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Had to share with someone the great contact I made....

well back in March this year I had my first ever paid wedding shoot, I met the celebrant who kept saying I wasn't charging enough money for my services. I had always felt that for my first shoot I wouldn't charge much (600) which included a professional photobook and all digital copies. Thankfully the bride and groomed were amazed with what they got for their money and their families suggested me to other friends and family where I got my second wedding shoot from. For this one I raised the ammount to (800) for the same thing. They too were amazed and happy with my service.
Mean while I had see the first weddings celebrant around town and I would often stop and say hello and ask how business was etc. She had my name and number still from the first wedding, and In august I had a call from her asking if she could pass my details on to a client of hers which were eloping, and no one would photograph their little ceremony for less then 2k, and I said yeah sure give them my details and I'll hope to hear from them.....with in the next few days they called and asked how much i'd charge to take photos of their little ceremony and a few snaps afterwards but no book for say an hours work....i said sure I can do that for $250 and give you all the digital prints....they agreed and loved their shots too..on the day of their wedding I gave the celebrant my newly printed business card and hoped she would give them out occassionally. Well she's been suggesting me to all her clients and I have now got 2 booked, and a 3rd temporary booking for the next 3 months...... I have another couple who have just been given my details from the first wedding I did again so it could be 4 weddings to shoot in the next 6 months!!

I am far from being a professional, I have never claimed to be. I would love to be, and have started a course with creative institute of australia. So would soon like to become a professional photographer with in the next year or two -with lots of study and practical work!

But the point of me posting this isn't to brag or rave about me, but to encourage everyone who has a dream to follow it. This site has been ever so helpful in helping drive my passion further and driving me to push my skills further. I don't have a website so I really rely on word of mouth and my business cards and can honestly say its working. I paid $100 for professional business cards which have well and truly worked. So be encouraged to get practicing and design your self a card and get your name out there, you'll never succeed if you don't try! Make yourself some contacts like celebrants, jewlers etc and get your name out there!

To everyone on here who has CC my shots or encouraged me thank you! One day i'd like to do the same to future members and see them reach their potential!

Good stuff!

How much have you increased the price to now?
Do you have a website set up?

No web site set up as of yet, still trying to push business through word of mouth and business cards. Although I have set up a facebook page for my stuff, I have found that to be a medium a lot of the couples who are getting married use, and I often suggest they view some of my work there, although i haven't updated it much lately. -just prompted myself to do so!!
And on facebook when people add me/my photography page as a friend all their friends see it and it spreads my name a lot.

In regards to the price, I have kept it at $800 for the full wedding so that I can get regular business, I think the more I do I might increase it to 900 then to 1000 etc....just trying to keep it in a realistic price range. There are a lot of professional photographers around my area but they charge through the roof -which is understandable they are pro's afterall! So if I can keep my prices down I think I would hope to get more business for those who don't wanna spend thousands and thousands on photos. In the meantime every $800 is a bonus! Its my hobby for the mean time and I love doing it, and even better I get paid!

Be careful with that.
It's hard to raise prices after you're getting known. It might be a better idea to have higher pricing, but offer discounts for the first X amount of weddings.

mmmm thats an interesting way of thinking about it, thanks for the idea, I am seriously considering doing that!! thank you!

bigsarg7 wrote:So if I can keep my prices down I think I would hope to get more business for those who don't wanna spend thousands and thousands on photos.

top stuff, good see you out there and filling a niche in the market.

bigsarg7 wrote:No web site set up as of yet, still trying to push business through word of mouth and business cards

do not under estimate the word of mouth and networking, which you have done already, it is a very powerful tool and in some cases, especially in smaller towns, more effective than having a webbie! That said, as time goes by look at getting a little portfolio together and compile it into a simple and clean webbie. There are some great options out there for togs in terms of sites, wordpress and the millions of templates make it cheap and easy to setup a custom site!

good luck.

Its awesome to hear that you are finding consistent work and building up a reputation. I never thought about having a high price but discounting on it. That was a great suggestion.

Please dont forget to share your work here with us!

bigsarg7 wrote:I am far from being a professional, I have never claimed to be.

I beg to differ. As soon as you accepted your first paying gig, you became a professional.
Now you just need to become an experienced professional, but hopefully never a jaded one.

Well done by the way.

That is great news.

As Wink said, don't trap yourself into being the 'discount' wedding photographer. It may become harder to break out of that. If your current clients are more than ecstatic about the quality and price, how are you going to justify a more appropriate price?

That said, if you are happy with the price you are charging and can make a reasonable profit out of it, then that's fine. But if you are charging a lower price because YOU think you are still an amatuer (for want of a better word), yet your clients think you are professional, then you will have a problem which is better fixed now.

How are you going to increase your prices when you are referred as the guy who shoots whole wedding packages for $900?

There is a saying in professional services that if you all your clients are happy with the amount you charge, you aren't charging enough.