Should I Start an LLC for My Wedding Photography Business?

Starting a limited liability company (LLC) for your wedding photography business can provide several benefits.

Most importantly, an LLC structure offers limited liability to its owners, which can protect their personal assets from lawsuits and creditors.

For a wedding photography business, lawsuits can arise from things like photos being delivered late, clients injuring themselves at its studio, or property damage to the wedding venue caused by the photographer.

LLCs are also affordable, highly flexible (from a tax point-of-view), and can make your wedding photography business seem more credible.

Recommended: Use Northwest to form an LLC for $29 (plus state fees).

A bride and groom displayed in a camera viewfinder

Do I Need an LLC for a Wedding Photography Business?

LLCs are a simple and inexpensive way to protect your personal assets and save money on taxes.

You should form an LLC when there's any risk involved in your business and/or when your business could benefit from tax options and increased credibility.

LLC Benefits for a Wedding Photography Business

By starting an LLC for your wedding photography business, you can:

Protect your savings, car, and house with limited liability protection
Have more tax benefits and options
Increase your business’s credibility

Limited Liability Protection

LLCs provide limited liability protection. This means your personal assets (e.g., car, house, bank account) are protected in the event your business is sued or if it defaults on a debt.

Wedding photography businesses will benefit from liability protection because of the risk of negligence claims, property damage, libel, and more.

Example 1: One of your clients claims that you are in breach of contract since you have not delivered all of the photos from their wedding to them by the agreed deadline. If they proceed to file a lawsuit against your LLC, limited liability protection will ensure that only your business’s assets can be used to compensate the claimant.

Example 2: After you show a client their wedding photos, they are beyond disappointed, stating that the images are blurry and the editing is terrible. After refusing to refund them, they decide to file a compensation lawsuit against your wedding photography business. Here, limited liability will ensure that your personal assets remain out of bounds to the claiming party, even if your business is unable to compensate them.

Example 3: While entering your studio for a pre-wedding photoshoot, one of your customers trips on a tripod, injuring their left ankle. If a medical damages lawsuit were to arise against your LLC, your business might be required to compensate the claimant, but your LLC status will ensure that your personal assets remain protected.

An LLC will also protect your personal assets in the event of commercial bankruptcy or loan default.

To maintain your LLC's limited liability protection, you must maintain your LLC's corporate veil.

LLC Tax Benefits and Options for a Wedding Photography Business

LLCs, by default, are taxed as a pass-through entity, just like a sole proprietorship or partnership. This means that the business's net income passes through to the owner's individual tax return.

The business’s net income is then subject to income taxes (based on the owner's tax bracket) and self-employment taxes.

Sole proprietorships and partnerships are taxed in a similar way to LLCs, but they do not offer limited liability protection or other tax options.

S Corp Option for LLCs

An S corporation (S corp) is an IRS tax status that an LLC can elect. S corp status allows business owners to be treated as employees of the business (for tax purposes).

S corp tax status can reduce self-employment taxes and will allow business owners to contribute pre-tax dollars to 401k or health insurance premiums.

The S corp status requires that the business pay the employee-owner(s) a reasonable salary for the work they perform.

In addition, the business might need to spend more on accounting, bookkeeping, and payroll services. To offset these costs, you'd need to be saving about $2,000 a year on taxes.

We estimate that if a wedding photography business owner can pay themselves a reasonable salary and at least $10,000 in distributions each year, they could benefit from S corp status.

You can start an S corp when you form your LLC. Our How to Start an S Corp guide will lead you through the process.

Credibility and Consumer Trust

Wedding photography businesses rely on consumer trust. Credibility plays a key role in creating and maintaining any business.

Businesses gain consumer trust simply by forming an LLC.

A growing business can also benefit from the credibility of an LLC when applying for small business loans, grants, and credit.

Northwest will start an LLC for you for just $29 (plus state fees).

