Wedding Business

[djscottwalls]

Just wondering if anyone else has seen a decrease in business in the last year. I was doing about 10-20 weddings a year and now I am only doing about 5. Just wondering if the economy is hurting anyone else.

[zelseman]

I did 2 weddings last year(first year) and i have 0 booked for this year so far. So, yes, business has gone down.
I apologize that I am of no use.

[ni$mo350]

I want to blame the economy but I've had more friends get engaged in the last year than any other year. I'm contemplating shooting my first since they asked me but it seems like there are plenty here in the NW or atleast in my group of friends/co-workers. Although I do work with 700 other people in a building and those people have family members and friends so it's easy for word of mouth to spread.

[zagiace]

if I remember right reports I have read from theweddingreport.com bookings for weddings in general are up and sales are supposedly up 14% (specific to photography, almost everything else was down.) for 2009 from 2008. Me personally, I had a slow start to the year (January is almost always slow in bookings.) but recently everything is picking up.

[Billo78]

if I remember right reports I have read from theweddingreport.com bookings for weddings in general are up and sales are supposedly up 14% (specific to photography, almost everything else was down.) for 2009 from 2008. Me personally, I had a slow start to the year (January is almost always slow in bookings.) but recently everything is picking up.

The number of weddings might be up but if the number of photographers is also up (which is certainly is) then the number of weddings per tog is logically less.

[zagiace]

The number of weddings might be up but if the number of photographers is also up (which is certainly is) then the number of weddings per tog is logically less.
that is most certainly a great point.
you really need to be an awesome marketer for your business to stay at the level it may have been 3 years ago.

[pauld1946]

And a lot of them are ready to photograph for very little. Hurts everyone.

[Reminisce]

The number of weddings might be up but if the number of photographers is also up (which is certainly is) then the number of weddings per tog is logically less.

Bingo! Because I know in south florida alone, its becoming rather oversaturated

[turbo212003]

I shot 4 weddings last year. I have booked 11 so far.........You have to get your name out there and market yourself!

[sebmour]

Business is better than last year. 10 weddings at 3000$ each this year his 12 weddings at 4500$ average.

[jcolman]

Last year was my first year in business as a wedding photographer. I shot 20 weddings, mostly in the $1200-$1700 range. My first two I did for $500 ea. I also had a couple in the $2100 range.

This year I upped my rates a bit and have 14 booked. I fully expect to pick up more as the season progresses. I'm concentrating more on marketing this year than I did last year.

[dovaka]

were looking to do about double the amount we did last year. were already mostly booked for the year

[bwong]

I don't know what you charge to do a wedding, but my guess is that if you're expensive, you're getting squeezed out by Uncle Bob and his DSLR who are shooting for free, or a lower priced photographer. One of my friends started out as a wedding photographer last year, and he's already completely booked for 2010.

So I think it really depends.

[deemarie]

I think no matter what the economy people are getting married and photography is a part most people still find important. Last year was my first official year running my business I did 9 weddings 500-2000 pricing. For 2010 I already have 22 booked in-between 800-2400. So I am happy with that and just raised my pricing to 1000-3900 and have 2 consultations this week. I have done an expo advertise in a local magazine, and on a few free site which I believe has helped. So all in all I think if you do it right the economy shouldn't hurt you.

[tim]

The past twelve months has been tough.

[dwarfcow]

Just wondering if anyone else has seen a decrease in business in the last year. I was doing about 10-20 weddings a year and now I am only doing about 5. Just wondering if the economy is hurting anyone else.

we were expecting a slow year, but by December we had booked 3 out of state destination weddings, and 1 instate, so far we have 3 down, and 4 more booked in the next 3 months, we have been filling our down time with about 3-4 sessions a week (most of which seem to be newborn/baby shoots; i guess bad economy = good for procreation up here)

oddly we only have like 3 weddings in state this year... which is fine i guess, gets you out of your comfort zone. (out of state in Alaska requires a lot of flying)