August 19, 2025 • 10 mins
In this episode of the Wedding Atelier podcast, host Alora dives into the prevalent myths that hinder wedding photographers from raising their prices beyond $3,000.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Hello and welcome back toanother episode on the Wedding
(00:02):
Atelier podcast.
And in this one we're gonna betalking about the biggest myths
that are keeping you stuck atbooking three K weddings and
never raising your prices.
If you've ever said to yourself.
Oh, I need to update my gear.
I need to change my wholeportfolio.
I need to change my whole stylebefore I can raise my prices or
charge more, or luxury clientsonly book famous photographers.
(00:23):
I only have 5K followers orless.
We need to talk and maybe in thepast you've tried to raise your
prices before and you gotghosted one or two times, and
then you lowered them.
Listen, been there, done that.
I understand you have to givethe algorithm time to algorithm,
okay?
A lot of times you'll raise themand you'll get scared and you'll
(00:46):
be insecure and that probably,scares people off way more than
your actual prices.
Can we talk about how yourenergy is actually a big percent
of what sells and that is onsales psychology.
If you are not behind it, I'mnot behind it.
They're not behind it.
Okay.
So I think that is why we havean entire mindset module called
(01:09):
the artisan CEO, because I thinkas an artist we get so so
emotional about businessdecisions, and this is something
I didn't really have a problemwith I didn't realize that's
where my no nonsense kicked in,because sometimes.
Data over drama, right?
You have to look at the numbersand be like was it because they
don't like me as a person?
(01:29):
Or did I not follow up after aninquiry?
Or did I sound needy on the calllike I needed them?
To book me like so many otherthings could be at play.
And sometimes you need to beable to detach from the feeling
and clinging to the mindset of ACEO and being, okay, at the end
of the day, while we do lovevibes and we love our photos and
(01:50):
we love the creative artistry ofit all, this is a business that
helps me fund my life, pay mybills, get childcare, travel the
world, live my life must I goon?
Just remembering These myths areprobably coming from a place,
and so we have an entire moneymindset lesson, and I think it's
(02:11):
15 to 20 minutes long.
The longest lessons in myprogram are the mindset lessons
because whenever you feel likeyou're about to crash out, you
get a 20 minute pep talk from meexplaining why it is you're
doing what you're doing, howyou're still on track, and why
you need to shift the currentstory that's playing in your
head on repeat.
So I want it to be, you have allLaura in your pocket.
(02:33):
Listen to this mindset trainingabout imposter syndrome, about
doing more for less, about notfeeling worthy, about having the
mindset around.
No one's gonna book me.
All of those things areaddressed in that module because
I understand I have been there,I have conquered it, and so I
have given the stories andlessons to you.
(02:55):
You're welcome.
Okay, so let's dive into mythnumber one.
I need to have better photos.
in order to charge higherprices, I need to shoot film.
This one, I hear so many times,oh, if I'm gonna charge 10 k, I
have to shoot film.
No you don't.
No, you don't.
And I feel like really it's moreof the positioning of your work
rather than the style of yourwork.
(03:17):
And maybe sometimes people willinquire and say, do you offer
film?
But I don't think having film orvideo is a.
Is the 100% must have whenyou're raising your prices.
It's something good to consider,but it's not the end all be all,
okay?
And you don't have tonecessarily buy a brand new
camera or a brand new lens aslong as you're getting very high
(03:38):
quality images I think you'regood.
What you have is probably fine,But we wanna make sure we're
definitely giving our clientshigh quality and not just
throwing something together thatyou've had since you started
your business year one.
Okay.
I'm not speaking to, oh, I needto buy$10,000 worth of equipment
if I'm gonna double my prices.
That's what I'm speaking to.
(03:59):
I've had a student where shedoubled her rates.
Learned sales psychology and wasable to book a 15 K month.
And I remember her sending me aDM and being like, you were
literally my hail Mary.
It's actually, I think on one ofmy Instagram posts, you were my
last investment.
It was either this or close thebusiness.
Bills were tight, my husband andI were tight.
(04:22):
And so for her to have the skillto sell her packages, sell her
experience, and make a 10 Kmonth.
That is a skill that you need tohave, especially in this day and
age where maybe inquiries aregetting a little more spare
because clients are taking theirtime, making a decision.
And then there's clients thatare also booking a month before
their wedding.
It's a weird time in the weddingindustry, but you don't
(04:45):
necessarily need to overhaul allof your gear, but you probably
do need to overhaul the businessside, and that is the part that
is the most neglected.
We will pay for a luxury bag, aleather bag, of course, probably
an honor bag, and.
Update all of our gear beforewe're like, yeah, let's raise
our prices.
The, I don't know what impostersyndrome like is there, but it's
(05:08):
almost like.
