If you're trying to build a successful wedding photography business, there's plenty that you need to keep in mind.
Where will you work - out of your home, a studio, or elsewhere?
How much will you charge?
How will you market yourself?
There's lots of other questions, too, but one of the most important is this: who can help you achieve your goals?
In this post, I want to outline three very different, yet vital groups of people that wedding photographers simply cannot live without.
A Good Printer
If you think that you can make a go of being a wedding photographer by offering your clients cheap photo albums that you print at the local drug store, you've got another thing coming.
One of the most important people to have in your life as a wedding photographer is your printer because the products they produce are what you use to showcase the photos you take.
Think about it - you can either show your clients their photos in a cheap, flimsy album that you order from a bargain-basement website, which will make your photos look cheap as well, or you can opt to give your clients a superb album that highlights the quality of your work and presents it in a way that makes it feel like an heirloom.
It's obvious which one will benefit you more in the long run...
When it comes to giving your clients the optimal experience of viewing their wedding photos, there's no better printer to choose than nPhoto.
nPhoto has the largest printing lab in Europe and is staffed with over 400 employees that dedicate their days to presenting your photos and your clients' special memories in a way that you can be proud of and your clients will cherish for the rest of their lives.
You can see their commitment to crafting the finest quality albums on the market by looking at the images above and below.
Not only are these albums the peak of design and quality, but they're also highly customizable.
That's good for you because you can help your clients select the features they most want, resulting in an album that's specific to them and them alone.
In fact, you can have two different clients choose the same photo album from nPhoto, and end up with two vastly different end-products - there's that much to customize!
That includes everything from the cover material to the size of the album, the type of paper used within the album to the font, and even choices to include laser etching, padded covers, and layflat pages. And that's just the beginning.
nPhoto doesn't just provide the best photo albums on the market, though.
Instead, they offer photographers like you the opportunity to upsell clients with gorgeous photo accessories.
That includes special albums for the parents of the happy couple (shown above), triplex displays, image boxes, and USBs loaded with your images that come in gorgeously crafted USB boxes, like the one shown below.
The bottom line here is that the way perceive your work isn't just dependent upon the quality of the images themselves. Instead, it also depends on the quality of the products you use to present those photos.
If you want to achieve the best success in this business, it's critical that you work with a printer that can deliver the highest-quality albums and photo products possible. That company is nPhoto!
Learn More:
- Start Designing an Album Experience for Your Clients Today
- Why We Need Photo Albums, Even in the Digital Age
A Second Shooter
Of course, filling up a great photo album with gorgeous photos is a task that cannot be left solely to you.
You'll need a good second shooter, someone that you trust to help you document the festivities of the day.
Not only does a second shooter mean that you have two cameras in two different locations to cover more of the goings-on, but it also means that you get photos from two different points of view and perspectives.
That's important from a storytelling perspective. For example, as the primary shooter, you can document the moment the bride sees her soon-to-be groom for the first time while the second shooter can train their lens on the groom to capture his reaction at that moment as well.
There's something to be said for the different types of photos that a second shooter can capture, too.
While you focus on the more serious or intimate moments of the day, the second shooter can capture the fun, funny, and candid moments.
Together, these images provide a more detailed account of the day that captures a range of emotions from a greater variety of people.
In other words, weddings are far too large and far too important for you to handle all the photo-taking duties by yourself.
Get a second shooter, increase the number of photos you get of the day, and have a better story to tell with your images.
Learn More:
An Insurance Agent
No one likes to talk about insurance. Even fewer people like paying for it.
But having the proper coverage for you and your business is vital to your long-term success.
You can be as careful as possible, but accidents might still occur.
Think about it...
If you set up a light stand and it falls over onto a member of the wedding party, you need to have liability insurance to cover any related costs for medical bills or a lawsuit.
Likewise, if you're on your way to the venue and you're in a car accident that damages your gear, you need to have an equipment policy so you can replace the gear quickly and get back to work.
There's also calamities that might occur right in your own studio - a pipe might burst, a fire might break out, or someone might break in and steal your gear.
Without the proper insurance from an insurance agent that specializes in offering policies to professional photographers, you put your business at great risk for failure.
That's why having a good insurance agent - along with a top-notch printer and a great second shooter - is one of the most critical people to have on your side.
Learn More:
- How to Design a Professional Photo Album
- Things to Consider When Buying Professional Photographer's Insurance