Hi! First post!

entropy07

Hello everyone! Agnieszka encouraged me to join this forum and you guys all sound awesome and I just wanted to say hi! I began part-time wedding and lifestyle photography in Boston earlier this year, and hope to build it up!

I have a question that would help me logistically... how far in advance do most clients start contacting you to book their wedding? Have you noticed that range changing at all with this economy - i.e. brides planning far more in advance or doing more last-minute? Do you think it also depends on how experienced / popular you are as a wedding photog?

Mishka

taxpinsti wrote:

Nice work--thank you for sharing-
Thanks so much for this. I appreciate the effort. It really helps a lot.
Glad to hear you're using this: I plan to keep it much more aggressively up-to-date than has been the case in the past, but don't hesitate to let me know if you find errors or need clarifications.

Um, is this spam??


And to entropy07--welcome! I'm sure you'll learn a lot on the forum--plus you'll be inspired by everyone's work!

As for how far people book in advance for weddings--for me I've found it actually depends a lot more on when the wedding date falls for each couple. Usually I'm contacted about a year in advance, but for really popular months (around here, it's October), I'm sometimes booking 14-16 months in advance.

Conversely, for weddings in the winter months, it's not surprising to be contacted only 6 months in advance.

Hope to hear from you more on here!

ivar

Mishka wrote:

Um, is this spam??

yes, it was Removed and user banned. Thanks!


Welcome to the forums, entropy07!

Have a look at the 'how to do most anything' link in my signature to get information on, well, how to dojust about anything Holler if you have any questions!

Moogle Pepper

entropy07 wrote:

Hello everyone! Agnieszka encouraged me to join this forum and you guys all sound awesome and I just wanted to say hi! I began part-time wedding and lifestyle photography in Boston earlier this year, and hope to build it up!

I have a question that would help me logistically... how far in advance do most clients start contacting you to book their wedding? Have you noticed that range changing at all with this economy - i.e. brides planning far more in advance or doing more last-minute? Do you think it also depends on how experienced / popular you are as a wedding photog?

Hey welcome to dgrin!

For experienced and popular wedding photographers they are usually booked well in advanced. Even though I am relatively new to this as well, I have been booked for a June wedding. Which is uhm more than 7 months in advanced.

I am thinking that you would need to consider the current economic situations, bride + grooms' budget, and your own experence/popularity to help develop your business plans.

Agnieszka

Hi there. So nice to see you here!!

I'd say it depends on your pricing list / experience. I started off booking a couple of months in advance the big day (under a year notice for ~ up to $1200 packages), then I got couples that booked me around 1 year in advance (up to ~$2900 packages), and this summer I already booked 2 for 2011 Crazy people, but the more money they spend on their weddings, the pickier they are about the vendors and insist on having all options open.

I guess it also depends on the area you live in. But that's what I experienced in MA.

Soooo ... now how do I make you post some of your pics? (entropy07 is an awesome photographer )

And thanks Ivar

zoomer

I have several booked for 2010 that were about 12 months ahead of their date. I am shooting some of their engagement pictures next month.

Seems to mostly be about 6 months out when most people are calling.

I keep hearing the economy is bad but have seen really no effect, I just raised my prices again and it looks like we will be busier next year than we were this year.

I do believe the higher your prices are the more in advance you will be booking brides, when my prices were very low a couple years ago I was booking brides just a couple months out.

bloomphotog

Welcome, and I will be looking forward to your first photo post! I like your lens style, fast and sharp primes baby! (I'm in the same boat with a single 50mm 1.4G)

heatherfeather

Welcome! And get to posting! I can't wait to see some of your work!

As to your question:
For some reason, it seems like all the clients are wanting to book earlier and earlier. But that could be in keeping with Zoomer's theory and coincide with my prices / and portfolio quality going up at the same incline. That and the couples that have been together longer have more money and don't mind to wait to get what they want for their wedding.

I am seriously wondering if I am going to live through next summer with my mind intact.