A Winning Trifecta: Brides, Grooms and Details

With the 2016 wedding season well underway, I wanted to share three of my favorite videos from Profoto USA's "Walk Through a Wedding" series with Justin and Mary Marantz.  The number of weddings in the United States continues to be pretty stable. I found some interesting statistics on the SoundVision.com site:

• 2.3 million couples wed every year in the US. That breaks down to nearly 6,200 weddings a day
• the average age of a bride in the US is 25.3
• average age of a groom is 26.9
• average number of guests invited to a wedding is 178
• one-third of those getting married each year have been married before​

At the same time, the wedding photography market has never been more competitive!  When you look at the skill set of many of the wedding photographers in the business currently, it becomes obvious that all photographers were NOT created equal. 

There are some very special skills you need to have to make your work standout. At a time in the photography industry where so many artists think the key is their camera and have taken some serious shortcuts in their education, many of you have an opportunity to raise the bar on the quality of your images and exceed client expectations.

I chose these three videos to share again for some very special reasons:

The Iconic Bridal Portrait: Can you pose and light a stunning traditional bridal portrait? It's a skill set that's missing for so many of you. Plus, Profoto's Off-Camera Flash and their focus on education is making it even easier for you to understand the technique involved. 

"Groomals:" Everyone worries about the bride, but don't forget the groom has a family too. Apply the same skills to a traditional portrait with the groom that you do with the bride, along with telling the story as the groom is getting ready. Regardless of the traditions around which side of the family is paying for the photography, it's important to make sure you've got images both families will appreciate.

Get the Details: Details help tell the story, and they're everything from ring shots, cake details, and the flowers, just to name a few. But, once again you need the skill set. Take the time to understand close-up and macro photography and then create images different from what all your competitors are showing.

Profoto not only makes the finest lighting equipment in the industry, they also never stop focusing on education. For example, Tony Corbell, considered by many of us to be one of the great masters of lighting is on the road all over the U.S. Just click the link below for the most up to date schedule.

And, Justin and Mary did twenty videos in the "Walk Through a Wedding series. Each one is short and to the point, giving you help on creating a wedding album that's truly deserving of becoming a new family's first heirloom!

Remember too, this is a word-of-mouth business and the more you exceed client expectations, the better your chances of becoming habit-forming!

On the road with Tony Cobell

The Series: Walk Through a wedding