A couple of questions about part time wedding photography...

I've been asked, as I'm sure most everyone has, to shoot a couple of weddings this year. Now, I have a couple of questions and I have found this website to be very very knowledgeable.

1. I'm planning a wedding contract, however, since I'm not "in the business" officially as a wedding photographer, do I need all the long drawn out legal sides of it? I'd like to have the basics down, but not sure if the whole shebang is something that I need. Legality issues are depressing & confusing lol.

2. Should I make it a part time business before I do a wedding?


3. How do I know what to base my rates? By what type & how many photos they want? How many shooters (I'd prefer two)? I've done one as a back up a few years ago, but never been the lead man. I'm not scared or nervous (yet) but I don't want to sell myself short, or scare them away.

4. How do I base rates if they just want me to show up for 4-5 hours, put images onto a CD and give them that? More since I'm giving away the full size images?

5. Since I'm not a business and only "hobbyist" should I get insurance first? I'm planning on it, it's just one of those things I'm curious about.
Thanks in advance!

legality issues arent hard. get a DBA cert as sole prop, and a sales tax permit, and voila business. with the DBA cert u can open up a business bank account (mine was free). OF course there is more to this if you plan on hiring employees, doing a corp, deducting from taxes etc, but thats the gist.

unless you have those 2 things, you are really doing it illegally and 'under the table'. It really doesnt matter unless you make over 600$ per year doing it.

do some googling of photogs in your area, see what they charge, see how you compare in quality of photos, and base your price accordingly. this aint rocket science.

Are they for friends and family, or strangers?

nothing illegal about it as long as you report your incomefrom your business at tax time. You also need to keep all your receipts so they can be a valid business expense.

figmented wrote in post #5425370
legality issues arent hard. get a DBA cert as sole prop, and a sales tax permit, and voila business. with the DBA cert u can open up a business bank account (mine was free). OF course there is more to this if you plan on hiring employees, doing a corp, deducting from taxes etc, but thats the gist.

unless you have those 2 things, you are really doing it illegally and 'under the table'. It really doesnt matter unless you make over 600$ per year doing it.

do some googling of photogs in your area, see what they charge, see how you compare in quality of photos, and base your price accordingly. this aint rocket science.

I think I might go ahead and do that. I'd rather have it safe then sorry. I'd assume I need to do that soon since I'll be making more then $600 a year.

tim wrote in post #5425375
Are they for friends and family, or strangers?

Combination of both.

Big John wrote in post #5435336
nothing illegal about it as long as you report your incomefrom your business at tax time. You also need to keep all your receipts so they can be a valid business expense.

Right. I semi understand the tax side of things from work now.

you need liability insurance incase grandma falls on your gear. you also need theft insurance as your homeowners does not cover you if you get gear stolen on a job.