Free tool
Wedding travel fee calculator
Work out what to charge a couple for travel, and what each shooter's trip costs. Enter where you're starting from and where the wedding is. The calculator finds the drive, puts it in a distance band and adds up hotel nights, meals, mileage and travel days at your own costs.
For wedding photographers, videographers and studios. Free, with no sign-up.
How the travel fee is worked out
The one-way driving distance puts the trip in a band. Each band says what one shooter's trip needs for the wedding day, and what each night of filming before it adds. The calculator prices those at your costs.
-
Local
Up to 45 miles
- The wedding day
- Nothing extra
- Each night before
- Nothing extra
-
Short drive
46 to 60 miles
- The wedding day
- Nothing extra
- Each night before
- 1 hotel night and 2 meals
-
Medium drive
61 to 149 miles
- The wedding day
- 1 hotel night, 2 meals, 1 travel day and mileage for 149 miles
- Each night before
- 1 hotel night and 2 meals
-
Long drive
150 to 340 miles
- The wedding day
- 2 hotel nights, 4 meals, 2 travel days and mileage for 340 miles
- Each night before
- 1 hotel night and 1 meal
-
Flight
More than 340 miles
- The wedding day
- 2 hotel nights, 7 meals, 1 rental car day, 1 round-trip flight and 4 travel days
- Each night before
- 1 hotel night, 3 meals, 1 rental car day and 1 travel day
- Mileage is set per band. Every venue in a band gets the same mileage, so quotes don't change with the route. A medium drive is mileage for 149 miles there and back, whether the venue is 70 miles away or 140.
- Rounded up to the next $10. Each shooter's travel is rounded up, and so is each night before the wedding, on its own.
- The markup is for the couple. It's added to the couple's quote only. The travel cost per shooter has none: it's what you'd budget for a second shooter's trip.
An example: a wedding 120 miles away
One shooter drives 120 miles to the venue, a medium drive (61 to 149 miles). With the example costs the calculator starts with, the trip comes to $528.24, so their travel is $530. With a 10% markup, the couple's quote for that shooter's travel is $590.
If they also film a rehearsal dinner the night before, that night adds 1 hotel night and 2 meals: $220 more for the shooter, and $240 more on the couple's quote.
| Cost | Works out | Total |
|---|---|---|
| Hotel nights | 1 × $175 | $175 |
| Meals | 2 × $20 | $40 |
| Travel days | 1 × $200 | $200 |
| Mileage | 149 miles × $0.76 | $113.24 |
| The trip | $528.24 | |
| Travel per shooter, rounded up | $530 | |
| The couple's quote, with a 10% markup | $590 | |
Questions about travel fees
How does the calculator work out a travel fee?
It takes the one-way driving distance, puts the trip in a band (local, short drive, medium drive, long drive or flight), and adds up what that band includes at your costs: hotel nights, meals, mileage, a rental car, airfare and travel days. The total for each shooter is rounded up to the next $10.
Why price travel by band instead of by the mile?
Every venue in a band costs the same to reach, so your quotes are predictable and nobody argues about the route. Mileage is a set number of miles for each band, the same for every venue in it, rather than the exact trip.
What does a night before the wedding add?
If you also film a rehearsal dinner or a welcome party the day before, each extra night adds that band's extras, priced and rounded on their own: a hotel night and meals for a drive, plus a rental car day and a travel day for a flight. A local wedding adds nothing.
What is the markup for?
It's added only to the quote you give the couple. The travel cost per shooter has no markup: it's what the trip costs, and what you'd budget to cover a second shooter's travel. Set it to 0% if you don't mark up travel.
Should a second shooter's travel start from my studio or their home?
From wherever they actually leave. A second shooter who lives closer to the venue than you do may fall in a cheaper band. CamCrewz prices each shooter's travel from their own home, at their own travel day rate.
Are the example costs typical prices?
No. They're a starting point, not averages. Hotels, flights and day rates vary a lot by city and season, so put in your own numbers.
Does it work outside the US?
It looks up US cities, ZIPs and addresses only, and works in miles. For a trip anywhere else, type the one-way driving distance in miles.
Staffing a crew for every wedding?
CamCrewz prices travel like this for every shooter on every job, from each person's own home and at their own rates, then offers the job to the right person on your roster.