There are wedding photographers who charge a lot but don't deliver the goods and this is a death sentence to your business as most repeat business is from word of mouth. I always advise clients that it's imperative to meet the photographer before booking them to get to know them and, most importantly, see examples of their work before paying a deposit. I have had more than one person cancel the photographer they had booked and book with me simply because I had done their friend's wedding and they had had a chance to meet me and see the end result. It's the most important day of their life, they've invested a lot of money in it and at the end of it all, all they have to remember it by is their photographs. So what makes a good wedding photographer? As with anything else, passion! I love weddings, always have but not only that, I take the responsibility very seriously and put a lot of time into the editing and presentation afterwards. If you break down the hours I put in to a wedding and what I get paid, you'll find I earn less than minimum wage! I have decided this year to stop doing weddings simply because I find them too stressful and take too much of my time with the demands of my family to consider as well.
Still want to be a wedding photographer? Where do you start?
I started just taking pictures at a friend's wedding to get some practice and get some pictures for my portfolio. If you know a wedding photographer then offer to be a second shooter for them for free, you will gain invaluable knowledge on how they work and how the flow of the day goes. This is, however, quite difficult to do as most wedding photographers are reluctant to train someone else as they are afraid you will steal their business from them.
I went to a few fairs to try and drum up some business. I printed some photo books to display but didn't receive any business from this attempt at promoting my business. Why? My guess would be recommendations! People are much more likely to book someone a friend recommends. My next port of call was Facebook and this was far more successful. It's free and reaches a wide audience!
My first package was £100 which included full coverage of the day and all the pictures on a disc. This attracted the cheaper end of the market, low budget registry weddings mostly and, although there is nothing wrong with doing these kinds of weddings, they are almost as much work for next to no return on your time. What pushed me in the direction of including a photo book in my package was when one of my brides brought me the prints she had made from her disc and asked me to put them in a book for her because she didn't have the time. I was horrified at the quality of them, they looked like just anyone had taken them. The fact is, once you hand over that disc, you have no creative control over the end result and that is what represents your work to future clients.
The other factor that made me reluctant to push up my price was the quality I could produce with the equipment that I had. A cannon 500d is a great beginner camera but, once you are in a dark church trying to get those important shots, the lack of versatility in terms of ISO becomes very frustrating. I have managed to upgrade to a 70d now and that makes a big difference. I strongly feel that the more you charge, the higher the expectation on the results you deliver. After much trial and error and as my experience and thus confidence increased, I decided on a package of £450. This includes an A3 photo book, printed through Photobox, 8x10 prints for the bride and those in the bridal party (I present the bride's one in a nice frame as an added touch and I have control over the large print that is displayed to family and friends) and all the pictures on a disc. I do tell her that the quality from the disc can't be guaranteed and encourage her to use the album I've created on Photobox for prints. I put a small mark up on them (10%), this encourages friends and family to order their prints from there and earns you a bit more money. I make a facebook album for them, where I edit the photos into a nice collage and the link to the Photobox album is on the Facebook album to make it easier for their friends to click on and order prints. You should always ask the bride first whether she is happy with this and make the album private to her until she approves all the photos on it before making it public. Also double check with her whether there are any people in the pictures who wouldn't want to be on Facebook.
As a little added bonus, I set up my 500d to video the ceremony, speaches and dance. If they know I offer this I emphasise that I'm not a professional videographer and they're just little clips added to their disc.
Photobox is a brilliant platform for photography both in terms of the range of printed goods and the prices they offer. The photo books are often on sale so keep your eyes peeled as you can get a credit that can be valid for 3 months, which gives you time to get your editing done and means more money in your pocket at the end of the day.
I get plain black dvd covers to put the disc in and print out 2 5x7 prints to put in the front and the back. I have discs printed with my company name, these are fairly cheap to have printed, I use a company called 3000 rpm.com
You can expect your printed package to cost around £100 so that's £350 for your time. This isn't bad if you do a few weddings a year and have the time to sit and edit them to produce a good quality package. If you are wanting to earn more as an income to support yourself you'll have to charge more or spend more time editing so you can do more weddings. At the end of the day though, never let your quest to earn more money affect the quality you deliver. The golden rule will always apply, deliver a quality product, be friendly and you will get referrals.
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