"How can we ever thank you?"

bride-748x350.jpeg

Nothing gives me greater pleasure than hearing from couples after they’ve received their wedding photos. After I’ve put everything I’ve got into producing images they’ll never tire of looking at, it’s gratifying to hear how much they love them. After all, unlike nearly all other wedding suppliers, once the wedding day is over, I’m only halfway through my job, with the important editing process yet to commence.

In amongst all your other suppliers that provided a service for your big day, it’s always lovely to hear back from couples, whether it’s via an email or a thank-you card. Sometimes people will round off their correspondence with the good old “I don’t know how we can ever thank you enough!” and, after some consideration, I believe I know how you can.

Booze

OK I’m only joking about this (well, half joking). No seriously, if you want to give your wedding supplier a massive thank you present that costs nothing, here are three easy ways to do so:

1. Recommendation.

The wedding industry is a competitive old beast. As you’ll know, there are reams of suppliers out there to choose from in every category, and wedding photography is one of the most saturated markets. A recommendation from an existing or previous client is the number one most effective way to obtain bookings – and I like bookings!

Recommending me to other people is the most powerful thing you can do. Tell your engaged pals what the experience was like first-hand, maybe even showing them the photos to prove it. Got a timeline chock full of smug-engageds on Christmas morning? Tell ’em who your awesome photographer was. Plus, you can actually earn dosh by doing this – when you recommend someone who books, I pay a £50 referral bonus! Say whaaaaat?

2. Reviews.

Alongside recommendations, writing a review about your experience with me as your photographer is also incredibly valuable. On a recent pulse survey I undertook on social media, 90% of respondents said reviews from previous clients were very important to them, during their wedding supplier search. I can understand; how often do we look at the reviews for a restaurant or hotel before we make a booking? Before committing to something, we want to hear from the proverbial horse’s mouth, and reviews are extremely influential and valuable for other prospective clients.

It’s so easy to do too, you can either leave a review on my Facebook page HERE or if you have a Google/Gmail account, you can leave a review on Google (the world’s most powerful search engine, and #1 way people find me!) via HERE. If you initially found me via Hitched.co.uk or Bridebook, you can also leave reviews there (Click HERE for Hitched, and HERE for Bridebook). Love you long time.

3. Social media tagging.

I know you guys love a bit of social media, especially Instagram and Facebook. My little heart flutters when I scroll through my feed and see brides and grooms adding the wedding photos I took, and seeing all subsequent lovely comments from friends about how gorge you look.

But much like recommendations, a really effective, quick way to help – which takes 30 seconds – is to tag my account/page in your photos, letting all your eagle-eyed followers know it was me who photographed this magnificent pair. This is known as crediting, which I’m sure you know 😉

Re-saving my photos and uploading them without crediting is, frankly, pants. It’s photo stealing. I don’t put watermarks with my logo on your photos as I trust you not to do this. So when you credit your photographer in your caption, you wouldn’t BELIEVE what a positive effect this has, as lots of traffic then goes to my social media and website. People are nosey, right? They’re like Oh, I wonder what this photographer’s other photos are like, and BOSH! They’re now looking at my other work.

It’s an instant, tiny, yet incredibly effective recommendation. Credit your photographer. Spread the love.

So yeah, there’s 3 ways to make this photographer incredibly happy indeed, which has no requirement to write a Thank You card, or send me flowers or prosecco, or wine. No requirement whatsoever.

Thanks for taking the time to read this, as always. How can I ever thank you …? (OK enough now.)

 

WeddingsMatt Brady