Cheap wedding photography business, does a market exist?

CabanSail

Is there a market for cheap crap?

Sure there is. There are companies that have made a fortune out of it. (Golden Arches springs to mind.) However the market for fine dining is still growing too.

If you can find a way to deliver a basic product at €299 and make a profit, then good luck to you. Some will take it up for sure.

When you look at Weddings you need to understand the market. They have changed over time. It was not too long ago that people who lived together and were not married were the subject of gossip and scandal. A wedding was seen as a necessary function of society. Now things have changed and most people who have a wedding are already in a long term stable relationship. They often already have children and own a home. The wedding is now more for show. It is a day to celebrate and the traditions and formality of the event are very important. The couple become the centre of attention for the day and they are the celebrities. It is a performance. In that market quality is often equated to price. The bride will not wear just any dress it has to be an expensive dress. The catering has to impress their guests. They will want to have good photographs to continue that show as well as make them feel special when they are being taken. This is an experience which is being sold.

I have a friend who makes jewelry. He told me that people will always haggle over the price of various pieces but NEVER will they do that for wedding bands.

Another person I know does wedding photography packages. He is not cheap but confident of the quality of the product. When someone new moves into his area and tries to compete by undercutting his prices his response has been to slightly raise his own. He is still going and others have fallen by the wayside. He knows that the clients see the price as a measure of quality and as long as he delivers the goods they are happy to pay. The clients which want the bargain basement do not interest him.

The experience expected has also changed. Go back 25 years or so and wedding photo's were much more basic, unless you were a celebrity or very wealthy, however that level of product is what is expected by most people now. They want the glitz and glamour.

Yes .... the market is always changing but this is an area where quality still attracts a premium.

D.S.

CabanSail wrote: »

Is there a market for cheap crap?

Sure there is. There are companies that have made a fortune out of it. (Golden Arches springs to mind.) However the market for fine dining is still growing too.

If you can find a way to deliver a basic product at €299 and make a profit, then good luck to you. Some will take it up for sure.

When you look at Weddings you need to understand the market. They have changed over time. It was not too long ago that people who lived together and were not married were the subject of gossip and scandal. A wedding was seen as a necessary function of society. Now things have changed and most people who have a wedding are already in a long term stable relationship. They often already have children and own a home. The wedding is now more for show. It is a day to celebrate and the traditions and formality of the event are very important. The couple become the centre of attention for the day and they are the celebrities. It is a performance. In that market quality is often equated to price. The bride will not wear just any dress it has to be an expensive dress. The catering has to impress their guests. They will want to have good photographs to continue that show as well as make them feel special when they are being taken. This is an experience which is being sold.

I have a friend who makes jewelry. He told me that people will always haggle over the price of various pieces but NEVER will they do that for wedding bands.

Another person I know does wedding photography packages. He is not cheap but confident of the quality of the product. When someone new moves into his area and tries to compete by undercutting his prices his response has been to slightly raise his own. He is still going and others have fallen by the wayside. He knows that the clients see the price as a measure of quality and as long as he delivers the goods they are happy to pay. The clients which want the bargain basement do not interest him.

The experience expected has also changed. Go back 25 years or so and wedding photo's were much more basic, unless you were a celebrity or very wealthy, however that level of product is what is expected by most people now. They want the glitz and glamour.

Yes .... the market is always changing but this is an area where quality still attracts a premium.

OP - I complete agree with Cabansail here. I admire your thinking outside the box, and looking for an opportunity, but personally I am not sure wedding photography is the right game for disruption.

Of course there is a market for cheap / moderate quality photography if cheap is cheap enough. But I'd doubt you ever make any real money from it (there are already tonnes of cheap photographers offering low - mid quality outcomes). You are essentially looking to complete even lower on price and grab more volume. To grab volume you would need:

- Multiple photographers to take the shots at multiple locations at low cost
- An outsourced provider for Post processing
- Outsourced provider digital storage / printing options

Most mid to high end wedding photographers here in Australia already do all of the above, and have a low enough cost base. The thing is, once your product is high quality enough (the shots / set up, lighting, management of the day, printing etc), you don't need to be cheap, you can charge whatever you want once you have a brand.

My suspicion is that even if you could grab a whole load of cheap photographers and have outsourced providers; once those cheap photographers figured out how to take great shots and make more money, they'd be off, and taking your business with them.

Photography is still a 'craft' business. People (ideally) want the personal touch, in both how they are treated on the day, and what comes back in the quality of shots. So they associate quality with the individual who has the skill, rather than the business behind it. Therefore, the brand of the individual is far more powerful than the brand of the business.

I really don't think there are enough ways to build the economies of scale on the photographer side (i.e. the quality of product / photographers doing the shoot) at a low enough cost point that high volume would make a difference. Otherwise, people would have done it already.

However, there is huge money to be made if you offer a high quality product, have a great brand, and use all of the services you can to minimise your costs. With an outstanding brand / service / product - you can charge what you like.

mc_grens

THIS, right here is why you hire a wedding photographer. I have massive respect for those that do it well- I would never go there simply because I make photographs for enjoyment, and all of the stuff that lies under the hood of being a successful wedding photographer is just not for me.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BAY2UW8LcXZ/

stoplooklisten

Not everyone wants "my big fat gypsy wedding" as others here seem to think. Variety is the spice of life!

lenscap

I have been a professional wedding photographer since 1984 (I'm now semi retired). The one thing that I have seen over the last 32 years is that fashion come and go, styles change, presentation evolves, big lavish bling weddings and small intimate family ones but the one thing remains the same. A good wedding photographer captures the emotion of the people on the day.

Regarding cheap prices, when I started there was always talk of the £99 wedding photos and album. How could it be done? Who wants it? It's cheapening the profession!!!

Yes there was a market for it and people did buy it. But those offering the service didn't last long in business. One guy I knew who went that route told me he regretted it, "I was a busy fool."

My own opinion is that wedding photography is NOT a high volume low margin business. As has been pointed out previously here, photographer's personality and individuality is more important than price. This is one of the reasons agency wedding photography didn't make it big in Ireland. Just like your hotel banqueting manager/caterers, the future couple like the consistency of dealing with the one person through out.

One of the best things I learned was, listen to the customer and find out their expectations and then deliver it. If you can do all then you have a very happy customer, it not then trouble usually follows.

uck51js9zml2yt

I've been in web design and we always used a triangle when explaining things to customers.
There were 3 points. Price, quality, speed.
You can only have 2 of the 3. Unfortunately many people just don't get it!