how is the wedding industry really like

[michaelnotar]

not a new photographer, but recently been getting lots of wedding inquires. i've done a good amount of portraits, only 3 weddings, 2 as second camera, 1 as main camera. there's nothing technically challenging about them to me, not looking forward to them.

i just hear all the bad stories online/clients getting horrid etc.

so i want to hear from you in the industry...how good/bad is it out there?

[David_Buzzard]

After shooting 5 or 6 hundred weddings over the years, I can tell you that shooting weddings well is one of the hardest, mentally and physically stressful, and technically demanding fields in professional photography.

If everything is going well, then it's not hard to get good results. It's when things start getting off the rails is when you earn your money. It's like being a jet airliner pilot. The day to day grind, not too tough. When you have to fly though a big storm and look out the window and see another 747 coming straight at you is when you earn your pay.

[michaelnotar]

how often are their moderate issues to overcome?

[PBF Photography]

Can you give examples of the problems (IE 747 coming straight at you in the middle of the storm) you've encountered?

[michaelnotar]

i can do photographic problems/changes of schedules/portrait locations/lighting etc...


im looking for stuff more on the biz end of the industry

[drew]

Hi Michael,

Well, as most of you know we were almost exclusively wedding photographers with some portraiture for 5 years before starting to do school work.

I'll try to keep this brief because I could go on forever about this topic.

1) There is really nothing like covering a good wedding. The couple/ family are genuinely happy to be there. The couple/ family are genuinely happy that you are there to cover their amazing event. Things go well. All the things you need to deliver great work just seem to fall into place. You think to yourself over and over during the day- "Why would I ever do anything else." I am being paid to go to an amazing party and be a photographer. Two things I really love, people and photography.

2) There is really nothing like covering a wedding gone bad. It is one thing to deal with minor last minute schedule/ location changes. It is quite another to have the bride get mad that the groom is paying too much attention to the Madonna impersonator hired to sing at the wedding. Then she goes back down to her hotel room, takes off the wedding dress, cries and screams a river and refuses to come back to the reception the entire night. Not even for the cake cutting, much less the first dance, etc. What do you do? Picture an entire 5 hour reception with no bride present, and the groom doesn't even bother to go check on his prima donna.

All this is just as well you might think to yourself. There's nothing I can do.

Wrong.

The family still expects great photographs from you. Believe it or not the family will soon forget the details of what happened on the day itself. They expect to see those same amazing type photographs you showed them in your demo album and online. These type scenarios may only happen 1 out of every 10 weddings that you book. But rest assured they will happen. You have got to know how to deal with situations like this.

3) The biz end also has ups and downs. This is no different from any other business. The upside is that you can truly make a nice living in the wedding photography business. However, it is not easy as some may suggest. What is that DVD Gary Fong's got out now. Something about getting rich quick? I took Gary to task over his approach on the floor of the WPPI show in 2006. He didn't much like hearing what I had to say about his approach of trying to upsell brides on album upgrades at the end of the sales process. Don't get me wrong. Gary Fong is a brilliant businessman and marketer/ salesman. What he did not quite get (want to get) was that most photographers do not have the skills needed to pull off this approach. I think it is also lost on him the true nature of dealing with brides in this day and age. Picture instant feedback on your sales strategies being shared immediately with thousands of brides via the knot boards once just one or two get upset about your attempt to "rip them off" by having the audacity to show them an amazing album and then telling them they have to pay $85 page to get the album just as it is, otherwise they will need to tell which pages to cut out to get it back down to the included album size. Your "sales approach" will not last for long.

4) I do agree that from the biz side of things albums are a major concern. The three biggest problems with the business side of wedding photography are the following.

a) Most brides are purchasing something they know next to nothing about. They don't know what is important and what is not. This has led the market into a downward spiral the last few years where quantity and price reign supreme. I speculate that it will recover in time as a search for quality returns.

b) This leads to another issue. The cost and time involved in acquiring clients. A studio business is likely to see their client again soon if the job is done well. You will not likely ever see this client again and they only refer people for maybe a year after the event. Your network is highly vulnerable. One bad year and your network could be toast. In addition, we spent on average about 1.5- 2.5 hours meeting with potential clients. Only about 1 out of 3 is going to book with you.

c) Finally, the customer service piece cannot be underestimated. Every bride demands to be treated as if they are your only client. And, rightfully so, however, most new wedding photographers I meet seem to think that a long term business in this industry can be had by simply calculating the hours spent photographing on the wedding day. We only spent about 15% of our time taking photographs. The rest is spent on everything else associated with the business. New business acquisition and customer service are the two areas that make this business a unique challenge. The last piece that causes unending challenges is the album production and delivery process itself. Many, many clients come back two or three years later wanting you to produce an album for them. Make sure you include an iron-clad contract that covers all aspects of the business. Especially the album delivery process. It is the customer service after the day that will ultimately make or break your business.

We loved the business and may return to it someday. But, you asked about the problems. So, I have outlined some of the main challenges you are likely to encounter. I would not discourage you from doing weddings. But, these are lessons learned through experience that I would liked to have known before getting into the industry.

[Jerry Skrocki]

Michael,

I was in your position about 17 years ago. Word of my photography was getting around and people starting asking me the question, "Do you do weddings?" After I accepted the first job, 10 more followed. After each I would say, "I'm never doing this again", but then a friend of a friend would ask and I could not say no.

The last wedding I would ever do was two years ago. It was the daughter of a friend who wanted to get married in October because she loved the fall colors on a particular scenic overlook in a New England park. There was no alternate location and on the day of the wedding we had 60 mph winds with scattered showers. The rain held off for the mountain top ceremony, but the wind took the brides veil as soon as she exited the limo. The bridesmaids were dressed in skimpy dresses and were shivering throughout the ceremony. Lighting was horrible with varying degrees of darkness. The reception hall was a 45 minute drive in traffic affected by the storm. Traffic lights were out from power loss by downed trees. The reception hall was lit by battery powered emergency lights in the corners of the room. The emergency generator was reserved for food service. Shortly after the bridal party arrived, the Best Man got really drunk and started a fist fight with another member of the bridal party. The local police were called and while trying to get the man under control was literally rolling around on the front lawn with him. The Best Man was taken away in handcuffs.

To top it all off, in my haste to change lenses in the 60mph wind on the mountain top, I accidently turn the control wheel on my camera resulting in a 1 1/2 stop underexposure of some of the photos. This took a lot of PP to correct.

NEVER AGAIN!

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