The October 2026 survey publishes about £175 an hour beside a full-day figure of about £1,500. They answer different questions. One is a package price. The other is that package divided by the hours written on the page, and only for the pages that wrote the hours down. The reading date for these rows is 4 October 2026.
Where the hourly figure comes from
£175 is the middle of that hourly list. It comes from the headline package price divided by the stated hours, for the 1,008 full-day pages that wrote a number next to "hours" or "hrs". The pages are photographer websites that publish a price, opened on 4 October 2026. An extra hour sold on top of a package is a second list, 681 prices, with the same £175 figure and a wider middle. The split between those lists is written up on the survey method page.
Where the £175 comes from
Each website contributes its lowest full-day digital price. Packages the crawl had already marked as containing an album, a second photographer or video were left out of that choice. Full day means the page stated at least 7 hours, or the hours could not be checked and the wording on the page was still "full day". Prices advertised with "from" stayed in. The middle of that list is £1,500. The set contains 2,057 packages. Half of them fall between £1,195 and £1,900.
Hours are counted when a number sits beside the word "hours" or the abbreviation "hrs". That happened on 1,008 of the 2,057 headline packages, which is 49.0%. Take each of those package prices, divide by the hours stated beside it, and the middle of those results is £175. The middle half of that hourly list runs from £130 to £219. The methodology page records the rule. The UK cost page prints the same hourly row as "same packages, per hour".
Multiplying £175 by 8 produces £1,400. The package figure is £1,500. Keep them apart. Every headline package is inside the £1,500 figure. Only the 1,008 with stated hours are inside the £175 figure.
From-prices are 19.0% of the headline, 390 packages. A from-price is kept when the amount uses a plus or more than one figure, or when a price cue such as "from" or "starting" sits in the price text or in the 240 characters before it. Strip those from-prices out and the package figure is still £1,500, now from 1,678 packages, with the middle half running from £1,195 to £1,850. The hourly figure on that smaller set is £170, from 865 packages. A page that says "from £1,200" can enter the headline, and the hourly sum then uses £1,200 even when your date costs more. Ask for the price for your date, with the hours written next to it, before you divide.
A second £175, from a different pile of prices
An extra hour sold on top of a package has its own list, and the middle of that list is also £175. The list is 681 prices, and the middle half runs from £125 to £250. Same headline number, different pages, and a wider middle. When a quote says "£175 an hour", ask which of those two piles it came from: the package divided by its hours, or the price of one hour added to a package.
Packages whose pages state four or five hours are a third pile. Their typical price is £850, and there are 836 of them, with a middle half from £650 to £1,100. The cost page publishes about £190 an hour for that row, beside the same 836 packages. A half day is the smaller total. Per hour, the published reading sits a little above the £175 full-day hourly figure. Which parts of a day fit inside four or five hours is covered in the half-day guide.
A 6-hour quote beside an 8-hour quote
The two figures below are examples, so the arithmetic is easy to follow. They are not results from the crawl, and they do not describe a named photographer.
| Quote A, an example | Quote B, an example | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | £1,080 | £1,440 |
| Hours written on the quote | 6 | 8 |
| Price divided by those hours | £180 | £180 |
| Against about £175 an hour | Inside the middle half, £130 to £219, from 1,008 packages | The same hourly reading |
| Against a full day of about £1,500 | No package row. Six stated hours are outside the 4-or-5-hour row and outside the full-day row of 7 or more stated hours. | £1,440 is under the £1,500 full-day figure and inside the full-day middle half of £1,195 to £1,900, from 2,057 packages. Eight stated hours meet the 7-or-more rule. |
Quote A and Quote B cost the same per hour and £360 apart in total. Only Quote B has a full-day figure to stand next to. Quote A's only survey comparison is the hourly one.
Put a second photographer on Quote B using the separate add-on figure, £370, and the photography total becomes £1,810. That £370 is the middle of 776 add-on prices, with a middle half from £300 to £450. Adding it leaves the £180 hourly reading of the original quote unchanged. An extra hour priced at £200 on top of a package sits inside the extra-hour middle half of £125 to £250, from the 681 prices in that pile. £200 answers the add-on question. £180 answers the "does this package look dear beside £175 an hour?" question.
Ask for both lengths in one email
Swap in your own date, and use the arrival and leaving times you actually want.
Subject: Two prices for 4 September 2027, with the hours written out
Hello,
Our wedding is Saturday 4 September 2027. The ceremony is at 2pm at [venue, town]. We expect to stay in one place.
Please send a price for 8 hours, arriving at noon and leaving at 8pm. Please send a separate price for 6 hours, arriving at 1pm and leaving at 7pm. On each price, write the hours, the arrival time, and whether an album and a second photographer are included. If you offer an extra hour, put that price on its own line.
Thank you,
[Names]
Margin notes for three replies
- Hours written as a number, not as "full day" or "half day" alone.
- A clock time for arrival and a clock time for leaving.
- Album included, or a price beside the package. The album figure, where pages list one, is £350 from 734 prices.
- Second photographer included, or a price beside the package.
- Travel, if the day has a second address.
- Divide each total by its hours and write the result in the margin.
- Set that hourly result next to £175, middle half £130 to £219, from 1,008 packages with stated hours.
- Set an 8-hour total next to £1,500, middle half £1,195 to £1,900, from 2,057 packages.
- Leave a 6-hour total without a full-day figure beside it. The hourly result is the comparison you have.
How many hours to book is the page for matching a band to the shape of the day. What the package includes is the page for the album and the second photographer once the hours are settled.
Questions
Is £175 what a photographer charges per hour?
£175 is the middle of the list you get when each package price is divided by the stated hours, for the 1,008 headline full-day packages that wrote the hours down. The middle half runs from £130 to £219. The reading date is 4 October 2026. An extra hour sold on top of a package also sits at £175, from a separate list of 681 prices, with a middle half from £125 to £250.
Why is the half-day hourly figure higher?
The cost page publishes about £190 an hour for the half-day row, and that row is 836 packages whose pages state 4 or 5 hours. The package figure for the same row is £850. The full-day hourly figure of £175 uses a different set: headline packages with stated hours, 1,008 of them. A smaller total and a slightly higher hourly reading can both be true.
Can six hours be budgeted as £175 times six?
£175 times 6 is £1,050, and that product is not a surveyed package price. Six stated hours have no row of their own. Use £175, and its middle half of £130 to £219, as the check on the hourly result after you have divided the quote you were actually sent.