You take awesome photos, you love the idea of shooting weddings, but you don’t know anyone getting married! How do you book your first wedding?

It’s tricky getting someone to pay you to do something when you’ve got nothing to show – you find yourself in a catch-22, with no photos to show without a booking but no bookings if you have no photos to show! Don’t worry, I’m gonna help you out!

Here’s what I did to book my first weddings:

• Went on a wedding photography course that included a wedding shoot and added the photos to my portfolio.
• Advertised on Gumtree for free couples shoots so I could practise and have something for my portfolio.
• Did a small local wedding fair using these images and got two bookings (each for £1400) – I didn’t tell them I hadn’t shot any weddings yet as I felt confident due to my couples shoots and workshop, plus I had two family weddings lined up so I’d have experience by then.
• Asked around and found a friend of a friend who wasn’t planning on having a photographer at all (you could also find someone on Facebook, Gumtree etc, or run a Facebook advert with a “win your wedding” competition). I shot their wedding for free in February 2013. (Make sure the wedding isn’t too far in the future – you need portfolio material and experience NOW!)
• I was a guest at a wedding in May 2013 so I took my camera and became “Uncle Bob” – I told the photographer beforehand that I planned to do this. I made sure to get a bit of portrait time too, as well as taking candids.
• I then shot a family wedding in July 2013 (got lucky!).
• I then shot 2 paid client (non friend!) weddings in September 2013. One was from the wedding fair and the other was a referral from a local photographer who wouldn’t take on the low-paid gig!
• Meanwhile, I worked several hours a day (alongside a day job) on my SEO – naming images, blogging, populating my site with local keywords.
• I made sure my website looked professional and complete from the start – all the info, FAQ, about me, blog, contact page and galleries, including baby and family shoots I’d done for friends for small fees.
• I quoted prices that showed confidence (started at £1400 for a full day).
• I kept investing in education, and doing styled shoots (simply finding a couple, and dressing them in wedding gear).
• I blogged all sorts of things to keep my site up to date and show off my photography – from photos of my local town to holiday photos.
• I did shoots for fun, to challenge myself, for example, nighttime in London, and blogged that.
• I took photos at wedding fairs and blogged those too!
• I blogged wedding and photography ideas and tips and wedding photography how tos for couples.
• I blogged the wedding photography workshops I went on (and made great industry friends at the same time).
• I used meetup.com to go to group shoots for my portfolio.
• Once my SEO was up there and I had some portfolio material, I got a lot of enquiries for local weddings via Google and other wedding fairs I did.

I then shot 33 weddings in 2014. They came from Google and wedding fairs and word of mouth. Keep hustling, guys!

What you can do right now:

• Ask on Facebook and Instagram for any friend or friends of friends who are getting married soon and want a free wedding photographer (be clear it would be your first). Don’t forget to get a contract written up, no matter how good your friend is.
• Pop an ad on Gumtree and a post on Facebook offering free couples shoots in the next few months.
• Find a couple and borrow a wedding dress and set up a simple mini styled shoot.

What you can do in the next few weeks:

• Get your branding looking great and make your website look professional. I offer website reviews so you can get a good idea of what works and what needs work to bag those bookings.
• Work out who your ideal client is.
• Book onto a wedding fair.
• Label your images for SEO and blog everything you do! (if you have a wedding to blog, but hate writing, you can use this template).