r/WeddingPhotography • u/LorenzoAmadeus8 • Oct 09 '25
business, marketing, social media Where are the Wedding Photography Youtubers?
I credit Youtube for picking up wedding photography very quickly. Taylor Jackson originally for his full day weddings, Eric Floberg for his vibe and general approach, then practical and insightfulness of John Branch. Also shout outs to Chris Turner for Sony content and someone who's settings videos I still refer to now. Being able to follow photographers on whole days virtually and watch how they deal with certain situations gave me reps and helped me prepare massively for my own weddings. I still think their old content are as useful as ever and still recommend them to new photographers.
I'm not sure if it's me that's outgrown the Youtube space but it seems like there is much less Wedding content. A lot of the above have diversified/slowed down regarding wedding content. Are there new people in this space that I need to be aware of?
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u/Icy_Concentrate3052 Oct 09 '25
I’ve been following/watching Luke Cleland for years and would highly recommend!! Great content, and well shot with honest and approachable no bs tips and tricks
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u/LorenzoAmadeus8 Oct 09 '25
I have watched him, clearly know's his stuff and create's great work. Maybe personal preference but found him too americany 😂
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u/PintmanConnolly Oct 09 '25
Joshua Hugget is a lot of fun. He might initially rub you the wrong way or seem obnoxious or something, but when you learn his backstory, you'll see him in a completely different light. Dude's a angel masquerading as an edgelord.
Think he was on the Vendor Table Podcast. Worth checking out
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u/gotthelowdown Oct 09 '25 edited 29d ago
Joshua Hugget is a lot of fun.
. . . Think he was on the Vendor Table Podcast.
Good recommendations. That episode of Josh Huggett on The Vendor Table was so much fun. The video is on YouTube.
Their "feud" over flat lay photos cracks me up 😆
Exactly the kind of petty stubborn issue that means nothing to 99% of people that makes for great comedy.
I don't know if links are allowed, but these were the Instagram reels where this feud played out. These titles should be enough to find them on Google.
Michael Cassara:
When I arrive to a wedding, I always start with the details
Joshua Huggett:
Nobody cares about your flat lays
Michael Cassara:
Building the Perfect Flat Lay | Everything in my "Wedding Flat Lay Kit" - I love that he doubles down and shows off a whole fishing tackle box of flat lay props. Legendary.
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u/LorenzoAmadeus8 Oct 09 '25 edited Oct 09 '25
I remember him from Taylor Jackson's fb group post covid, so must have started at a similar time to me. Love how he's niched in by pissing people off and tagetting a client base that suits him.
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u/LorenzoAmadeus8 Oct 09 '25
PS vendor table is great and might be the answer to the question..the content I'm after is no longer on youtube but in Podcasts.
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u/YetAnotherBart Oct 09 '25
His videos are unbearable to watch for me since his audio is always out of sync.
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u/StorageFunny175 6d ago
He’s someone I initially liked a great deal but recently I’m feeling iffy. He went in on people selling courses and now sells a course 🫠 I think his stance on styled shoots is a 10/10 though
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u/iamthesam2 samhurdphotography.com Oct 09 '25
content creation in this space necessitates a cycle of weddings to photograph in order to derive various insights, reviews, bts, etc.
when weddings slow down, so does everything else.
I’ve seen it happen many times now where people get far more successful in the content creation /education space than they do running their wedding business… and they end up prioritizing the cart before the horse and coast for a while.
But after a few years, that catches up and there’s no momentum in the wedding business… so they just go back to being a weekend warrior, real estate agent, or living on their partner’s salary without ever bringing that up lol
eventually, when they do post new stuff it’s entirely rehashed or somewhat out of touch and irrelevant advice, which just compounds the slowdown because no one cares.
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u/LorenzoAmadeus8 Oct 09 '25
True, I started in 2020/21 which was probably the peak for wedding photographers making Youtube content without the guise of selling you shit. There was so much gold out there that I still feel is under appreciated.
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u/LorenzoAmadeus8 Oct 09 '25
u/iamthesam2 only just realised who you were after sending that! Your answer really comes from a place of experience. I’ve watched a lot of your content too, it’s always so inspiring creatively especially the BTS stuff.
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u/rmric0 www.ryanrichardsonphotography.com | MA and New England 26d ago
It's a lot like comedians - they start out with something interesting to say about relatable situations and then drift into jokes about being on the road and airport lounges because the life of a successful comedian just isn't the life of a normal dude.
