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By Root 4173 0

$3,000 for the single day; there's myriad other work that goes into the photography aspect of the bride's day, just like everything else. There's pre-production, client interviews, re-interviews, then client meetings, then harried/concerned phone calls from the bride/bride's mother/groom/groom's mother that need to be handled. Sometimes the package price will include an engagement portrait. And then, there's post-production, just like in all other types of photography. Then post-ceremony bride meetings sometimes occur, and there's uploading to an online service and preparing an album. Some of these things can be outsourced, but many photographers keep the work in house. I'd say that a wedding photographer has about the same number of days off as any other photographer and is working just as hard.

Further, their business (as with all rites-of-passage photo businesses) is seasonal. A responsible wedding photographer will not book more than one wedding a day (from my perspective) and can only really count on two a weekend at the maximum. Sure, every weekend someone somewhere is getting married, but the "high season" is usually May/June and September/October.

I think that most wedding photographers would like to do between 20 and 40 weddings a year. Some might do more because they have to make their revenue requirements in volume. However, the wedding photographer who does 20 a year at $5,000 a day is going to be fresher on each day than the guy who's a "wedding mill" and does one Saturday morning, one Saturday afternoon, and another on Sunday, doing 50 to 80 a year at $1,000 to $1,500 per wedding. That photographer is going to burn out, and I don't want him or her anywhere near a couple I know, because it's just one more gig to that photographer…something to get through. I want the photographer to be excited (or at least enthusiastic) about being there.

So make sure that when you realize there is good money to be made doing this type of photography, you enter into this field the right way. Consider all of the business models, such as "I can only really count on working on Saturdays and maybe some Sundays" if it's weddings you're looking to do. This means a maximum of 52 Saturdays and maybe a maximum of 24 Sundays that are available to you. Although the norm for many photographers looking to fairly evaluate their CODB figures 100 days of shooting, clearly that's just too much for the wedding photographer. For prom season, it's Friday and mostly Saturday nights during April, May, and June. You get the picture: Think through what your potential days are and combine work types to achieve a good mix of the types of services you offer.

What a Wedding or Rite-of-Passage Contract Should Look Like

A rite-of-passage contract will be a lot simpler than your standard editorial/corporate contract. These photographers worry more about their clients using scanners and about Walmart mini-labs absconding with their print revenues—taking a $40 8×10 and having it printed poorly for 99 cents from Walmart—than they do with rights packages and usage. The worst part about the client who tries to get his or her proofs enlarged to 8×10 is that, as you know, the print will look soft, contrasty, and usually not like the right colors because the lab is neither color managed nor professional. And then, the bride says, "My photographer was John Harrington," and the viewer (while saying to the bride, "Wow, that's nice!") is mumbling under his or her breath, "I'll never use him; that photo looks like crap! Heck, my uncle takes better photos than that!"

The contract should include the following terms:

It is understood and agreed to that John Harrington Photography is the exclusive official photographer hired to provide photographic services for the wedding day.

These terms are necessary so the photographer doesn't show up and have Uncle Joe posing the bride before and after the ceremony and otherwise taking time away from and interfering with the job the photographer is trying to do. Moreover, this wording ensures that the bride isn't hiring three