reflect that.
Why I include film — and why it matters at this level
Film isn’t a trend I’ve chased. It’s something I believe in deeply as a medium, and it’s woven into every wedding I shoot.
There’s a quality to a film frame that digital hasn’t been able to fully replicate — a warmth, a grain, a softness in the highlights that makes an image feel less like a photograph and more like a memory. When those frames live alongside my digital work in your gallery, the whole thing takes on a different weight.
I choose when to shoot film at my discretion throughout the day. The quiet moments. The ones that deserve to be slowed down. That’s not an accident. It’s intention.
I only take 8–10 weddings per year — and here’s why that matters to you
I limit the number of weddings I photograph each year intentionally. Not because I can’t take more, but because I refuse to give a wedding day anything less than my full presence, energy, and creative investment.
When you book me, you’re not one of forty weddings I’ll shoot this year. You’re one of eight to ten. I know your names before your wedding day. I know your story. I’ve thought about your day, your light, your details. That level of care doesn’t scale — and I don’t want it to.
Scarcity in this industry isn’t a sales tactic. It’s a quality standard. The photographers doing 40+ weddings a year are running a volume business. I’m not. And your images will reflect that difference.
Destination weddings and custom proposals
If your wedding involves travel — whether that’s somewhere in Florida, out of state, or internationally — I create a custom proposal based on the scope of the day, travel, and what you need covered. I’ve traveled to North Carolina, and I’ll go wherever the right couple is getting married.
If your day doesn’t fit neatly into either offering above, reach out anyway. I’d rather build something that’s exactly right for you than have you try to fit your wedding into a box that doesn’t suit it.
What happens before I ever show up on your wedding day
Here’s something most couples don’t realize: the work starts long before I pick up my camera.
In the weeks and months leading up to your wedding, I’m getting to know you. Through questionnaires, calls, texts, whatever stage of planning you’re in — I meet you where you are. I want to know who you are as people. How you move through the world. What your family dynamic looks like. What details on your wedding day are going to matter most to you. Not because I’m being thorough for the sake of it, but because that knowledge changes everything about how I show up on the day.
I work with you and your planner to build a timeline that protects the moments you’ve worked for. Golden hour portraits. The first look. The quiet five minutes between ceremony and reception that most couples never get because nobody planned for them. A good timeline isn’t just a schedule — it’s insurance for the images you’re dreaming of.
Before the wedding day I’m thinking about portrait locations and what the light will look like at the time we’ll be there. I’m thinking about your florals, your details, the heirlooms or meaningful objects you’ve mentioned — and making sure those things end up in the gallery the way they deserve to. I connect with your vendors where I can, because the florist who agonized over your centerpieces and the designer who built your tablescape deserve to have that work documented with the same intention it was created.
Sure, I can show up on the day of and shoot beautiful images. Any experienced photographer can. But my work longs to go deeper than that — for you, for me, for the sake of creating something truly beautiful.
Knowing what kind of people you are helps me guide you throughout the day when things inevitably shift — because they always do. It helps me create a visual story that actually reflects who you are, not just what your wedding looked like. And it means that when I hand you your gallery, it doesn’t feel like a collection of pretty moments. It feels like you.
Here’s what that looks like in practice.
At the North Carolina vineyard wedding, the caterers ran behind schedule. Dinner wasn’t ready. There was a gap — unplanned, unscripted, the kind of thing that can make a wedding feel like it’s losing momentum. The wedding planner and I looked at each other and didn’t miss a beat. We had the band kick it up a notch, kept the drinks flowing, and quietly set up an impromptu family portrait session in the field nearby.
Family was everything to this couple. Their guests had flown in from all over the country — kids of all ages, grandparents, old friends, the whole extended constellation of people who loved them. So we brought them all out into the golden evening light and we made portraits. Real ones. Laughing, holding each other, completely unposed in the best way.
What started as a logistical gap became the highlight of the evening. The mamas were in heaven. The kids ran through the field. And those images — the ones nobody planned for — ended up being some of the most treasured in the entire gallery.
That’s not luck. That’s knowing your couple well enough to make the right call in real time. That’s twenty years of experience recognizing an opportunity inside an inconvenience. And that’s exactly what you’re investing in.
That’s my superpower. Seeing people for the art they are — and photographing them in a way that carries that same beauty.
Is an $8,000 photographer right for you?
Honestly? Not for everyone. And that’s okay.
If photography is the last line item on your wedding budget, I’m probably not your photographer. And I say that without judgment — priorities are personal and weddings are expensive.
But if you’re the kind of couple who has thought carefully about what you want your wedding to feel like — who understands that the flowers will die, the food will be eaten, the dress will go into a box — and you want something that lasts? Then yes. This is for you.
My couples tend to be people who value experience over excess. Who want their wedding day documented by someone who treats it like art. Who want to look at their photos twenty years from now and feel something — not just recognize the people in the frame but actually be transported back into the room.
That’s what twenty years of experience, a handful of film rolls, and a photographer who genuinely cares about your story actually buys you. Not just pretty photos. A record of something real.
Ready to talk about your wedding?
I take a limited number of weddings each year and book out in advance — especially for peak season dates in St. Augustine and for destination weddings. If your date is coming up, sooner is always better.
You can learn more about my approach on my wedding page, or if you’re ready to talk about your day, reach out here and let’s start the conversation.
Keep reading
→ Not Into Traditions? How to Make Your Wedding Feel Unapologetically Yours.
→ The Art of the Wedding Portrait- Why You Deserve More Than Just Candid Photos.
→ 5 Ways to Make Your Wedding Photos Feel Effortless and Elevated.
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