Ok I'm done... selling my wedding gear (UK)

[Dave Partington]

I've gone back and forth over the last couple of months thinking about whether I want to continue in the wedding business and I've come to the conclusion i don't.

I've already sold off 4 cameras last year and I'm going to sell off more now (probably ebay or gumtree).

If anyone is interested in getting a look-in before I do that here's what I'm likely to be selling:

1x Canon C100
1x Canon 5D3
1x Canon 24-105L
1x Canon 50mm f1.4
1x Canon 70-200 f2.8L IS II
1x Samyang 85mm T1.5
2x Røde NTG2
1x Zoom H4n (I'm keeping all my other recorders)
Various LED lights, including Comer 1800 and Yongnuo 300/600 (mkI & II)

I'll keep my other stuff for my on going corporate / aerial business, but that's just not going to be weddings.

[Tom Sessions]

What made you come to that conclusion...photog in your shots :-(

[Craig McKenna]

Seriously?! That's such a shame, Dave. What's happened to make you finally decide to do this?

I'd have purchased all of your kit, but I can't afford to.

Hope the rest of your business is going well and thank you for all the help you have given to me over the past year, it's been truly invaluable.

[Paul Ekert]

Hi Dave,

I've sent you a message asking for prices on some of these items. Not sure if you got it or not. Let me know.

Also, sad to hear your heading out of the business. As someone reentering it after a time away, can I ask why and what advice yoiud have for me?

Paul

[Dave Partington]

Paul: Just picked up your PM. Will come back to you. As for re-entering the market, figure out what brides really want instead of when you'd like to sell them, they could be two very different things!

Craig: The rest of the business is going great - thanks! I think we all know when it's time to move on, when the magic has gone out of what we've been doing and we need to take another direction. I'm staying in photo/video (hence keeping a lot of my other kit), just not doing any more weddings.

[Craig McKenna]

Originally Posted by Dave Partington

Paul: Just picked up your PM. Will come back to you. As for re-entering the market, figure out what brides really want instead of when you'd like to sell them, they could be two very different things!

Craig: The rest of the business is going great - thanks! I think we all know when it's time to move on, when the magic has gone out of what we've been doing and we need to take another direction. I'm staying in photo/video (hence keeping a lot of my other kit), just not doing any more weddings.

Great to hear Dave! Keep knocking 'em out of the park!

Definitely, Dave. We all know when it's time. Just a shame that we won't be seeing you knocking around these parts. Hope you have a great 2015!

[George Kilroy]

Dave I made the same decision a year or so ago and don't regret it. Shooting weddings was great when I was getting satisfaction and creative fulfillment from them but when the spark goes and interest wains and even the money is not enough to ignite enthusiasm you just know it's time to leave it to those with the hunger and passion to continue.

[Chris Harding]

Hey George

My feelings exactly ... I'm also getting tired of doing weddings and would much rather do something that has less marketing requirements. I'd much rather do repeat shoots for say a dozen business that do just single one-off weddings ...it's far easier to "service" a small group of clients than have to market almost from scratch on each and every job. They say that once you spend 100% finding a new client it only takes 16% of your time to keep them happy for repeat business. With weddings you have to go thru the 100% sales process each and every time!!

Maybe Dave can tell us what sort of work he is getting to make it worthwhile quitting weddings? or is that a trade secret Dave??

Chris

[James Manford]

That's the only downside to filming weddings in my opinion.

Repeating the marketing process each and every time. Some days you simply don't have it in you or it feels too repetitive.

[George Kilroy]

Hi Chris, I keep popping back in here, despite kicking weddings into touch. Those 25+ years must have imprinted deeply in my psyche as I can't help looking in to see how the business is going.

I feel that I hung on maybe a year or two too long as I really didn't enjoy the last few weddings when the frustrating things we moan about here became really annoying. I clung on partly in fear of burning my bridges an a nervousness about what would fill the void and all those empty Saturdays. As you know I moved away from UK and expected the video work to fade away but I have found that the small amount of business work I hung onto has increase to the point that I'm now returning frequently to shoot industrial training videos. It's not as lucrative as I have greater traveling costs to bear but it's far more enjoyable working without the pressures and frustrations that a wedding day often has. I much prefer working with people who know what they are doing and working together to achieve an end result rather than with a disparate group of service providers all firmly working for their own ends and have little or no consideration for the resulting video, nor should they need to. Less stress, more satisfaction.

[Chris Harding]

Very good point too. At weddings you not only having photogs trying to fight you for space and annoying you with flash, but the guests themselves are nowdays so tech savvy that they start to get in the way. A controlled commercial shoot is so much nicer and structured too.

I won't even go into the marketing hassles and trying to convince a bride that a weekend warrior charging half your price is NOT a good deal!