As a solo entrepreneur, I wear many hats in my business. I’ve learned a LOT over the nine years since I photographed my first wedding about how to do all the things, but especially how to get photos to my clients quickly, and I honestly think this year is the best so far! And isn’t that exactly what you’d want, to be the best you’ve been in your current season?
That wasn’t always the case. I had a workflow that I implemented for weddings in 2016 that is very similar to what I do now, but when I moved back to Langley in 2017 and worked a full-time job while shooting weddings… the whole system went down the drain. It was a difficult season for me professionally and it led to the decision to retire from weddings, but we all know how that turned out ;)
I’ve been a full-time business owner again since the fall of 2018 and things just keep getting better and better. This past off-season (aka the winter/early Spring when I usually have less weddings) I took time to clarify my systems and actually DO all the things I’ve wanted to do when it comes to my wedding photography workflow! Some things are a surprise for my couples, so I won’t share everything just yet, but I’ll share the outline of what happens from wedding day to final image delivery! This process is how I’m able to share photos from every wedding so quickly with my clients, with my corner of the internet, and on the blog.
I don’t schedule anything for Mondays after a wedding, even if it’s a public holiday. No meetings, no shoots, no other tasks except what’s below!
The reason I do all of this is because that first week after a wedding is when everyone is still so, so excited about it!! I want everyone to relive the day as soon as possible, especially since a lot of people can’t join my couples for their weddings this year and the internet is the only way to share what happened! And, in all honesty, it has been so helpful for booking new weddings – a ton of my clients inquired because (before they were even engaged!) they would see my photos fill their social media feed soon after their friend’s wedding day. There are too many wins in this system to not do it anymore!
After this process I schedule 1-2 days over the next couple of weeks to finish editing the entire gallery and deliver it. I tell my clients it can take up to a month to get their final photos just in case something happens and I’m not able to dedicate time right away to finishing them up! This was the hardest part for me in 2017/2018 because of my full-time job. God knows I need to focus on one thing at a time, though, so here we are!! 2019 was much better, and 2020 is the best yet!!