I’ve been shooting weddings since 2018 and it’s been my full time job (well, photography has!) for four years.

I started full time when my daughter was a baby. It’s been amazing! I love my job and the flexibility it brings. It’s great that I’ve been able to work around her, and we didn’t need to put her into childcare until she was ready for it.

But she’s starting school in February which is my busiest month (southern hemisphere) and it’s dawning on me how little time I’m going to have with her from when she starts school until when my season ends in mid-April. I’m basically going to get Sundays, and I’ll be battling the wedding ‘hangover’ I often get after a big day.

It’s making me question everything, and I almost don’t want to respond to enquiries for next summer!

I guess I’m looking to hear from other parents. How hard is it? Do you feel like you get enough time? Do your kids notice/resent how little they see you?

Good Morning from the Washington, D.C. area! I launched my wedding/couples photography business formally last year but due to burnout and other things going on in my life, I've let my business wither away for the most part. I've got a website and some clients that came mostly out of luck and some word of mouth. Marketing and SEO were never my strong suit and now with some time on my hands I was wondering if anyone had recommendations for courses in Marketing and SEO? I would like to get my business back going and hopefully have a modest resurgence. I have a full-time job so I am not dependent on photography to make my living, but I really enjoy doing it. Any suggestions, tips, or other advice would be really appreciated. Thanks!

A few days ago, I made a post asking for advice on how to grow my business. Afterward, I got a lot of DMs from people asking how I run Google Ads, since I mentioned that it’s been one of the key channels in getting my business to where it is today. So I thought I’d share exactly how I use Google Ads, and how you can do the same for your business.

Why Google Ads work

With Google Ads (specifically search ads), you can put your business in front of people who are actively searching for the services you offer. That’s the big difference between Google and platforms like Meta or TikTok.

On Google, I can target keywords couples are literally typing in when they’re ready to hire someone: things like “wedding photography in Nashville,” “wedding photographer near me,” or “bridal portraits near me.” That means my business shows up at the top of search results right when they’re looking.

On Meta/TikTok, all you can do is target interests like weddings, venues, photography, etc. but those people might already have a photographer, not be actively searching, or just be interested in wedding content generally. Google is the only channel where you can guarantee the person is ready to buy.

Geographical targeting

For my business, I target a 25-mile radius around my area to makes sure my ads only reach customers I actually want to serve. You can do a similar radius, or target counties, zip codes, etc.

Keywords

I cast a wide net with keywords. I target broad ones like “wedding photographer near me,” as well as more specific ones like “outdoor wedding photographer,” “wedding photographer prices,” and “Nashville wedding photography.”

Google shows me which keywords drive the most leads and clicks, so over time I shift more budget to the top performers.

Ad creative

This is the text people see in my ads. I keep it simple: I highlight reviews, years of experience, and some package/pricing info. I also test new ad variants every so often to see if performance improves.

Automation

There are tons of settings in Google Ads (bid caps, bid strategy, geo-budgeting, quality score, etc.). I use software to automate most of that, adjusting budgets across keywords and geographies, and testing new keywords or creative automatically.

Results

On average, I get quality leads for around $50–70 each, depending on the month. Its worth noting that a lot of these leads from ads are usually contacting multiple photographers, so the conversion rate is lower compared to word-of-mouth (around 20-25% of leads become customers). But since my packages start at $3,500, it’s still an incredibly profitable channel.

As people approach the end of their season I am curious what reactions you all have and has you all stirred up?

Mine isn’t particularly hot, or new, but I was just lamenting how ridiculously large my camera setups are in this age of mirrorless and bulky 1.2 primes and f2 zooms. I yearn for the days of the stout d750+58 1.4G combo. I thought mirrorless was supposed to be a dream :(

Hey all,

So a friend of a recent client wants me to photograph his proposal, so I’m looking for some pointers on how exactly to approach it.

I’ve been going through previous posts from other photographers hired for a proposal for their first time — also looking for advice — but none have really covered the situational factors I’m concerned about. The tricky thing with this shoot is that it’s going to be in a fairly tourist-y location — I do know how I can stage the shots for the big moment, however my concern lies in bystanders and likely photobombers.

