Aunt wants me to do wedding for free

[Silvercall]

Cool, I wish you luck and hope you rock it!  Will this be your first wedding?

[Lil Chillbil]

Cool, I wish you luck and hope you rock it!  Will this be your first wedding?

 

yup, 

[upliftsleet1974]

If your doing this I feel bad for your aunt...

[SheriffHD]

If she wants it for free, do everyting you can that wont cost you any money. take photos and upload them to facebook and give her a disk with all the high quality images. that way if she wants them printed out, she can do that on her own back and not out of your wallet.

[Lil Chillbil]

If she wants it for free, do everyting you can that wont cost you any money. take photos and upload them to facebook and give her a disk with all the high quality images. that way if she wants them printed out, she can do that on her own back and not out of your wallet.

I'm uploading them all to flicker and not making a single print 

[Tomislav Matic]

here is some advice. If you are a pro at something, make people value your work. I get tons of similar requests: can you make a banner for free, a catalog for free, nude pictures of my sister's double D's for free(ok i don't get those   ) and apart from the last one I usually decline. Here is why. First of all as a professional graphic designer I need to work for money, so I can eat,pay rent and bills, buy new hardware visit Tahiti and party on sundays. It is real work! It takes time,and knowledge and talent to do it.And expensive equipment and software. If you are my best friend or a family member you will appreciate my work and offer me money for what I do, and most of all you will appreciate my time because my time on this planet is limited (unless google does something ). Of course if I you need some minor work from me I won't charge you and you'll always get a discount if you need a bigger job done. But be aware: paid work comes first! Free work I'll do if I have time. So let's go back to your specific problem. Shooting a wedding cost a lot of money,and you have to have a lot of equipment too. Also your aunt will be expecting a pro work + she knows where you live and she can give you a really bad time if she's not happy with the work you do. So explain to her, that you would like to come to her wedding and enjoy that special day as the rest of your family, being relaxed and happy. Tell her that you want to drink and dance and eat and have sex with the bride's maids (ok don't do that but you get the picture), and most importantly that you don't want to work while every other member of your family is having fun. Also tell her that you can take your camera to the wedding but just to take a few pictures if you feel the need to out of your own love for photography, and leave all the "work" to the hired wedding photographer.  If she really want's you to do photos, the if you must do it but tell here that you are a pro and that you need to eat from that and that you will give her a big discount or if she can hook you up with a few jobs that will pay for this job being done for free that you will be doing it for free ( get a signed statement on that last one or a contract). If you can however avoid being hired for the job, and offer to recommend a colleague   of yours that will do the job for less money than any pro photographer she can find. Go to the wedding, drink, eat, and keep those bride's maids warm! Cheers! 

[Silvercall]

I'm sorry but I have to ask, are you a pro? Is this your first paid gig? I ask because wedding photography is very competitive and you are only worth what others will pay for your services. If you have no previous work, will a total stranger pay for you to shoot their wedding and how much would they pay? I know I wouldn't pay much for someone who has little to no experience. Do you have a portfolio that shows you are worth $1000 or even just $100? I guess my point is, if you are just starting out and you want to be a "pro", it's up to you to prove to your clients that you are worth it. If you've had a ton of paid work, and people are seeking you out for work, then you are set. The last thing you want is to say you are pro and charge too much and get no business.

[Lil Chillbil]

I'm sorry but I have to ask, are you a pro? Is this your first paid gig? I ask because wedding photography is very competitive and you are only worth what others will pay for your services. If you have no previous work, will a total stranger pay for you to shoot their wedding and how much would they pay? I know I wouldn't pay much for someone who has little to no experience. Do you have a portfolio that shows you are worth $1000 or even just $100? I guess my point is, if you are just starting out and you want to be a "pro", it's up to you to prove to your clients that you are worth it. If you've had a ton of paid work, and people are seeking you out for work, then you are set. The last thing you want is to say you are pro and charge too much and get no business.

 

I have a small portfolio, some portraits as well as my work with shooting baptisms. 

[Tomislav Matic]

Silvercall has a point, if you want to get into this business it would be ok to this cheap and even for free but really professional...but not under those crazy terms and not on your aunt's wedding. First rule of being a pro. 1. Start acting like a pro, and be serious.  That raw talk had some very good advice that you can apply to any freelance business you do.

[MrSuperb]

This "1. Never shoot weddings for family or friends" ...

 

NEEEVER!

 

 

(unless those friends are far from close and can be avoided in the future)

[MrSuperb]

And before you shoot your first wedding one your own, you should have at least assisted a real pro a few times.

[BigD1970]

But u might not survive after that bucket of chicken and no income.

