 Pat Wimpee |
Wedding Photography & Invitations Hi, can anyone tell me what the norm is if you are the photographer at a wedding. Do most photogs just take pictures, or do you also do the invitations? (printing as well as taking the photos)Thanks for your input.
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Bob Cammarata |
I'm in the catering business by trade and am therefore familiar with the "package deals" often offered to clients who don't want to bother with logistics. We offer complete catering packages, which include music (our house D.J. service), the wedding cake, limo service and other amenities. To date, I've never heard of a contracted photographer handling the wedding invitations. (Might be a profitable marketing strategy though.)
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Pat Wimpee |
Thanks for your response, Bob. I think I will look into designing a few different styles. I've had a few people ask if I do so. I guess I'll see how it goes!
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Thea Menagh |
Hi, Pat ... I'm a photographer in Toronto, Ontario ... and offer only ONE wedding package. Before simplifying matters, I offered various packages, but have taken the best from each and incorporated them into the one package - which is very popular. I've done wedding invitations similarly to the Thank You cards included in the package ... if I've done the couple's Engagement Portrait ... which is on the front of the Invitation. Engagement Portrait sessions and Invitations are billed separately, and not included in the Wedding Package. To see my Wedding Package details, you can check my website at www.AFittingImage.com. And you'll find often that different people find an enormous variety of things they want included in their Wedding Package. I've found it best to decide on what works best for you - and stick with it! All the very best, Thea
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fax-sinclair.com - Fax Sinclair Contact Fax Sinclair Fax Sinclair's Gallery |
Aloha Pat, I'm a photographer who works for a graphic artist. The biz end of invitations is vast. There are save-the-date cards, invitations with double envelopes, lined and unlined. pre-printed with their address. For an extra charge some companies will print the guests addresses on the outer envelopes. There are response cards and thank you cards. You could contact Carlson Craft and Regency (2 of the biggies) to see if you can get their sample books. And that's just wedding invitations. So sure, make up some invitations that are geared to your area. But I don't think you really want to go to all the hoo-haw of a complete line, and you want to make sure your clients have all the best choices. Isn't shooting the wedding hard enough? Have fun! Aloha, Fax Sinclair
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Kevin N. Keltner |
My cousin at her wedding the photographer did a slide show of her laptop. She hooked it up to a projector, and then she did a slide show with the pics starting from their baby ones up to now. It looked like I would like to do.
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Laura L. Orr |
I am mostly a nature, wildlife and landscape photographer but I do weddings to support buying more equipment. I too do not know of any photographers that do weddings invitations, however, I did do wedding invitations for my daughter's best friend. They are really a pain in the you know what unless you have a really fast printer that has large ink tanks. I did the invitations on my laptop and printed 200 of them myself. It took me a week to finish the job. I didn't charge her, but to make the money you would need for supplies and your time, they could easily go to a stationary company. For what it's worth.....
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Pat Wimpee |
Thanks everyone for taking the time to respond. It just seems like I keep getting ask that question so I was beginning to wonder what was normal! :) I have a laserjet printer and CS suite software already and I do shower and birth announcement for a few people so I guess it really wouldn't be that hard to do them. Have to think about it some more.
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Slim Brady |
Most wedding photographers that want to retire with money in their pocket are outsourcing most of their work and meeting more clients cause thats where the money is. If you are photographer, then be photographer. There are companies that make thousands of different styles of invitations, album companies that design and bind, you get the point. Do what you do best. I can make an excellent wedding cake, but it won't look anyhting like an experienced baker (or taste). Point them in the right direction, thats pleasing enough.
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On3 Photography |
I've done wedding invitations, graduation announcements, birthday and shower invitations, memorial (funeral) folders, business cards, booster buttons, class reunion booklets, and Quinceanera invitations, most of which resulted from either a portrait or more likely, someone seeing what I had done for someone else and loving the creativity! There are ALOT of people out there who want something different, unique, personal and their own, other than the standard (translate boring) products from the usual invitation/announcement companies. I am more than happy to be the photographer AND do that special invitation/announcement for them, just the way they want it. I don't have the "hoo-haw" of a complete line because when they love the look of the invitation/announcement itself, they don't seem to care about how many envelopes deep mail it or if they're foil-lined. People throw those away! - But people have kept inv/annc that I've made and then several years later brought them to me and said, "I kept this cause I loved it, and now I want you to do mine ..." Many of the "big" photographers in my (rural)area of the state have also caught on to this -- especially for seniors/graduations; some have PS employees just to do design and layout. I do almost ALL my own printing on my Epson Stylus Photo R1800 that does a magnificent job, and it doesn't take forever. If a customer needs 20 - or 50 - more announcments, they usually can pick them up the same day. With everything that can be done in PS and even lesser digital editing programs, I don't think the customer's appetite for creativity is going to weaken anytime in the future, and portrait photographers at every level will someday have to either embrace it or watch their customers go elsewhere when what they want is more than a portrait. OR -- are you willing to release the portrait to let ME do something with it?? Something to think about.
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