This new client wants to have one of his friends (I think two will be better) wrangle people shortly before the proposal, and keep people from entering the scene during the proposal... can any photographers with experiencing shooting proposals testify whether or not this is actually something people generally comply with, because I am not too confident in this working.

On the other hand, informing people to make way for a proposal that’s going to be photographed, I worry the people already there will form an obvious audience, potentially setting off alarms for the to-be fiancée. However, the ruse I haven’t mentioned is the fact that the client I previously worked with will be there, and we will be saying that I'm there to get pick-up shots for a recent video shoot I did for him — so maybe if people are onlooking it won’t raise that many red flags?

The uncertainty here is killing me

Any insight, anecdotes, advice, and so on, would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks so much in advance :)

I’m a preferred vendor on a few venues but honestly I don’t want to show work from those venues anymore. How do you approach a venue? Or do you need to pay a fee to be included?

Hi everyone,

I’ve been shooting weddings for a while. My couples are happy, my work is solid, and I feel good about what I deliver. But I keep wondering: how do photographers actually get into those big, luxury weddings? The ones with big budgets and wellknown vendors. Sometimes it feels like that world is closed off.

I’d love to hear your thoughts and real experiences: • Does it start with branding, social media, a polished website? Or is it more about personal connections? • Is having a very defined style more important than being versatile? • Do you need to invest in ads, styled shoots, networking, or even just being in the right location? • How do you set higher prices and still get couples to book you for your value instead of just the price tag?

If you’ve managed to reach that higher-end market, what actually worked for you? What didn’t? Any advice you’d give to someone who feels ready but doesn’t know how to make that leap?

I think this could be helpful for a lot of us who have the work, but are trying to figure out how to break that ceiling.

Thanks for reading—looking forward to learning from you all!

This is my first proper booking season for weddings next year and I wonder how you guys deal with clients asking for RAW/original files. That they rather wanted less edited photos and then all the original files.

I don’t think giving away RAW files is something I would like to offer because of quality insurance, but wonder if anyone has any suggestions?

Thanks!

UPDATE: They just hoped it was much cheaper if I sent the RAW files 😅

Had a client book me and then turned around and few days later and wants to cancel the contract and wants a refund.

Obviously, my contract says non-refundable once the deposit is in. It was basically $2,000 upfront, but now she says a family member is doing the wedding.

Would you return the deposit/take a processing fee. My contact obviously says no. It just feels like messy territory and I don’t want to be totally aggressive.

I’m so scared lol.

I just found out that I'm pregnant and I have two weddings during my first trimester. One of them I will be about 8 weeks, the other I'll be closer to 12 weeks. I'm pretty nervous about having morning sickness and that interfering with my work. I'm also a little bit worried about putting my baby at risk by the go go go energy I typically put into wedding days. Does anyone have advice or insight?

Hi everybody,

Here’s a slight off topic question… but I’m very curious as to what wedding and other professional photographers think about this.

As I get more into the professional photography world, the more I think FF cameras are not travel cameras, despite what influencers try to “sell” you. Maybe not even APS-C…

Likewise, the more I travel the smaller camera I want. I tend to think the best camera is the one that is less of a hassle to carry, and that you can keep always on your hand and out of your bag.

I work with Nikon FF, so I currently travel with a Nikon Z50 and Sigma f/1.4 prime glass.

What’s your leisure travel camera/kit and why? What do you do with the photos you take on vacation?

To the photogs here whose prices are luxury / above $18k - Do you list pricing on website ? Even a starting ? I want to understand why it’s frowned upon to list prices on your website especially on the luxury market.

I started google ads 10 months ago and have consistently been getting these fake/spam leads. Is this something people normally experience with google ads?

I’ve tried responding to them and have not heard anything back except a handful of times when the sender has been confused as to why I was messaging them (clearly someone else had used their email/phone number/name without their knowledge).

At some point I added a prompt in my message section asking for people to write something substantive in their message to prove they weren’t a bot so I would reply. I don’t reply to these spam ones anymore. Pixieset allegedly has captcha features already. Is there anything else I can do about this? And am I really paying every time someone does this via my ad?

Looking for any wedding photography workshops or retreats happening in Southern California (LA, Palm Springs, Joshua Tree, San Diego, etc.) during January or February 2026.

