Tips & Tricks – Advice for New Wedding Photographers

Northern Virginia Wedding Photographer

Now disembarking The Struggle Bus: one 9 to 5er hustling to make it as a wedding photographer! The #struggleisreal but soon to be over, thanks to one of Miss Katelyn James’ brilliant ideas that I ran away with & made my own. Today I’m sharing advice for new wedding photographers – for all you full time workers trying to making it as photogs in the wedding industry, this post is for you! It involves Bacon. Prosecco. Girlfriends. And diamonds. So many diamonds! Continue reading to learn more about how to advance your biz while consuming copious amounts of breakfast foods.

Two stress points in my business were solved in the matter of a few weeks, simply by taking some advice for new wedding photographers from Katelyn James & Mary Marantz.

First, I attended Katelyn James’ (free!) webinar on The KJ Wedding Experience, where she gave great advice for new wedding photographers & seasoned business folk alike. She presented her wedding experience magazine template, which lays out exactly what should happen on a wedding day, from the perspective of getting the best photos of the day while maximizing time. You would send this magazine to brides (after making it your own) when they book you for their wedding & it answers so many questions they may have, it should prevent the need for numerous emails back & forth. Brills! During the ‘nar, someone asked what you do if you don’t have 76 pages worth of photos to fill in the template, & Katelyn suggested taking photos of details you set up yourself. Double brills! That prompted the idea for me to borrow details from my married friends, and to do so in a fun, entertaining way – like a brunch! I decided to host a brunch at my apartment & invited all of my married friends to dine & day drink while I photographed their details. And I promised to provide them with photos of their items as an extra incentive – but I mean, who needs more incentive than bacon & prosecco on a Saturday??

An unexpected add-on to my Details Brunch was born of my sudden desire to practice flash photography, thanks to an upcoming wedding I’m shooting this month + the Justin & Mary (free!) webinar they did on flash photography. Justin & Mary made Off Camera Flash seem so approachable & un-intimidating, so I decided to take the bull by the horns & rent some lighting equipment. I rented a B1 strobe from DC Camera Rentals & set it up – with very little direction! – to shoot the details at my brunch. Learning OCF was 1. So easy and 2. Took a HUGE weight off my shoulders (I *might* have been panicking & losing sleep over how to manage a night wedding indoors w/ no flash for a couple of months!). I knew right away my ability to shoot with OCF was a game changer for my business.

So here is my advice for new wedding photographers – Do This:

1. Email your married friends. Invite them for brunch & ask them to bring their wedding memorabilia.

2. Buy the Justin & Mary Lighting Guide & read it.

3. Rent or buy (I suggest renting first) an OCF set-up.

4. Invest in some bubbly.

5. Set up a station to shoot the details in your home.

6. Pop some sparkling wine & get your friends nice & toasty while they talk about their weddings – they will love you for it!

7. Take a bagillion pictures of their engagement rings, wedding shoes, hair pieces, invitation suites, gowns, etc.

This is great practice AND you’re building your portfolio at the same time! Whether you buy the Katelyn James Wedding Experience template or just use the photos for your website, it’s a win for your business.

I’d like to give a huge thank you to my friends for allowing me to photograph their precious mementos & use the photos to grow my business. That kind of support means so much & I had a lot of fun getting to spend time with these important people in my life. Thank you ladies! I have to say, friends + photography is my new favorite combo!

Here are some of the photos I took at our brunch. Major bling ahead!