Elopement Pricing Guide

Next up on part 5 of a 5 part series for the Ultimate Guide to Book the Elopement You Want is… Elopement Pricing Guide. First of all, thanks for sticking with us! We know you are fully capable of booking the elopements you want and we are so excited we are able to share our content for your success! We would love to hear from you on how you’ve been able to apply our five focuses and what the results have been! Welcome to the winning team, big high fives!

As a recap, we shared part one (automate your elopement business), part two (stop getting ghosted), part three (seo for elopement photographers), and part four (plan a styled shoot to book elopements). Now let’s into part 5: elopement pricing guide!

In order to put together an elopement pricing guide, you need to complete an elopement package audit. How are you adding value to your elopements? Are you communicating WHY you do what you do? Little known fact, people don’t care what you do, they care about the big W-H-Y.

But, like, what does it cost?

You should assume that every one of your couples has a budget. One of the downsides to our industry is that our couples usually are looking for a wedding one time so their budget is built off of hearsay and Google, not repetitive personal experience. That means it’s OUR job to educate our couples on what we do. They may come to you asking for a price, when what they are actually looking for is your VALUE. If someone asks you how much elopement photography costs and you say $4,000, you are failing to provide them the real answer they need. They think, “ok, $4,000 and I get some photos to look at of my wedding day.” It’s viewed as transactional. We need to make it transformational. 

your couples are the heros

The response should be, “We are your photo & video team, elopement guides, and location matchmakers. Not only do we help you have a fun and stress free wedding and the adventure of a lifetime; we are part of the elopement process from DAY ONE to editing weeks after you say ‘I do’. You deserve someone who listens to you, gets the shots that you want, helps you feel free to be your authentic self. We leverage our expertise to capture your love story and then some. We have personalized elopement packages to meet your dreams in your budget, ranging from $1,200 – $6,000.” See the difference? We are happy to share our ACTUAL elopement package price breakdown and what the value is. Check out our elopement experience prices. 

The popular website, Brides, shares that the average cost to elope can be anywhere from $200 at a city hall to $15,000 for an exotic elopement. Proving our point that Google can’t help you here, honey. You have to start internally, know your value, know your why, and attract the couples that have the same values/vibes/mojo that you do. It’s harder work, but it will help you book the elopement you want. 

Now that you have an idea of what is included in OUR summary, let’s do an audit on YOUR unique values! 

Your Value

The two most important things you need to look for in your website is clarity and consistency. If clients are struggling to understand your brand, you will lose them. Go through your website and see what it says. You don’t have to be SUPER niche, but if you promote action photography, landscape photography, newborn photography, wedding photography then you are losing couples. We brand ourselves as adventure elopement specialists, that’s the value we bring. Can we take a photo of a baby? Sure. Will it be the best newborn photo you have ever seen? Sorry, no. It’s just not where we practice our craft. 

Our goal is not to take on every photography job that exists. Our goal is to be with couples during their elopements, to put all of our energy into researching elopement wedding photography, putting together stylized shoots for elopements (ahem go back number four plan a styled shoot to book elopements on how to do this and our Paris Elopement Inspiration for the end result), scouting national parks for peak ceremony sites, and having a super fun time embracing our couples unique needs!

you’re worth every penny

You also need to make sure your value is being communicated the same on your Instagram that it is on your website. Most couples are checking out your Instagram almost like a reference page. Are there photos of happy couples on your page? Are you showcasing a location they are also interested in? If you know the BEST places to elope in Glacier National Park or how you can make a two day elopement full of adventure, that’s the value couples are looking for.

Our friends over at Modern Elopement also point out that “things that elopement couples value are different from a typical wedding couple, there is more of an emphasis on overall experience, making sure their day is personal.”

So, ask yourself, what does your website say? What’s on your social media? Are you focused on an overall experience that you can provide? Do you present as clear and consistent? Are you conveying that you are the expert? 

Your Why

People like a story, it’s human nature. Couples have plenty of choices for their photographer. Why should they choose you? Having your WHY will make your branding easier. It will make why you get up and hustle easier. Take us – we LOVE adventure and we also eloped! We get it, and we can communicate that on our website, our social, across the dinner table to each other. 

Your Value + Your Why = Elopement Pricing Guide

Here’s the thing, there is no shortcut to knowing what you should charge. If we told you to charge $4,000 and move along, you wouldn’t book couples because if you don’t know why YOU are charging it, then they won’t know why THEY are paying it. 

Now, how to combine your value and your why to communicate your elopement photography pricing. Your value and your why needs to be front and center on your webpage, on your elopement package page, splashed across your social media.

On your website, your main text are your titles that need to evoke emotion and sell why you do what you do! Our first text on our elopement package page is: 

Epic Elopements in Wild Places

Then:

You truly deserve to be yourself on your wedding day.

That makes us feel some sort of way, and our couples feel it too. They are nodding along, because they do feel like they deserve to be themselves, especially on their wedding day! The couples we are looking to book are the adventure lovers. By stating up front that we are looking for epic elopements in wild places, the couples that are also looking for that, recognize us as the top choice.

we also share our why:

Wanna know what motivates us? It’s not just that we take pretty pictures, it’s that we believe in the bottom of our souls that we are put here to help YOU have the best elopement experience. We help you focus on being present, and giving you the very best elopement experience possible! We eloped in Glacier National Park, so we’ve literally been there!

Your potential couples need to know WHY you do the thing you do. If people are on your site they already know WHAT you do. A hundred people do the same thing you do, cue booooring. But why, your why is special. Your why will resonate with people. The why opens the conversation which will lead to the what, how, when, but without the why, who cares? We are telling our potential couples that WE’VE LITERALLY BEEN THERE. Physically, emotionally, all of it. We have been there and this is WHY we want to help others have the BEST elopement experience they can have. 

You know your value, you know your why, you can now confidently put together your pricing guide. Remember this is part 5 of a 5 part series for the Ultimate Guide to Book the Elopement You Want. If you want to deep dive into the actual numbers of building out your price including all the admin, travel, equipment, the real nitty gritty, then you should read price your photography: 6 tips for profit. This will help you create your elopement pricing guide by walking you through the best practices on the business side of things!

If you’ve read all of our 5 part series and think you would benefit from a one on one with us where we answer your specific questions and create a personalized guide to maximizing YOUR profits, schedule a call for our 1:1 mentorship program. Welcome to the inner circle.