So, I am strongly considering stepping away from weddings entirely or just leave it there for those who only want me and not spend a penny on advertising. So here's a little insight/history if you'd like to help on giving me ideas on boosting my bookings.
I broke into wedding photography about 2 years ago. My first wedding I shot was for a model's friend (paid but starting level, not much), then another for a friend/business partner (no pay just for experience and port building), 3rd was for a business partner's friend (for fairly low but more than last time), and 4th was a last second wedding from Thumbtack. I didn't start shooting weddings until I had some solid foundation on portraiture (3 years before started weddings), so I wasn't a plain joe with a camera and learning about my camera on the job.
I'm not super wealthy where I can invest much of any cash into traditional advertising, at most $5-$20 facebook campaigns. I've spent a lot of money (to me and my budget) on Thumbtack for the past 12 months submitting bids for weddings and only got 1 winning wedding photography bid which was a low (but building my experience) bid. If I could guess I made about 200 wedding photography bids on Thumbtack, and yea I know its not the best place but for what I have available to invest into advertising its the only choice for my budget. I've tapped out my friends/friends of friends and do not have family locally and sadly (I guess?) my family is super liberal and not soo much into weddings so doubt anyone will ever get married and we're mostly in our late 20s and 30s so using them for portfolio building won't work, but I'm honestly more worried about my level of experience impacting my level of potential bookings as I think I got a decent portfolio to gain some interest at least. This past wedding booking season I did spent a ton onf making a ton of bids, I only got 1 consultation and lost due to they felt more comfortable working with a husband/wife team than just me and a freelance 2nd photog.
While the 2 years I was in wedding photography I was seeking 2nd shooter opporuntities emailing/contacting, etc. both completely outside of my area (1 hour driving distance radious) for they can feel comfortable I am not a direct competitor, they either ignored my email or responded they already got a team of 2nd shooters.
I've seeked out vendors relationship route, they told me they recommended me to everyone. I tried finding the very, very few wedding planners in the area, only found 1 honestly in my region and got nothing. I've raised prices as many photogs suggested, I've made "all in one" packages and "mix and match" packages as some suggested, nothing.
Every time I work on wedding photography, I am seeing more and more its a lot less about the photography and soooo much more about the business. I've been told by leads they see more quality in my work but rather hire another team who is charging more money that makes them (the couple) more comfortable and sacrifice quality. That to me is saying wedding photography is not meant for me, at least in my region. If I were in a bigger city where I could generate more interest to my quality/style then I can do it, but in my area people prefer to sacrifice quality is too much as that is what I focus is the photography.
I tried to team up with a local photog who I felt had similar style/quality in portrait photography and wedding photography but that didn't work out either.
I also removed wedding requests on Thumbtack so I won't be wasting any more cash on there since the return is sooo bad on weddings at least.
If you're still following my wedding website is www.TheGreatWeddingStory.com Thanks for reading!
Hi Chris just some thoughts. I never worked full time in weddings, always part time except for a brief period between jobs.Word of mouth and personal recommendations worked for me. I did very little advertising.Maybe you should set a goal of being the best wedding photographer in your local area. One of my sons has become very successful in real estate using that approach.My wife and I regularly do local letterbox leaflet drops for him.He has become very well known in his local area and we do a lot of networking informally on his behalf.I started weddings in 1975 and am now retired. I shoot about one wedding a year still at 69.It really depends on what your goals are. It is sad that some average photographers make a lot of money from weddings as they are good at marketing and bluffing their way.good luck
Hey Chris, I'd stick at it, if you enjoy it.
I started out as a live music photographer and kinda fell into doing weddings. Now I have around 10-15 a year lined up taking me across the UK (and Iceland in December) and that is purely through word of mouth, I've never spent a penny on advertising.
That said, I'm at a point where I need to decided if I should push it further so I feel your pain! Right now I'm easing off and trying to focus on getting the kind of work I'd rather do although weddings have helped me afford to travel more and acquire better equipment. I work a full time job as a graphic designer/photographer so i don't know where you stand employment-wise. If you have a 9-5 I'd take Geoff's advise below, build things up and become the best locally. In all honesty 2 years isn't that long a time period, if you really enjoy doing it, stick with it and I'm sure you can grow it!
Hey Chris, I can't speak specifically about your market but my suggestion would be to improve your portfolio by simply shooting more weddings any way possible. If you can't book weddings then set up your own photoshoots every single week. Your website feels like it has pictures from 3 weddings (I don't know if that is true but that is what it feels like because I keep seeing the same couples). The couples on your site also aren't particularly attractive. I know this sounds crazy that I would say this but people are drawn to pretty people and a great picture can be ruined by a bad model. Some of your pictures look great and others do not. http://thegreatweddingstory.com/cms/?gallery=dawn-jefferys-wedding-12-13-14 this wedding in particular has a very strange red white balance during the ceremony and your black and white pictures look like straight desaturation. My suggestion would be to revamp your porfolio/website first and THEN start advertising. When the time comes to advertise $5--$20 isn't going to get you anywhere either. You are going to have to spend hundreds of dollars a month to see a benefit with advertising but when your business is running that won't be a lot of money for you.
Thank you Lee! That was very helpful!
I totally agree. I think I have shifted my focus towards what I am more comfortable doing like headshots & fashion. Which from headshots is okay money (fashion market is non existent in my area), even though I charge the most in my market I think. Since I run my business part time and do have a full time job... for now the money I make is for now just going towards equipment and personal projects like bigger fashion shoots. I really do enjoy shooting weddings, but as well use the wedding photography profits and move them to growing my business to invest more into fashion photography.
I finally got a chance to work as a 2nd shooter for the first time ever a few weeks ago, which I thought was fantastic. I was able to focus a lot more overall and was able to create more creative shots. I think I'm gonna stick to 2nd shooting for a year or so... but I also got another idea to stand out and create a niche idea for my area that may or may not work I want to try with a couple if they'd like it. Not sure it'll be innovative, but that is my intention, at least for my market.
I knew it was a good idea to join up to this community!!! Nice to get good sound advise from the likes of Lee which I can take from too!
Sounds like you've got things in hand Chris, which is good. I know money is an important factor, it helps us do what we do... but as long as you have a passion for it and enjoy it, stick with it man. Good luck.