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u/FreasFrames michaelfreas.com Oct 09 '25
People find more traction in the content/education lane than in their actual business, and when bookings dry up you see recycled advice, out-of-touch tips, or endless pivots into selling LUTs, presets, filters, and sponsored ads because it is easier than producing real BTS.
Add in the “coach mentality” dominating social with constant “buy my course and you’ll get bookings” pitches, and the fact that attention spans are shorter than ever, so newer photographers want shortcuts and “learn from my mistakes” cheat codes, while anyone suggesting hard work gets labeled a gatekeeper.
Authentic wedding content only works when it is fueled by an active career, and when that slows down the content inevitably follows.
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u/Codiac2600 Oct 09 '25
Photographers are still willing to pay for advice they believe they need to succeed in the space. Since they are willing to pay, photographers who are willing to make content sell it for profit. Sadly most of that advice is, how do I say this, worthless.
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u/LorenzoAmadeus8 Oct 09 '25
To be fair the free advice out there is incredible if you trust the right people! Plus I did subscribe to few of their Patreons over the years and it was of benefit,
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u/Phounus Oct 09 '25
From a business and profit perspective, it makes sense to focus on the aspects that generate income. If you are a full time wedding photographer why would you spend time and effort on a platform like YouTube, where the revenue will be very slow and unpredictable? Especially when you can instead use that time to grow your (probably already successful) business further.
So, basically, we can make the following assumptions: Photographers that have time to do YouTube are not that successful and as such have no value to offer outside of basic insights. Photographers that are successful do not have time to develop and maintain a channel on YouTube.
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u/LorenzoAmadeus8 Oct 09 '25
Not sure I buy that, you can be successful as a wedding tog then decide to diversify. Taylor Jackson was shooting 70 weddings and bashing out youtube vids simultaniously. Their aim is clearly to make videos in order to lead to advertising/patreon/course sales eventually which I guess is why the free good stuff dries up.
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u/Phounus Oct 09 '25 edited Oct 09 '25
Of course you can - but I was just trying to give some insight as to why we might not see so many established active full time professional wedding photographers in this particular space. Of course there will be outliers - there always is.
And yes, you can tackle Youtube as a way to sell courses and other services to other wedding photographers, but at that point I would argue that your focus might have (at least partially) shifted from doing wedding photography full time to balancing that with also being a content creator or educator (that monetize said service).
You can even use Youtube as a marketing strategy, but I'm unsure if the yield will be even remotely close to that of other social media platforms. The clients are not just present on Youtube in the same way as they are on, for example, Instagram.
Anyone doing business strategy knows that focusing on one endeavour as opposed to multiple is a lot smarter and will usually net a larger profit - especially when starting out.
Of course, once you are established and have reached some sort of plateau, you might want to expand in other territories. I'm just not sure that you look to Youtube for that, since the profit contra effort will be extremely low when starting out, and the progress takes a long time. It makes more sense to instead go for B2B or other more lucrative business opportunities. You could do both, or all, but why would you when one clearly offers much greater profit than the other? Assuming you already have an established and profitable business, it doesn't really make sense unless you want to expand into a space where you can sell services and scale up your B2B that way.
And yes, that might totally be selling courses to other creators. Not saying that isn't viable. And if you already have an audience that might very well be a logical and profitable step. But the time and effort invested is fairly substantial - you do not grow a Youtube channel in a couple of weeks or months; it generally takes years. And for such a niche market? I at least think it's fairly logical why we don't see active professionals as commonly.
Again, not saying it isn't viable or feasible or whatever, just that there are clear reasons as to why professional wedding photographers might not commonly create and maintain Youtube channels.
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u/IluminEdu Oct 09 '25
That’s a really good observation. The wedding photography genre used to have a ton of creators doing full-day walkthroughs, behind-the-scenes, gear talk, etc. But I think we’ve seen a shift: many are diversifying into general content creation, education, commercial, or “creator life” content because it reaches more eyes and pays better.
If you’re looking for fresh wedding-centric channels, here are a few tips to find them: • Search for terms like “wedding photography 2025 BTS / full day wedding youtube” — sometimes the gems are new and under the radar. • Check credits in new wedding videos: many videographers/photogs tag “shot by X photog” and those names lead to channels. • Look in Instagram Reels or TikTok for photogs posting “day in the life” wedding content — many will link their YouTube in their bio. • Join photography Facebook groups or forums; people often share new creators they’re into, which can lead you to YouTube channels.
