How To Become A Wedding Photographer: What It Is and Career Path

What is a wedding photographer and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

The average wedding photographer salary is $30,550. The most common degree is a bachelor's degree degree with an photography major. It usually takes 1-2 years of experience to become a wedding photographer. Wedding photographers with a Adobe Photoshop CC 2015 certification earn more money. Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 9% and produce 11,200 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreWedding PhotographerUS Average

Salary

2.4

Avg. Salary $30,550

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

4.5

Growth rate 9%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

5.4

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.23%

Asian 7.09%

Black or African American 6.41%

Hispanic or Latino 15.47%

Unknown 5.72%

White 65.07%

Gender

female 59.71%

male 40.29%

Age - 38

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 38

Stress level

4.5

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

6.5

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

1.9

Work life balance is very poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a wedding photographer

Explore wedding photographer education requirements

Most common wedding photographer degrees

Bachelor's

64.8 %

Associate

17.7 %

Master's

6.7 %

Start to develop specific wedding photographer skills

Skills	Percentages
Adobe Photoshop	27.29%
Adobe Lightroom	12.42%
Portrait Photography	11.04%
Customer Service	6.63%
Bride	6.38%

Complete relevant wedding photographer training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 3-6 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New wedding photographers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a wedding photographer based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real wedding photographer resumes.

Research wedding photographer duties and responsibilities

Manage creative projects from concept to completion; including signs, posters, specialize logos and video documentaries for clients.
Post all pictures on Facebook with privacy setting as requested.
Capture photos with self-provide DSLR and assist in adjusting correct lighting and positioning of equipment.
Assist lead wedding photographer by setting up equipment and taking candid photos during shoots using Nikon D200.

Prepare your wedding photographer resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your wedding photographer resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a wedding photographer resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable wedding photographer resume templates

Build a professional wedding photographer resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your wedding photographer resume.