Hi,
I'm interested in becoming a wedding photographer and was wondering if you could tell me the steps needed to achieve this.
Thanks.

Hi James,
There are a few different paths to becoming a wedding photographer.
A lot of people start off by photographing the weddings of family and friends.
If you do a good job of this word starts getting around and you'll be asked to do more weddings.
You could also get work - paid or not - assisting an established wedding photographer. Shooting a wedding is a hard job, and not many photographers like to go it alone.
Having an assistant is a necessity and good assistants are hard to find.
So, phone or email all the wedding photography businesses in your area and offer your services. The photographer will want to see your portfolio and it needs to be good.
Obviously you need to have excellent portraits and maybe a few still-life shots of the type of things that you would find at a wedding. Don't bother with landscapes or architectural photos though - a potential employer won't be interested in those sorts of photos.
If you are a really good photojournalist or street photographer you may have a great portfolio of portrait work. A lot of brides like this kind of people photography and might be prepared to hire you on the basis of this style of shooting and your confident personality. Confidence in yourself is very important to be successful in this business, but not arrogance.
Once you have a strong portfolio of relevant photographs you're ready to register a business name and get yourself a website.
Then the fun of advertising begins. These days most brides look for their wedding photographers on-line, so a good website is essential. You also need to get listings with as many wedding advertising sites as you can afford.
I would say that word of mouth and high Google rankings are the best advertising for today's market.
Be patient - it can take a long time to generate bookings for your services, so you'll probably need to keep your day job for a while as you establish yourself and build a client base.
Good luck!