I am one of those deeply relational creatives that struggles with the workflow side of business. My brain loves sunshine, creativity, and new people. But admin, logistics, and scheduling is hard. In wedding photography there is a WHOLE list of workflows. It feels like it’s never ending but I have a few tricks + resources that really help me.
My Wedding Workflow:
- Client Inquires
- Send initial email with pricing guide through Dubsado
- Facetime or Zoom to answer questions
- Send contract + invoice through Dubsado
- Send “You’re In” email with all info on timeline prep + engagement session date
- Set up call to confirm timeline
- Send welcome gift through mail
- Shoot engagement session
- Send engagement photos over
- Send 6, 3, 2, 1, month email check ins with info
- Final invoice notice using Dubsado
- WEDDING DAY!
- Send automated email saying how much I loved their wedding + when to expect photos through Dubsado
- Send preview photos within first week after wedding over in online gallery + text
- Cull twice using Photo Mechanic
- Start editing + send over to editor
- Finish editing + export in Lightroom
- Make blog in Narrative
- Design album for client using Kiss Wedding Books
- Send their online gallery, blog, and album links over email
- Post to instagram their wedding day
- Schedule in tailwind their best moments from their wedding
- Set up automation for 1 year anniversary emails and print sales on Pass
1.Dubsado
This is my favorite client management system!!! I tried others but I have stuck with them for years now. You can do all things from scheduling, sending invoices, tracking leads, digital contracts, collecting payments, book keeping, email templates, email automations and more. I’m highly impressed by this company because it has allowed me to cut down time in so many areas where I was overwhelmed. I highly recommend getting a client management system to keep track of all things business when it comes to wedding photography. You want to be professional and communicate well on all levels of the wedding day process.
If you are interested in signing up here is the link: https://www.dubsado.com/?c=hannahrosegray
2.Photo Mechanic
HUGE life saver on time and money. RAW files are huge. But with photo mechanic you can load raw files in the matter of minutes. So what once took me HOURS in bridge or lightroom takes me maybe minutes. I can cull through a whole wedding day in 1 hour compared to 3. You can star or highlight certain photos to put them into different categories as well. I have my saved as: Red is for albums, Blue is for blog, Pink is for client gallery.
3.Outsourcing
I outsource a few things to help with workflow but also peace of mind. The way my brain works I need help on all things business or admin. So I hire people who are really good at what they do so I can stick to what I’m really good at. Here are a few things I have hired people for over the years: brand management, social media, Pinterest marketing, email marketing, website design, website SEO, TAXES, editing. No one person can do all things, think about outsourcing so it can get you back to photographing more.
4.Narrative
Blogging made easy!! This simple tool helps cut down on time when it comes to blogging a wedding day. We all know blogging is not only for the client but also for your SEO and building your portfolio. I highly suggest blogging every wedding you shoot on your site. Narrative lets you build beautiful and simple blogs that work directly with word press or other websites. It also lets you type in keywords for SEO. I send it and goes directly to my word press posts!
5. Tailwind
Tailwind SAVES so much time in my workflow by offering efficient pinning to Pinterest and scheduling to Instagram. This is one of the major areas in my business I hate doing. Just straight up hate doing it but yet with this app you can schedule pins to be working for you all month long. Take 30 mins out of your week to schedule pins and let it work for you!! Pinterest helps more people see your images and get to your website. In turn helping your SEO and you get more paid clients!!
xoxo-Han
