The 10 Commandments of a Successful Wedding Photographer: by Dominic Lee, AMPA

By Guest
Monday, June 28th, 2010

Wedding Photo1. Never ever take a booking without a booking fee (average 10%). A deposit is refundable while a booking fee is non refundable.

2. Never ever smoke or drink alcohol while working and always dress as if you are a guest at the wedding. If you want to dress like “an artist” then take up wildlife photography.

3. Never ever give the client printable files on DVD (unless you intend changing career within 3 years). They will print them on cheap fax/copy paper using the printer they got free with the computer which has all the colours of the rainbow in one cartridge!!!!.

4. Never panic, (if you are impatient, dont be a wedding photographer).

5. Always carry a spare camera, flash and spare batteries that are fully charged, (anyone want to buy my old Hasselblad?)

6. Never take photographs during the Gospel or during the Consecration, (it’s as disrespectful as doing a jig during the Nation Anthem).

7. Always tell the Bride to lie to the Hotel manager about the time of the ceremony by +2 hours, (banqueting managers never ever get the timing right and they always and I mean always blame the photographer).

8. Always advise the couple in writing that the price is only guaranteed for e.g. 3 months after the wedding and will increase annually by e.g. 20% (they can take years to place their order and guess who gets blamed for the delay?).

9. Never wait till after the wedding to get the balance. Did you ever hear of a bride & groom paying for their honeymoon when they got back? Most of them have paid the travel agent 100% at least 6 months in advance.

10. Treat all the guests with respect and courtesy. 90% of them will never see your work and will only remember your attitude on the day.

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Priory Studios Logo

Dominic Lee and his wife Mairead are the owners of Priory Studios located in Dublin, Ireland. Dominic is the primary photographer and Mairead manages the accounting and frame production. Additional staff members include: Vladimir who handles digital retouching and printing, and Linda manages the operation.

Phone: +35312880755
Email: info@priorystudios.ie
Website: http://www.priorystudios.ie
Blog: http://www.priorystudios.ie/blog/
Twitter: @priorystudios
Facebook: http://facebook.com/priorystudios

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Comments

    • I spoke to Dominic about the Hasselblad comment and it was intended to be a joke. But he did say that if anyone was interested he does have some old Hasselblad gear he might be interested in selling. You can contact him at his email address above.

  2. I have a Hasselblad 500CM with winder/grip, a 60mm a 100mm a 120mm lens and a 40mm fisheye. I also have a 38mm SWC which is fixed to a body. Two 12on backs and a Polaroid back. Any of those appeal to you Dalanae?

  3. #3 – What about offering a DVD of proofs for sale? A lot of our brides want the DVD. We always explain the difference between prints made by us, and ones they might get at their local drug store, as well as the difference between the proofs and a fully retouched file they would get ordering from us… Some people, however, just want all their photos printed for scrap booking, etc. It would not be profitable for me to spend days re-touching a photo order of all 4×6 prints, would it not be more economical to offer the proof DVD at that point?

    • Hi Jake, thank you taking the time to add a comment.
      Many brides “want” the DVD but 95% of them never do anything with it except print 3 or 4 (which they do very badly). We have a few weddings each year which we never receive the album order for because they don’t have time and yet they have paid in full in advance, so what chance have they of getting the finger out if it’s going to cost them more money?
      Also your print charges should never be based on the size of paper, would you expect to pay a lot less for a 6×4 painting by Rembrandt than for one of his 10x8s? If your client wants happy-snaps for a scrap book tell them to book the guy who works in 1hour photo to shoot their wedding! If you are serious about your career as a Professional Photographer you must refuse to join in the race to the bottom and retain total control of the quality of your images.
      Regards,
      Dominic

      • I disagree. As much as quality is important, I would much rather give my clients the res files and make them happy – whether they print them or not – rather than hoard the high res files over them and make them come through me. My quality stands for itself. I refuse to be the snobby photographer who overcharges for reprints.

        I have also seen many of the prints my clients have made and they are all lovely – no cartridge/cheap printer images to be seen.

        Have faith in your clients. If they love your work, they’ll treat it with respect.

