A photographer's guide: How to book your first wedding

Is two better than one at a wedding and why?

We whole-heartedly believe that there are amazing artists out there that can capture a wedding day without a second photographer. That being said, we LOVE shooting together. Paul is a one on the enneagram; very analytical and tech savvy. I am a four on the enneagram; I am usually in my feels with romance and creativity always at the forefront. Because of that, we see things differently and are able to capture a wedding day from different viewpoints. While Paul is focusing on the best light or if there is a little speck of trash in the background of a shot, I’m focused on the connection between people. This also means that we have different strengths and weaknesses. I tend to be more shy and would rather move around unnoticed. Paul is great with people and doesn’t mind speaking up during family shots or with drunk wedding parties! All of that being said, I believe two photographers on a wedding day can be a huge advantage. You can be sure all angles are being covered. You can split up both head photographers and trust they are capturing things well because they’re not a random second photographer someone brought on at the last minute.

How do you hire a second shooter and manage them?

Fortunately hiring a second photographer isn’t something we have to do often since our business has this option built in. However, we do offer associate packages and time to time clients will want a second photographer added on. We highly recommend having a list of trusted second photographers that have experience (preferably trained by you). Making sure you pay your seconds well and investing in them can go a long way.

How did you book your first wedding and how did you start marketing yourself as a wedding photographer?

We first started our business on a whim while living in Perdido Key, FL. Paul was there working in insurance claims during the BP oil spill. He was working 7 days a week and barely got to enjoy the beautiful location with us. We decided we wanted to be together more and spend more time with our children. We found a designer and had a logo made. I designed our site. We reached out to some photogenic friends and asked if we could shoot them for our site. Believe it or not they asked us to shoot their wedding that very day. We couldn’t believe it but we were so pumped! We also made some connections with local photographers quickly and they would graciously send weddings our way that they were booked for or that were in a lower budget. We had trained through workshops and online classes prior to this! We priced ourselves high enough that we would still receive clients that invested in their day, but low enough for being beginners. We 100% believe that making connections with photographers and vendors can work wonders for your business.

What's in your gear bag for weddings?

Oh man! LOTS! haha. We carry 3 Canon 5D Mark IV bodies. One for each of us and a backup in case something goes wrong (we also have our bodies looked over and serviced regularly). Paul is a zoom lens kinda guy so he carries his Canon 24-70mm 2.8 around and usually doesn’t need another lens for the majority of the day. My preference is prime lenses, I love my Sigma Art 35mm 1.4 and Sigma Art 50mm 1.4. We also carry around a Canon 70-200mm 2.8 for close up shots during the ceremony, a Canon 100mm 2.8 for ring shots and sometimes close ups during a ceremony. We have a Thinktank card holder full of SD and CF cards. We each carry a Canon flash in our bags and have two more in our Thinktank luggage for reception shots. We have two tripods that we like to setup near the dance floor during receptions with OCF and battery packs.

How did you go from booking one wedding a year to ten plus?

We believe that customer service is one of the most important parts of a business. Answering inquiries/clients in a timely manner and with kindness goes a long way. Showing up on a wedding day and treating each one as though it were our first. This may mean sweeping up a floor some days, helping to be the wedding planner because they don’t have one and aren’t sure what to do, carrying the bouquet because it’s too heavy for the bride to hold all day, and so many other ways. Word of mouth can be huge for your business. We also researched and studied SEO so that we would show up quickly in our area on Google. Being new, this can be an important step!