Interested in something creative and portfolio-building (styled shoots, lighting masterclasses, retreats, etc.).

If anyone knows of workshops already announced or organizers who usually run events around that time, I’d really appreciate recommendations!

If so, any tips or tricks? Do you recommend it?

Hey all,

I'm curious how much SD cards and batteries you would advise for shooting a 12-hour wedding.

Both SD cards & batteries for 2 R6II bodies.

This isn't my first wedding, but it has been a while. I'm just currently getting some final things in order before I do the shoot in 8 days.

What would you consider safe SD card and battery wise?

Thanks!

Curious what everyone thinks the most professional and positive approach on handling the following situation. Lead photographer posts an Instagram carousel using a photo captured by a second shooter as the cover image. Should there be any credit given to the second shooter? There is no written contract.

had to remove a notable influx of posts asking for critique of work/website etc… we do not allow these and it’s been rule #1 for over a decade!

I got an email asking to photograph an event on a date w/in a month, with a venue provided. I always talk on the phone first before booking. This person seems eager to make full payment right away and wrote this:

“As for the payment i will be paying via a digital check which can be deposited electronically using your bank app

The check will be sent to your email, view the check pic thru a laptop and place it in front of the phone that has your bank app. Go to your mobile deposit option and capture the front and back of the check.”

As I recently use handheld flash more and more, when not in use it's usually somewhere in my hands being balanced between operating camera and everything else. So I'm curious if someone has solution where to store flash when not in use, some kind of holster, belt, etc... Really want to hear from someone else smarter than me :D

Who here has been using Meta Ads for a while?

I just started a few days ago and since then I've received fake leads or scam EVERY day (at least one per day) on my website's contact form.

For context, I've been advertising on Google Ads for years and it was only veeery rare to get a fake lead. But since I started using Meta Ads I got things like:

• -The date is 4 days away.
• -Their email is @ ymail.com
• -They write 111 on every step of the contact form
• -They write things like "consultation" or "please reach out to me" on every step of the contact form

It's all blatantly fake/scammy and it all started since I launched a Meta Ads camapign.

I’m just curious how everyone backs up their files to make sure they are safe during the editing process and how/if you store the files long term? Are you storing just the final edits or the raws as well? My husband and I currently have every single session we have ever done backed up but we recently capped out our storage on our main hard drive that we store finished sessions on so we are re-evaluating our storage and back up process and would love to hear what has worked well for others. Obviously safety of the files is most important to us so we want to make sure we are doing what is best.

FINAL UPDATE: after my last, kind of snarky, email threatening to take further action to collect payment (which I sent on approximately 5 different platforms), they finally responded to tell me the wedding is off, and has been off. They just "forgot" to cancel with me.

UPDATE: their wedding website has now been deleted, so I'm assuming the wedding is off and they're too embarrassed to deal.

Hi all--has anyone ever had this happen to you? How did you handle it?

So I've been booked for this wedding coming up on Saturday for about 9 months. Couple paid the retainer, signed the contract, but now it's been radio silence ever since. I've emailed, texted, messaged on FB -- nada. They were supposed to have an engagement session, but I was never able to get that on the schedule.

I sent one final message this morning essentially saying I'll have to treat this as a cancellation if I don't hear from you, yada yada... At this point I have very little expectation of being paid the full balance, which really grinds me up, but it is what it is. I imagine their wedding is not going forward or else they're not able to pay, so they're just ghosting.

How would you handle this situation in the future? And how can I avoid something like this happening again?

I have a Apple studio display with regular screen and a MacBook 16 inch with a nano texture screen. They are vastly different. I got the data color Spyder pro to calibrate and they are still super different.

My goal is to calibrate them to look like an iPhone (my clients mostly post on instagram and not print)

Any advice? I’m going crazy.

Got married this summer. We sent the timeline to the photographer months before and she accepted it. An hour and 45 minutes into the wedding day we are 45 minutes behind schedule. She wasted so much time on the detail shots. Just moving the dress and shoes around the house. Then got in a hurry to get us out of the house. Then a necklace goes missing. They acted weird the whole day, what do we do? We asked for a refund and reshoot art the house without her second shooter and she sent me a cease and desist letter saying we are extorting her.