Couple of questions for wedding pros.

I'm trying to get into wedding photography.. have my first wedding booked in Jan and another one booked in feb. Both of the parties contacted me after seeing my work on my Facebook fan page where I've shot mostly outdoor portrait sessions (and engagement sessions) or indoor event photography (21st/18th birthday parties and some engagement receptions)

My price is low compared to other seasoned photographers in my area in order to get some business as I don't have a great portfolio when it comes to weddings. My questions are:

1. After how many weddings should I pick my price back up to where I want it to be?

2 Is this a gradual process? Do I increase lets say $100 per wedding and eventually get to my desired price range, or do i do a set number of weddings and then eventually put up my price to where I want it to be?

3. Also, approximately how many weddings did you guys shoot in your first and second year? How many per year do you shoot now?

Thanks for the input in advance!

Regarding pricing: A lot certainly depends on your skill level but the more important thing about pricing is your branding and marketing. If your clients have the impression that you are worth the money, then they will pay.

But to help answer your questions, here is a brief history of my business.

I started my business in 2008. I shot one wedding in 08'. A $500 craigslist job. That wedding allowed me to start showing wedding photos on my website.

I shot 20 weddings in 09', the vast majority I got from craigslist. My pricing went from $500 to $1700. (no albums, just shoot and burns)

Then in 10' I shot 21 weddings, but slowed down my craiglslist advertising. I spent some money advertising on wedding wire and facebook. I also got some referrals from venues and clients/friends. My pricing ranged from $1700 to $2400.

In 11', I shot 18 weddings. I stopped facebook ads but kept the wedding wire ads going. I also spent some money on getting placed higher in google. I can't really say that I got much business from wedding wire. Most of my weddings were referrals or from google. My pricing ranged from $1800 to $3500. I also shot my first destination wedding in Cancun.

This year I shot 18 wedding, ranging in price from $2100 to $4500. I stopped advertising on wedding wire in mid summer, spending my money instead on a bridal show. I booked 7 weddings for next year from that one show. I'm also doing a bridal show in January. Two of the weddings I shot this year actually came from referrals from POTN.

I have 12 weddings on the books for next year (including another Cancun wedding) and I'm looking to book another 10 or so from the upcoming bridal show. My pricing ranges from $2100 to $5100.

jcolman wrote in post #15370068
Regarding pricing: A lot certainly depends on your skill level but the more important thing about pricing is your branding and marketing. If your clients have the impression that you are worth the money, then they will pay.

But to help answer your questions, here is a brief history of my business.

I started my business in 2008. I shot one wedding in 08'. A $500 craigslist job. That wedding allowed me to start showing wedding photos on my website.

I shot 20 weddings in 09', the vast majority I got from craigslist. My pricing went from $500 to $1700. (no albums, just shoot and burns)

Then in 10' I shot 21 weddings, but slowed down my craiglslist advertising. I spent some money advertising on wedding wire and facebook. I also got some referrals from venues and clients/friends. My pricing ranged from $1700 to $2400.

In 11', I shot 18 weddings. I stopped facebook ads but kept the wedding wire ads going. I also spent some money on getting placed higher in google. I can't really say that I got much business from wedding wire. Most of my weddings were referrals or from google. My pricing ranged from $1800 to $3500. I also shot my first destination wedding in Cancun.

This year I shot 18 wedding, ranging in price from $2100 to $4500. I stopped advertising on wedding wire in mid summer, spending my money instead on a bridal show. I booked 7 weddings for next year from that one show. I'm also doing a bridal show in January. Two of the weddings I shot this year actually came from referrals from POTN.

I have 12 weddings on the books for next year (including another Cancun wedding) and I'm looking to book another 10 or so from the upcoming bridal show. My pricing ranges from $2100 to $5100.

That's a very informative history that illustrates how to grow a business revenue stream. All that's missing is something about packages to help place the pricing relative to your market.

The problem with starting with low pricing is that it becomes harder to raise prices. Naturally you can use packaging to get the price up and then adjust the packages year to year to increase net revenue.

Another thing to consider is whether you are doing wedding as a hobby business or as full time photographer. 20 times 5000 is $100,000 which sounds like a respectable income until one considers all the costs that have to be paid before it gets to a cash flow one can call income.

