I wouldn't have enjoyed it if I didn't have a really good and really reliable professional film lab to rely upon.
I agree because you need to be able to produce consistently good results every time. Thankfully I did all my own film processing and printing on my minilab equipment.
For me, this is the dealbreaker. The responsibility is too high: having to deal with problematic brides and, even worse, their mothers.
And, more importantly, I am not really good at wedding photography.
Yes I can understand that. You need to be very confident that you do it right every time. But that all comes with practice.
You need to know your equipment like the back of your hand.
Handling people is a skill that can also be learned.
For ~10 years I worked as a freelance videographer. Most of my business was corporate (training videos) or non-profit (recording and editing symposia). Not exactly exciting or creative work, but it was a good living for a while. After 9/11 those markets really tightened up. Organizations were significantly changing their focus and spending. (It didn't seem the sort of thing that would be affected, but it did change at least for a while.) I was having difficulty getting work from the organizations I usually did work for. Someone suggested that I supplement the work doing weddings and quinceañeras. I tried and couldn't stand it. I folded my business and got a job instead of having to do that kind of work. As for why I didn't like it these are my top reasons:
- I'm not a people person, and being a wedding videographer required an extroverted type interaction with the couple, guests, and all the participants. (you don't have to BE and extrovert, but you have to act like one.) Unfortunately, I'm an extreme introvert so this was the hardest thing to deal with.
- Corporate clients hired me because I knew what they didn't (how to produce a video) so they trusted me and my expertise to deliver what they needed. Wedding clients second guessed and micromanaged everything I did.
- Corporate clients know the word "change order" and know it comes with a price attached. Wedding clients were constantly trying to add work, change things after they had already been done, and expected everything to come at the original price.
- Crowds - I hate crowds. This is really a restatement of the first point above. If it were a portrait job, just me and the subject in a photogenic location, if would be much more manageable.
Granted, its obvious that I am not tempermentally suited to dealing with of people and therefore weddings. I'm glad there are people that can deal with it.
I appreciate your comments and it does seem that a wedding photographer need to be an extrovert.
I am an introvert and was very shy as a young man. I joined amateur drama to help overcome the shyness and it did help with handling people at a wedding.
BUT remember the bride & groom are also nervous on the day so I can empathise with that. It can also be an unique selling point (USP).
Some wedding photographers are so extravert that the wedding is run like it is their show not the couples
In a word: clientzillas. Not just brides/ brides' moms, but occasionally brides' dads too. Everything from temper tantrums the day of the wedding, to expecting everything for free from the get-go, to trying to get everything for free (or even turning a profit off the photography) by suing/threatening to sue the photographer for 'losses/emotional damage' after the fact. Yeah, no thanks.
Thankfully I can count on one hand the number of bride/clientzillas I had in 35 years.
These people are selfish bullies and the simple way to deal with them is to say you have a policy of zero tolerance of bullying. If you lose the gig then so be it.
I would tactfully work this into our wedding enquiry chat before any booking was made. Basically, I told the client how I worked, my method etc., and did that suit them.
That's what contracts and deposits or up-front payments are for. Never do spec work for a client: if you don't value your work, neither will the client. Long ago when I was working as a freelance designer, I learned if a client couldn't or wouldn't pay a deposit, they usually would end up trying to not pay at all.
Yes you must act professionally at all times and the same when it comes to asking for payment. Never be shy to ask but do it politly. I totally agree with your comment
"I learned if a client couldn't or wouldn't pay a deposit, they usually would end up trying to not pay at all"
You forgot to mention the guests, who when you have arranged the groups or the bride and groom shots and other setpieces trying to elbow you out of the way.
I have also encountered cheapskate acquaintances who invite me and my wife to their, or their son's /daughters or other relatives' weddings, and call you shortly before the occasion and say " oh, and will you make sure you bring your camera with you".
The guests can be a big problem but only if you let them. To stop that happening I would ask them to wait a moment, I would get the shot, and then I would move out of their way and let them at it.
Again it is all to do with how you handle people. If you are perceived as a professional most people won't interrupt or bother you. I mean would you walk into your doctor's surgery and tell them how to do their job?
A quick story. During the group photo at one wedding back in the late 1980s, one of the guests shouts at me "Have you film in that camera" (it was a common quirp from guests who thought they were comedians). I knew this would persist if not nipped in the bud. So I asked him to come up and check for himself. Everyone else laughed and the red-faced would-be comedian never said another word.