So i got a call yesterday from a potential client. (My business card effort paid off), i'm getting a average of whooping 4 unique visitors to my site everyday LOL.

But anyway, a lady called me and said she liked my style of shooting and was wanting to hire me to photograph their wedding in September.

I haven't done anything like that of sorts before and i'm really nervous. I haven't given her a definite answer yet. I don't want to accept the job and screw over her once in a lifetime experience due to my lack of inexperience around portraiture and weddings in general.

I'm planning to call her back and offer myself as a "back-up" photographer that will shoot around their main photog for the event... And of course i will charge a nominal fee for this service, would that be a good thing to do? Or should i offer a TFCD session on engagement photos.. and if she likes the results, she can officially hire me for their wedding?

Any advice from wedding professionals would be wonderful (that means you Omar).

LOL'd. I feel so flattered

Eek, you're good enough to not need to second shoot. You have the equipment you need (although maybe getting some wireless flash capabilities would benefit you). All you need is some posing / bossing people around experience. Just throw yourself in there; there is no need to be passive with your whole 'if you like, then hire me' idea. With a pose book (right-click-save-as from examples you find online into your phone or printed - ~15 poses), good scouting for locations to take pretty photos, and a woman with you (take a gf, sister, niece, friend - and have her give you opinions. Buy her lunch / breakfast / dinner in exchange! - I wouldn't leave home without one :D) both in scouting, engagement session, and the wedding itself, you'll do great!

1) Do you REALLY want to do this wedding? It'll be a great learning opportunity for you. If so, lower your prices as much as necessary in order to book it. Tell her this is a one time thing, and that your prices are normally much higher.

2) What products / services does she want? This inlcudes prints, flash drive w/ image files (don't even try dvds with the 5d II & 7d files), albums, slideshows, engagement photo shoot, trash the dress shoot, etc. If you want a list of high-quality (not high-end), competetively-priced vendors, PM me. After you've talked with her and her hubby regarding what she wants, then take the initiative to give her a price quote.

3) What kind of proofing process do you want to do, after the event / engagement session? Do you want to put watermarked versions of the photos on your site? Use an all-inclusive vendor like Zenfolio? Do you even want to sell prints to guests?

4) Taxes taxes taxes - are you going to be paid with a check or under the table? If the former, remember to charge taxes.

5) You need a contract. If you want a 2 page sexyness (with 8 pages of attachments of additional 'policies' information), PM me and i'll email mine to you. Make the changes according to your preferences / relevances. You can find online templates, but those are horrible. At any rate, run any contract decisions through me, as I'm both familiar with photography legal matters and law in general. I'm about to go into law school

6) Best scenario: use all proceeds from the wedding to fly me in and I'll help you at no charge - just travel expenses & lodging That way, you'll get a strong start in the industry, and I can answer any questions you may have.

That's it for now. Let me know if you have any more questions.

This post was edited by onepagememory on Apr 24 2011 03:09pm

Oh i'm sure i have more then enough equipment :lol:. As for location scouting, do you think it would be alright to ask the client where they would like to shoot? As if they provide me a list of possible locations for me to scout and see instead of making up something myself?

1) Yes, i really do want to this wedding. I kept on hesitating but i really need to get my feets wet or i'll never get into it. What would a reasonable price to charge? I have no idea how pricing works etc since i never had to hired anyone for it (yet). I just enroll for a bridal shoot workshop next month to hopefully gain some insight on this subject.

2) I have no idea what she wants... since i have no experience making anything such as albums, slideshows, etc. Would it be alright if i just give her the jpegs for the shoot? Or is that something i should avoid doing? Also, what are some basic questions that i should ask? If you couldn't tell already, i'm a huge noob at this.

3) I haven't thought of that yet, is selling prints to guest something i must do? A professional smugmug or zenfolio account isn't cheap and i just don't know if i would get the money back from offering this service. I know for sure i want to show those image on my site for my portfolio.

4) I have no idea on this yet, if they were to pay me with a check, don't i need to apply for a business license etc?

5) I was going to ask you about the contract and/or model releases if necessary. I'll pm you with my email address.

6) Haha, i don't know if i can make that much. But that would be wonderful if possible. I'll definitely get back with you on that, working side by side along a pro in the industry will definitely get me going at a faster rate. I didn't really want to tag along with local pros because many of them will make me sign a contract that i couldn't accept any wedding orders within a certain mile radius. Since i have no intentions of moving away from ATL after i got my own house, i didn't want to sign a contract like that. Even if i can't fly you out here, i'll paypal you 15% of what i earn from the gig as a sign of gratitude.

This post was edited by Eek on Apr 24 2011 09:52pm

wish i could take you up on #6



1- DPS has a decent article on pricing your work, recommend the read

2- most the time they want a pretty photo album, this can vary considerably in quality and price (sure Omar can help you on this 1), then there are options on how you supply the jpegs to them (i would suggest a large number of photos optimized for FB etc incl your sig, and then a select # in high res with no sig)
this obviously depends on what they want / will pay

It can get less expensive if I stay in your house and you pick me up from airport - Sorta weird, I know, but a ton of FM'ers do this anyway. The one thing I will say is that there are ALOT of common sense stuffs that you learn from other photographers. I'm actually real-life friends with a lot of FM photographers, and almost every photographer in my city has me added on Facebook

This post was edited by onepagememory on Apr 25 2011 12:09am

Why wish? Make it a reality

About supplying jpegs: I do both printing versions and facebook versions. Most of the time I upload the good photos on my albums and tag them. I become friends with EVERY client - they oft add me on facebook themselves.

i am already flying to South Africa to shoot my sisters wedding, so certainly couldnt afford to fly you there as well, but mayb one day

never under-estimate the power of facebook, as soon as your client is tagged its is then seen by most of her friends, they will then also tag other ppl from the wedding, which will also appear on more friends pages etc, it just snow balls

3 User(s) are reading this topic (0 Guests and 0 Anonymous): onepagememory, lithfkn, AlPi
Stop lurking and comment!

I seriously recommend:

a ) flying Omar in, you will shit bricks because you have no experience
b ) saying no
c ) flying me over



Happy?





I'll try answer seriously later haha

This post was edited by lithfkn on Apr 25 2011 12:57am

Hmm, I had forgotten how scary the first solo wedding actually is.