You feel like you pay to playwith the front facing part of
the business, but when it comesto the backend, it's a mess.
But it's okay.
It works.
And no, it works now, but it'snot gonna work forever.
Okay, myth number two.
Luxury clients don't exist in mycity or my state.
Ooh, I love, love, love thisone.
And we had a student.
Who doubled her prices aftermoving to a new state with no
(05:30):
leads, no networking, nothinglike no friends in the industry.
And we were able to basicallycapitalize on her marketing.
We helped her with her CEO, wehelped her with her strategy.
We helped her figure out who shewas and how she could just
constantly market that.
And at the end of the day, shewanted to do destination
elopements anyway, so luxuryclients existing in her current
(05:53):
state and city didn't reallyapply to her.
Because she was willing totravel anywhere and everywhere
now.
Now, because she's so wellestablished after doing all that
hard work, she can book luxuryclients in her city because she
has established herself thatway.
And even if you're like, okay,luxury clients aren't here in my
city and I don't wanna be adestination photographer, how do
(06:15):
you know that luxury clientsaren't gonna come to you?
That was one thing I learned inmy business, I would see all the
time, oh, there's no way,somebody for 10 K is gonna book
me in Detroit, in Ohio, in Xcity or state that's close by.
And what do you know?
I got a 15 K inquiry for awedding venue in Ohio because
her grandpa owns the venue andit was near and dear to his
(06:39):
heart for their wedding to haveit at his venue in Ohio.
Okay.
So anything can happen.
Literally, whatever you canpicture happening is probably
happening.
But you can't think that theonly way X is gonna happen is if
it's done like this, because youdon't know what you don't know.
So be open-minded and realizethat possibility is out there.
(07:01):
Myth number three is you mustrebrand before raising prices.
Now, while I do love a rebrandand I am a recovering serial
rebrand, you don't have torebrand before you raise the
prices.
I've seen people with terriblewebsites charging$10,000 for
weddings, terrible websites.
I had my students be like, whyin the world am I worried about
(07:22):
this rebrand when I see so manypeople with websites that I
don't even know where the buttonis, and they're booking high-end
weddings.
It can be done.
You don't even have to have arebrand.
It's all about your marketing atthe end of the day, but the
visual does really help.
but if I could give you someadvice on not to build a
business that looks scrappy butis high end.
(07:43):
I would love for you to work onyour positioning.
Okay.
'cause rebranding without astrategy is like putting
lipstick on a pig.
You're gonna make something thatlooks terrible and try to dress
it up.
It just doesn't look good.
And as a person with a webdesign background, I cannot
allow this to happen.
So do you have to rebrand beforeraising prices?
(08:04):
No.
Does it help with yourconfidence and your clarity and
your strategy on raising prices?
Yeah.
Yeah, it does.
It's easy to stand behindsomething that looks great and
is great, but you don't actuallyhave to do it.
Okay.
There's so many ways to build abusiness.
I've seen people buildbusinesses scrappy and then
rebrand way later and still dowell because they worked on the
(08:26):
foundation of the businessfirst.
They worked on the strategyfirst.
They worked on the marketingfirst, and then they were like,
yeah, now I have time torebrand.
Okay, those three myths can takeover your life, or you can
challenge them with a bettermindset of this is not gonna
stop me from taking action, andthis is most of all not gonna
stop me from raising my prices.
(08:47):
So here's how you can turn thesemyths into money shifts.
So the first thing you can do istry to figure out who your dream
couple is.
Pen to paper.
Ask yourself, because your dreamcouple is essentially the
wealthy version of you.
I want you to look at yourprices right now and be like, is
this valuable?
Is this a good package?
Is this something that I wouldfeel confident charging a year
(09:10):
or two down the road?
If not, it's probably time toraise them.
And are you confident when youget on a call and you have to
talk about pricing?
Are you.
If not, then you definitely needto join my free masterclass.
Inside Wedding Atelier, we'regonna break apart every single
one of these myths and morebecause I'm a mindset girly.
So we're gonna talk about evendeeper mindset shifts to rebuild
(09:31):
your business so that you canfinally position and attract
high end weddings.
if you were nodding your head toany of these myths or any points
that I have made in this podcastepisode.
Then you need to join my freemasterclass, how to book 10 K
Weddings so you can free up yourweekends September 23rd at 12:00
PM Eastern.
And if you join the wait list,you get access to some secret
(09:52):
bonuses that I've never launchedbefore publicly, but you get
access to whether you come liveto the class, If you join the
wait list and if you come liveto the masterclass and stay to
the end, then you're gonna get aThe Biggest Myths Keeping You
Stuck at$3k Weddings websiteaudit from me, letting you know
whether or not your website issales converting it's position
(10:14):
correctly, and the messaging iseven clear.
