There are many different types of wedding photography businesses. The major types are listed below by their volume and pricing strategies:
Low volume and low price:
This type of business is usually done by the novice wedding photographer who is trying to get into the photography business. It allows them to create a portfolio and buy equipment while they develop the skills necessary to photograph weddings. Some of these photographers have the minimum equipment and skills to meet their CUSTOMERS needs, and others do not. They do not have a studio, and do not have the minimum skills to operate a wedding photography business. They have not had enough time to established their business in the community. Photographers in this type of business may get $50 to $500 per wedding. An alternative for these photographers is to join a group of wedding photographers and see if they will help them get started in the business. I joined the Professional Photographers Association (PPA) while I was going to school for photography. I assisted photographers in the PPA while building my portfolio, (with their permission), and I learned many of the necessary skills to photograph, pose and light weddings properly. I made $250 to $350 per wedding depending on the length of the wedding. As you can see the income is about the same, however, doing weddings without proper training, skills and equipment will cause unhappy CUSTOMERS and that will bring a sudden halt to your wedding photography business. People who are looking for this kind of photographer are relatives, friends, people with low or no income, people who could not find a photographer and folks that are cutting corners. These CUSTOMERS, may say things like, “Just do your best.”, “Photographs really do not matter.” and “Dont worry if you cannot capture everything perfectly.”, but my experience is different. I cannot count the number of folks that came into my studio and asked if I could save the photographs that one of these novice photographers created. Guess what? I could not.
High Volume and low price:
Photographers/businessmen who use this type of business have consciously made the decision to address the $300 to $1200 wedding business in their area. They have excellent advertising, business and networking skills. They rent photographers for each wedding. The photographers usually have good photographic skills and good equipment. The business owners are out to sell as many weddings as they can per year, and some sell many hundreds per year. They offer minimum services, 1 hour weddings with one disk, 2 hour weddings with two disks, and work hard for after package sales. This type of business can have 20 photographers doing weddings at the same time, and some of the photographers can do two or three weddings a day. They focus on CUSTOMERS with low income and with little discretionary money, or people who are extremely budget conscious. I sometimes worked for one of these businesses to fill up my schedule while I was building my own photography business. The model is really simple: they sell the product, then they give the photographer a couple of disks and the directions for where to go and what package to shoot, the photographer then shoots the wedding and drops off the disks, then the business owner processes and delivers the product. I worked for $150 to $450 per wedding depending on the cost of the package. The owner also owned a lemo/tux business and did all his own prints. New photographers with good photographic skills can learn from working for someone like this without incurring the ovrerhead costs of a studio. Just remember you will not last long if you are not skilled, and, you will probably never get past the interview. It can also be an initiation by fire, because you are meeting the couple and family for the first time on the day of wedding, so you never know what you are getting into.
Medium Volume and Medium Price:
Most photography businesses fall into this category. Photographers in this type of business range from new photographers to established photographers. They usually have a home studio or commercial studio, they own their own equipment and offer a full line of wedding photography services. They have good photograph skills and can meet the needs of their CUSTOMERS. They have good advertising, and are establishing networks in the community. Photographers in this type of business can demand $1,000 to $10,000 for their services. However, you do not start off at the $10,000 wedding; it may take a few or many years to get above the $2,000 level. After attending photography school and two years of assisting, I started this type of photography business. Competition is extremely high in this type of business and a lot of photographers do not make it. This is especially true if they do not have the photographic skills, equipment, business skills, people skills, and networking skills to meet their CUSTOMERS’ needs. Medium volume, means to me about 35 to 60 weddings a year. It may take a few years to get to this level, a good number for the first year may be as low as 2 – 10 weddings. The CUSTOMER who takes advantage of these services can range from middle to upper income with discretionary funds to meet your pricing requirements.
Low Volume and High Price:
Photographers in this type of business are usually well established in their community. These photographers have a reputation for excellence in photographic and business skills. They usually have
well decorated, full service, in home or commercial studios, and top-of-the-line photographic equipment. They have award winning portfolios and advertisements to show their work. It takes a great deal of attention to detail, an established networking system, and a great history of CUSTOMER satisfaction to establish this type of business. Most new photographers will find it impossible, to establish this type of wedding photography business. This type of business requires CUSTOMERS with a high income and a large amount of discretionary funds. Photographers in this type of business can demand $6,000 to $20,000 and more. Income requirements for the photographers entire year can be made in 10 – 20 weddings.
No volume and no price:
Better know as Uncle Harry by most photographers. This type will not be discussed here.
I hope this helps, please contribute, Thanks, Walt
Let the light in.
