How do I get those first few wedding clients?

[RandallTodd]

I am starting into the wedding business and need some help. I shot three weddings this Spring at cost to get portfolio pics and to use in my website, ( www.toddstudio.net ). I am listed with two wedding planning sites and a local church business directory. People are being referred to my website but never take the step to contact me for further booking info. I also have various pics posted on, www.toddstudio.smugmug.com. I do not have a phone book listing yet. I wanted to see if the internet would work for me without spending a whole lot of money. I welcome any helpful suggestions. Thanks, Randy

[Ron_Beezley]

Yellow Pages and fight for business like the rest of us...
Ron

[David_Buzzard]

Web site listings and referals are the best way. Most of the booking for the summer is done in January and February, at least 6 months in advance for medium to larger weddings, and 2-3 months for the smaller weddings. If you're getting hits on your site, that's a good sign. For the first few jobs, you have to pretty much give it away to get the experience.

Looking at your site, it looks pretty good, but lacking in posed and family photos, which is something brides are really looking for, and that's for both traditional and candid styles. I would see if there's a traveling wedding photography workshop in your area, and take that. After years of full time wedding photography, I still try to take one workshop a year to keep me up to date.

Have a look at how you're pricing your jobs. The two schools of thought are you either shoot it and hand over digital or negatives, and perhaps a set of 4x6 prints, or you keep the images to yourself and upsell prints and wedding albums. The one thing that brides aren't looking for is a set of 40 8x10 prints. I would cruise some other wedding photographers sites and see how they put their packaging together.

David Buzzard

[Shad_Reed]

Armed with a relatively thin portfolio, we went to a bridal show with the following offer "Book an appointment to meet with me today and receive a free engagement session and 16x20 collage". The most important thing is to sit down at a table with a bride. If you can't get to the table you can't book anything. As it turns out, we booked about 40 appointments, had several cancel, had 1-2 not show, and probably met with 25. We signed 17 contracts over the next 2 months. We were obviously concerned about people who just wanted something for nothing but I think we really only got 2 people like that. The engagement session cost to us was time plus $25.

We did do a subsequent bridal show and modified the offer to say "Meet with me next month and receive a free engagement session and 16x20" and didn't get nearly as much action. Actually met with ~8 and booked 5. You've got to put an appointment in the book during the show even if everyoone knows that you'll probably have to change it because when you call the bride and she doesn't answer and you leave a message you can say "Just calling to confirm our appointment at ____" otherwise you're calling and saying "Hi please call me so that we can set something up" and you don't get too many who make that call.

My two cent, stay out of the yellow pages for now. Make sure you're getting website traffic. Get to a bridal show. Make a sample album. Prepare contracts and business forms.

Shad

[RandallTodd]

Thanks David and Shad, I appreciate your looking at my site. That's the kind of advice I was hoping to get and it helps a lot.

Randy

[Shad_Reed]

Randy,

I agree with David regarding your pricing structure. I'd have a look at how the others in your area are doing things. Your packages include at most 4 hours of coverage. Most weddings that we do are 8+. I know you probably have some kind of per hour charge passed the 4 hours but why not lump that in up front?...at least to 6 hours. Additionally, knowing what I know about print costs, I figure your costs for the top package are at most $200. Seems like $1650 for $200 of prints, +4 hours of shooting, +maybe 10 hours of editing is probably a bit high for someone who is starting out. Works out to about $100/hour. Don't get me wrong. If brides pay it, then that's what it's worth but if you're trying to fill your calendar this pricing structure won't do it. I guess I'm wondering how many weddings you want to do in a year and how bad do you want to do this?

Good Luck,
Shad

[RandallTodd]

Shad,

I did make some changes after studying several photographers sites in my area. After reading your second reply, I wonder if I'm still going to be overpriced. I decided to add in the albums, include plenty of shooting time, and a engagement/bridal session. Is it a bad idea to price where I want to be a little down the road but offer discounts for now? I will be doing this part-time for now but want to go full-time in about 3 years.

Thanks,
Randy