p.2 #1 · High-end bridal show vs. normal national bridal show
Marcus Watts wrote:
If you are a ballsy guy the first thing to do is stop charging $1295 for a disc of images. That will hurt your efforts right off the bat.
If you don't want clients to book at a certain price point remove the option.
Up to now, my base package has been $1295 as you've mentioned. Up until a few months ago, I didn't really have any wedding images to show, and you can't demand $2500 for weddings without having a portfolio to justify it. I've needed to book clients, and using this as a base, I'm using the album as an add-on and getting my price up decently for someone who's shot as few of weddings as I have.
If I do this, I'm obviously going to change my pricing structure as I'm entering a new market. But up until now, if I didn't offer the pricing where I was, I wouldn't have booked any clients. Hard to pay the bills if you're not booking, especially since I'm committed as a full-time photographer.
p.2 #2 · High-end bridal show vs. normal national bridal show
Don't do those high-end shows untill you are ready, otherwise it be a waste of $. You will encounter the higher end photographers there that will have better displays, better portfolios and so on.
I did a few smaller bridal shows when I started and those worked nice. There were 2-3 Photogrpahers tops and I booked a few Weddings off each. Now I don't do them anymore since my fee has grown bigger than the $ those kind of brides want to spend. There are couple of high-end very nice bridal shows and I visited them last year but I won't do them because there is so much competition.
However the smaller bridal shows did help me a lot go get my name out so definitelly try one and see how it works, but don't start from the high end. Even better just buy yourself a ticket to one of those high-end shows and visit. You will see what I'm talking about.
Invest those money in marketing it be better at the begining.
p.2 #3 · High-end bridal show vs. normal national bridal show
jcolman wrote:
I just did my first bridal show this past weekend. I booked two brides on the spot. One is spending $4400 and the other is spending $2600. I will very likely book several more weddings from other brides who really, really liked my work.
Lest we forget, you're a kick ass photographer, Broseph!