Get Started

How to Form an LLC

Forming an LLC is easy. There are two options for forming your LLC:

You can hire a professional LLC formation service to set up your LLC for a small fee
Or, you can choose your state from the list below to start an LLC yourself

Select Your State

For most new business owners, the best state to form an LLC in is the state where you live and where you plan to conduct your business.

Do LLCs Need Insurance?

All businesses need insurance to protect their business assets — even LLCs. This is because the limited liability protection from an LLC protects your personal assets, not your business assets.

As a wedding photography business owner, insurance can be beneficial when it comes to protecting your business’s assets from client injuries, loss of files, theft of equipment, and intellectual property law disputes.

Common Situations Business Insurance May Cover for a Wedding Photography Business

Example 1: You are charging batteries at a wedding when the charger shorts out and causes an electrical fire. The fire completely disrupts the wedding and damages the building. The client sues your business over the disruption and the damages. Your general liability insurance would cover your legal defense costs, including the cost of a settlement.

Example 2: One of your employees accidentally knocks over a wedding guest and she breaks her wrist. She files a lawsuit against your business. Your general liability insurance policy would pay for your legal fees, including any payouts or settlements that are required.

Example 3: Another wedding photographer in town has decided that you libeled him in your marketing materials and sues your business. The general liability policy you carry will cover your legal fees and any settlement costs.

Other Types of Coverage Wedding Photography Businesses Need

While general liability is the most important type of insurance to have, there are several other forms of coverage you should be aware of. Below are some other types of insurance all wedding photographers should obtain:

Professional Liability Insurance

You do your best to take photographs that your clients will be happy with. However, there is still the possibility that one of them could sue you, claiming negligence related to errors you may have made or failure to perform. Professional liability insurance would pay for your legal fees in such a situation.

Commercial Property Insurance

You have invested a lot of money in your photography equipment and editing equipment. If you were to lose your equipment in an unexpected event, like a fire, you might struggle financially to replace everything. Commercial property insurance will help with replacement costs when your property is damaged by a covered event.

Commercial Auto Insurance

If you use your vehicle for business, you likely need a commercial auto insurance policy. A commercial auto policy will protect your vehicle, those in the vehicle, and others on the road. If you are in an accident, you can get help paying for repair or replacement costs and medical treatment for the injured.

Workers’ Compensation Insurance

If you have employees, your state likely requires that you carry workers’ compensation insurance. A workers’ comp policy will pay for medical treatment for employees who are injured performing work-related tasks. It will also help cover lost wages if an employee needs to take time off of work to recover from their injuries.

Should I Start an LLC FAQ

Choosing the right business structure depends on your business’s unique circumstances and needs. However, unless your business is very low risk (like a hobby), an LLC is likely the better option.

Visit our LLC vs. Sole Proprietorship guide to learn more.

At a minimum, you’ll need general liability insurance and commercial auto insurance.

Read our Business Insurance article for more info.

To start a wedding photography business, you will need to purchase equipment such as camera bags, memory cards, reflectors, light stands, and flash triggers. All of these can be purchased with a budget of around $500 to $1,500. You will also need to acquire a camera, lenses of various sizes, editing software, and a computer.

Visit our How to Start a Wedding Photography Business guide to learn more about the costs of starting and maintaining this business.

The ongoing expenses of running a wedding photography business include equipment maintenance, utilities, software subscription fees, transportation, marketing, and insurance.

Learn more about running a wedding photography business.

Wedding photographers make money by charging a fee for their services such as pre-wedding photoshoots, wedding event photo coverage, wedding album creation, photo editing, and photo printing and framing. They can also offer a package deal for their services.

Learn more about starting a wedding photography business.

Wedding photographers provide photography and potentially videography services for weddings. Some wedding photography businesses operate alone, or they partner with wedding planners to increase their market reach.

The average profit margin for a wedding photography business needs to be at least 35% to be sustainable.

Learn more about starting a wedding photography business.