Hi Denise!
I haven't been on here in a while, but just looked today and wanted to say that I agree with some of the others. Your photography is much better than many wedding photographers out there. Here's how I have prepared to shoot weddings and would suggest the same for you:
APPRENTICE with a GOOD-QUALITY, full-time (or at least full-time during wedding season) photographer in your area. Do maybe three weddings as their assistant. Preferably for a little pay, but even just to be AT a wedding and learn the flow. That's the hardest part. You know the gear, you know the editing. The only thing is: If you aren't in the right spot at JUST the right time, you won't get the shot.
After you get maybe three second-shooter weddings under your belt, THEN I'd definitely try to get a wedding every now and then and just go from there. I think you'll do much better than you think! Also, yeah rent a 5DMkII or a MarkIII preferably, as it's a better camera and it's more similar to your 7D. Hell after a few maybe you can afford to upgrade to the MarkIII
So you'll only be charging $65 and hour, of which $10 of it goes to an assistant? Hmm.. I was thinking 90-100 per hour. $400 is very very reasonable, in fact perhaps too reasonable. I'm actually shooting a wedding TODAY for $750, and I only gave them that discount because they referred a client to me that I made some good money from, so I agreed to a lower-price as a thank you. I have to spend $100 to rent a car to drive the 45 min south to shoot it for the day, plus $150 to rent a 5DMk3, of which I already own (just need it as a backup camera!) I'll leave in a few hours to shoot it. I'm only making $500 but it's ALL profit. Granted I've shot a few weddings before, I'm still not a "wedding photographer" yet... hmm... are YOU comfortable with the $400 price? I think that's the question!
- Jordan
www.freshphotoblog.com