Wedding Photography How To Guide (One Click at a Time)

If you look at any blog post on how to make money from photography, most of the articles will list wedding photography as profitable. This doesn’t equate to easy because it’s not about just shooting weddings, it’s about building a business and a diverse skillset. For that reason we created this wedding photography how to guide.

Let’s take it one click at a time.

We’ll start with your mindset, work on your business, talk about your photography skills, discuss weddings in general, and touch on gear.

wedding photography how to: start with your mindset

If you’re familiar with our wedding photography tips for beginners, you know that anytime we give advice we try to get you to think the right way first. These mindset tips come from that post.

1. care

Know that caring about your couple makes you a better wedding photographer. It leads to better photos, more referrals/reviews, and more job satisfaction.

Don’t overlook the importance of this simple step. It sounds like a no brainer but it’s all about building a foundation for your business. Why not let that foundation be built around how much you care.

2. be present

Memorize the wedding photography shot-list or throw it out the window. Don’t let a tool get in the way of being present. Read more about the wedding photography shot list and why you don’t want one.

3. keep it simple

Keep it simple and light (your wedding photography and your gear.) Make this your mantra, it’s one of ours. Don’t over-complicate your life, especially at the beginning.

4. learn about light

Photography requires you to see light. A good place to start is our best outdoor wedding photography tips, it addresses things like dealing with mid-day sun and exposure. But just start seeing light everywhere.

5. one click at a time

A beginner starts with one new goal at a time. Don’t try to master everything on day one or you’ll end up doing nothing.

Read more about these tips in our post wedding photography tips for beginners or watch the video below.

wedding photography how to: build your business

Starting your business might be as simple as finding someone to let you shoot their wedding. Eventually, you’re going to want to build a more in depth plan. You’ll need a website, brand, and some marketing strategies.

Here are the five simple steps to start.

6. decide, start, and make it official

Waffling will only get you so far. Learning and reading and waiting until you know everything just delays your progress. Take a step. Click. Then another. Click.

So start. Start with a website, an instagram account, or by shadowing another photographer. Get your feet wet.

7. find clients

This goes back to the very first mindset step of caring about your couple. The easiest and quickest way to find clients is to be a good person. Then you’ll want to build a marketing plan in order to find more clients. And you want to find the right clients like we target adventurous couples.

8. learn business

Learn about accounting, marketing, and making a budget. This will help you set your prices and start making your business profitable. Get a separate bank account, track your income and expenses, and don’t spend more than your make.

Some of our favorite tools.

- Tave: Client Management software for sending quotes, invoices, and tracking income.
- Trello: To-do list, collaboration, blog calendar, this app helps us stay organized and productive.

9. build a marketing strategy

There is no one size fits all marketing strategy. You might have to try a few things and see what works for you and what fits your style and values. For us, referrals are huge and treating our clients well (remember the first tip) has always led to more clients.

There’s blogging, SEO, pinterest, instagram, facebook, photographer listings, bridal shows, paid advertising, and more. I suggest starting with things that are free and beware of guaranteed hacks and people selling quick fix solutions.

Our post how to start a wedding photography business in 5 simple steps discusses these tips in more detail and the outlines what’s next in the progression. Photography skills.

wedding photography how to: build your photography skills

10. take pictures

Take a lot of pictures. The best way to get good at photography is to click that shutter button. The more pictures you take the more you’ll see what works and what doesn’t.

11. learn photography

As you get better, you’ll want to learn more and grow your skills. Again, beware of hacks and false promises. There are no shortcuts.

Luckily there is a ton of free resources online. You can also take classes from pros on Creative Live. And don’t hesitate to reach out to photographers, while some run paid mentorship programs others will give you quick advice for free.

You’ll need to learn how to shoot in the rain, use your ND filters, and more.

12. light, composition, moment

I must return to an earlier point and talk about seeing light. For more on light, be sure to check out our Best Outdoor Wedding Photography tips. Light will become the fastest way to improve your photography. From there if you adjust your composition to be more interesting you can then wait for the moments.

wedding photography how to: get intimate with weddings

13. moments

In the last tip I alluded to moments. Weddings are all about moments. The moments between the couple and their loved ones are what shows the emotion and meaning of the day.

Learn to see moments, appreciate moments, predict moments, and capture moments.

14. know weddings

It’s important to be present. That’s why I talk about throwing out the shot list. But before you can throw out the shot list, you have to know it.

This will come with time and experience. Once you’ve been shooting weddings for a few years you won’t need to be worried about forgetting what’s important. You’ll have seen enough weddings and been thrown enough curveballs that you can handle it.

Weddings are fairly predictable, and what makes weddings unique is the couple. Know the couple and what’s important to them and you will know what to photograph.

wedding photography how to: gear and other tools

15. yay gear

I talk about keeping it simple so let’s start there. Tools shouldn’t bog you down. There are a lot of cool gadgets and techniques that can make your photography better, but only if you know how to use it. If you have a drone read our post on drone accessories!

Check out our minimalist wedding photography gear checklist. Or our favorite lenses, Wide: 35mm or 16-35mm and Telephoto: 70-200mm. We use these flashes.

how to wedding photography summary

Step by step:

Get your mindset right
Build your business
Grow your photography skills
Get intimate with weddings
And perfect your gear list

Let us know how you liked this how to guide and if there’s anything you want us to talk about in future posts. Here are some marketing steps to get you started!

Next, get our free Build Your Life e-guide. More business tips here! You might enjoy checking out our recommended reading list.

Recent Building a Life and Tips for Wedding Photographers you might enjoy:

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We are Marc and Brenda Bergreen, a husband and wife photography team specializing in outdoor weddings and other adventures. Capturing people in nature and the mountain lifestyle is a passion that became a dream that became a life.

We don’t link to a lot of things but when there are books or gear we love we’ll share it and links to Amazon are affiliate links.

Based in Evergreen, CO we travel throughout the state as Colorado wedding photographers. Don’t hesitate to contact us and let us know how we can help! Be sure to follow us (weddings instagram & adventures instagram) and/or like us (facebook) to stay tuned.

In the meantime, remember to…

Wedding Photography How To Guide | Grow Your Business