# How did you get your first wedding clients?



## mortallis288 (Nov 6, 2007)

What did you do to get your first wedding?


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## skieur (Nov 6, 2007)

They came to me, when I was doing public relations photography for an organization.

skieur


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## oldnavy170 (Nov 6, 2007)

Friends and family.  (I personally have only done 2)


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## Ajay (Nov 6, 2007)

oldnavy170 said:


> Friends and family. (I personally have only done 2)


 
Same for me.  Only now I have friends of friends calling me.  Kind of cool.  I just don't think I want to get into wedding photography in any kind of serious way.  I don't like the pressure.  My wedding photos sucked compared to the portfolio the photographer showed us and I would hate to let someone down the way I was let down.


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## oldnavy170 (Nov 6, 2007)

Yeah, they are very scary!!!!  I was more afraid of missing an important moment. During my second wedding I was on my feet non-stop for 6 hours without a moments rest.  Then I spent 14 hours editing their photos (not at one sitting of course).


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## Garbz (Nov 6, 2007)

Someone I know didn't want to do the job. In fact so far all of my weddings have been like that with the addition of the friends and families too.


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## Flash Harry (Nov 7, 2007)

I was the only person my friends new who had an SLR and knew how to use it, being an honest bloke they also knew I wouldn't rip em off. H


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## jols (Nov 7, 2007)

good friend asked me as she could't afford a photographer.

i felt sick, the responsibility!!!!!!!!

so i said i would do it as a wedding present.

it turned out fab i really enjoyed it and the pics were great and the bride thought so too.

then ive done two more on the word of mouth idea.

and have three booked for next year.

i would nt want to do one a week during the summer months as the after work editing can take hours as said above 10 to 20 hrs a wedding. as i work as well and have a child and a life ideally i would like maybe 1 in may june july and august with four weeks in between each.. ha ha i dont want much do i!!!!!!!:lmao::lmao::lmao:


the besthing i think is word of mouth then they already know that your just starting out and may have a small portfolio


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## subimatt (Nov 7, 2007)

I did a few friends then the rest came by word of mouth.


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## zendianah (Nov 7, 2007)

I did 5 free weddings and asked for referals. I explained to my client that they should hire a pro. I am here to build my portfolio. I had them sign this in a contract as well.


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## Mrs.Klean (Nov 7, 2007)

My first wedding I did for $150. She couldn't afford a photographer, so I basically quoted her $150 to cover gas, two sets of 4x6's and got a couple of 8x10's and 5x7's. She was very happy with them, plus the wedding and reception only lasted about 3 hours total, plus she is a good friend


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## Peanuts (Nov 7, 2007)

I have assisted at 3 weddings and my one solo was my cousins, as a gift. Since then I have had several inquiries, so essentially word of mouth and through my flickr site (yay... cheap advertising)


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## raider (Nov 8, 2007)

i started in wedding videography but have always used a camera - did some low cost jobs then just added photography to the business and advertised - people would come in for videography and if they wanted photography i would hire a video shooter - video, now that's some processing time which is i why i do a lot more photography now.


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## NathanJK (Nov 13, 2007)

Advertising on Craigslist believe it or not!  Even more remarkable...they were totally normal people!  I halfway expected ax-murderers, craigslist can be a scary place ya know.


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## mortallis288 (Nov 14, 2007)

they are so many craiglist photographers in Atlanta though it seems like anyone with a camera advertises on there


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## JDS (Nov 14, 2007)

I got my first (and only) wedding job by word of mouth - the bride brought it up to her friend, and her friend knew me.  Made for doggone sure she knew I was no pro.  I charged $100 for my time - 6 hours at the wedding and reception, and also covered the rehearsal.  Now I'm just charging for the prints she wants.

Maybe I'll get some more jobs from this one, and I can get better and get into it more..


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## eddiesimages (Nov 19, 2007)

Seems everyone started about the same. I just did my first real wedding two weeks ago. My wife's friend who had a very small wedding asked me to do it. I said I would take the photos, put them on a disc and give it to them as a wedding gift. I ended up spending 20-25 hrs on photoshop trying to get the pictures like I wanted. I didn't think they were that great, but the bride was very pleased with them, so that's all that matters. Don't know if I will do another wedding because it is so stressful.


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## ksmattfish (Nov 20, 2007)

Friends liked my amateur photos better than the local pros' portfolios.  At least that's what they told me, my cheap amateur price ($400 + film and processing costs) was probably also an incentive.    After I did theirs the snowball kept rolling, and I did several weddings for friends and family every year for about 6 years.  Eventually I was getting enough requests it was interfering with the day job, and I realized something that had never occurred to me:  maybe I could do this full time?  Four years and 100+ weddings later it seems to be working out.


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## butterflygirl (Nov 20, 2007)

Me too! I did a friend's wedding three years ago back when I had my film camera. Then I got serious about it about a year later and I've worked for two local wedding photographers since then. Now I've done two more, a friend and a friend a friend, and I'm doing my husband's father's second wedding in December. I'm hoping to get more as time goes on! 

Good luck!


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## schuylercat (Nov 23, 2007)

My stepson begged and pleaded and harassed and cajoled and...well, you know.  He and his fiancee are flat broke and he said "hey, didn't you USED to be a photographer?"  After I sputtered and harrumphed, that was that.  Next June 15, I'll let you know how it went!


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## mortallis288 (Nov 28, 2007)

My friend and I are working on getting our first, we are currently building a website and getting prices together. We have no idea how to advertise. We thought about 100 fliers but we figured that would piss people off if you put them on there cars, maybe craigslist


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## Bthornton (Nov 28, 2007)

If you can afford to get a booth at a wedding show that's a great place to get customers but it is $$$.  A cheaper way that works for some is to get your local paper, see who is in the engagement section and send them a dvd slideshow of your best work along with info on how to contact you.  Before doing any marketing be sure your website and all your marketing items look perfect.


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## PrincessB (Nov 28, 2007)

I took pictures at my friends weddings simply because I'm a photo-aholic and afterwards I'd share those pictures with them. They ended up loving them, even better than many taken by their paid photographer.
Later I was contacted by a local author who asked me to do pictures of him for his authors photo for his books he was publishing.
With everyone exclaiming about how I had such a wonderful eye for taking great pictures and how they'd love to have x picture framed on their wall I decided I might as well do what I love anyway and started looking to take pictures of more than just friends activities.
I keep my cost extreamly low because I work for those on a budget like I was for my wedding so I don't have a ton of extra money for advertisment and make use of every online source I find. Craigslist, bridalhood.com, etc.


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## D-50 (Nov 30, 2007)

One thing Ive notice in a lot of responses is how people say "there is so much editing 10,20,30 hours" Yeah thats enough time in front of a computer screen to make your eyes bleed but if your charging $1500 or more a wedding your making a lot of money for not a whole lot of work considering what you would make in a week of "regular work" (depending on profession) Lets say you charge $2000, very fair price for an 8 hour wedding add on 2 hours travel time and then 20 hours editing, thats 30 hours altogether so for 30 hours of work you made $2000 or what ever you charge for a wedding.  Many people work 40-50 hours a week and bring home $1000-$2000 for that time, also many of these people really dont like their work but do it to make a living.  Getting paid $2000+ for doing something you love to do is a dream.  

Back to the original topic I got my first wedding through an ad I posted online.  I did it for $250 but it was more for experience than money. It was a small ceremony outside and only lasted about 2.5 hours total.  it was tough a lot of running around and a lot to capture.  Makes me think a full blown wedding would be a daunting task.  If you do book a full blown wedding make sure to find a second shooter, no way one person can capture an entire ceremony themselves.


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