Wedding Photography - Diving In - Advice Questions

[Reminisce]

Hey guys,

So I'm diving in head first into wedding photography, in the competitive south Florida market, and I've been spending the last months getting myself ready and inline. I do have a couple questions of advice I'd like to ask my fellow Canoneers, however. Here is a checklist of things I've done:
- Gotten contracts to work with
- Accounts with print companies both locally and online (Asuka, Graphistudio, Pictobooks)
- Currently redesigning my website (www.memoriescreated.net)
- Hooked up with a great wedding planner ready to throw business at me
- Got my business cards all printed out

Now, here are the questions. I currently do not have a wedding portfolio. I do, however, have a decent glamour/fashion portfolio so was going to get a small (7x7 or 10x10) Asukabook to carry around my portfolio or show to couples in that. I also have some other inquiries, so here goes:

1. Should I show my glamour/fashion portfolio to clients until i get a wedding portfolio, or should i shoot second shooter for a while first?

2. I currently own a 20D which I have used and adored since its release in 2004. Never failed me, never a problem. I am about to invest in a second camera, however. The 20D has a LOUD shutter, so should i UPGRADE to a 40D with the silent shutter, or should I just get another 20D?

3. I spoke to my wedding planner this morning and she said most brides shes worked with request CDs and print their own albums. Is this the norm? My current packages do not offer CD/DVD, but have online gallery for proofing and edited images, and book options. Should I offer a CD included in the package, offer it as an option, or not at all?

4. In lieu of number 4, do you all provide proof books (like 5x5) or online proofing, or none at all for weddings?

Thanks guys.

[Chris Dana]

1. You should absolutely shoot second for a while. The experience you will gain will be invaluable and you'll have time to ""get your feet about you" if you've never shot weddings before.
2. You ABSOLUTELY MUST have a second body. Yeah, your 20D has done you well through the years, but there is always the chance it might fail. I would get a 40D or better. if you can afford it. Your lens lineup is okay; you might want to consider dumping your 70-200 f/4 for an f/2.8 (even better, the IS version).

3 and 4 I can't be of much help there, I'm still a second shooter.

[form]

Being a 2nd shooter is a good help and it takes a lot of the pressure off of you.

You don't NEED a 40D; a second 20D would be fine for most uses. There are some minor advantages to the 40D and one more considerable one, the autofocus system. If you're doing weddings I would suggest a 2nd camera body as well, for added security; but it doesn't have to be expensive.

My experience is that most of my clients, weddings and otherwise, request a CD/DVD of the images so they can print or use them themselves.

I'm lazy and provide my proofs via email instead of via website.

[tim]

1. Second shoot, so you have some idea what you're doing and the pressure involved.
2. You MUST have a 2nd body, in fact a backup of every piece of equipment you use on a wedding day. The 40D is a better body than 20D, much better AF, bigger screen, sharper images, and easier to use, but I still use a 20D as my third body. I think the 40D shutter may be louder than the 20D.
3. You have to decide what you'll offer. If you offer a CD you won't sell anything else, but if you don't you won't get customer. At the low end customers are cheap and demanding. Low budget customers want a CD and they'll print their own photos or make a cheap album themselves. I photographed about 50 weddings in the past two years, not at the low end, and they all wanted CDs too, but they're happy to pay for them.
4. Online proofing, proof book with big packages or if they pay for it.

Have you read the wedding FAQ (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?p=2453681)?

[aram535]

.. Not a wedding photographer, but I have worked with a bunch of them..

1. From what I learned and heard, it actually might a little late, you should have dived into that before getting all of your plans. You may actually hate it. Depends on the couple, but I hear more horror stories about crazy brides, in-laws, priests than I hear good stories. But it is a living. To sum up, get your feet very wet, I would say do 3-5 weddings as a second or a secondary photographer before going out on your own. Might want to start with engagement sessions?

2. As your 20D served you well for years -- sounds like just about the right time for a shutter or something to do. Get a XSi if you have to, but get another body. Last thing you want is a dead camera in the middle of something that can not be reproduced.

3. Its certainly an option. Most photographers now days do give out semi-low res images on CD so 4x6. Or better, include $XXX in your package for printing. So they pay you $5000, and you include $500 in prints for them, which you print at a cheaper rate obviously.

4. Online seems to be more preferred but some people want the contact sheets, so that has to be an option.

[SuzyView]

1. Second shooter to start just because there's so much more than just the artistic stuff in this business. A good primary shooter will teach you the business part, interacting with clients, equipment to bring and use, PP, etc. You can learn so much just observing and helping that you won't have to reinvent the wheel without any guidance, and POTN can't be there with you during the event, sorry.
2. Jenny, who is "Song" here shoots with 2x20D's and does a fabulous job. It does have a loud shutter, as I had one and recently acquired the 40D to replace. But you must get a second body, if not just for the ease of having 2 cameras with 2 different length lenses right there to use, just in case one camera fails, which has happened and even my new 40D got an error 99 message the 2nd week I got it.
3. Don't talk rates yet, until you've done some work with a pro in the area. Get your portfolio beefed up and then worry about how much to charge. Many start with shooting for cost for free for a couple before really diving in.
4. On-line or CD with stuff you've done before with watermarks may be fine. Contact sheets are okay, some people want to compare and those are useful.

Best advice ever, have a plan, but learn first. And insurance is really important.

[JWright]

My advice... Run like hell in the opposite direction! ;) :lol:

Like a lot of other people, I thought shooting weddings would be a good source of income after I got laid off from my aerospace job. I went into it with over 30 years of photography experience, including several weddings. I hated every minute of it! When I found employment working for someone else, I gladly dropped shooting weddings like a live hand grenade.

It take a certain kind of personality to do wedding photography and I realized I wasn't one of them. I'm much happier now being pretty much retired and doing aviation photography on the side.