I was asked to speak at a photographer’s meeting about what the brides today want from a photographer. Since the person in charge of the meeting knew I belong to a wedding forum of some of the best planners from across the country, she thought it was be interesting to not only find out what I hear from brides but what planners in other areas are hearing from their brides. I thought this might be handy information for brides to have too.
So with the help of my fellow wedding planners (thanks Randi, Maryanne, Shanika, Liene) this is what I have come up with.
The number one request we get from brides is they want a photographer that offers custom flush mount albums. These are hot. The brides all love them.
Tied for number one actually is the ability to own the rights to their pictures. They want high resolution digital files on a cd. I know a lot of photographers offer this option along with the purchase of a complete album. So that once the bride comes to pick up their album, they also get the DVD. This works well for several reasons, the bride gets an album of retouched perfect pictures, the photographer has a product out there he can be proud of when the bride shows it to friends and the bride can still go a cheaper route to get albums for her bridesmaids or grandparents.
The brides are looking for the magazine type shots. Now keep in mind the bride wants this, the mom, on the other hand, still wants the family poses, so you need to offer both.
Along with this goes the black and white shots, hand colored shots and lots of Photoshop work. I hear over and over, we want a modern feel, lots of outdoor shots, and lots of fun creative shots.
Here’s a biggie, understandable packages. Sometimes I think people in the wedding business tend to forget that this is all new area to the brides. So many times we leave a photographer’s and the bride looks at me and says “now, what do I get?” Spell it out, the bride get this many proofs, that the she keeps, I shot for this amount of time, I will arrive at this time and leave at this time, this album holds this many pictures for this amount of money. Keep it simple.
Be sure engagement sessions are included in the package.
Brides want the photographer there for unlimited time for the wedding day or at the least two hours before the ceremony and until the bride and groom leave.
Two or more photographers on the wedding day.
Confidence in a backup plan if the photographer was to get sick.
Here’s another big one, brides want to meet with the photographer that will be taking the pictures. They want to know them and feel comfortable with them. I have had more than one bride tell me they have sat through a meeting with a photographer, looked at his albums only to find out that this would not be the photographer shooting their wedding. Needless to say they were not happy and didn’t book.
Customer service is huge. When they email, they want a quick response back, even if you don’t have the answer they want, respond back that you are working on it. Same with phone calls. I have a bride now that is not going to use a vendor she had planned to use, because they never answer emails in a timely manner.
Along this same line is a nice pleasant area to meet in. Brides want to see pictures up, the more modern and updated the area looks the more the bride will like it. I know it sounds shallow but it’s true. Office or home doesn’t matter, but a nice neat clean modern area does.
Brides want to be able to preview photos online (gallery or slideshow) while they are waiting for finished product.
Also I am having more and more requests for photographers that have the ability to quickly download pictures from the ceremony and be able to have a slideshow running at the wedding.
I am sure this is not everything, but it’s a good place to start for both brides and photographers. What one should be looking for and the other should be offering.
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