A while back, I posted about how to deal with clients who complain about your prices. Then I posted about managing client expectations in portrait sessions. Today, it’s all about the wedding. The most important gig you’ll ever get. Also the most all encompassing gig you’ll ever get. Weddings are no joke. And managing your client’s expectations is super super super important to successfully pulling the whole thing off.
If you failed to manage expectations in a portrait session (the client was hoping for full body action and you produced tight head shots) you can always offer a do-over. You can NOT do a wedding over.
Managing expectations starts before you ever even know your client exists. It begins with your website. If you shoot the majority of you weddings in B&W, don’t show all colour images on your site and vice versa. If you hate selective colour but kindly produced a couple of s.c. images for a client, don’t put them on your website. Put your packages and prices clearly on your site. This way when it comes to the point of the face-to-face where you have to state your prices, they are already familiar with what you offer. And this prevents waste-of-time meetings with a couple who hoped beyond hope that you only charged £300 for those 500 breathtaking pieces of art.
Then, when I get a wedding inquiry, we first speak on the phone. I ask questions like:
- “Tell me about your wedding”
- “Have you been looking at any wedding photography online or in magazines?” (If so, ask them to have these images ready for your meeting)
- “Are you meeting any other photographers?” (if so, this can be a good thing. If you are competitively priced and confident, you should have no problem securing the gig. Even better if they mention the names of the photographers they’re considering because then you can research your competition)
- I make sure they’ve seen my website. If they were referred by a friend and haven’t even looked at my work or my prices, I encourage them to do so.
That’s it. I don’t inundate them with spur of the moment questions. I just want to gather a little info to help me prepare and let them know that I am interested in the details of their day. Then I set up a meeting and I always go to them. Seeing their home is an important part of getting a sense for the people you’re working with.
At the face-to-face, I always accept a drink if offered. Then I start by asking again: “Tell me about your wedding.” I ask them how they met, how long they’ve been together. You know, all those questions a girl wants to know. After about 15 minutes of chatting, there usually comes a point where you get down to business. I show them my end result samples: ‘The Love Story’ (coffee table book), the reception book (a possible result of an engagement shoot), the digital images case. All of these items are shown in their boxes complete with tissue and ribbons. I let them look together, handle them, open and close the boxes.
Now, I weave my expectations into the different portions of this meeting. I don’t just reel off a list. So while they’re looking at my sample book, which is the product of my best wedding to date, I stop them at certain images and tell them why I think it was so amazing. Exe: “this couple was so natural. I didn’t have to tell them to do anything – I just stood back and caught all this”. I also explain that The Love Story tells the story of their day. It is NOT a way of cramming every single photo into one book and I don’t typically choose family group portraits for the book. I tell them that ideally, I will use the best 50 shots to tell the story of their day but if they would like, they may choose the option of choosing their own 50 shot for me to use. I learned this the hard way when a couple (whose expectations I hadn’t managed well) hated the book. And silly me, I actually had it printed and delivered without them ever seeing it (what was I thinking?!) That’s when a friend directed me to Album Exposure which is an amazing website you use to show a couple their album pages digitally. They can make comments on pages and click ‘submit’ to send you a re-edit request (I allow my couples two re-edits to tweak their pages).
I then show them, on my laptop, what the proofing gallery looks like, what the album gallery looks like and I also show them my most recent wedding. This is a key point. I use my most recent wedding to show them the proofing gallery because included in this gallery are the normal shots of the day. When they look at the book, they’re not only seeing your best wedding, but they’re seeing the best photos from your best wedding. This can be a huge fail in the world of managing client expectations. They might not realise that every single last one of their photos aren’t going to be a masterpiece worthy of ‘the book’. I always make sure to stress that in addition to these artsy photographs, I will take ‘normal pictures’ to document their day and every last detail.
I also explain their role and responsibility in producing excellent wedding photographs. I don’t always say these things, many are included in my extremely detailed contract. But sometimes they come up. I say that the speech photos likely won’t turn out well if they place the head table directly against a gigantic open window. I explain that conditions have to be right for good photos and you will use all the tricks up your sleeve to be prepared to shoot in any conditions. Having a dimly lit chapel is one thing. Taking photos of the first dance is another. And you don’t want them disappointed when the cake cutting shot doesn’t take the cake because it was taken under a disco ball in a pitch black dance hall.
I explain very plainly what happens with my services and when:
- To book your date, there is a 50% non refundable deposit. The other 50% is due no later than two weeks before your wedding date.
- When I receive your deposit, we will schedule the engagement shoot
- I will cover your wedding
- Within one week, you will be sent an online gallery of your photos. You may then choose between myself creating your wedding book to tell the story of your day or yourself choosing 50 of your favorite shots to be included in your book.
- Within a week of receiving your book choices, I will send you an online book gallery for you to view. You may make notes on the pages for me to see when I login and I can make changes accordingly. You are allowed two re-edits to get it the way you want it.
- Within three week of signing off on your book, your book should be delivered, unless there is an issue with the printing company.
I end the meeting with any more of their questions and tell them about my contract. I tell them that if they choose to hire me, I will email them their contract which they send back with their deposit. And then I say “So that’s it! Take some time to think about it, feel free to get in touch with more questions and I hope to hear from you soon!” If I don’t hear from them within 48 hours, I shoot them a ‘it was great to meet you’ email and see if they thought of any other questions after I left.
I’ve never met a couple who didn’t hire me. And on my path to learning all of these things, I’ve had some very lovely and patient couples. Managing their expectations and making sure that they know and understand every last thing about the way you work (and then signing a contract acknowledging that they’ve heard you say these things) is the most important thing you can do to set yourself up for a totally rockin’ wedding.
