How much work do you get?

For wedding photogs, I am curious:

1. How much paid work do you get? Is it mostly weddings or other stuff to (%).

2. How long is reasonable to produce and deliver photos for a wedding? For your last say; 10 weddings: Longest time to deliver, shortest time to deliver, average time to deliver?

3. How many man-hours do you actually invest into a wedding. Not all the sales calls, time promoting, etc. Just for single actual wedding.

Thanks Sincerely

i shoot about 20 weddings a year. i also work for a newspaper 40 hours a week. i make half of my annual newspaper salary shooting those 20 weddings.

i tell my clients 4 to 6 weeks but usually turn it around quicker.

i spend anywhere from 8-10 hours on a wedding. 6-8 shooting and about 2 in post production.

You should ask Ronald Junior. Apparently he is a Weddings specialist.

I dont do any advertising so I only do about 3-4 weddings per year. This is only my 3rd year so thats plenty for me since I have a full time job 50-60 hrs a week and a part time sports photographer job 20-25 hrs a week. Plus I shoot products for a local manufacturing company about once a month. So this doesnt leave a lot of time for very many weddings.

Tom

quite the smarty, condyk. I'm no specialist, but it's about all I do. I've only done about a dozen weddings, but it's only been 5 months since I started doing paid work. My contract says 1 month for the proofs, but I usually get it to them in 2-3 weeks. Quicker, if I'm not busy.

As for the time...I say unlimited. I go as long as they want me to. I want my customers to be as happy with me as they can be. I live in a fairly small area, and I'm the only wedding photog for about 100 miles. Word travels quickly around here, so I try and do just what they want. My average wedding (actual wedding and reception) usually lasts about 7 hours. I also do the "getting ready" shots, and that's usually another 2 hours- one for bride, one for groom. I also, included in my price, give them "complimentary" engagement shots. It sounds like an awful lot, but hey...you get paid an awful lot. I make it completely worth their while. I don't want anyone feeling like they paid too much. I'm not so busy that I can't spend some extra time at a wedding. Make your clients as happy as possible. They'll spread the word!

Thanks for the answers. I wouldn't want to try making a living at it without being well established, polished, and hooked up on how to do it all - front to back. I want to get my feet wet when I feel I'm ready towards a good enjoyable sideline. Your answers help in seeing what effort to expect.

I'm doing my nephew's wedding album (sideline to the official one) and find the post processing / assembly a bear. Would help to not be such a perfectionist about it, but wondered what effort to expect once I get it down.

Your answers really help. Thank you!

Nice situation and love your work ethic and attitude about it. Thanks.

Man, don't have a heart attack! Hope you find time to have fun with it as well. Thanks.

Sounds like a golden 200 hours, pay wise. Thanks.