Roll Call!! Do you earn your living off of weddings

Just curious how many of us in here are putting food on the table via (wedding) photography.

ps ; i voted. i work 40 hours in a technology / real estate industry, then shoot weddings on the weekends. My photography work though has boosted my yearly pay by roughly 35% though!

Photography is our only source of income. Weddings are a huge part, but shooting other events and portraits add in a nice chunk.

I'm also in the tech industry. Similar percentage as Dan.

awad wrote in post #15218461
Photography is our only source of income. Weddings are a huge part, but shooting other events and portraits add in a nice chunk.

love your site and your work ~ cheers

Full time photographer. However I recently retired after spending 30+ years in the television and video business. My kids are grown, my house is paid for and I have no other debt. I'm quite happy with what I'm making as a photographer. My income only dropped about 20% from what I was earning, working five days a week for someone else, but my happiness increased by 100%.

I'm full time, though at a growth stage (is there any other stage ?) and at the relative beginning of my career.

Full time shooting weddings.

Weddings are my primary source of income, but it's not my sole source. I also do portraits, events, and some commercial photography, and have another part time job that brings in some cash for me as well.

I chose that weddings are my sole source of photography, but I do a significant amount in corporate photography as well. My wife is a full time editor for my business. What I shoot is 100% of our income, but it isn't just weddings.

I hate to say this as it sounds like a boast which is not how I intend it, but I make a VERY good living at my day job. As much as this little photography business that I run on the side has been successful and it probably could support me, it will never replace what I get in the way of salary and benefits from that ol' day job which I do not enjoy nearly as much.

jcolman wrote in post #15219755
Full time photographer. However I recently retired after spending 30+ years in the television and video business. My kids are grown, my house is paid for and I have no other debt. I'm quite happy with what I'm making as a photographer. My income only dropped about 20% from what I was earning, working five days a week for someone else, but my happiness increased by 100%.

^^^^^^^^^ Ditto ^^^^^^^^^^ except i was 20 plus year in the automotive business with a 10 yr hiatus in law enforcement.......Love what we do. Im retired with a good income and we have this business going in the right direction. Trying to get my wife to retire early so the business is going to replace her income. She make has a great income (100k plus) and the business is at 60% of her current level. She is almost set....retirement kind of sucks if you are an extreme type A, which i am. So this gives me a great creative outlet plus we get to travel to some cool spots for vacations. I love the challenges of lighting and posing and i love being around families on these very important family events so this is perfect for me.

jcolman wrote in post #15219755
Full time photographer. However I recently retired after spending 30+ years in the television and video business. My kids are grown, my house is paid for and I have no other debt. I'm quite happy with what I'm making as a photographer. My income only dropped about 20% from what I was earning, working five days a week for someone else, but my happiness increased by 100%.

that's awesome...ps your work shows it, i love seeing your stuff (that's my subtle hint to post more)

me, i'm a full time underpaid architect by day, wedding photographer by night and weekend.
i don't like the term part-time though because I think I work two full time jobs most of the year (thankfully slows down in the winter) at least that has been the case for a couple/few years now. will probably slow down my wedding photography next season as i'm expecting my first child to be born in the spring, and well, i work too much now.

hey mitch ~ Congrats on the new born! I hear ya on the 'dual full time jobs'. I often think I spend more time on the wedding biz stuff than i do my dayjob. I'm not sure what that means that i'm working twice as hard for half the pay, but i'm sure it means something!