[FellTheSky]

for 100 cant even pay my hookers

[Mooshi]

[Lil Chillbil]

This "1. Never shoot weddings for family or friends" ...

 

NEEEVER!

 

 

(unless those friends are far from close and can be avoided in the future)

 

good news is, after this they are directly moving to Missouri almost 2 thousand miles away to live in a trailor and they are broke ass poor so they won't be able to get to me because by the time they could afford to fly back to cali i'll be 18 and away to college. 

[Guest]

If I had to, I would do it... It's family, so why not? She's already probably spending so much as it is for the rest of her wedding. I think a little payment is ok but $1000? Sounds a little greedy in my opinion :3

[dalekphalm]

If I had to, I would do it... It's family, so why not? She's already probably spending so much as it is for the rest of her wedding. I think a little payment is ok but $1000? Sounds a little greedy in my opinion :3

Do you know anything about hiring a wedding photographer? Even a cheap/not-so-good one will cost her over $1000. Good ones can cost you upwards of $6500 or more in some rare cases. $1000 for family is a good deal.

 

I personally believe that she should have covered the monetary expenses at least (Eg: cost of renting equipment, printing prints, etc), and then the labour could have been the "wedding gift", since the labour is where most of the value is anyway, it would have been a good deal for her. Plus that means he won't be able to enjoy the wedding with the rest of his family because now he will be busy taking hundreds (likely over a thousand) of pictures, constantly moving around trying to get the right shot, always on the lookout for those random picture-perfect moments that can never be planned or staged, etc.

[Lil Chillbil]

Do you know anything about hiring a wedding photographer? Even a cheap/not-so-good one will cost her over $1000. Good ones can cost you upwards of $6500 or more in some rare cases. $1000 for family is a good deal.

 

I personally believe that she should have covered the monetary expenses at least (Eg: cost of renting equipment, printing prints, etc), and then the labour could have been the "wedding gift", since the labour is where most of the value is anyway, it would have been a good deal for her. Plus that means he won't be able to enjoy the wedding with the rest of his family because now he will be busy taking hundreds (likely over a thousand) of pictures, constantly moving around trying to get the right shot, always on the lookout for those random picture-perfect moments that can never be planned or staged, etc.

 

I rented a 50mm, 24-70mm

and a 85mm for lenses. And a 7d to pair with my 600d to use for the main camera when the 7d runs out of either batt or memory. They are seriously also looking for a free videoagrapher. good luck finding that lol. 

[dalekphalm]

I rented a 50mm, 24-70mm

and a 85mm for lenses. And a 7d to pair with my 600d to use for the main camera when the 7d runs out of either batt or memory. They are seriously also looking for a free videoagrapher. good luck finding that lol. 

Are these relatives cheap/stingy or do they just not realize the cost of hiring these kinds of professionals?

 

Or are they financially impoverished? I can understand wanting to find free from family/friends if you just can't afford it otherwise.

[Lil Chillbil]

Are these relatives cheap/stingy or do they just not realize the cost of hiring these kinds of professionals?

 

Or are they financially impoverished? I can understand wanting to find free from family/friends if you just can't afford it otherwise.

 

They are on crack lol, and don't see just "snapping a few photos and tweeting them" is worth $1000 wtf 

[Silvercall]

When is the wedding? Be sure to post some of the pics when it's all done. I would like to see some! :-) if I were you and doing it for free, I would not make her any prints... I would probably just edit the photos and put them on disk. Don't even give her the raw files as she probably won't even know what to do with them. And remember to have fun that night. Most wedding photogs don't shoot the whole night. They usually have a place at the dinner and leave shortly after the dancing starts.

[Lil Chillbil]

When is the wedding? Be sure to post some of the pics when it's all done. I would like to see some! :-) if I were you and doing it for free, I would not make her any prints... I would probably just edit the photos and put them on disk. Don't even give her the raw files as she probably won't even know what to do with them. And remember to have fun that night. Most wedding photogs don't shoot the whole night. They usually have a place at the dinner and leave shortly after the dancing starts.

 

sometime in november, i'll be sure to post a lot of the pictures on here 

[Slaeowulf]

Gotta agree with most people on this. If you were a bricklayer she wouldn't expect you to do the new extension on her house for free, why should this skill be any different? 

[Smashbow]

And she was expecting posters and hand out cards too. The nerve!

[Guest]

Advice:

1. Never shoot weddings for family or friends

2. Never shoot weddings

3. Tell them to hire a professional wedding photog with proper and redundant equipment. Maybe you could get the gig as second shooter and get a cut from there

never again shall i take photos at a wedding i end up going to like 3 everysummer