Profitable Wedding Photography is a new book by Elizabeth Etienne. The 224-page paperback covers every aspect of running a wedding photography business in a lively, easy-to-understand way. Drawing from her twenty-three years of experience in the wedding photography industry, author Elizabeth Etienne teaches her readers how to protect their businesses with contracts and model releases, create a business website optimised to attract clients, deal effectively with challenges such as bad weather and difficult clients, and much more. Going on sale in April, Profitable Wedding Photography is priced at $24.95.

Press Release

Bridezillas, Breakdowns, and Rain

The Trials and Joys of Becoming a Successful Wedding Photographer

“[Elizabeth Etienne] not only has the gift of capturing truly beautiful and authentic imagery like no one I’ve ever seen, but she has the charisma and personality to match.”

—World-famous wedding planner Colin Cowie

Some wedding photography disasters are based on weather or equipment—there’s a downpour on the wedding day, or a flash mechanism goes on the fritz. Others have to do with that legendary figure in wedding lore: the bridezilla.

Seasoned photographer Elizabeth Etienne explains how she handled a particularly difficult bride’s demands in her new book Profitable Wedding Photography. After Etienne explained that she could not complete all of the client’s desired shots in fifteen minutes, the bride demanded to be refunded her retainer fee. Etienne explained that the retainer was nonrefundable, and the bride threatened a lawsuit. Etienne politely held her ground, even after several harassing emails.

“Always remain calm and professional no matter how irrational someone else is acting,” Etienne says. “Make sure your contracts state everything necessary to protect yourself; when in doubt, seek professional legal advice; and never allow a crazy bride to destroy your passion and commitment to excellence—they do not understand what is required to do what we do.”

Drawing from her twenty-three years of experience in the wedding photography industry, Etienne thoroughly covers every aspect of running a wedding photography business in a lively, easy-to-understand way in her new book Profitable Wedding Photography. Examples of Etienne’s sumptuous photography are included throughout the book, as are essential elements to the photographer’s business and legal concerns, including sample shot lists, contracts, fee calculation formulas, and photography timelines.

In this book readers will learn how to:

- Protect their businesses with contracts and model releases
- Create a business website optimized to attract clients
- Hire and manage interns, assistants, and other essential staff
- Deal effectively with challenges such as bad weather and difficult clients
- Price a wedding photography product and service package appropriately
- Market their products through social networking and print media

Anyone looking for practical advice on how to start and grow a wedding business will need this one-stop resource from one of the most sought-after wedding photographers in the world.

“The primary goals of this book are to help you reduce the growing pains of shooting a real wedding and build the most successful wedding photography business possible,” says Etienne. “There’s simply nothing better than wallowing in the glory of creating incredible images, traveling to beautiful, romantic locations, eating great food, meeting new people, and earning money with your camera! Could it get any better than that?”

Elizabeth Etienne, a graduate of the Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara, California, contributes to key industry publications such as Bride World, Rangefinder, AfterCapture, The Times Journal of Photography, PDN, Petersen’s Photographic Magazine, Photoserve.com, Kodak.com, and Photobiz.com. She currently serves on Kodak’s advisory board and has her own consulting business and workshop company called Dream Team Photo Workshops. She lives in Southern California.

Profitable Wedding Photography

By Elizabeth Etienne
$24.95, 6 x 9, 224 pages
Paperback, ISBN 978-1-58115-764-2
Publication Date: April 2011

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