Berks Connect
Entertainment

What a Wedding Photographer Costs in Berks County

What Berks County wedding photographers charge for a full day, what's in a package hour for hour, what moves the price, how far ahead to book, and what the contract should say.

Berks Connect Blog|Published October 26, 2026
Image for What a Wedding Photographer Costs in Berks County

A full wedding day with a Berks County photographer, eight hours at most of the studios that print one, runs from $1,500 to $4,800 as of 2026, and some studios' packages run higher. Where a quote lands in that range comes down to the hours, whether a second photographer is on the day, and whether the album, a portrait session before the wedding and the files are included or billed separately. Nationally, couples spend about $3,000 on average, and the middle half pay between $1,500 and $4,700; a quote inside that band is in the middle of the market.

Most Berks studios don't print a price, so the county photographers page is where your quote requests go; it lists portrait studios too.

What a wedding photographer costs in Berks County.

At $1,500, eight hours in Fleetwood is the lowest printed eight-hour package; at $4,800, a full day in Bernville with the files, a print credit and a portrait session before the wedding is the highest printed starting price. The photographer is one line of the whole bill; what a Berks wedding costs, vendor by vendor has the rest.

Studio Hours Price Photographers What's in it
Photography by McDonough, West Lawn 8 $2,100, $2,700 or $3,300 One, or two if that's your pick in the $2,100; two in the $2,700 and $3,300 Prints in an album and a gallery in all three; the $2,100 lets you pick one of a USB with print release, a second photographer or a storybook album; the $2,700 includes all three; the $3,300 adds an engagement session and more albums
Rooted Image Photography 6, 8 or 10 $2,900, $3,600 or $4,200, tax included Two on every package Gallery and full rights to the edited photos; engagement session $200 extra
Zerbe Photography, West Reading Full day (ask how many hours), or 1 to 6 by the hour $2,299, $3,299 or $4,299; $425 an hour Two in the $3,299 and $4,299; ask the studio for the $2,299; hourly is solo Engagement session and downloads in every collection; the $4,299 adds a 10x10 album and a framed print
Schwenig Photography, Reading 4, 8 or 10, or by the hour $2,300, $3,800 or $4,700; $650 an hour One at 4 hours; at 8 and 10 a second shooter until the reception starts; $150 an hour on hourly bookings Edited images with printing rights; the 10-hour adds an engagement session and a 50-page album
Carrie Kizuka Photography, Shillington Up to 8 for the $4,000 package (10 and 11 hours: ask for the price); set tiers of 2 to 6 hours Packages from $4,000; tiers $1,300 (2 hours) and $1,950 (3), Monday to Thursday only; $2,600 (4), $3,250 (5), $3,900 (6); plus 6 percent sales tax One in the $4,000 package and the tiers (a second photographer is $1,000); two for most of the day in the 10- and 11-hour packages Gallery with downloads; engagement session $725; albums from $1,000
Life Story Photography, Bernville Full day (ask how many hours) From $4,800 Ask the studio Digital images with print release, a print credit and an engagement session
Adrienne Beck Photography, Wyomissing 6 (small weddings and elopements) From $2,200 Ask the studio 150 or more edited images with printing rights
Jacquelyn Kolosow Photography, Kutztown Ask the studio From $2,500 Ask the studio Travel fee beyond 25 miles of Kutztown
Joel Seidel Photography, Kutztown Ask the studio From $2,800 Ask the studio Engagement session $399 extra, complimentary in some packages
JMBice Photography, Fleetwood 6, 8, and 8 with an engagement session $950, $1,500 or $2,000 Ask the studio Edited images on a flash drive: 50 at $950, 100 at $1,500 or $2,000

Each row is the studio's own pricing page, read in October 2026; "ask the studio" means the page doesn't print it.

Every Photography by McDonough collection in West Lawn is eight hours, so the difference between its collections is entirely what's included. A print release is the written permission to print and share the photos for your own use. The second photographer, the files and the albums come in as the price climbs, and the top collection adds an engagement session, the portrait session before the wedding. That's why two quotes twelve hundred dollars apart can be for the same day.

What's in a package, hour for hour.

Eight hours is the usual package, but the printed packages run from four hours to eleven. Schwenig Photography in Reading charges $650 an hour for one photographer and $3,800 for its eight-hour package, so the package costs less per hour than the studio's hourly rate.

