hi guys in today's video we are going to
be talking all about my wedding
photography workflow so before we dive
in I just want to explain really really
quickly that this is going to be live so
today I decided that instead of filming
and editing and potentially not getting
this up on time I wanted to be sure to
get this out to you guys so this is
going to be part one of a long series
all about how I booked brides how I edit
my photos my entire workflow as a
wedding photographer so today we're
going to be talking hi okay so you guys
are popping in say hello
tell me where you're watching from and
we're gonna dive right in just give me
one second from Namibia awesome I see
some familiar faces that my dog is here
begging thinking that I have food up
here which I don't I mean I just have
sparkling water so he's gonna be sorely
disappointed
sorry Jack Jack nothing for you hello
from Belgium welcome guys okay so today
is video 1 we're going to be talking
about wedding workflow so I want to talk
to you guys
hi Emily from North Carolina Phoenix
Dallas guys this is awesome super cool
you guys should be friends thank you so
much for letting me know where you're
from so I'm gonna be talking to you guys
about the actual process of booking
brides so I want to talk to you guys
about the logistics of what goes in
what's my workflow how do I get that
signed contract how do I get the
retainer what comes when and how this
all goes down so I have some notes here
actually and I'm going to be working off
of these because I want to make sure
that I hit all these important points so
the first step of contact I'm sure that
before I get emailed I was going to say
the first step of contact would be an
email so the first time that I hear from
my client is whenever they reach out on
my contact form on my website or just
email me directly now before this I'm
sure they've stalked me a little bit on
social media they've seen my work they
have seen my social media platforms and
things like
that but that's going to be my first
touch point with them where they're
actually talking to me live potentially
so the email is my first touch point and
I wanted to talk to this point a little
bit for you guys quickly because this is
super important and I want to say that
this is the one time that I stress the
super super super importance of getting
back to someone incredibly quickly so I
like to limit my email I like to make
sure that I'm doing other things I'm
moving the needle in my business in
other ways and not living on email but
when a inquiry comes in from a bride or
groom I will stop everything to respond
because it let me tell you why when a
client is looking at you and they're
going through your website and they're
trying to find their wedding
photographer they're looking at 5 or 10
or 15 other wedding photographers and
they are potentially filling out a lot
of forms and when it comes down to it
it's going to be probably up to who gets
back to them first now of course there
are other things that influence that
decision but it is hugely important that
you are prompt and you get back to them
immediately so I get back to them right
away I'm going to tell them my
availability if I'm available I'm going
to send them direct galleries and I'm
going to push immediately for a phone
meeting robson welcome hi from Brazil
awesome thank you guys so much for
watching so that as soon as I get a
phone meeting or an in-person console
that's the next step so at this point we
haven't gone through the details of the
brochure we haven't gone through
contract or anything like that
but they do know my starting prices so
this isn't like a big secret as to what
my prices are and once we're in the
meeting that is when they're going to
see an outline of what's included in
each collection and even get a brochure
so today for example I had a meeting
with a bride over the phone and we spoke
for about 15 minutes maybe and as soon
as we wrapped up that phone call I sent
her a brochure so I do all of my client
management including the brochures
invoicing sending proposals and getting
contract signed through honey book so
honey book is the software that I use I
will link it below so I'm going to throw
all the details in this once I go ahead
and upload the replay
but honey book is the software that I
use for that so I'm able to send a
brochure and customize it to my couple
so they know that I'm available I can
put information in that brochure about
travel if that's relevant or prints and
heirlooms and things like that so that's
the next step from that brochure they
can pick a collection so they can go
ahead and say hey I actually really love
this 8-hour collection that's what we
want to move forward and talk to you
about they're not committing at this
point they're just saying this is what
I'm most interested in from there it
automatically generates a proposal and
says if you would like to move forward
this is what it would cost so it just
makes each step so much quicker that
they're not waiting on me to confirm any
of this they don't have to say hey we
want this collection you know can you
send us a contract and I don't have to
come up with that contract it's
automatically generated so then my
contract and my proposal and all of that
just follows suit from there so that's
how I officially get them booked and
they're not booked until they have
signed the contract and they have paid
the retainer so this is when they
officially become a join Michelle bride
and I send immediately a thank-you gift
so I like to welcome my brides and
grooms into the joy Michelle Bride
family with a gift so I'm going to send
them just a couple of goodies in a box
to their house just to remind them how
excited I am to be working with them and
to be a part of their wedding day so
that's kind of the next step so once
they're officially clients and it's
legal and it's legit they're going to go
officially onto my booking calendar and
then of course they get a gift I see
they're a bunch of you guys watching if
you guys have questions about this
process or how I chose honey book or
other client management software's chime
in let me know if you're getting any
value out of this hit the thumbs up and
if you're new here please consider
subscribing um okay so next step in my
workflow once my clients have been
welcomed we are booked they are going to
get an email prompt and these are all
things that I have pre written out you
should not be writing the same email
over and over and over so I wrote an
email out and it's the you should
schedule your engagement session email
if they didn't have an engagement
session I do have a lot of Naval Academy
brides and um like out of state
couples so sometimes I don't do an
engagement session at that point I would
let them know what's going to be next so
your client should always know what's
next they should not be left wondering I
mean you know we booked their
photographer but what do we do when do
we schedule this are we going to hear
