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What if the goal wasn’t to book MORE weddings, but to build a business that makes more money without taking up more of your life?

We talk a lot about growth in the wedding industry. Raising our prices, booking luxury weddings, increasing demand, and hitting those big revenue milestones. And while all of those things are worth celebrating, there’s a piece of the conversation that we don’t think gets nearly enough attention.

Profitability. And more importantly, what profitability actually looks like for YOU.

In this week’s episode of The Level Up Podcast, I am pulling back the curtain on 16 years of business at 618 Studios, sharing actual revenue numbers from their earliest seasons to where the business stands today.

And the numbers are pretty interesting!

Back in 2011, Paul and I were filming weddings for as little as a few hundred dollars, taking on around 30 weddings a year, and building their business through friends, family, and word of mouth. That first full year brought in nearly $74,000 in revenue.

By 2013, we had crossed six figures. By 2018, we were bringing in over $200,000 annually while shooting fewer than 20 weddings.

And today? We’ve capped our wedding calendar at just 12 weddings per year, with projected wedding revenue approaching $200,000.

Here’s what makes those numbers so interesting. There were years when we brought in nearly the same amount of revenue while working significantly more weekends.

Neither business model was necessarily wrong. They just served two very different seasons of life.

And we think that’s something more wedding photographers and videographers need to hear.

It’s SO easy to look around the industry and measure our success against someone else’s. The photographer booking 40 weddings a year. The filmmaker charging $20,000 per wedding. The business owner traveling every weekend to beautiful destinations.

But are those things actually profitable? And even more importantly, would that version of success make sense for the life you’re trying to build?

A full calendar doesn’t automatically equal a profitable wedding business.

Neither does a packed inquiry inbox.

One of the biggest lessons I share is how important it is to understand the numbers behind your bookings. Not just how many weddings are on the calendar, but what couples are actually investing, which collections they’re booking, and how that compares to previous years.

Because when inquiries slow down, it’s easy to panic. We’ve seen photographers and filmmakers start discounting their services or making big changes to their pricing simply because their inbox feels quieter than usual.

But sometimes the numbers tell a completely different story.

And that’s where having a better understanding of your business can make such a difference.

We believe there are multiple paths to building a successful, profitable wedding photography or videography business. For some, that means moving into the luxury market and taking fewer weddings. For others, it might mean increasing volume, diversifying revenue, or finding a balance between the two.

The important thing is making sure your business is growing in a direction that actually supports your goals.

Because the version of success that worked five years ago might not be the version that makes sense today. And that’s OKAY!

If you’re ready to get more intentional about growing your wedding business, building meaningful industry relationships, and surrounding yourself with other photographers and filmmakers who are working toward the same thing, we’d love to have you inside The League!

Because building a profitable business doesn’t mean you have to figure it all out on your own.

Join us inside The League and start building the connections that can help take your business to the next level. 🚀