Dear New Wedding Photographer,

So you’ve made the career choice to be a professional wedding photographer. Congratulations, your new career will bring you a lot of satisfaction, but also a lot of challenges. We’ll take a wild guess and say you’re probably a decent amateur photographer, and you may have shot a couple of weddings for friends or family as a “free wedding gift.” Maybe you’ve found a few clients willing to take a chance on you for a low price so you can start building a portfolio. You’re off and running. Awesome.

Here’s the bad news: you have a lot to learn, and your pictures probably suck.

The good news is… that’s OK. If you ask any experienced wedding photographer, they will probably cringe when they think of their first few sets of wedding pictures. We’ve all been there.

The cliché images. The awkward poses. The spot coloring. The blown out wedding dresses. The overuse of direct flash. The boring compositions. The missed moments. The equipment failures. Not to mention the lost image files, the Craigslist ads, the bargain basement website, and botched Photoshop attempts.

The question is, what are you going to do about it? How are you going to transition from the newbie to an accomplished pro?

Here’s the secret: there’s no shortcut. It’s a school of hard knocks and there is no substitute for learning, practice, and experience. This is true of all disciplines, but it’s especially true with wedding photography where every wedding presents its own unique set of challenges. You get one chance to get it right, and there are no re-shoots. You have to be able to nail it first time, every time. And in addition to mastering the artistic and technical side of photography, there are also the necessary business and marketing skills where plenty of newbies stumble and fall.

So in the spirit of getting you off on the right foot, here is some advice on how to succeed as a wedding photographer:

Don’t Lie

Be honest with your prospective clients about your experience level when first starting out. You want to set appropriate expectations and make sure the clients understand that you are still in the portfolio building stage. If you blatantly exaggerate your skills and experience: A) It will show in your work and your business, B) Word may get around, C) You will lose respect of your peers, and D) It simply sets the wrong tone to start your business.

Pay Your Dues

Find a job assisting or second shooting for an established pro to make sure you can handle the demands and stresses of a wedding day. Watch and learn from the pro, but also be very attentive to the people and events of the day. Every wedding is unique, but developing a sixth sense about timing, scheduling, and where you need to be at any moment will come in handy at any wedding, and can only be developed with time and practice.

Have a Realistic View of the Business

Most wedding photographers LOVE photography. They eat, sleep, and breathe art and photography. Like you, it’s why they got into this business in the first place. But don’t kid yourself. Like any business, actually doing “photography” where you are clicking a shutter is really just a small part of being a professional photographer. Be prepared for spending lots of time doing marketing, editing, and other non-photography related tasks. View the article The Secret Life of Wedding Photographers to get an idea what is really involved with running a wedding photography business.

Nail Down Your Post Production Workflow

Develop an efficient workflow so you won’t get buried in editing and post production. Clients tend to get upset if you take a few months to deliver their wedding pictures. You do not have to be an expert, but at least learn the basics of Lightroom, Photoshop, or whatever software you are using before you take on a paying job so you can efficiently process your images. Outsource your editing and post-production to companies like Lavalu if necessary.

Use a Contract

Get a signed contract, even for your first wedding. Make sure it is a properly prepared contact that protects the photographer and the client, describes the goods and services being provided, and the terms of payment. A good resource for a sample contract is the Photographers Toolkit site, but no matter how you get your contract have your lawyer look it over to make sure it is compatible with your local laws.

Have a Solid Backup Process

Online wedding forums are full of regretful posts from photographers who didn’t properly backup their files, and from brides who are upset about lost pictures. Don’t be sloppy with your cards. Have a rock solid procedure for storing your cards at the wedding, and for downloading and backing them up as soon as you get back to your office. Some photographers do on-site backups before they even leave the reception.

Create a Pre-Wedding Checklist

There will come a time where you will find yourself busy before a wedding and in a rush to get ready. You’ll be racking your brain to remember all of the little details you have to take care of. Make it simple on yourself by creating a checklist of tasks to do before each wedding. Things like: clean sensors, time-sync all cameras, format all cards, clean lenses, charge batteries, pack bags, iron clothes. Whatever routine you have before the wedding make sure it’s written down so you don’t forget anything.