Working backwards; If you want a personal "salary" of $50,000, you probably have to double it to cover self employment tax, health insurance, 401K contributions and other "labor contributions" that are normally paid by a company above the salary. Then you have to add the annualized cost of all your equipment; for a wedding photographer that is somewhere north of $4000. (presuming a 3 year useful life.). There there are production costs for albums, etc. advertising, editing cost, marketing costs, etc. Once you spend some time working it out in a spreadsheet it probably means you need to have gross revenue from wedding at least 3 times your "salary" goal.

dmward wrote in post #15370448
That's a very informative history that illustrates how to grow a business revenue stream. All that's missing is something about packages to help place the pricing relative to your market.

The problem with starting with low pricing is that it becomes harder to raise prices. Naturally you can use packaging to get the price up and then adjust the packages year to year to increase net revenue.

Another thing to consider is whether you are doing wedding as a hobby business or as full time photographer. 20 times 5000 is $100,000 which sounds like a respectable income until one considers all the costs that have to be paid before it gets to a cash flow one can call income.

Working backwards; If you want a personal "salary" of $50,000, you probably have to double it to cover self employment tax, health insurance, 401K contributions and other "labor contributions" that are normally paid by a company above the salary. Then you have to add the annualized cost of all your equipment; for a wedding photographer that is somewhere north of $4000. (presuming a 3 year useful life.). There there are production costs for albums, etc. advertising, editing cost, marketing costs, etc. Once you spend some time working it out in a spreadsheet it probably means you need to have gross revenue from wedding at least 3 times your "salary" goal.

David is right. When I raised my pricing, I effectively cut off the "Craigslist" shoppers, which was a major stream of business for me when I first started.

I am also fortunate that while I am a full time photographer, I don't need to shoot a lot of weddings as I have other clients that keep me busy. Plus I am semi-retired so I don't really need to make more than about $50k year to be quite comfortable.

Increase prices when you have too much work at your current prices, or when you feel you're worth more.

I used to shoot 30 weddings per summer, as my prices went up that number came down a lot, but I make more money for less work and I can concentrate more on each customer.

5W0L3 wrote in post #15369812
1. After how many weddings should I pick my price back up to where I want it to be?

I don't think you should go cheap. Cheap weddings aren't going to be great for your portfolio because they are going to look like cheap weddings.

Build up your skill level and start out as high as possible. The higher you start, the less growing pains.

Kinda. I generally raise my prices every 6 months before the two bridal shows I do.

1. Decide what you want to pay yourself per hour of shooting.
2. Figure out how many hours you spend on a wedding (meeting with client, answering emails, driving to and from meetings, sessions, weddings, etc. Hours*wage=salary per wedding.
3. Use your salary per wedding and figure out your cost of doing business. If insurance is $700/year and you plan to shoot 10 weddings, then each wedding costs you $70 in insurance. Do the same with equipment, even if you already bought it.
4. Factor in taxes. You might want to talk to a CPA, but I count about 35% gross for taxes for a ballpark number.
5. Now you know what it costs you to shoot a wedding. Charge that or more. If you don't think you can get that much, then you need to keep practicing or second shooting for a more established pro to get your skills up to pay yourself what you are worth.

Five first year, nine the second, 22 the third and over 30 in the fourth. Doing it right is not an overnight process.

I love reading this insight into how people got started in the industry. A sub question that I have not seen answered is -- What equipment did you start out with? How and when did you decide to upgrade?

NewHorizonPhoto wrote in post #15391042
I love reading this insight into how people got started in the industry. A sub question that I have not seen answered is -- What equipment did you start out with? How and when did you decide to upgrade?

I started with a 5D and 1DnII. I had five or six lenses and pretty much all the lighting, modifiers and pocketwizards needed to do the job.

I researched the industry before I bought any gear. Then I practiced with it for several months until I felt comfortable, before I even thought about booking my first wedding.

NewHorizonPhoto wrote in post #15391042
I love reading this insight into how people got started in the industry. A sub question that I have not seen answered is -- What equipment did you start out with? How and when did you decide to upgrade?

I shot my first wedding with a 1D Mark III, 1Ds Mark II and 50D. Then the three main Canon L zooms and a Sigma Macro.


I upgraded on need and usability.

