Let me start off by stating that I am not the type of photographer that wants to make my clients feel like I am “selling” to them. I prefer to build relationships with my clients and keep them coming back to me over and over. That is why I like to provide my clients with their digital files. However I have many clients who love to see professional quality products hanging on their walls. Instead of spending hundreds or thousands of dollars on a painting to go above their couch, they would rather hang something that holds meaning to them… something that is significant to them.

Hanging a collection of canvas gallery wraps above your couch, in the bedroom, or in the dining room is a great way to decorate your home. Take a look at the latest piece that I just ordered. This is a photo of a young female country music artist. I gave her two different options when choosing the giant canvas for her home. Both photos are edited in black and white, while one of them has an added warmth to it. You can see that I put most of the focus on her hand in one of the shots, while putting most of the focus on her Taylor guitar in the other.

Getting shots during your portrait or engagement session like this is also fun! One of my FAVORITES from a recent engagement is this one below! John picked out these shoes for his bride, Tanya. And she loved them so much that she wanted to make sure to include them in their engagement session! How cute is this?!! If you think you would like to use some of your photos from a session with me as a piece of art for your home, just ask me to show you some options! It is painless! I promise!

There are so many cute ideas for decorating your home with photography rather than something you purchase at a store that holds no meaning to you! Photos can become sentimental. So display them with love and pride! And check out some ideas for decorating by looking here. I have a few ideas pinned in a photo display Pinterest board. Go ahead… you know you love Pinterest as much as I do. http://pinterest.com/wendyc/photo-displays/

It has been a labor of love, that is for sure! But it was time for a facelift for this nashville wedding photographer! And I could not be more thrilled. I am so in love with the design, colors, and textures of the new site. The beauty of using Showit for my website needs is that I can have a site that fits my style, my personality, and my ideal client. The inspiration for this design came after going on a photo safari at the suggestion of Jasmine Star during her Restart workshop on Creative Live. I probably took a little longer than most of the other photographers who tuned into hear what she had to say, but that is only because I sometimes second guess myself. After spending hours and hours on Pinterest pinning photos for my photo safari, I finally got to work on a design that fit into the look and feel of the photos that I was pinning. It is so much different than the look of my previous site, but this is totally me! Click below to see the new full site!

I am so excited about launching the new website! The next couple of weeks will be filled with redesigning this blog so that it will match the website. So stay tuned for that! In the mean time, because I am so stinkin’ excited about the change, I have a free 16×20 canvas gallery wrap that will go to anyone who schedules a portrait session with me while at the same time can refer a friend who also books a portrait session. It’s pretty simple! Leave me a comment here on the blog. Then contact me to schedule your portrait session. Then go and refer me to one of your friends and when they also schedule a portrait session with me, I will give you a 16×20 canvas gallery wrap of your choice from your session! How exciting!

There are so many gorgeous wedding venues in the Nashville area, and as a Nashville Wedding Photographer I have been lucky… actually “honored” may be a more appropriate adjective… enough to shoot weddings at many of them. But there are also many local venues that I have NOT shot a real wedding at before. And of course, as a photographer who dreams big, I have a bucket list of venues that I hope to be able to shoot at one day. At the top of that bucket list would be Cedarwood.

I did shoot there once, when I was part of the Pursuit 31 retreat last year! And I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it ever since! Photographers… I know you know where I am coming from! We ALL have a bucket list of venues! Right? Maybe one of these days, a bride will come along and want to make my little wedding photography dreams come true. HAHAH. Yes I’m being cheesy!

Here are a few images from the styled shoot  I was lucky enough to be a part of at Cedarwood.

I am a Nashville Wedding Photographer and what that means is that I am a very small fish in a very large pond. There are so many great photographers in Nashville, many of whom I am proud, honored and grateful to call my friend! I absolutely adore so many of them, and I love the fact that I belong to such a wonderful industry. Because there is so much talent in Nashville, I learned early on that I could NOT depend on Google to bring me business. I learned very quickly that I can not be one of those photographers who throw up a fancy website and sit back doing nothing while waiting on brides to find me by doing a quick search on the internet.

