How much traveling do you do as a wedding photographer?

[schumionbike]

Just out of curiosity, how much travelling is involved with a wedding photography business. Do you have to travel far and away often or it is mostly local businesses. How many miles a year do you put on your car?

 

[Phil Holland]

It would depend on your location. Being around Dallas, I do quite a bit of driving and a couple of destinations a year.

 

[Big Mike]

I'd think that you could get a very wide range of answers...as there are a lot of factors involved. In a larger city, your likelihood of getting all or most of your clients in the same city, is much higher than if you live in a smaller city/town etc. Heck, even your willingness to take gigs out of your area, will greatly affect your mileage. And to that point, your ability to book dates can be the determining factor...if you know that you can book a local wedding for just about any date, you can choose to turn down weddings that are out of your travel zone.

Case in point, I live 3-4 hours from Jasper National Park and 5 hours from Banff National Park. Two of the most beautiful areas in the world (IMO). Many photographers in my city will jump at the chance to book weddings in those locations. However, a busy wedding photographer friend of mine, said that the extra time & travel involved, really adds stress & strain to an already busy wedding season. So when he knows that he can book an equally big wedding package for a local wedding, he now opts for that.

I don't shoot a ton of weddings, but I've shot a few out of town weddings in the past couple years. Usually it's small towns in farming communities, that sort of thing. So in that case, I might put on several hundred kilometers, there and back. Depending on the distance and coverage, I either ask for a hotel room to be provided or charge extra for it. I do have a policy that I charge for travel, when it's over an hour (100 km) away, but I'm willing to drop that for friends/family or to sweeten the deal on a larger package.

I do sometimes put on a lot of miles for local weddings. Maybe the getting ready shots are across town, then to the church, then to two or three photo locations, then to the reception & home again. We have lately been driving out of the city, time permitting, to shoot at some old barns etc. So I can easily rack up a hundred or more kilometers on a local wedding day.

Add in other things, like going to meet clients, engagement shoots, going to the lab etc.

 

[DC-Photog]

The majority of my work is in Baltimore, DC, and Maryland's Eastern Shore. I travel frequently to Richmond, Philly and Norfolk. I drive to everything, including consultations. I range 6,000-8,500 miles a year, according to my milage logs that I keep for tax purposes. That doesn't include far-flung destination weddings, which I haven't done in a couple years. The economy is keeping people closer to home.