We are fresh from an incredible wedding. It has taken us a couple days to recover from the multi-day event, and the 16 hour main wedding day.
I came home filled with the same rush that we always get after spending that much time with amazing people, families, friends and being immersed in the world of our beautiful couple.
I also came home completely disappointed by the lack of professionalism from some of the other vendors on the wedding day.
We have been doing this for a long time, and both as full time photographers. When I started this business, before even meeting Nathan (back when it was called Frances Foto, and yes the name made zero sense aside from having an awesome alliteration) I had a belief.
I assumed that if I, and eventually we…
- Provided a really professional, fun and excellent experience for our clients
- Committed to putting our clients’ needs first, treating them like family
- Became AMAZING photographers for every minute of the day
- Worked harder, smarter and better at every wedding
- Be the best we can be
Then we would have a successful business. And funny enough it worked. We are now in our 8th year of both being full time professionals.
But, things are changing in photography and in the wedding industry in general. We are seeing so many new faces, part – time businesses, super low priced vendors. In photography it is a whole different issue and I will write about that in my next post. But for the industry we are seeing some seriously disappointing and disheartening, unprofessional behaviour at weddings.
This included:
Drinking on the job
Spending most of the night on the phone
Spending time, and WAY TOO MUCH TIME, gathering social media marketing posts, photos, videos, etc.
Rude and discourteous behaviour
So my rant concludes with real sadness. I want to be in an industry of experience, professionalism, and coming together to create a great experience for our clients. To me this is such a rare day filled with all the people you love. And you need support so you can just enjoy the day and celebrate this new path and new journey as a family.
I want everyone out there to realize that you need to value experience, reputation, professionalism, more than you value instagram, social media posts, paid for awards, and bullshit accolades. To do this I will leave you with questions to ask and things to ask yourself.
- Is your wedding vendor posting a lot of images, real time videos, etc from weddings. You may want to discuss that you do not want vendor spending time on these activities during your wedding
- Do they have NO DRINKING YOUR BOOZE in their contract, or have discussed this verbally, because you may want to clarify that you do not want vendors drinking from the bar
- Can you see many, many, many reviews from clients that clearly talk about the experience
- How long have they been doing this, and is it a full – time business
- Check your contract. You can you hire a person with a business and expect the top level staff or owner, and have that top level person replaced with a less experienced, less paid, and possible less dedicated staff member
And for the new wedding vendors who are starting businesses, or current vendors lets challenge the industry to rise above and beyond expectations to give our clients the very best!!!! This industry should not be a cash cow and we need to honour our clients’ even if this is a one time event and one time purchase.
*** also many vendors are amazing, professional, and have a long standing reputation in town!!!! Of course this rant is not intended to cast a generalization for less experienced, lower cost vendors. Sometimes you have have really dedicated newbies (a lot like we were).