Wedding Portfolio: How many different weddings?

Ok I am in the process of creating my first wedding portfolio and I am wondering how many different weddings I should have.

I plan on putting a maximum of 20 pictures in the portfolio but should I have each of those pictures represent a different wedding that I have shot?

Also I'm thinking of arranging those photographs in same story method as a wedding album.

If I am missing anything please let me know.

Thanks Everyone.

I make nearly 1,000 images available on my site. There are 500 images in my general gallery that play as a slide show; then there's also a page where visitors can go to see full weddings where I have four to choose from, each with ~125 images.

Sounds like a lot, I know, but my photographic style is what I'm selling so that's where I place the emphasis. It's not uncommon for visitors to spend more than 10 minutes viewing my general slideshow. If they've been on for that long I know I'm not talking to a prospect, I'm talking to a new client.

I have about 500 sample pages from wedding albums on my site with an average of about 3 images per page.... so about 1500 photos.

i think its all a matter of personal taste and how you want to present yourself.

a bit of variety maybe even break them out into separate sections such as 'getting ready' ceremony' 'reception' and 'details' would be good and then perhaps 1 full wedding (100 from 1) to show your style more.

i used to break them into sections such as morning, noon and evening, then i decided to do one big gallery with a conglomeration of all my faves.

i may change my mind next month and go back to separating the but i kind of like just having my faves.

most of my business comes from referrals so when i get an enquiry they usually come in for a consult and then see a few slideshows where i show them a bit more.

as a side note, unless you have at least 3 different weddings you can showcase, i wouldnt put up a website yet (imo)

I wouldn't post too many photos from one wedding. I think 50 is an upperlimit for any particular general gallery, and I probably wouldn't want more than 2-3 from one wedding in the same gallery. Unless the photos were so kickass that you couldn't possibly leave it out. But in a nutshell, I'd rather have fewer pictures that were all awesome than more photos that weren't all awesome.

When I went digital and finally set up a website, I had like 10 photos in my gallery because I had JUST switched to digital. I was planning to scan some film shots and put them on my website, but I booked 23 weddings that first year off that gallery of 10 photos so I didn't bother. I had hundreds of photos but only 10 that were standouts in my mind. I think it worked better than posting 10 awesome and 40 average shots.

Brides want to see more than just "the best of". I've taken my web site down because I am busy enough with referrals. I go to a client with no less than 6 albums of different sizes. Each album is a copy of a clients so that prospects can see a full wedding after editing and the finished product. Years ago, you used to show a couple of albums that had a collection of your best images from multiple weddings. I think full weddings in an album format is a better look. I've never had a client that didn't want their album shown around but I always get a release anyway.

images by Paul wrote in post #12938720
Brides want to see more than just "the best of". I've taken my web site down because I am busy enough with referrals. .

you've taken your entire website down just because your busy with referrals? really?

If it's a printed album then one couple per book/album, otherwise it looks like you can't take good enough photos at one wedding to show. A "best of" is maybe nice to have, in that case the number of couples doesn't much matter.

tlc wrote in post #12938976
you've taken your entire website down just because your busy with referrals? really?

Really. I wanted to slow down the amount of weddings I'm doing and there's no faster way to do that than removing your website. I'm at it for thirty years plus and am fairly well known in my little corner of the world. The referral base gives me about 20 wedding a year which is just where I'm comfortable.

I currently have 4 weddings under my belt. I'm trying to get my website seperated into weddings and portraits and thats why I was wondering how many different weddings should I use.

I figured for online no one wants to click through an entire wedding as if it were a hard copy.

Thats why I was wondering if the 4 weddings that I have shot is enough. I wanted to maybe tell a story of the beginning of a wedding to the end using those 4 weddings. Sounds better to me than just showing random "great" photographs that I have taken.

I'm still trying to figure this out.

majin tcz wrote in post #12945416
I wanted to maybe tell a story of the beginning of a wedding to the end using those 4 weddings. Sounds better to me than just showing random "great" photographs that I have taken.

Everyone has their own view and I'm sure there are others here who would disagree, but IMO, you are incorrect. If you don't grab prospects right away, they may just leave. Give them your best stuff; lots of it and front load it. Otherwise, they may not look long enough to ever see it.

Peacefield wrote in post #12946142
Everyone has their own view and I'm sure there are others here who would disagree, but IMO, you are incorrect. If you don't grab prospects right away, they may just leave. Give them your best stuff; lots of it and front load it. Otherwise, they may not look long enough to ever see it.

agreed. i cant tell you how many times ive jumped on a wedding website and the first thing i see is a detail shot that doesnt really grab me.

Web marketing research has shown that you need to really impress a visitor in the first 5 seconds of them visiting your page in order to make them stay and look at more. Show your very best.