How much should I pay my second photographer?

Have fun getting sued.

I think you should charge one hundred dollars for each of the following questions you can answer correctly.

1) Which is more suitable for a wedding - a DSLR or a mirrorless camera, and why?
2) What is the most appropriate aperture to get a shallow DOF shot of the ring: 0.6, 2, 4, 5.6, 8, or 11? Why?
3) If shooting in a dark church with a lens which has a maximum aperture of 2.8, what sort of ISO should you be anticipating shooting at - 10, 100, 400, 1600, 3200 or 512,000. Why?
4) Which photoshop tool is used to check and correct white balance - Crop tool, eye dropper, warp tool, or color profile?
5) Which would be more suitable overall for a wedding: a Canon 40D or a Nikon D800? Why?
6) What are some important points to put in the contract before you shoot the wedding?
7) Would you set your flash to front or rear curtain if photographing the dancing and deliberately shooting at a low shutter speed to get a blurred effect? Why?
8) What is the most suitable aperture for a group photo in which the people are standing in four rows? 2, 5.6, 8, 11, or 64? Explain your answer.
9) To give yourself a chance of getting the bouquet toss, which function should you use? a) bracketing, b) panning, c) image stabilisation, d) burst mode. Explain your answer.
10) Which is better to have, a single 64 gigabyte card or four 16 gigabyte cards? Why?

If you can answer all of these without much effort, then I think you can charge what you want. Oh, hang on. By your own admission you "don't have much experience" and yet are charging what for most people is a fair chunk of their monthly income. You have gall, I'll give you that. Give the same quiz to your second shooter and pay them ten dollars for every question they correctly answer.

And Sordenhiemer isn't being mean - contact a good lawyer. You'll need one.

Why are you charging money to shoot weddings if you 'don't have much experience'.

What cameras, lenses, lighting gear do you have? What skills/knowledge do you have in photography?

YOU are the one who should be the second shooter while gaining a lot more experience from a REAL pro wedding photographer.

How many of the questions from Anonymous did / could you answer? I'm betting very few, if any. NOT knowing the answers to such things is why you can be sued for incompetent work, which you seem to be totally clueless about.

Let me guess, ... you have a "photography business" on Facebook and / or Craigslist.

See the link at the bottom for good info...

Weddings are tough photo assignments if done properly, are you sure you are ready? There is no room for error and if something happens - no way to reshoot it.

Planning
Visiting church
Going to rehearsal - shoot that for practice
Backup gear
Have an assistant
Plan the group shots
Wear deodorant - you will need it

Most pros charge hundreds if not thousands of dollars for prime wedding photography - because it is tough work and is supposed to last a lifetime.

Wedding assignments are expected to deliver traditional wedding images, complete with posed group shots - and very little of it is simple snapshots.

It is great that you are making such great business plans - just make sure you can deliver quality results.

Good luck - see linked page for more info

http://www.christophermaxwell.com/wedding-photography-tips.htm

why do you need a second shooter ? normally they are there to learn the trade ,hold reflectors, arrange the groups and take a few informal shots

Enough that they don't just stop taking pictures and try to get drunk and/or laid.

You are getting a great deal. For that price not many photographers would give up the CD. That's where they could potentially make more money. You save by printing only what you want. Having 2 photographers is great. They can capture two completely different images of the same thing ( one can be up close for the first kiss,the other can be in the distance.) Best of Luck! The photos are what you'll have to show years later---don't skimp on this!

$10 an hour.

How long is a piece of string? How experienced is your second photographer - more or less than you?

For that matter, have you actually photographed any weddings before? To my mind $800 is quite a lot to charge if you have little experience, unless you are expected to be on site for many hours and provide lots of output in the way of prints, images on CD etc.

I like the sense of humor of "Anonymous".