Okay?
I will see you on the wait listand I'll also see you in the
next episode.
Hello and welcome back toanother episode on the Wedding
(00:02):
Atelier podcast.
And in this one we're gonna betalking about the biggest myths
that are keeping you stuck atbooking three K weddings and
never raising your prices.
If you've ever said to yourself.
Oh, I need to update my gear.
I need to change my wholeportfolio.
I need to change my whole stylebefore I can raise my prices or
charge more, or luxury clientsonly book famous photographers.
(00:23):
I only have 5K followers orless.
We need to talk and maybe in thepast you've tried to raise your
prices before and you gotghosted one or two times, and
then you lowered them.
Listen, been there, done that.
I understand you have to givethe algorithm time to algorithm,
okay?
A lot of times you'll raise themand you'll get scared and you'll
(00:46):
be insecure and that probably,scares people off way more than
your actual prices.
Can we talk about how yourenergy is actually a big percent
of what sells and that is onsales psychology.
If you are not behind it, I'mnot behind it.
They're not behind it.
Okay.
So I think that is why we havean entire mindset module called
(01:09):
the artisan CEO, because I thinkas an artist we get so so
emotional about businessdecisions, and this is something
I didn't really have a problemwith I didn't realize that's
where my no nonsense kicked in,because sometimes.
Data over drama, right?
You have to look at the numbersand be like was it because they
don't like me as a person?
(01:29):
Or did I not follow up after aninquiry?
Or did I sound needy on the calllike I needed them?
To book me like so many otherthings could be at play.
And sometimes you need to beable to detach from the feeling
and clinging to the mindset of ACEO and being, okay, at the end
of the day, while we do lovevibes and we love our photos and
(01:50):
we love the creative artistry ofit all, this is a business that
helps me fund my life, pay mybills, get childcare, travel the
world, live my life must I goon?
Just remembering These myths areprobably coming from a place,
and so we have an entire moneymindset lesson, and I think it's
(02:11):
15 to 20 minutes long.
The longest lessons in myprogram are the mindset lessons
because whenever you feel likeyou're about to crash out, you
get a 20 minute pep talk from meexplaining why it is you're
doing what you're doing, howyou're still on track, and why
you need to shift the currentstory that's playing in your
head on repeat.
So I want it to be, you have allLaura in your pocket.
(02:33):
Listen to this mindset trainingabout imposter syndrome, about
doing more for less, about notfeeling worthy, about having the
mindset around.
No one's gonna book me.
All of those things areaddressed in that module because
I understand I have been there,I have conquered it, and so I
have given the stories andlessons to you.
(02:55):
You're welcome.
Okay, so let's dive into mythnumber one.
I need to have better photos.
in order to charge higherprices, I need to shoot film.
This one, I hear so many times,oh, if I'm gonna charge 10 k, I
have to shoot film.
No you don't.
No, you don't.
And I feel like really it's moreof the positioning of your work
rather than the style of yourwork.
(03:17):
And maybe sometimes people willinquire and say, do you offer
film?
But I don't think having film orvideo is a.
Is the 100% must have whenyou're raising your prices.
It's something good to consider,but it's not the end all be all,
okay?
And you don't have tonecessarily buy a brand new
camera or a brand new lens aslong as you're getting very high
(03:38):
quality images I think you'regood.
What you have is probably fine,But we wanna make sure we're
definitely giving our clientshigh quality and not just
throwing something together thatyou've had since you started
your business year one.
Okay.
I'm not speaking to, oh, I needto buy$10,000 worth of equipment
if I'm gonna double my prices.
That's what I'm speaking to.
(03:59):
I've had a student where shedoubled her rates.
Learned sales psychology and wasable to book a 15 K month.
And I remember her sending me aDM and being like, you were
literally my hail Mary.
It's actually, I think on one ofmy Instagram posts, you were my
last investment.
It was either this or close thebusiness.
Bills were tight, my husband andI were tight.
(04:22):
And so for her to have the skillto sell her packages, sell her
experience, and make a 10 Kmonth.
That is a skill that you need tohave, especially in this day and
age where maybe inquiries aregetting a little more spare
because clients are taking theirtime, making a decision.
And then there's clients thatare also booking a month before
their wedding.
It's a weird time in the weddingindustry, but you don't
(04:45):
necessarily need to overhaul allof your gear, but you probably
do need to overhaul the businessside, and that is the part that
is the most neglected.
We will pay for a luxury bag, aleather bag, of course, probably
an honor bag, and.
Update all of our gear beforewe're like, yeah, let's raise
our prices.
The, I don't know what impostersyndrome like is there, but it's
(05:08):
almost like.
You feel like you pay to playwith the front facing part of
the business, but when it comesto the backend, it's a mess.
