"The Wedding Tax" is it real? Myth vs Reality | Maine Wedding Photographers

If you’re planning your wedding you’ve for sure heard of “the wedding tax” by now. It’s a hot button issue in the wedding industry. Is it a real thing? A lot of those wedding blogs out there would have you believe that it is. They’ll even go so far as to tell you to lie to your vendors and tell them you’re planning a “family reunion” just so you can avoid the extra fees associated with having a wedding.

I can tell you, as a former bride, years ago, I also believed there was a wedding tax. But I can tell you for certain, now that we’ve spent over a decade in the industry that there is NO such thing. Getting to know my fellow vendors, both colleagues in photography but also throughout the industry, planners, DJs, florists, etc and understanding just how much work goes into a wedding. I fully understand and appreciate what each vendor charges.

The Wedding Tax - Myth vs. Reality

Photography and Videography

This one we’re going to cover first because it’s what we do. I can assure you for a wedding, there’s a lot of pre-planning that goes into your day. As Maine wedding photographers, from the date we are under contract with a couple we are working on planning their engagement session, and helping with vendor recommendations. Also we’re going to work with you on your timeline for the day so that you’re not feeling rushed moving from each part of the day. One of our big things for the day is also compiling your family portraits list and organizing your family, wedding party, and friends for the group portraits. When we are also providing video we are storyboarding your day so that when we arrive we are fully prepared for the location and any weather that may be happening. The work doesn’t stop when your day is over either - we’re only about halfway done with our job when we head home. There’s the sneak peak, the blog post, the final editing, the delivery (digital and physical), then it’s designing any albums, working with the couple on changes, cover material selection, ordering, receiving, reviewing and finally shipping it out to our couples.

A lot of blogs out there will tell you to lie to your photographer about what type of event it is - tell them it’s a “family reunion” for a better price. This could land a couple in a lot of trouble! Most photographers have a specific contract depending on what type of event it is. For most photographers, our contracts specifically state exactly what we are photographing. If we show up for a family reunion and find out it’s a wedding, your photographer or videographer may be legally able to walk away from your event without taking a single image or video since it’s not what they were contracted for. As a member of a few national forums we’ve seen other photographers in this exact situation and walking out of the wedding because it wasn’t what they were contracted for, and for those that stay, there’s almost always additional fees they invoice the client for after the fact before delivering the images. Lying to your vendor is not a great way to start your relationship with the person who’s going to be capturing your once in a lifetime event!

On top of that issue of contract language, your photographer or videographer might not bring as much gear as they would for a family reunion as they would for a wedding. For weddings, we roll up with no less than 6 gear bags! It’s going to cover lighting for all types of situations and locations. For instance, a family reunion isn’t going to need our “big” lights we use to capture those sunset portraits you see in our wedding portfolio. Our family portraits and family candids for reunions and gatherings are almost always done with natural light. And when it comes to camera gear, we’re not going to be lugging around the extra bags of all of our redundant camera gear - we’re going to bring the gear we need to do the job but not nearly as much. I’d have no use for a macro lens at a family reunion where at a wedding, there’s lots of details to capture with that lens that I can’t get with anything else in my kit.

Venues and Caterers

I’m sure by now you’ve heard that venues charge more for weddings than they do for other types of events. It’s absolutely true, but it is in no way a special “tax”. Weddings involve way staff, especially if you’re having a plated meal, the venue and caterer want to get your food out as fast as possible so that guests at your wedding can move onto the party! There’s also way more advance planning, tastings, seating chart planning, and basically, a “white glove” approach. Your wedding menu is most likely going to be way more detailed, with tastings, meetings, planning vs. another function. I’ve planned plenty of family events and I’ve never gone to a tasting or planning session pre-event, but with a wedding I’ve gone to a lot of pre-event meetings.

Hair and Make Up Artists

It’s very true you could hop into your local hair salon and get an up do on the morning of your wedding and it would probably be cheaper than scheduling and booking a team for your wedding day. But you also run into the chance of not getting your hair and make up exactly how you like, if there’s time you can get it changed, but tweaking your hair style and make up on the fly on your wedding day could result in the day running behind, getting there late to the ceremony, and throwing other things off. When you book a professional hair and make up team for your day there’s going to be trials to make sure you’re 100% happy with your day of look and during that trial will be the time to tweak anything so that on your day you’re going to be finished on time and ready for the next events. A pro hair and makeup team, when booking a wedding, is going to account for each member of your party, time for little adjustments, touch ups, have the ability to add in a few additional people (it happens almost every wedding!) and still keep you running on time. A lot of the artists we work with also send their bride and maids off with touchup kits with their lip color, mascara, etc so that after they enjoy a champagne, or have a teary ceremony, you’ve got what you need to touch up your look to keep you running all night long!

DJ and Bands

A DJ or band playing a family reunion, high school dance, etc is going to come with music to get the party started and keep it going all night. But a wedding DJ or wedding band is going to work with you before your day to figure out what songs are important to have played: 1st dance, parent dances, etc. They’re also going to get any specialty songs or version of songs and then work with you to create a reception timeline and, for introductions, get every attendants name, who they’re walking in with, etc. There’s a lot more MC’ing that needs to happen with a wedding than any other event. Especially since at an event like a wedding they’re trying to make sure they have enough music that’s going to get gram on her feet and dancing but also get all of your college buddies out there having a blast! And for bands- they’re going to learn extra songs for your day! Having a unique 1st dance song? It might not be part of their line up so they’re going to have some extra rehearsals to make sure they’ve got your special songs learned.

Is the Wedding Tax Real?

So is the “wedding tax” a real thing? I think it’s safe to say, from the info above, no it isn’t. There’s so many vendors in the wedding industry I can’t possibly illustrate all of them but I’m hoping you can understand from the few I mentioned above that each vendor goes above and beyond for your big day. When it comes down to it, your vendors would be more than happy to go over any charges on your day and fully explain why things cost what they do and help you along they way.

Brittany and Dean are creative Maine Wedding Photographers who loving having fun with our wedding couples. We work together and separately to capture every emotion and angle on your wedding day. Two Adventurous Souls storytelling style will capture your wedding both in candid and naturally posed images. Whether you're looking for Maine Wedding Photographers, or planning a Costa Rica Wedding or anywhere in New England we will be there for you! For more info please contact about your wedding photography: Maine Wedding Photographers