      • I completely disagree about the disc as well. Sorry – but it’s a new world now and THEY REALLY WANT THE DISC and I’m going to make them happy. Ultimately those happy clients will bring me new happy clients and people that don’t offer the disc at a reasonable price to the client simply wont have as much work. And as long as I’m cool with what I’m making upfront for a wedding it’s all good. Let’s be honest and realize that most young brides just want the photos on facebook anyway….

  5. I just want to play devil’s advocate a bit here:

    Never ever give the client printable files on DVD (unless you intend changing career within 3 years). They will print them on cheap fax/copy paper using the printer they got free with the computer which has all the colours of the rainbow in one cartridge!!!!.

    Personally if I was getting married today I wouldn’t hire a photographer who refused to give me the original files and the right to print them. Of course I’d expect to pay more for that, but I wouldn’t hire you if you weren’t willing to do that. And as much as you might like to think that’s a race to the bottom, the reality is there are a lot of good photographers who will offer digital copies.

    If your concern here is that most people will print photos out in the cheapest manner possible and then think you did a lousy job because they cheaped out on printing then wouldn’t it be better to solve that by packaging? What I mean is offer them a deal where you give them the digital copies, but you have a set of prints included in the package. So they can see what real quality prints look like and then when they print on their crappy printer they’ll be aware of the difference and not hold you accountable.

    If your concern is instead about revenue from the prints, then simply build that into the cost of your services. Offer the option of including digital originals or not with different prices. Explain why, and even make a pitch that getting the just the prints is a better deal for them (saves money and it’s unlikely they’d really do much with the print quality digitals).

    • Hey Steve, thanks for your comment.

      While understand where Dominic is coming from with that statement, I have to agree with you. I’m a photographer myself and I understand the value of the images, but as a consumer I certainly would want a disc of images. With today’s consumer level Epson and HP printers combined with the proper paper, you can create prints that will last a 100 years or more.

      If the client were to go to Walmart and pay to have them print the images from the disc, instead of the photographer, then that is an entirely different situation and I would not allow that. Retail operations respect a photographers copyright and will not print those images. By simply including a small copyright mark in the lower corner of the image should prevent commercial reproduction.

      When my wife and I got married our photographer included a set of 5×7 proofs that were ours to keep along with a disc of low res. images for emailing and a slideshow. I was happy with that and was fine with paying the photographer for quality enlargements and our photo album.

      There is certainly a happy middle ground, and I think photographers need to explore different options to make their customers happy as well as themselves.

  6. I am well aware of the importance of keeping your customer happy but guess what? the customers will be thrilled skinny with any opportunity to get something which will save them money. That does not make it a good business decision. If we took advise from our customers on how best to run our business we would be collecting social welfare within a year.
    A photographer supplies photographs, musicians supply disks so I suggest you guys start learning how to sing!
    Regards,
    Dominic

    • Actually you’re proving my point in bringing up musicians. Pretty much all media were once based on the selling of a physical product. You had newspapers, books, physical photographs, records, CD’s, etc. With the shift to digital and on-line distribution, the business model of selling physical products, while making perfect sense to a producer of content, makes very little sense to a consumer.

      All of these business models have to change. Photographers, historically, built their business on a model that assumed an up front fee for service and then some ongoing revenue on the back end from print sales. That model is fading because the value put on physical prints is declining. The simple solution to this is for photographers to shift those costs to the up front product.

      As a photographer I see this as a net positive because I want to be taking pictures, not making prints for people. Obviously this does require a shift in how you manage your revenue stream, but in the end people will still pay for the service and the ultimate result, whether that result is on a piece of paper or pixels on a disc.

      If you already have an established reputation as a photographer and a solid business built on the assumption that you’re never giving out digital originals, then kudos to you. I suspect though that in the long run you’ll be the exception to the rule. That newer photographers and, more to the point, newer customers, are going to exist in a world where more value is put on a digital copy than on a physical one.

      • “A photographer supplies photographs, musicians supply disks so I suggest you guys start learning how to sing!”

        I think the modern photographer is going to have to deal with the concept that they sell a service, not a product. They are compensated to take the pictures, not as much to to sell the prints. I think this is the direction that photography is headed. It will require a shift in how to create profit from photography, and, it does grind harshly against the traditional concepts held by photographers, but it may just be the beginning of things to come. I know in our business, we are already moving in that direction successfully. At the moment, it helps us to carve a niche in the market, but it may become the norm. Customers drive the market, as well they should, they are the market. This is just my observations.