But it's okay.
It works.
And no, it works now, but it'snot gonna work forever.
Okay, myth number two.
Luxury clients don't exist in mycity or my state.
Ooh, I love, love, love thisone.
And we had a student.
Who doubled her prices aftermoving to a new state with no
(05:30):
leads, no networking, nothinglike no friends in the industry.
And we were able to basicallycapitalize on her marketing.
We helped her with her CEO, wehelped her with her strategy.
We helped her figure out who shewas and how she could just
constantly market that.
And at the end of the day, shewanted to do destination
elopements anyway, so luxuryclients existing in her current
(05:53):
state and city didn't reallyapply to her.
Because she was willing totravel anywhere and everywhere
now.
Now, because she's so wellestablished after doing all that
hard work, she can book luxuryclients in her city because she
has established herself thatway.
And even if you're like, okay,luxury clients aren't here in my
city and I don't wanna be adestination photographer, how do
(06:15):
you know that luxury clientsaren't gonna come to you?
That was one thing I learned inmy business, I would see all the
time, oh, there's no way,somebody for 10 K is gonna book
me in Detroit, in Ohio, in Xcity or state that's close by.
And what do you know?
I got a 15 K inquiry for awedding venue in Ohio because
her grandpa owns the venue andit was near and dear to his
(06:39):
heart for their wedding to haveit at his venue in Ohio.
Okay.
So anything can happen.
Literally, whatever you canpicture happening is probably
happening.
But you can't think that theonly way X is gonna happen is if
it's done like this, because youdon't know what you don't know.
So be open-minded and realizethat possibility is out there.
(07:01):
Myth number three is you mustrebrand before raising prices.
Now, while I do love a rebrandand I am a recovering serial
rebrand, you don't have torebrand before you raise the
prices.
I've seen people with terriblewebsites charging$10,000 for
weddings, terrible websites.
I had my students be like, whyin the world am I worried about
(07:22):
this rebrand when I see so manypeople with websites that I
don't even know where the buttonis, and they're booking high-end
weddings.
It can be done.
You don't even have to have arebrand.
It's all about your marketing atthe end of the day, but the
visual does really help.
but if I could give you someadvice on not to build a
business that looks scrappy butis high end.
(07:43):
I would love for you to work onyour positioning.
Okay.
'cause rebranding without astrategy is like putting
lipstick on a pig.
You're gonna make something thatlooks terrible and try to dress
it up.
It just doesn't look good.
And as a person with a webdesign background, I cannot
allow this to happen.
So do you have to rebrand beforeraising prices?
(08:04):
No.
Does it help with yourconfidence and your clarity and
your strategy on raising prices?
Yeah.
Yeah, it does.
It's easy to stand behindsomething that looks great and
is great, but you don't actuallyhave to do it.
Okay.
There's so many ways to build abusiness.
I've seen people buildbusinesses scrappy and then
rebrand way later and still dowell because they worked on the
(08:26):
foundation of the businessfirst.
They worked on the strategyfirst.
They worked on the marketingfirst, and then they were like,
yeah, now I have time torebrand.
Okay, those three myths can takeover your life, or you can
challenge them with a bettermindset of this is not gonna
stop me from taking action, andthis is most of all not gonna
stop me from raising my prices.
(08:47):
So here's how you can turn thesemyths into money shifts.
So the first thing you can do istry to figure out who your dream
couple is.
Pen to paper.
Ask yourself, because your dreamcouple is essentially the
wealthy version of you.
I want you to look at yourprices right now and be like, is
this valuable?
Is this a good package?
Is this something that I wouldfeel confident charging a year
(09:10):
or two down the road?
If not, it's probably time toraise them.
And are you confident when youget on a call and you have to
talk about pricing?
Are you.
If not, then you definitely needto join my free masterclass.
Inside Wedding Atelier, we'regonna break apart every single
one of these myths and morebecause I'm a mindset girly.
So we're gonna talk about evendeeper mindset shifts to rebuild
(09:31):
your business so that you canfinally position and attract
high end weddings.
if you were nodding your head toany of these myths or any points
that I have made in this podcastepisode.
Then you need to join my freemasterclass, how to book 10 K
Weddings so you can free up yourweekends September 23rd at 12:00
PM Eastern.
And if you join the wait list,you get access to some secret
(09:52):
bonuses that I've never launchedbefore publicly, but you get
access to whether you come liveto the class, If you join the
wait list and if you come liveto the masterclass and stay to
the end, then you're gonna get aThe Biggest Myths Keeping You
Stuck at$3k Weddings websiteaudit from me, letting you know
whether or not your website issales converting it's position
(10:14):
correctly, and the messaging iseven clear.
Okay?
I will see you on the wait listand I'll also see you in the
next episode.
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