4 ways to enhance your client experience as a wedding photographer

image credits: Sydney Marie

“My name is Sydney Marie & I have been a destination wedding photographer for the past 6 years and just released my first wedding planning book called FOUNDRY, the Wedding Guide. Throughout my career, I have developed many ways to enhance my client experience, which ultimately lead me to create an entire book filled with resources for my couples and couples all over the United States. Foundry pushes for diversity and inclusivity in the wedding industry and it helps modern couples through the planning process, step by step. Foundry is any couple's cheerleader and keepsake, designed to live in their home even years after the wedding day.

Let's look at 4 ways to enhance your client experience:

1. Manage your CRM 

Manage your CRM so that everything is in one place (or platform). Couples have so many vendors, contracts & invoices to keep track of, so I recommend creating a page on your Squarespace website or your Squaremuse template with all the info in one place. Use Squarespace e-commerce feature to take payments & invoices instead of third-party apps. You can also use scheduling apps or designed campaign emails to send out monthly reminders and check-ins to your couples. Ultimately, this creates an easy flow for you and your couples while aligning the process with your brand.

2. Create Educational Resources 

This has been a HUGE benefit to my relationship with my clients. Most couples are getting married for the first time or have never been in a wedding, so their knowledge of the wedding industry is a bit small, which gives you the perfect opportunity to educate and ease the planning and photography process. Educational resources such as wedding info guides, vendor lists, blog posts about wedding tips can also help to level out exceptions of the couple and you, creating a clear vision of what the pre, during and post-wedding will look like. I recommend using your website template to create easy resourceful links to share on your social and throughout your couple's wedding planning process.

3. Use questionnaires for effective communication

You can create fun, yet detailed questionnaires and forms through the Squarespace contact form feature! There are also other great alternatives such as Google Forms. I would recommend any platform that is mobile-friendly so your couples can fill it out at their convenience. Surveys help break up communication between you and the client. You can easily grab logistical details of the wedding day, names, phone numbers, vendors’ info, etc - saving you and the couple time from multiple phone calls or texts, which can easily be lost in the mix of communication. I also love using questionnaires to get to know the couple, asking personal questions that are geared more toward their personalities and desires.

Question ideas for the wedding day:

• Address of the venue;

• Member of the bridal party’s phone number;

• Checklists feature on contact forms to confirm what is happening during the reception (entrances, cake cutting, first dances);

• Name everyone in your immediate family photo.

Question ideas for an engagement session:

• Have you had your photos shot professionally before?

• What do you like wearing day-to-day?

• Checklists feature on contact forms (Will you bring props? YES/NO; Will you have 2 outfits? YES/NO; Will you bringing a pet? YES/NO)
  
  

4. Add Client gifts 

Client gifts always create such a memorable and tangible experience for your couples. There are ways to create either fully branded gifts OR go through companies like Peach Box, which builds custom gift boxes. A great way of finding your client gifting options is to check out Pinterest and Etsy! You can send out your gift at the beginning of booking saying thank you for choosing you OR after the wedding day as a little newlywed present. Both ways add to the overall experience, keeping you and your brand at the forefront of the couples’ minds throughout the process and after!”