from her what's due so before they can
have any second guesses or not know
what's going on I send them an email
Heather asks what is the gift that you
would send out to your brides so I have
a custom gift with a company that does
gifting locally here and I've picked out
specific elements and I have just an
assortment of candies and goodies and
art an artisan candle and some really
cute little Val books and stuff like
that so I try to keep it on my brand my
brand is elegant romantic and authentic
so I love little details everything is
very like white and light and ivory and
it has a bow and there's a card and it
shows up at their doorstep just
reminding them that I really appreciate
them um but yeah the gifts you know I
think gifts are really just to you they
don't have to be over-the-top and they
don't have to be incredibly expensive
they're just there to just love on your
couples and remind them that you are
really appreciative to be a part of
their day honestly and that's why I do
it so once that gift is sent and I've
prompted them to book their engagement
session that is when I'm going to send
them some education on the engagement
session and this is where a lot of
photographers will have maybe a blog
post written saying here's what you
should wear here's where we should have
it maybe you should have your hair and
makeup done that kind of thing so it
really helps educate them upfront as to
how they can get the very best images
and how they can get the very best light
and all that kind of stuff so what I do
for my couples is I have a back-end of
my website that's just for my brides and
grooms and that's going to be just for
them so it has timeline help vendor help
all kinds of things so it's going to
walk them through the whole process and
this is what I call my bride lounge so I
let them know that the bridal lounge is
available to them and that they can find
that information there so I'm there for
questions but this really just helps
answer all that stuff upfront so I don't
have to field as many emails because I
have
my favorite engagement session spots I
let them know who I like for hair and
makeup I let them know that this is a
perfect time to trial your hair and
makeup and what do you tell is like
maybe getting your nails done having
your ring cleaned and having a special
box can do for your pictures so this is
where I touch on all of those details as
well awesome guys let me go for my notes
make sure I'm not missing anything
so you've prepared them for their
session and this is where I do this on
my website but you can do this in email
templates you can write out your
frequently asked questions you could
link them to a Pinterest board and let
them know these are outfits that look
really good together these are colors or
patterns that look great so at this
point I feel that as the professional
and ask their photographer this is your
job to really shine and show them that
you have thought about these things that
you're the that you are the expert and
you can guide them through this process
because not often our people in front of
the camera and of course getting engaged
so this is your time to really guide
them through that process and make it
simple okay let's see when a bride
contacts you do you reserve the date
without a contract and do you use some
kind of mental trigger to help close the
contract I do not hold any dates without
a contract signed or paid deposits so
they need to have both of those things
just because things change and I'm
holding my calendar this is what I do
full-time this is how I pay my bills and
I am NOT going to expect any contractors
to fix my house or come over on a
certain day if I haven't paid them
anything or signed anything in good
faith so I don't reserve anything unless
it is legally binding and as far as
triggers or getting people to book not
really I have a process of following up
with my clients I have a process for my
actual client meeting so I guess you
could say in a way but my clients know
that they have it's not booked and that
is first-come first-serve so I gently
remind my clients always that my
services are first-come first-serve when
I have another
curry on the same day to say I met with
a bride about the same day I will let
the first bride know hey you know this
you do not have this date and this does
not officially held but I would love to
work with you and you contacted me first
I'm giving you preference but if they do
not come immediately back inside a
contract I move on to the next client so
it is first-come first-serve all right
do you find that electronic contracts
are more efficient do you ever give hard
copies I used to work in hard copies a
lot and I would just send them a
workable PDF you're welcome Robson and I
find that it takes a lot longer to get
your contract signed because they have
to find a way to digitally sign it or
print it out or get a scanner you just
need so much more technology when it's a
physical contract and I think that my
clients especially um the like I work
with really young professionals and they
don't want to deal with it honestly they
love the fact that they can get an email
they can open it they can sign it it's
just as legit as in person and they
don't have to deal with it it's saved
for them it's saved for me they can go
ahead and print it out or download it of
course so they still have the option to
make it a hard copy but ever since I
have moved to digital contracts and
signing and invoicing and all of that
I'm finding I'm booking much much faster
because of that whole like finding a
scanner I mean I can't tell you how many
times I had a couple say we're ready to
sign I just have to get my my fiancee to
sign this and we don't live in the same
state and it's a physical contract so
it's just easier if they can each log in
and sign it independently so really
solves that whole like needing to be in
the same place issue so I find that the
digital contracts are actually really
handy good question awesome guys
so this has been day one of our wedding
photography workflow this has been
booking brides and getting them ready
for engagement sessions next week we are
going to be talking about preparing the
client for the wedding the questionnaire
preparing all the other vendors and
getting the timeline
setup how I work through a wedding day
and what I do when I get home from a
wedding day so I would love to hear your
questions throughout this whole process
I want this to be collaborative and
really interactive with you guys because
you all are what inspired this series I
got so many questions about workflow
that it just seemed obvious that that
was going to be our next series so if
you've enjoyed this give it a thumbs up
be sure to subscribe I'm going to go
ahead and hop off its going to re-upload
so if you're watching this in the replay
thank you so much for being here leave
me your comments and I will be sure to
answer all your questions I love
interacting with you guys
and I'll see you guys next week bye guys