Wedding photography ..Dream or nightmare?

OK where do I start.

I photographed my first wedding about 5 years ago and it was for a friend. As it was a friend and they didn't have a photographer I felt no pressure. [Those were the good days ha ha]

I continued to photograph weddings for friends and friends of friends and really enjoyed it. I loved seeing their faces when I delivered the photos and love every aspect of it.

Then I decided to make it official when people starting to offer me money.

Now this is when the worry started to settle in.............the first few weddings were fine but after that I just started to find it a drag. Taking the photos were fine and easy enough but i hate the after stuff printing out, buying albums, keeping all the receipts together. I also use to worry about the weather, hoping the bride would be on time and just about everything.

It is really the business side of things that spoilt it for me and I am so glad I just take photos for fun again.

There is a lot of snobbery in photography and whoever has the biggest lens must be the best. and of course this is not true.

All in all I think I photographed about 30 weddings never had one complaint or unhappy customer so I suppose I did a good job

But it is all behind me now and an experience I would not repeat.

It's often the case, a hobby turns into a job and the business side of things takes over and can be hard to keep on top of... You used (i think) a D40x, was it good enough? Before it is all a distant memory, what advice would you give for a) photographing weddings b) the business side of photography (don't have to answer all these tonight!! )

Nikon d40x was indeed good enough [although some would disagree]

Advice would be

1. keep it simple.

2. communication with bride/groom and wedding planner.

3. Have a contract on how many photos you will supply plus other stuff.

4. Have a list of must photos to be taken and what the couple have requested.

5. Have a back up for everything. [I never needed a back up but prepare for the unexpected]

6. remember it's not rocket science it's only taking photos.....lol

BUSINESS

1 keep receipts

2. the business side is not hard just i'd rather be taking photos.

3. fill out your tax return straight away. lol

4. get suppliers sorted.

Any questions please ask.

Interesting discussion guys

I don't think that's the case tbh - quality yes, biggest no.

I think anyone charging anything over a couple hundred quid to do a wedding, owes it to their clients to use equipment suitable for the job - and that's professional-grade cameras, lenses and equipment.

If you're just doing it for for fun/free - then I don't think it matters as much BUT I would be mindful that it's a very special day for the couple, and ask myself if I'd be able to do them proud, and even consider whether my skill-level could in fact turn into a nightmare for them (if the photos came out sub-standard).

However if people are happy to use a 'free'/unprofessional/'cheap' tog - well then they pays their price and makes their choice (and should expect the standard of goods/services accordingly). What's bad for the industry tho, is when non-professional 'photographers' (using 'cheap' equipment) start charging prices in the realm of what the professionals charge - the client gets sub-par work and the industry gets a bad name...

Suitable equipment does not always mean great photos though.

I would advise for anyone booking a photographer to look at their portfolio and not be concerned with their equipment.

My portfolio was large [lol] and as I said before after 30 or so weddings not a single huff or puff.

Of course not, but in my experience professional (wedding) photographers almost always use professional grade equipment. Pro/semi pro bodies and not budget ones for example.

I think most DSLR's are capable of producing decent wedding pictures. The Nikon D40x for example has to be as good as a D80 and people were doing weddings on D100's which were lesser cameras in terms of IQ. A favourite wedding camera was a Canon 20D (8MP i think) and the D40x is at least as good as that in IQ terms with decent glass. I think you would struggle if you were trying to do the low light/high ISO stuff that a D3 could produce.

Jols thanks for sharing your experience. I for one truly am interested as i have just got permission from my workplace to do commercial work outside of my normal job (we have to be sure there are no conflicts of interest or any affect on my full time work). I wasn't intending to do weddings, but have been asked to do a few. I was tempted to do a few low level jobs but my confidence is the main issue. Dead confident in some things, but not in wedding work.

I think the fact that you have many satisfied customers says a great deal. You have evidently produced the right goods at the right price for the right market.

Thanks for the insight Jols, your list of do's and don't's looks to be sound advise. I'd be interested to know what sort of package you offered to your clients and did you cover from bride getting ready through to ceremony/reception and evening.

At 30 weddings in 5 years it obviously wasn't your main income so at what point did you decide to pack it all in, presumably you had forward bookings to consider. Was there any one thing that made you think 'thats it', had enough.

Jeff

There cannot be a "cheap" wedding photographer, its impossible. First of all he has to buy the means to take photographs, edit them if not print them. Then there is the time taken, This would I imagine include clearing the photography with the clergy beforehand as well as agreeing with the couple what photos they want. There is 2 days work before the actual marriage/reception which is another extremely full days work. This doesn't include the processing of the photos afterwards which could take several hours/days depending on the couples wants. Then there is insurance -tax-accountants to pay for as well as vehicle costs.
If I were a wedding tog (which I have no wish to be) I wouldn't charge anything less than £1500 upwards.
If the couple are willing to spend umteen thousand on their wedding they shouldn't even expect to get a photographer on the cheap. Next door has many wedding receptions and some weddings must cost anything between £15,000-£25,000.

Bazza

Firstly thanks to BC for your kind words. Indeed the 40x served me well.


Now on to Jeff.

The main packages were from the groom arriving up to and including the cutting of the cake.

Although on request and if possible [due to location] I would cover the getting ready and on only one occasion did I do up to the first dance including speeches.

Quite correct that it was not my main income.

At what point did I decide I did not want to do it anymore mmmmmmmmmmmmm not quite sure there was one deciding factor so I really couldn't say but when I started to receive phone calls and answering them with a heavy heart I thought that's it, clear what I have booked and book no more............since then I have turned down 17 weddings and boy it feels GOOD. lol although the phone has stopped ringing now.


BAZZA.......I agree the work is tremendous and I was way too soft with my pricing and a hard luck story ha ha ...

So maybe photography= good
business brain = bad.