Wedding Day Prints

[Carlos Voss]

HI all,

Yesterday I decided to blunk down 175 bucks for a HP GOGO475 mini
printer thinking it woukd be a nice way to print a couple of images, put them in a frame and have a nice gift for the B&G berfore the reception ended.

I'm thinking their must be other ways to promote yourself with a printer on the day of the wedding. What are you guys doing? Any great ideas?


Thank you

Carlos V

[Gary_Evans]

Have you considered putting the print in a mount that you get signed by all the guests?

Very popular with both bride/groom and guests, and you will actually bring people to the print as opposed to it being presented at the opposite side of the room.

I actually sell these at virtually every wedding. Its almost like being paid to advertise at the wedding

[ChristopherStockman]

Gary,
Would you fill in some of the blanks?
What size print do you make and then what size mat?
Is the photo from the wedding day or from an engagement photo session?
Who does this get sold to or do you sell multiples? If multiples, is it hard to get the guests to sign multiple items?
If you do this on speculation that the B&G will buy it do you get them giving you cross eyes when they learn that they have to pay more money for it?
How do you deal with this item and take photos at the same time? It seems like trying to bring this item around to all the guests would be very time consuming?

Thank you in advance,
Chris

[EricC]

Chris beat me to some of the same questions that I was going to ask...

You're there to shoot the wedding & reception not to setup shop and turn another $100 from the guests. Depending on where in the pecking order you are trying to market yourself, this could easily kill future bookings. I don't know your customer base so I'll simply go based on my clients. This is the kind of thing that SCREEMS lowend or weekender. Couples spending $1000's of dollars aren't really going to get all that jazzed by a few consumer quality ink jet prints and will be even less impressed by the fact that you are taking time away from the job to do this. Should someone spill a drink on one of those prints you'll look even worse as the ink runs all over the place.

We do carry a 4x6 dye-sub printer in the truck. At the END of the event we print 2 dye sub prints for the couples newspaper announcement as well as a CD with the 2 images. This is done in the truck away from sight, and given to a person designated by the couple. At no point are we selling anything at the wedding. To do so would take away from the focus of the day.

Eric

[DougAxford]

I'm with Gary - almost every wedding I go to have an 8x10 print mounted on a 32x40 board and the guests line up to sign and comment on the white space on the board. In our area, we use the engagement portrait, but if I had enough ambition, I'd sure use one of the wedding portraits taken earlier that day. Putting your usual signature or studio name on it tastefully is normal and is good PR. Of course, if your image stinks, well, then that's another story.

Years ago (40s & 50s) photographers used to line-up at the churches and shoot (photograph) bridal parties at the end of their service. They'd send the holders (4x5 ro 5x7s) back to the studio, have someone print the images, then go off to all the receptions and sell the prints. The first guy there made the money. It was all spec. Times have sure changed. Have they??

Doug

[EricC]

Originally Posted by DougAxford

Years ago (40s & 50s) photographers used to line-up at the churches and shoot (photograph) bridal parties at the end of their service. They'd send the holders (4x5 ro 5x7s) back to the studio, have someone print the images, then go off to all the receptions and sell the prints. The first guy there made the money. It was all spec. Times have sure changed. Have they??

Doug

Doug,

Never mind the 40' and 50's In the 80's my wedding mentor did it with roll film and a a wet lab in the studio's basement! He had an assistant run to the studio and his partner (wife) would run the roll that had the portrait of the bride at the alter through the film processor and print a 16x20. The print went into a studio frame the was reused and placed on an easel at the reception. Back then there was a 2-3 hour gap before the reception. He had this down cold. The print was offered as a gift with his high end clients or offered for sale at a discount to the rest.

All that said a 16x20 silver print isn't even on the same planet as an ink jet print from a consumer machine. And his attention never left the job. He was / is still one of my models when I think of new approaches. He now owns a complete wedding service. A flower shop and 2 limos rounded out his ability to offer a more complete package. The limo driver isn't tapping his foot waiting on the photographer, the flowers get there on time.

I spoke to him a few years ago and he told me that not having to worry about other vendors has taken much of the stress off of his shoulders. He's thinking of DJ service next. The beauty of it all is that he doesn't present himself as the owner of the other services, if asked he's truthful but otherwise it's simply presented as a package, and a high end one at that. He should write a book

Eric

[Gary_Evans]

Please understand I am not there to SELL these images at the wedding itself (they are included in the wedding package) , but it raises awareness of who the photographer is to the guests - most dont know who you are, and if truth be told dont care, but this is one way of getting round that.

Before the wedding I have ask the couple to choose a frame to match their house decor, and have it made to 30" x 20" and a mount (usually cream in colour) cut with a 12" x 10" apeture cut. The image is one from the day itself, not an engagement portrait. I add a signature to the print in Photoshop.

As guests enter for the wedding meal they are asked to sign the mount and when this is done I add the photo to the mount and seal the frame. The complete item is presented to the bride and groom at the end of the meal (I usually get the brides dad to do this). You do not need to pass it around, people will go to it just to look. The framed print then stands on an easel in the entrance for all the evening guests to see as they arrive.

I do not sell duplicate copies, and no-one can buy a copy of the image I use. This is to ensure that it remains unique to the B&G.

btw, I get asked to work all over the UK and do not class myself lowend and I am certainly no weekend warrior