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Now I know wedding photography makes money and makes good money indeed. My question though is if I were to start which I really want to then how would I go on about this? I mean it's obvious that I would need at least some sort of short portfolio to be built up before anyone considers hiring me and to do that I would have to work with someone even if its for free to get that built up. How do I find those pros? Do I just randomly open yellow pages and start calling them up offering my services for free? Also what would they require for me to have? I already own 40D and 17-55 wide angle IS lens but that's about it. I have quite extensive photography experience though as I took lots of artistic pictures before as a hobby so in terms of interesting wedding pictures I think i will do fine.

So if the portfolio is out of the way what would be the next step to take? Open up pro website with services info and advertise it locally through newspapers and any other means?

Any info is much appreciated it

Not that i have any idea about wedding photography, i do know a little about business in general. First of all, you need a webpage and you need it to look good. I think that when most people think photography, the first thing that crosses their mind is that it has to look great. And this will without doubt go for both you're pictures, but the webpage layout in general as well.

About how to get started, i think if you could start by taking pictures at a friends wedding (or a friend of a friend), that would be a good start. If people likes your work, maybe they'll recomend you to someone else, and then more jobs for you.

Thats at least my first thoughts...

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Jake

Canon EOS 400D + EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS + EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS + EF 50mm f/1.8
My Photos - My webpage (danish)

Funny you should mention that. My friend had a weeding not too long ago but it just happened to be that I got camera after it

I'm probably going to be photographing a wedding for a friend of my mums (we were both invited anyway but still) since they are a little tight on cash, so my mum said I could do it for free, and it could be a wedding present, and that my she (my mum) would give me a little money for doing it.

Beats the hell out of being bored all day (since I know like no one lol!)

40D with my 3 lenses and perhaps 2 flash guns should be enough for most things I'll be doing. Apparently one of her friends is a photographer, but I've still to find out who has more experience, me or him/her - if I'm the assistant or they are, then its fine, its all experience.

I've got a book on it, and I've also read some articles in magazines about wedding photography.

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Canon EOS 5DmkII + BG-E6 + Canon EOS 40D + BG-E2N + Canon EOS 33
Canon 17-40 F/4L USM + Canon 24-70 F/2.8L USM + Canon 28mm F/1.8 USM + Canon 70-200 F/2.8L USM IS + Canon 85mm F/1.8 USM
Canon Speedlite 580EX II + Canon Speedlite 540EZ + 2 x Nikon SB-80DX
Cactus V2s Wireless Trigger - 5 x Cactus V2s Wireless Reciever

MY FLICKR!

Which one? Recommended?

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Thomas (beware: Nikon-fanboy and moderator!) My Lens Reviews, My Pictures, My Photography Blog
D800+assorted lenses

I do film (video) weddings, I have done about 20? or so, and I have my horror stories with some. lol. DD_nVidia is right its 100% pure experience, I started by pretty much following around a friend that was a professional and just doing the monkey see, monkey do thing. and I have lots of help from friends and similar forums like this one.

I would volunteer to take photographs at someones wedding just to get experience points and some sample shots for advertisement. ext..

in any business you start off small and work your way up, don't give up and push for resources/networking. pretty much those 20 or so weddings I have done, have been either people I knew or friends of people I knew, so tell ALLL of your friends and family about your services! I think that will help most defiantly.

horror story of mine: Father and daughter dance right? if anyone shoots video, I have a canon gl2, anyways middle of the song I started getting tape head cleaning warnings, the worst thing ever, i had to stop filming clean the heads and put a new tape in. horrible experience, and I am sure every wedding photographer/videographer. has had their moments, so point is, never give up, a screw up is almost promised along the career.

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Back Window Productions
I can't sing, and I can't write, so the only thing I have to express myself is Photography.
www.backwindowproductions.com (UP!!)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/paul_lucas/

Well said! Thank you!

You may find that you need a bit more kit - but not much more. Flashgun, spare batteries and memory cards as a minimum.

You can't ever plan for the unexpected but you can be prepared in event that something unexpected happens (I hope I haven't lost you yet!); I'm not in the business of wedding photography, but from experience and in photojournalism my preparation would be to carry the smallest kit bag I could and leave a lens cloth and rocket blower inside (I'd make sure my camera is clean before shooting - the blower is in case of dust on the lens during shooting), extra memory cards (and swap them regularly in case of card failures), spare batteries, a reflector and an extra flashgun. Keep a larger kit bag for safely transporting your equipment and a tripod in your car for any group photos, but it shouldn't be needed other than for that.

I wouldn't carry extra lenses inside my bag as I'd carry two bodies with me one on each shoulder - one with wide/normal zoom, and then a short-mid telephoto (my 80-200mm 2.8 AF-D - excellent for candid portraiture). This gives me the flexibility of different shooting ranges without needing to swap lenses, better IQ than a super-zoom, and the safety of knowing that if a camera fails, I have a secondary.

Finally there's more than a likely chance that there are children at the wedding - bring something colourful like a miniature fluffy toy and place it on top of your flashgun/hot shoe, fixed with an elastic band. I find this gets great expressions from them (even adults too!) As a reminder, this should only be deployed at the reception. For the wedding itself focus on the bride and groom (plus parents). They should be in the majority of the photos and the main attraction.

Although I've digressed a little, I hope this helps.

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Nikonian

http://www.edtangphotography.com
http://journeysintophotography.blogspot.com/

Finally there's more than a likely chance that there are children at the wedding - bring something colourful like a miniature fluffy toy and place it on top of your flashgun/hot shoe, fixed with an elastic band. I find this gets great expressions from them (even adults too!) As a reminder, this should only be deployed at the reception. For the wedding itself focus on the bride and groom (plus parents). They should be in the majority of the photos and the main attraction.

Although I've digressed a little, I hope this helps.[/quote]

I've seen lots of people do that, I was at the Dew tour, professional actionsports world cup a few months back, a MTV crew was shooting for a show, on top of this guys 80,000$ camera he had a bunch of small action figures ziptied to the camera, I don't think it meets your purpose but sure is funny to see. I would love a job as a production crew for MTV, those guys have so much fun, they goof off behind the scenes so much

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Back Window Productions
I can't sing, and I can't write, so the only thing I have to express myself is Photography.
www.backwindowproductions.com (UP!!)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/paul_lucas/

This link here: http://tips.romanzolin.com/articles/article006.php is one of the best I have found. It is both descriptive and pragmatic and it all "makes sense" to me.

At the very bottom, there are links to other wedding photography articles.

Not surprisingly, the emphasis is on preparation. Equipment and storyboard wise.

It's a good read!

Cheers

Great advices

Thank you very much!