rookie wedding photography business question

Since I'm not able to find a job I'm looking at an alternative way to make money. Photography is my hobby for 4 years and counting. I'm looking to start a wedding photography business and I was just wondering how is the flow of customers for new photographers? Suppose I have gotten my name out there and did all kinds of advertising... is it slow at first to get customers in an economy like this?

Also do customers tend to go for the affordable photographers? Do customers tend to go for photographers with a degree in art/photography/photoj​ournalism? Do customers tend to go for the photographer with a website that WOW'd them? Do customers tend to go for the most well known with a photographer-of-the-year award?

Thanks in advance.

People tend to go with photographers their friends recommend.

There is no definitive answer to all your questions. Some people pay 10 000$ and more for a wedding photographer and others will not budget for more than 500$.

Before you start your "business", do lots of research since I guess you have no business knowledge right now. It's super important to have some!

How would you choose a wedding photographer?

sebmour wrote in post #10087857
There is no definitive answer to all your questions. Some people pay 10 000$ and more for a wedding photographer and others will not budget for more than 500$.

Before you start your "business", do lots of research since I guess you have no business knowledge right now. It's super important to have some!

How would you choose a wedding photographer?

it depends...

If money is no object, I would go for the best. If I'm on a budget I would have to do some researches through the internet. If I'm clueless about wedding photography, probably go with a family/friend's recommendation.

If I hire someone to put my website on top of the search engine results and do website advertisement campaign, will that help lure in customers?

jxs1984 wrote in post #10088599
... will that help lure in customers?

Lure me in, maybe...

But I wouldn't hire you unless I could see from your site that you had some experience in wedding photography and could produce good results.

Remember also that because of the way weddings are organised many wedding bookings are taken over 12 months in advance.

Unless you are lucky / have some very innovative marketing the chance of setting up and landing work quickly are probably quite slim.

If you are going to do this are you prepared gear wise. It is one thing to do a wedding for a friend but if you take on the job from John Q Public they are assuming that you are a business and will know what you are doing and that you have the gear to accomplish it. There is so much more beyond just the gear and I would suggest that you spend some time reading some of the wedding threads to get more answers. This is not going to be a cash cow and if this is not your profession of choice would it not be wise to use the time getting started to find the employment that you really want. This is certainly not going to happen overnight either. It takes time and it takes hard work marketing yourself. Hit the streets and knock on the doors that count.

Sorry dupe post somehow.

DunnoWhen wrote in post #10088785
Lure me in, maybe...

But I wouldn't hire you unless I could see from your site that you had some experience in wedding photography and could produce good results.

Bingo. If you don't have a very good portfolio of wedding photos, I would not even consider you no matter what price you offer me.

Spend some time in the wedding forum here. Its not easy, especially if your looking for income to live off of. You are going to make more money from a day job, but it can be a good source of supplemental income if it gets to that.

From my experience, look harder and find a job if you want to make some money.

Two of the worst reasons for starting a wedding photography business are:

You're broke and you're a hobbyist who takes decent photos.

Running a wedding business is hard. Really, really hard. Assuming you already own ALL the equipment you would need (multiple fast lenses, plus lens backups, backup bodies, tripods, flashes, computers, software, just to name the bare minimum)... You won't make a profit the first year. You'd be lucky to break even the second.

Building relationships takes time, so does building a portfolio, so does SEO, so does word of mouth.

How exactly are you planning on making a living while you wait for customers to find you?

Thanks for the informative responses.

I do plan on building a portfolio specifically for weddings and by doing that I would probably have to do some freelancing. I have a relative who is getting married this summer and I was told she already hired a photographer. She gave me the permission to do a freelance photography as long as I don't interfere with the photographer. In this situation it would probably be wise to get the new 70-200mm f/2.8 II lens that I crave for.

Recently I was chosen by a friend in California to be her wedding photographer and I'm very excited. Since I have no actual experience in wedding photography I don't expect a nice big fat check but I will be more than happy to have beautiful wedding photos for my portfolio and having an actual experience is a big plus.

Not too long ago my partner and I did an engagement session in DC. The clients loved the photos so they will be choosing us for their wedding in the future (around November) and we're very excited about that.

As for the gears my partner and I have some useful gears. Combined we have a 7D, 30D, two 18-55mm, two 50mm 1.8 II, 24-70 2.8L, two 580EX II, Lumiquest Mini SoftBbox, custom made light modifier, wireless triggers, light stands, umbrellas, tripods. This summer we will be getting a 5Dm2, 135L, 70-200 II, battery grips, batteries and some more cf cards. We already have the computers and softwares.

As for living I have a friend who always ask me for help on detailing cars. He also asked me to take pictures of customer's cars for the before-and-after photos. As we go through customers I'm always giving them my business card and hope to get some networks. The car detailing job doesn't pay enough so I need to look harder for any kind of job... the economy sucks. Luckily my partner works full time at the moment. While I'm jobless I can use my college knowledge to build a website.

Another question... do you make the customers pay for flight, hotel and food? If you were to fly elsewhere for someone's wedding, how long do you stay there? How early should you get there to prepare? I had another question in my mind but I lost it. I'll get back to you on that one.

I just remembered the question. Is it necessary to get a business license? When should I get it? Has anyone ever gotten away without it? If I get a business license can I use it anywhere I go?

I would suggest writing up a detailed business plan so that you have an idea of what your goals are. You're talking about laying out a large amount of cash for some lenses and bodies, how long will it be before you'll make enough to cover that gear? The bottom line for a business is to make money, if you're not doing that, you're not running a business....you've got a hobby. Because of this, when starting out, every business purchase should be well thought out. The purchase should be able to offer you a ROI fairly quickly, otherwise, it is a bad business decision. IME, this often means lagging behind the latest and greatest out there. For instance, it may be a better business decision to buy a 5D rather than a 5DII or to buy used rather than new, etc....
Another piece of advice....don't go into debt to start your business. That will be just one more obstacle you'll have to overcome on an already tough venture.

The best way to get in is find a friend to recommend you. Either that or second shoot with afew photographers. It is one of hte most important days of people's lives so don't just jump in without some experience if at all possible.