Hoodie and winter cap.
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Have you ever been forced to wear a tie or dress shoes. Sure, you look good in them and it looks good from a clients perspective. But is it really necessary?
Whenever I meet with a client I usually am dressed as comfortably as I can be. I have sneakers on, a hoodie and my favorite winter hat. This is just something that has worked out very well for me. By dressing down I think I might be giving our meeting a little less high stakes feel and more relaxed vibe. My clothes don't sell me as much as my reputation and my photos do. In ten years and countless clients i've only had one objection to my clothing and that was from a single guest who was a bit oppositional and probably just had a bad day. Most of my clients are dressed in their everyday lounge clothes and the occasional Sunday best but ninety five percent are dressing comfortably so why would I be?
My meetings are also the same as my dress, very informal and relaxed. I'm not pitching to anyone as much as i'm casually interviewing a couple to see if we're a good fit. I usually ask a dozen or two questions and click through a couple hundred photos. Spotify is playing a modern wedding playlist and the bottles of water are flowing.
The first question I have for any couple even before they meet with me is their wedding date. I often have people who get to me a week or two late and I'm not able to shoot their wedding. But in most cases I have the date open and we end up meeting. My office is in the second floor of Gerardo's Italian Bakery, it's a long story of how I got there. I have my books, some forms and a big tv to show my portfolio.
I do have a set package but I regularly adapt it to the couple sitting in front of me. The biggest thing for me is to be fair. I can't charge someone who has fifty people coming to their wedding the same I would charge with two hundred people coming. If I have an easier day ahead of me then the price can reflect that. I walk you through a typical wedding day which is usually from hair and makeup all the way to the last dance. Now you probably weren't interested in any books but I'll show you a few anyways. They're not as expensive as you thought in the end, most times.
So there is three things I hear from every bride and groom. We're really relaxed, our wedding is informal and unique, we're on a budget. I agree to all of these, you don't even have to tell me in fact. I'm going to capture beautiful memories regardless of budget or if you're a ball of stress. I like hearing about peoples visions for their weddings.It's easy to match someones enthusiasm about their weddings because I really am excited to shoot weddings.
By the end of the meeting I run across the price and I've gotten enough information to build a contract. I don't need an answer right now, i'm not a monster. I hope that we clicked and I leave the ball in their hands.
By the end of the meeting you never saw my dress shoes and we might have had on the same exact hoodie so you know we both have amazing taste. I send off an e-mail later in the day with details of our meeting and a contract with some instructions attached with it.
Hope to have you booking your wedding with me in 2018. Have a great day / night. :)