Photographing weddings is a tough job to do, especially if you have no idea where to start or what to take pictures of. If you follow a few simple guidelines though, and know at least the basics of photography, you should be fine. To help you understand the implications of wedding photography and the different steps involved in the process, I wrote this article.
Seal the Deal
The most important part is preparation, and since most couples book their weddings way in advance (sometimes years), you will have a lot of time to prepare yourself. Of course, sometimes you will get a call two days before the wedding because either the other photographer dropped out or because the couple realized that they do not want to rely on “Uncle Bob” to conserve their memories in pictures.
They will usually come up to you and ask you for a price. Of course, you could just tell them a number and hope they will accept it, but as a successful wedding photographer, you need a sales pitch to convince the couple why they should choose you, and why you charge more than the guy on the corner with his point-and-shoot camera with built-in flash.
My sales pitch is, there are two ways of remembering a wedding, either by your memories or by the pictures taken. If a bad photographers screws up on the pictures, you will have a pretty hard time showing your children and grandchildren your memories. I have shot many weddings and never had a complaint, so I know what I am doing and I always get the results I want.
After you got them interested, you find out, if you will be the only photographer, if there will be a videographer, what kind of pictures they want (stages shots or candids) and if they also want to have some pictures taken in a studio, how many guests will attend the wedding, what location will be used, for how many hours they need your services, etc.
After you collected all information, you should start writing a proposal, so the couple knows what you charge them for and where the four or five digits at the end come from. I split up my proposals in the following manner, and the couple tells me what they want and what they don’t want:
Fees:
- Photographer
- Travel Expenses
Crew:
- First Assistant
- Second Assistant
Post Processing:
- Digital or Film, Printing, Albums
I add or substract based on what the couple wants, but these are the basics. I also have several packages that I offer where the couple saves money when they book one of those.
Preparation
After the couple agreed to your terms or you negotiated terms you can both agree on, see if you can have a look at the location(s) and get some pertinent information. Many churches for instance, do not allow the use of flash inside the building, which means you need a fast lens. Visiting a location will help you get familiar with the environment and find the best places to position yourself to take the best pictures. Take notes, since you will most likely not remember everything once you get home or to your office.
Based on the information you collected, write a list of gear that you will need to bring along. Besides your standard camera, bring along a backup. I usually bring my Nikon D200
Action Day
Wherever the location and whatever time, make sure to be there way ahead of time, so you have enough of it to get everything ready and don’t need to rush. There are several images a good wedding photographer must or should take, and just so you won’t have to figure out yourself which those may be, here is a quick list I compiled:
Preparation:
- Bride’s clothing and accessories, before she puts them on
- Bride getting make-up done
- Bridesmaids doing their own make-up
- Bride finishing up getting dressed
- Bride resting and thinking
- Bride getting ready to leave
- Groom putting on bow tie
- Groom resting and thinking
- Bride and Groom getting into separate cars
Ceremony:
- Bride and Groom arriving
- Guests arriving
- Shots up and down the Aisle of Bride, Groom, Flower Girls, Best Men, Bridesmaids
- Bride and Groom standing at the altar from various angles
- Close-up of hands exchanging rings
- Close-up portraits of bride and groom
- Close-up portraits of parents
- THE KISS
- Couple walking down the aisle together
Reception & Party:
- Close-up of decoration before reception starts
- Bride and Groom interacting with each other and their family members
- Bride’s and Groom’s First Dance
- Groom dipping bride (look out when they cut the cake)
- Toasts to the couple
- Many, many, many pictures of the party
- Bride and Groom driving away together
As you may have realized, while reading this, there are several occasions that you may need an assistant for. When hiring an assistant, make sure that you have him or her sign a work-for-hire agreement. Many assistants will work for free, just to get the experience and some credit, experienced assistants charge for their services, but it’s usually a reasonable amount, between $100 and $300.
Regarding your equipment, you should always bring a fast lens and a wide angle lens.
The End
If you are stressed out by now and think you can just go to bed and relax, wedding photography is probably not the right thing for you. Always assume that your customers think they are the most important people on this planet and want their images right away. They usually don’t see the hours you spend sorting, developing and post-processing the hundreds of images you probably took that one night. I usually just load the images on my computer as soon as I come home and start that process. The sooner you get the images to your customers, the better. I used to sort my images in ACDsee and edit them in Photoshop but switched completely to Adobe Lightroom for sorting and smaller corrections. For bigger corrections, I still use Photoshop. You can find Lightroom here
This wedding photography guide is very concise, so if you need or want to know more, have a look at bla bla bla, which you can buy along with many other books on Wedding Photography on Amazon. Usually you have the book you ordered within a few days even if selecting the free shipping method.