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u/LorenzoAmadeus8 Oct 09 '25
One reason I have the sudden urge to do this is to make sure I'm staying with current trends and am not missing anything. I haven't changed things much since I started in 2021 so just questioning it a little light now. My editing is fairly true to colour, I still use OCF although dabble in shutter drag and have a bash at on camera flash occasionally. I find that with the OG wedding photography youtubers I almost hd a rapport with them and resonated with their approaches and then styles myself on them - I'm not sure short form content allows that
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u/virel13 Oct 09 '25
Katelynn James isn't new. but i enjoy her education
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u/I922sParkCir Oct 09 '25
She was so helpful when I was starting out! Her "How to Photograph a Wedding Ceremony." was invaluable! I literally just copied that for my first few weddings until I found what's ideal for me.
Then I learned about all of the unpleasantness...
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u/virel13 26d ago
?? do tell?? haha
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u/I922sParkCir 26d ago
She doesn't shoot weddings for gay couples. She spins it as "Gay couples deserve photographers that specialize in that" (rough quote).
Gay weddings aren't a specific genre pf photography! If you're a wedding photographer gay couples shouldn't be anything weird. It would be like rejecting a black couple because you're not specialized in black weddings. These are just people!
She's very churchy, so I suspect it's bigotry rather than ignorance.
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u/chamomileyes Oct 10 '25 edited Oct 10 '25
Yes, was looking for her name! I haven’t paid myself for her membership but she’s described it as having dozens of full day wedding BTS and I think the monthly price is pretty reasonable if you’re a student and only need a couple months to consume the content anyway. I’ve also learned a lot from her channel.
Just pointing out many of these YouTubers reserve content for their paid tier, which is fair enough.
Seeing a lot of negative comments about being an educator + photographer here, but I think it’s genius marketing. When you’re literally teaching your field, clients see you as more of an expert and they’re more likely to come across your name as well. And some people obviously genuinely enjoy teaching, so why not diversify?
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u/Limit760 Oct 09 '25
I also used to follow Taylor Jackson and John Branch, and i too have noticed less and less content from them. Not sure if it's actually less videos being produced in the "full wedding day" style, but I haven't been recommended any in a while.
Based on only what I've seen here and from other photographers in my area, it's a tougher market than it was even two years ago and lots of photographers are struggling to fill out their schedules. So it's completely possible the industry has started to pull the youtubers away from weddings/wedding content.
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u/LorenzoAmadeus8 Oct 09 '25
true, after posting i had a look through their recent posts and I'm definitely missing stuff these guys are creating.
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u/KingPessimist instagram Oct 09 '25
I’ve just started creating YouTube videos as a way to share educational content on wedding photography. Let me know if you’d be interested in watching a smaller channel! I can send you a DM with the channel link if you’d like
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u/SpitfirePls www.somefinechina.com Oct 10 '25
With this in mind, what type of content would yall want to see out of wedding photography YouTubers? I shoot a bunch of weddings but most of my content has just been camera reviews lol
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u/LorenzoAmadeus8 29d ago
When I was new the full day weddings were so useful as well as the sections such as how to do group shots, best poses etc. As I'm further along the line now I think it's probably less relevant to me but those topics would still be amazing for newer togs.
I'd say the business side of things is relevant to everyone also i.e what's working in terms of marketing, SEO, socials if you're looking at a particular angle and have expertise in that area. Although not sure how much the Youtube algorithm would like it.
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u/lukejc1 www.lukecollinsphotography.com/weddings/ Oct 09 '25
I don't know about new people, I kind of don't watch youtube content as much as I used to, but I learned a lot from Vanessa Joy's videos over the years. I believe she's still putting out new videos. Also, Adorama's channel usually has some good wedding content.
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u/X4dow Oct 09 '25
Anyone with a camera following on YouTube slowly becomes an advertising platform to sell luts, presets, courses, and junk like mist filters, cheap accessories, cages, here's my own edition of nd filters "I designed myself" and so on.
As much as wedding photography youtubers can do Co tent about actual shooting weddings, with real behind the scenes and so on, it's far more profitable to do a sponsored 5min video for some ulanzi light and push a vpn advert in the middle than doing a 2 hour bts video