Set Goals

Set goals, both financially and artistically, and do whatever it takes to achieve them. Write them down. They should be a bit of a stretch, but achievable. Examples: “Make $XXX of profit next year” or “Shoot 10 more weddings this year than last year.” Include the intermediary steps you need to take to achieve your goals. Tell a spouse, relative, or friend what your goals are so you are held accountable.

Learn. Practice. Repeat.

A wedding is no place to start experimenting or learning new techniques. Shoot people often, every day if you can. Get to know your equipment inside out, upside down, and blindfolded. Experiment and play and find what makes your viewpoint unique. Visit photography forums and learn all you can about shooting, posing, editing, etc. Learn how to use your camera on manual. Don’t rely on the “P” (Program) mode on your camera. Practice shooting without chimping (looking at your LCD screen after each image). Take control over your images. Take a class for on-camera and off-camera lighting. Master fill flash and dragging your shutter. Go to workshops and conventions. Never. Stop. Learning.

Care About Your Clients

Listen to your clients and ask them about themselves. Be curious. Learn what makes them special, and find out what they really want at the end of their big day from their photos. What is their personality like? What makes them interesting? Remind yourself that you are creating a set of heirloom images that will be a part of their family history. Focus on the couple you are working with and what is unique about them and their families and their day. It is easy amidst the chaos to fall back upon familiar cliché images, but the photographer who captures the moments that are particular to the couple will be remembered and recommended to others.

Price Yourself Appropriately

Don’t sell yourself short. This is business, and no one should work for free – it hurts your future, and the future of the rest of the industry too. You will get less respect from your clients and it will be hard to raise your prices up to reasonable levels later. Don’t pay too much attention to what your competition is doing, what albums they offer, or how they price themselves. Feel it out for yourself. Find your own business model that works for you. What products reflect your work the best? Remember that you still have to make a profit after paying for equipment, taxes, insurance, lab fees, albums, travel, repairs, computer and software upgrades, workshops, conventions, advertising, contests, websites, etc.

Buy the Right Gear

That entry level digital SLR with the kit lens may look enticing because it’s cheap, but you get what you pay for. You’ll soon come up against its limitations and you’ll probably end up selling it for a loss after a few months. Make the investment to get proper professional equipment, and have enough backup gear to handle any situation. They don’t call them “accidents” for nothing. I’m sure this photographer wasn’t planning on falling backwards into a fountain with his cameras.

Buy Business Insurance

No, your personal homeowner’s liability insurance is not good enough for your business. You can get appropriate business insurance from any insurance company, but a popular policy for wedding photographers is from Hill and Usher.

Find Your Weakness and Fix It

When it comes to being a wedding photographer, we all have strengths, weaknesses, and comfort zones. But in order for your business to grow, you need to get out of that comfort zone and target your weaknesses. Is it finances? Marketing? Exposure Control? Lighting? Posing? Networking? Photoshop? Take the classes or workshops you need to continue improving and move your business to the next level.

Take It Seriously

Weddings can be lots of fun, but you are a professional with a job to do. Your job is to capture the day to the best of your ability. Weddings are one of the very few times where people are photographed candidly by a professional photographer, so you have to be sensitive to their nervousness. The document you as a photographer are creating will have real and lasting value for the family. You need to find your “zone” when you’re working so you can continue to capture high quality images for 6, 8, 10 hours or more. So get a good night’s sleep, eat your Wheaties and make sure your lenses are clean and your batteries charged!

Good luck! And after you’ve established yourself and shot at least 50 weddings, go ahead and apply for membership with the ISPWP!

If anyone has other suggestions or ideas, post them in the comments below!

Article Contributors:
Buffy Goodman, Edmonton Alberta Wedding Photographer
Dennis Drenner, Baltimore, Maryland Wedding Photographer