How to Make Money With Wedding Photography

The average budget for a wedding is about $15,000. Now this can vary from person to person, and there are obviously a lot of weddings which have a much lower budget and others which have 5 times that amount for a budget.

According to most wedding planners, the happy couple should set aside 40% of their budget to go towards the photography. This is great news for you if you want to be the one taking the pictures.

Are you wondering what kind of camera you need to make money shooting weddings?

I have photographed a lot of weddings and I am always amazed by how fast technology moves. There are digital SLR cameras on the market right now that make your job so much easier as a wedding photographer. For under $1,000 you can get a camera that will make you up to $5,000 or more for each wedding.

So how do you get started?

The thing that will get clients to hire you is your portfolio, so if you don't have one here is a method you can use to build it up. Take pictures at every wedding you attend, and do it all for free. Perhaps you friend is getting married. Take a bunch of candid photos and be creative with your shots. Since you are just starting out you don't want to pressure of being the main photographer so just offer to be an assistant to the photographer and you will have a decent size portfolio in no time.

It will not take a huge amount of pictures for your clients to know what kind of work your produce. If you have 3 or 4 pictures that they just fall in love with, you have a job.

You can get a website or blog and market your wedding photography services too. Make sure you have your location on your website because most people will find you by typing in the city and state they live in and something about photography.

How much do you charge?

Be honest with your clients. If you are just starting out, let them know you don't have a lot of experience. But remember, they have already seen your work and they are hiring you because they know you will do a good job. Starting out you don't want to charge too much, but don't rip yourself off either. I would not charge less than $1,000 for a wedding, but this will include all of your time, a CD or DVD of all the images and maybe a few prints on the side. The more weddings you shoot the more people will know about you and want to hire you and the more you can charge.