  7. We had a portrait sale earlier this year which exceeded €8000 (all of a 1yr old child). Last week we had an order for canvas portraits which totalled over €5000 (family of 3 generations) and today we received a wedding order for 6x 12inch canvas’s @ €250 each, (€1500).
    How will you ever experience the thrill of such extra sales if you give away the disk?

    I have 4 staff and their jobs also depend on me insisting on retaining control of the quality of our end product.

    Anyone who trusts their client not to hand their DVD to the cheapest printer in town is living in Noddyland!

    Dominic

  12. All my packages include some sort of digital versions of the photos.. you are crazy if you think your clients don’t want them for Facebook at the very minimum. I’ve put my packages together in such a way that the client is happy and can print up to an 8×10 (at a stretch) with out having to come to me to buy them.. do I lose a little money? Probably, but I’m not trying to sell small prints. They know that they have to come to me to get exceptional quality large prints, and they are more than happy to do so as I’ve already looked after them.

    I make more in the referals that my excited clients send my way, because I give them some digital files, than I ever would in selling small prints. Reality is the business of wedding photography and photography in general, is changing, and we need to keep with the times and even try to be ahead of the curve if we want to stay in business!

    – paul

  22. I agree and see points on both sides, but I lean towards giving the disc, and here’s why. Dominic, your work is phenomenal. But those high value sales that you made, such as the 8,000 child portrait. Could you have front charged that client 6,000 more and sold them the same canvas/print at 2000? Did they hire you for your photographic eye or for your ability to make a print or to design an album. I think they want your service more than your product. I drive a Mercedes because of the product, I go to the dealer because of the service.

    Someone whom I highly respect asked me that same question. It’s hard for me to slave for 30-40 hours for the average wedding and in the end just give them a disc. Even if they were paying me $20K a wedding. I want them to have something tangible. But is that what our clients want? I ask my photographer friends that are under the age of 30 how many of them have photos on their wall within the past 5 years that are not professionally captured. Even in this forum I would say very few. Our clients have tons of photos on FB and other places and are really just one massive crash or virus of having 5 years of memories being wiped out.

    Is the CD a deal breaker? Is it able to compromise? I offer it after 1 year as a gift. If they haven’t bought more within the first year, then they are very much unlikely to do so 5 years from now.

    But that’s not my disagreement. Full disclosure, I have never photographed a Catholic wedding. But when you say do not photograph the Consecration, well I have seen photos OF the Consecration. Similar to certain times of a Jewish wedding that are private, are must haves to photograph. While a camera should not be an AK47 during this time, I believe a few select photographs are required.

    Leighton

    • Leighton, clearly you would not drive a Chrysler with a Mercedes badge stuck on the bonnet (Mercedes wouldn’t tolerate it either).
      Yet you are happy to let someone else reproduce your work with your name attached!!!

  23. Sorry, but this is old school opinion. I disagree with many points. This should be called the 10 opinions, since the world changes. I make great money and o would have to disagree.

    1. I never take a booking fee and my deposits are non-refundable.
    2. Smoke/drink/dress/ – Well, when offered wine, it’s an insult to say no, however, I don’t really drink anyway, so that’s a tough one. The way you dress could be artistic and stylish, you’ve got the old school mentality.
    3. DVD – I’m not even going to argue. It’s the new age. Good luck fighting this for too long. Give out the DVD only at hire prices. That’s how I make my money.
    4. I’m impatient sometimes. Aren’t we all, but I love my job. Never is too strong.
    5. Actually, you should probably carry two spare cameras.
    6. If there’s a good moment, I’m going to capture it. I don’t think they mind. Again, never is too strong.
    7. You shouldn’t lie I thought was one of the real commandments.
    8. Opinion. Everybody does something different.
    9. I agree. All my payments are turned in by 30 days before wedding.
    10. Wrong. Many of us are doing slideshows at weddings to show off what we took that day. Yes, respect is just plain knowledge. Again, this is the new age, so these commandments are old school thinking.

    • Charles, I have no problem being called “Old School” but you can also call me “5 Days a Week” because I’m still in business (after 25 years) while several of the new studios around me have closed down in the past year. Shame they didn’t study what business model tends to work and what business model tends to fail!