For lack of a better place...
I do have a photography blog, but I'm 100% sure no one reads it, unless I post it somewhere. With that knowledge, it doesn't seem worth it for me to retrieve my password to put this there.
This is about wedding photography. While I absolutely understand that this is the pinnacle of professional photography, that 80% of the money made in photography is paid out for wedding photos, and that it is like being a brain surgeon in the doctor world - something you really should know what you're doing before you do it - there are some exceptions.
The exceptions are what I want to talk about. Everyone is allowed to get married, regardless of economic status - not having enough money to pay for a catered dinner, a grand hall, and a top-notch, experienced and proven photographer does not put you out of the ability or desire to wed. Lots of weddings are done on a shoe-string budget, and they're still very nice. Some people don't want the entire extended families on both sides and every person they ever met at their wedding either, some just prefer it small and intimate. Some people just go to city hall and go to a restaurant with a few people and all they really want are snapshots of their night.
If people can do the big thing and want to do that - and they want the most freakin' amazing photographs ever, then they should not pinch pennies on their photographer or their time in choosing exactly the right one.
However, there are lots of reasons why people either can't or don't want to spend that money. Everyone has seen the photographer shaming online. Caveat Emptor I say to those people, really. And for those that didn't get amazing photos because they only paid $500 or $250, or even $1000 - you got what you paid for - the problem is not with your photos (most of the time) it's with your expectations.
If someone asked me to photograph a small, intimate wedding, I'd probably go ahead and do it. I am confident in my ability to take photos - even if I know I can always reshoot the dog, the child, the baby, or the corporate head-shot if I blow it, that it's not a "do or die" day - I never have to do that. I always get what I want, or at least something decent, and trust me, babies and dogs are a lot harder to get photos of than a couple who is ready and willing to pose for you. It's true, that on that ONE day my gear might fail. Just like that ONE DAY I dumped a bucket of paint on someone's carpet. You deal with those problems when they arise, and I would probably be calling a few friends to see if I could quickly borrow their gear if both my cameras died, at exactly the same time.
Millions of wedding photographers would try to eat me alive for doing it - even though they wouldn't want the job because it doesn't pay enough. I'm not qualified, they'd say. And maybe I'm not qualified to do a $5000 wedding, but I will tell you that the folks who hire me for $500 will be more than happy with what they get for it. I'm competent, and in Photoshop, I'm more than competent. I have 2 cameras, I have multiple batteries and memory cards, and if I can't make my triggers work, then I'll switch to on-camera flash and reflectors, I also have a helper to hold my reflectors, and do whatever else I need. All my stuff isn't nearly as top of the line as theirs, but if half of it breaks, I'm still good to go. Not that it even matters if I have good daylight and the wedding is outside. Just saying.
I'm not going to do a wedding, at least probably not. I'm more into doing artful photography, more challenging photography (sports and wildlife), or standard portraiture and while lots of people do artful wedding photography, it's not my thing, I'd rather have the time and ability to rely on trial and error while creating art. Maybe one day, but probably not. But there are a lot of other people who are willing to take $50 or $100 or $0 to take photos of someone's wedding. They might have aspirations, that one day they might make $5000 too and for those, I say they're going about achieving that goal in a terribly wrong way. Find a mentor, do it that way, then you know what you need to do. But for others, it's a gig with money that they can buy some new gear with - and if the wedded couple doesn't care if their photos are top-of-the-line, then neither should anyone else. As long as the people are aware that you're an amateur with amateur gear, then that's all they need to know. Everyone can let their existing photos speak for their ability.
Because in the land of weddings, most people want photos, and some are simply not able to pay the big bucks, and some don't want to pay them and hopefully have lowered their expectations accordingly. Trying to suck money out of people who either don't have it or truly do not want to spend it on photographs is sleazy. So let the small-time wedding photographers live and work and earn their income too and let those searching for epic photographs find the person suitable to take them.