looking to get started

I would talk to a few local photographers. My experience is that not everyone has a DVD of their wedding made but they all have photos taken. So talk to photographers and see if they will mention you to any clients they have who would like a wedding DVD made but are on a tight budget. You can always offer to pay a referral fee if it works out too.

Having said that, I am generally dead against this approach of starting out really cheap and then up the prices once I get established. This subject crops up on all sorts of bulletting boards and the general consensu is that it never actually pays off. Start with low fees and everyone will complain when they go up. Also, and this may seem strange, charge low and people assume they will get rubbish. Charge high and they assume they will get quality and so come flooding in. I've heard more than once of people getting many many more orders once they simply doubled their prices.

Proabably the best way forward is to offer to do friends wedding as a favour and get a showreel together from that.

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I'm not young enough to know everything!

My advice as a full timer is to offer yourself as a free 2nd shooter to companies just outside your area. Everyone needs a hand if it's only for gophering. But be honest with them - don't pretend you're just a video enthusiast and then desperately scavenge for their best ideas. They'll have seen it all before and they will clam up.
The experience of shooting a few weddings will open your eyes if you think this will be easy. Wrestling with intoxicated gorillas is easy, weddings are hard.
Get at least a few freebies under your belt after that, just to fine tune your technique, then hit the biggest wedding show you can afford with a cracking showreel and go in (quality dependent) at the £750 mark to begin with.
As your experience and style develops this can be raised depending on demand.
If you need further advice I'm happy to help.

Thanks Zero.

I am not too sure about doing that much work for free. Yes I know weddings will be hard but with a good plan to follow and enthusiasm, I am sure I can make a good start.

I am guilty of requesting a demo dvd from a local competitor to get an idea of what I would need to cover. Well, whilst I was very impressed with their site, I was able to make a long list of faults with their dvd - such as: bumpy tripod moves, Too few cut-aways on several chapters / very little creative editing, too many CD pop songs drowning out the camera audio, and so on. It was hard to watch.

I feel confident I can do much better.

Didn't we all when we first started . . . Let us know when you've made the perfect wedding video. I haven't. Though I have come close many times.

I'd say working for free with few a photgraphers and/or other videographers is
the way to go in the beginning. Offer photogs a free video photomontage of their
work. Have them post it on their site and have your link right there...booyah!

Make a list of all the vendors and venues in your local area, drop by (better
than just cold calling), give'em a demo and get a name. Wait a week, and then
call.."Hi, may I please speak with Jane Doe". And then follow up from there.

It's a start.

With any initial marketing campaign, it's best to do a number of things. Come to
think of it, its best to do a number of things all the time.

Website with demos. Cards with URL.

Hope this help!

algee

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The DV Artists Lounge

Hi Welshspielberg,how are you getting on with your wedding filming business ? I'm in exactly the same position as you were,ie looking to starting filming events/weddings,part-time or even full time early 2008.Do you ever do any work in Bristol or surrounding areas,if so and you need some free help then i'd be happy to help.Hopefully i'll be getting a sony xdcam soon.Currently editing using Pinnacle studio 11 and sony vegas pro 8.