I got started with portraits. I used the portfolio of portraits to hook up with a DJ who promoted me. 2012 was my first season working alone. I shot one wedding and several sweet 16's.

As far as equipment goes, I started with a 50D, 24-70L, 70-200L and (3) 580EXII speedlites. Mid season I got a 5Dii, an 85 1.8 and (2) 600EX-RT speedlites.

I just rented a 5Diii. I'm purchasing one ASAP. The 85L is on my wanted list.

As others have noted, starting your pricing low may make it easy to get started, but it builds a low-end following. This can make it difficult to get higher paying clients. Some members have suggested it's almost like starting over. My weddings start at $1,250 but I'm still starting out.

I increase my prices whenever I feel I need to. You can easily do the same. Some people will only wait for a financial or calendar year end before they raise them. I just raise them whenever. The main thing is feeling confident you can deliver the value for what you are charging.

I didn't start at bargain basement prices, I don't think starting at those prices helps in the long term as you will effectively have to start over when you jump them to a reasonable level. I set out at around $1.5 then increased as and when I felt the demand was there and my work was worth the increase in price. I'm sitting currently at about $4k. I could be charging more I suppose but I like how things are sitting at the moment as I have my next 3 years planned out and intend to change things up a bit as time goes on.

My booking history is as below.

Y1 (6 months only) 1 wedding
Y2 5 weddings
Y3 16 weddings
Y4 24 weddings
Y5 25 weddings (relocated business)
Y6 38 weddings
Y7 (2013) 23 booked at present will max out at 35
Y8 (2014) 3 booked at present

I started out shooting weddings (and charging) with a 20D and 5D MKI and the 16-35 F2.8 L, MKII 24-70 F2.8 L MKI and the 70-200 F2.8 IS L MK1 and a couple of 580EX II's as my main kit. I also had a 100 F2.8 Macro and a few Sigma and Tamaron lenses as backups.

I upgrade my kit when there is a business case for doing so or when I want to expand what I can do creatively (e.g. wide apertures, fish eye, tilt shift)

5W0L3 wrote in post #15369812
1. After how many weddings should I pick my price back up to where I want it to be?

My prices are on the lower end as well. I raise my prices about 20% every 3 contracts I sign.

5W0L3 wrote in post #15369812
2 Is this a gradual process? Do I increase lets say $100 per wedding and eventually get to my desired price range, or do i do a set number of weddings and then eventually put up my price to where I want it to be?

See answer to #1.

5W0L3 wrote in post #15369812
3. Also, approximately how many weddings did you guys shoot in your first and second year? How many per year do you shoot now?

Thanks for the input in advance!

My goal is very modest. 5 weddings a year. So I am already 100% booked for 2013. That's all I want to do. It would be impossible for me to accept more than that. The rest of the time I keep busy by second shooting. I do about 20 of those a year. I don't have to deliver any product when I second shoot. Just show up, shoot for the regular guys I shoot for, and have a great time to boot!

5W0L3 wrote in post #15369812
1. After how many weddings should I pick my price back up to where I want it to be?

If you can show multiple albums/sessions that show consistency and warrants that pricing, that's when you do it... if you can't show you are worth it, it will be a tough sell

5W0L3 wrote in post #15369812
2 Is this a gradual process? Do I increase lets say $100 per wedding and eventually get to my desired price range, or do i do a set number of weddings and then eventually put up my price to where I want it to be?

The flaw there is that you probably won't shoot the weddings in the same order you book them... if you charge each of them more as you book because you're going on the basis that you now have more experience/etc, you might not... and if you book 20 weddings in a year, that last wedding you booked is paying you way more than that 1st one - and I don't think there's a real valid reason for it...

5W0L3 wrote in post #15369812
3. Also, approximately how many weddings did you guys shoot in your first and second year? How many per year do you shoot now?

High teens / low twenties... starting out I made sure that I left lots of time between weddings so I can get on with the edits w/o them piling on too much... now I don't mind having 2 weddings in a weekend 5 weekends in a row...

Change the product / what is supplied as you go along... an easy fix. There is no direct comparison between different products.

second shooting kinda seems tike a waste of your talent nick
somewhat like a brilliant surgeon spendin a lot of time assisting other ( ? lesser } surgeons