A second shooter is a second photographer who covers the guests while the lead photographer is with the two of you. Whether your day needs one is a question to put to each studio: what the second photographer covers, and for how many hours. Rooted Image Photography puts two photographers on every package it prints, from $2,900 for six hours to $4,200 for ten, with full rights to the edited photos and sales tax included.

An engagement session is included at some studios and $150 to $725 as an add-on at others. The files and the album can be separate lines: at McDonough the USB of all the images with a print release is $500 unless your collection includes it.

What pushes the price up.

Travel, the day of the week and the time of year change the price first. Carrie Kizuka Photography in Shillington bills mileage beyond a radius of her 19608 zip code; ask how many miles. Her two- and three-hour tiers, $1,300 and $1,950, are Monday to Thursday only; the four-, five- and six-hour tiers are $2,600, $3,250 and $3,900, and since her package for up to eight hours is $4,000, anything past six hours is the package.

Across the country a Saturday from May through October carries the highest rates, and a Friday, a Sunday or a date from November through April often brings the package price down. None of the studios in the table prints a Friday price, so ask each studio about it. The national average also rises with the guest list, about $2,000 for up to 50 guests, $2,700 for 51 to 100 and $3,500 past 100.

The add-ons change the total more than anything after the hours. A second shooter is $150 an hour at Schwenig and $1,000 at Kizuka. Kizuka's page shows how a total moves: packages start at $4,000, and most of her couples land between $5,000 and $7,750 depending on the hours and the add-ons.

Video is a separate line: McDonough's is $1,500 for a short highlight film plus a full-length video, and nationally couples spend about $2,300 on a videographer.

How far ahead to book a wedding photographer.

Plan on nine to eighteen months ahead: that's the window Schwenig prints for weddings, with six to twelve for an elopement, and Zerbe Photography in West Reading asks for a year at least. McDonough books at most four weddings a day across its six photographers, first come, first served. It holds the date only with a signed contract and a one-third retainer; a retainer is the deposit that holds your date, and it usually isn't refundable.

Where the deposit lands on your calendar is in our month-by-month Berks wedding planning timeline.

What the contract says.

A photography contract usually covers the hours on site and overtime, the deliverables, the delivery date, the retainer and when the balance is due, cancellation and rescheduling, travel, who shoots if the studio is a team, and the print release. Read each quote against that list, and the blanks are your questions.

McDonough takes one third with the signed contract, and Kizuka takes a non-refundable $2,000 retainer, then half the remaining balance three months before the wedding and the rest two weeks before. A question about a clause in your own contract is one for a lawyer, and our guide to finding a lawyer in Berks County is where to start.

How to line up three quotes and book one.

Put your quotes in one grid, one column each, and fill in these rows before you compare prices.

  • Hours on site. Write the number, not the words "full day", match it to the hours your venue gives you, and ask what any extra hours cover.
  • Photographers. One or two, what the second covers, and for how many hours.
  • Engagement session and album. Included, extra at a stated price, or not offered.
  • Files and print release. Whether the files are included and what the release lets you do.
  • Travel. The included distance and the rate beyond it.
  • Retainer and balance. How much holds the date and when the rest is due.

Once the rows are filled, you can see what each extra dollar buys. Pick the one whose rows match your day and send the retainer. If the venue isn't booked yet, event venues in Berks County comes first; if none of the quotes fits, the county photographers page has the next studios to write to.

Frequently asked questions.

How much does an engagement session cost?

From $150 to $725 on its own: $150 for an hour at McDonough, $200 at Rooted, $399 at Joel Seidel Photography in Kutztown, $400 at Schwenig and $725 at Kizuka. Zerbe, Life Story, McDonough's $3,300 collection and Schwenig's ten-hour package include one.

Can you get a wedding photographer for under two thousand dollars here?

Yes. JMBice Photography in Fleetwood prints $950 for six hours and $1,500 for eight. Zerbe's $425 an hour keeps you under two thousand up to four hours, Schwenig's $650 an hour up to three, and Kizuka's two-hour tier is $1,300 plus sales tax, Monday to Thursday. At those prices you're buying fewer hours at Zerbe, Schwenig and Kizuka, and at the Fleetwood studio a capped set of edited images (50 at $950, 100 at $1,500); the second photographer, the engagement session and the album are what the bigger packages add.

How long until you get the wedding photos?

Four to twelve weeks. McDonough aims for four weeks, Zerbe delivers the gallery in four to five weeks, Schwenig within sixty days on packages and thirty on hourly work, and Kizuka in eight to twelve weeks, toward the top of that range in fall.

Sources

See the 3 places in this guide on the map