Feedback wanted please!

I'm not sure about this as I had a friend do ours (he's a prof tog but his present to us was the pictures) I would have thought there are plenty of brides on a budget and if you can make a clear case for being inexpensive (Starting out, building a portfolio, uncomplicated service etc) then that would set minds at rest.

I think I'd be more interested in meeting you as a person and seeing your portfolio/website to help me make a decision.

PS my best friend at primary school had the same surname as you - you don't have any Nottingham connections, do you?

I lived in Nottingham for 7 years but as an adult, but not sure if you mean a childhood friend?

If it's more positive to have obvious and legit reasons for being inexpensive, do you think I ought to state this up front on my website? I had a paragraph to that effect before, and then my friends said to take it down because they thought it didn't look professional admitting I wasn't a total professional lol!

Our TOG was a lot cheaper (I mean half the price) of others I'd looked at and the reason being was that he was just breaking into wedding photography but had been a photographer pretty much most of his life.

He was brilliant and I think as long as you can provide samples of your work you shouldn't have any trouble getting bookings as there will always be people getting married in a tight budget. Explain to them that you are trying to build a portfolio in wedding photography and that's why the price is cheaper than others but you intend to review the prices when you feel you've gained the experience you feel comfortable with.

I don't you'll have any problems but don't undersell yourself either.

I agree with Gillsy, if you make it clear on your website that you're starting out in the wedding photography business but you have good example photos on your website then I can't imagine people will be put off, especially those on a budget.

My view is that something is only worth what people are prepared to pay for it.

When looking for a TOG my main priority was that I loved their photos, I did not give much thought about experience as in my view you can have TOG's been in the industry 30+ years and shot 100's of wedding but that isn't going to make me love their work if their photos are horrendous, old fashioned not my taste etc.

On the flip side if I saw a young TOG just starting out with a real natural talent maybe shot a dozen weddings but I thought their work was all consistently amazing I would happily pay the same as a TOG with similar level of Photos but maybe has been around Longer.

Our TOG is the second biggest expense in our wedding but I think he worth every penny because I adore his work.

In answer to your question - New clients will judge you on your previous work and sad to say but some will buy into the whole grand fairytale weddings/venues as that is how many will dream of their own wedding to look like (like all the fancy photos on wedding blogs) so I guess it will help if your clients have these types of 'fancy' weddings.

That said you don't always need to spend a fortune to have an amazing uber kool 'fancy' wedding, some of the best weddings are done on a shoe string particularly as the whole vintage DIY, rustic thing is on trend,

Sorry that's all a bit of a contradiction. So I guess you can argue both cases.

We were in your position a couple of years ago and I can 100% relate to what the other tog friend was saying.

You're more than welcome to contact us if you'd like and we'd be happy to share our experiences and thoughts with you about it, as i'm sure we'll our take on it will be long and boring to those not in the industry, ha!

*******@*****************.**.** ?

And just as a point of note, i've seen long established photographers charging 3 times as much as you are, who aren't half as good. You've done amazingly well.

I agree with Funky. We were the first wedding our photographer had shot alone (as opposed to a second shooter for another tog). She had a goof portfolio of her own work and I loved her fresh, casual approach of just capturing the day as it happened.

Our photos were stunning in the end and I even gave a couple of hitchers wobbles about their Togs choices and whether to rebook with her.

Overall, it is true that a picture speaks a thousand words and seeing is believing. To me, the most important thing would be building up your protfolio to show an array of weddings, big and bold, small and intimate, formal church, informal garden get together, high summer, depths of winter etc, so people planning their own weddings can relate to one set of your photos. The price is what I looked at second, after I found a style of photos I liked.

I also dislike it when no prices are quoted on the website. It is nice to have ball park figures, even if there is a disclaimer to say these figures may be different depending on travel and hours needed to be worked etc. (I mean that it is good you're honest about your prices!)

good luck!

Hey everyone, Thank you for the great comments/feedback so far, it's really helped me, I've decided I'm going to put back in a short bit in my website about how I'm new and whatnot, I think the universal opinion has been that being new isn't a bad thing to admit to if you're a budget tog!

Funky and Ducky- I am currently attempting to get myself a more fancy themed wedding booking, as I feel like I'm absolutely itching to shoot one of those!

Pavone- I will email you now!

Including me which lead to a rather funny 'please let the ground open up and swallow me' situation!

I am with the others, it would 100% be down to the quality/style of the pictures for me.

No way, I'd never have guessed that. I remember your photo's - they were FAB!

aw Thanx HT ❤️

I agree that a little bit of info on your site would be good about your experience with weddings.

i have looked at your site and your pics are fab!

Hi Marianne. Honesty is always best IMHO. Being cheaper is not a bad thing if the reasons are right for it. Call it introductory pricing....One observation of your website is to look at the framing of the preview images and adjust these if possible on your software. Often heads are missing and although if clicked and enlarged are absolutely fine, many potential clients simply will click away unless something grabs them.

Welcome to the forum...

Peter

Hi Peter, I know about framing problem, it's so annoying! I'm trying to work out how to centre align the previews of the pics :s and I have a long sheet of html and I'm sure if I put the right code in somewhere it will fix it but...not sure where it goes yet lol.

I got my web designer friend to tweak it for me! The thumbnails show the full image now..Thanks for prompting me to sort it out!

No problems Marianne.....I should probably spend more time on mine.....?

Peter

I agree that honesty is the best policy. I saw two togs, one with vast experience and was recommended by the venue, one who i just stumbled upon and loved her work, but with much less experience. I went with the less experienced one because I loved her work so much.

And with regards to attracting the wrong kind of business, there are so many brides on a budget with so many different types of wedding, I'm sure there will be plenty that will jump at a cheaper tog.