Q. What Is Your Average Time From the Wedding Day Until Proofs Are Delivered?

Hi,

Do you pros who do wedding photography for a living have a goal or standard as to how long you take to have proofs ready for your clients to review after the wedding day?

I have set a goal of one week for myself...this is to keep me from being lazy and procrasrinating. I find that this can be a challenge when I work 10-12 hours a day at my day job plus tack on another hour or so to commute. My work flow is to review my files, move the keepers into a seperate folder after review, and then evaluate each keeper for PP as required. After the basic PP is complete I rescreen all keepers for potential crops, B&W or Sepia conversion, and some for color highlights. In the last four weddings I shot I averaged 800+ photos and kept 350 to 400 each time for PP.

In my mind there has to be a balance between doing this right and doing this quickly.

Thanks,

On my website I say they'll be online in 7 days and if I miss the personally set deadline, they get a free 11x14.

JimAskew wrote in post #3496267
Hi,

Do you pros who do wedding photography for a living have a goal or standard as to how long you take to have proofs ready for your clients to review after the wedding day?

I have set a goal of one week for myself...this is to keep me from being lazy and procrasrinating. I find that this can be a challenge when I work 10-12 hours a day at my day job plus tack on another hour or so to commute. My work flow is to review my files, move the keepers into a seperate folder after review, and then evaluate each keeper for PP as required. After the basic PP is complete I rescreen all keepers for potential crops, B&W or Sepia conversion, and some for color highlights. In the last four weddings I shot I averaged 800+ photos and kept 350 to 400 each time for PP.

In my mind there has to be a balance between doing this right and doing this quickly.

Thanks,

I usually have my proofs online and off to the printer within 3 days, or less. My corrections usually don't take more than three hours for a full wedding day.

I usually like to come home from the wedding download all the images to my computer, and if I'm not falling asleep by then, I start right in, do half, and finish up in the morning.

I have never gone over a week to deliver proofs, whether print, or just online galleries.

wellllll...I used to get mine out in no less than two weeks..but i kinda had a set bac last month an it took me almost a month... but that will not happen again!!!!!!! They didn't say anythin, but I'd rather get them out ASAP and off my desk!!! (computer)

I can do it in a week, but, i say 2 weeks to them....I also try to wait for the b&g to get home from the honeymoon before I post them.

I've been pretty bad lately as well. I try and get them done within 2 weeks, but my last couple weddings, it was almost a month before I got them done!! ughhh... I was a little distracted by other things...
BUT I will say that my last wedding I did, I had the proofs done within a week, but I haven't heard ANYTHING from my client about getting them, after numerous emails and phone calls. They still owe me money, so maybe they are avoiding me?? lol.

I offer printed proofs ( no online yet) so 2 -3 weeks- just about always done in 2

Jim, if the client wants them in a week, I do that. If they don't care, I take a little longer. But generally, I look through everything by 7 days.

Jim:

I try to get them done within 10 days. when i get home from the gig, i upload all the pics to my computer, then back them up to my external drive (you can never be too careful!). in the morning, i look through them for keepers, then its about a week of touch-and-go post processing. ive got it down to where if i post-process for about a couple of hours a day, they'll be done in a week or so.

I know a guy who is/was in the business...shot a wedding...and before the proofs were done, some 'legal issues' caught up with him and he ended up in prison for 3 years. When he got out, he called the couple to give them proofs...and they were like totally ok with it. Ordered some pictures and life rolled on for them all. Go figure. lol

Really? wow.

Three years is a long time. Still had his camera stuff all in tact. Now that's a feat.

I give myself a generous margin for delivering the proofs in my contract. Usually, though, they are ready a few days to a week after the wedding.

Average is 2-3 days I guess, min is next day, longest is a week. Contract says 28 days.

My contract says two weeks, but I usually have them done in 7 to 10 days.