I call it Creative Marketing. But really it is not marketing at all. It helps that I have a great website, but the number one rule of thumb is to build trust with my clients. Any business owner will tell you that word of mouth marketing is better than ANY marketing you can pay for. The bottom line… WOW YOUR CLIENTS AND THEY WILL TALK ABOUT YOU! I knew that I had to give my clients a reason to talk about me. I want them talking about the EXPERIENCE that they get with me. I want them talking to their friends at work, at school, at parties, and at church! If one of their friends suddenly gets engaged, I want my brides to say “Oh my gosh let me tell you about my wedding photographer!” I knew that I was going to have to get creative in creating ways to make this happen.

So how do I WOW my clients? Obviously I have to provide them with a fun and unique session and produce beautiful photos, but how do I give them an amazing experience that will make them WANT to talk about me? It is simple! I treat them like friends. I never ever ever treat them like clients. For example… If I see an email from one of my brides, I will respond to it immediately… even if it is 10:00 at night and I am responding from my cell phone to say, “I’ll get on that first thing in the morning!” I went to a workshop last year where the photographers were teaching us that we should set office hours and only respond to clients during those hours. It was even suggested that we wait twenty-four hours before responding. THAT IS ABSURD! I would never do that to a friend, therefore I am NOT going to do that to a client! I remember being a bride myself. And I always appreciated those vendors who were willing to give a little extra to help me feel special.

It also helps that I am a serviced based photographer and not a product based photographer. I charge for my services and provide my clients with digital files and albums. Although I have an A La Carte list of items ranging from prints to canvases and albums that my clients can purchase from me, I do not push them to purchase them. And I certainly do not depend on product sales for income. Why is this important to the clients’ experience with me? It’s simple! I am never a salesman to them. I never make them feel like I am trying to sell them something. Think about it! How does it make you feel when someone is constantly trying to get you to buy something you may or may not want?

Fun Skype or Face Time sessions are also a great way to build trust! It is not always convenient for me to meetup with my clients for a cup of coffee or lunch because most of my brides live out of state. But computers make it super easy to get face to face with them on a regular basis. Sometimes I will Skype with them just to talk about recipes or must see movies! Building friendships with them is super important to me. It is actually the reason that I chose to specialize in weddings. I absolutely adore getting to know my clients in the year leading up to their wedding, and I certainly do not want them to forget me after their wedding day.

I also like to send gifts to my clients throughout the year leading up to their wedding. Right after they book me I will send them a questionnaire that will ask silly questions such as “What is your favorite candy? What is your favorite date night?” etc… This is a great way for me to get to know them. And if I want to send them a gift, I will usually refer to this email for ideas. I have been known to send a date night basket that includes a gift card to their favorite restaurant and a gift card to their local movie theater with a note that says, “Have a great date night… ON ME!” Or I may choose to send them a candy basket with their favorite candies! Maybe they have a favorite wine? I might send them a bottle of their favorite wine with some chocolates that will pair well with that wine. If we have already met for an engagement session and I have gorgeous images of them, I may send them a free canvas of their favorite image or some stationary or note pads that have one of their images on it. Some of you may even remember the post I wrote a while back that showcased the delicious custom cookies that I gifted to my brides in a cute little photo box. WHO KNOWS? But my couples are ALWAYS surprised and grateful! Actually… I spoil them silly! And I LOVE IT!

There are so many ways that you can build trust and establish friendships with your clients. For me, this is something that I am constantly thinking about and implementing. I choose not to spend money on any form of traditional marketing and instead I take what money I would normally spend on marketing and I invest it back into my clients. I am genuine in my feelings and desire to get to know my clients and become friends. Then I simply treat them like I would any other friend of mine who may be getting married and I spoil them like crazy. Who wouldn’t appreciate that? I know I would! Sometimes I even get little gifts from my clients in return and THAT is when I know we are soul mates! LOL. But the bottom line is that I am giving my clients an experience, not only on their wedding day, but also throughout the year leading up to their wedding. And this experience is what I want them talking about in the break room at work when one of the co-workers announces her engagement!

Once I have built trust and friendships with my clients, and I KNOW they want to talk about me, I provide them with ways to do that. This is where my website company comes in. Showitfast provides me with some pretty awesome tools that continue to WOW my clients while also providing them with the tools they need to talk about me. But I will share more about that in a future post. Be on the lookout later this week for a post where I will explain to you how I use Showit and PASS to market my business!

I would love to hear from some of you! Leave me a comment will ya? Do you have any brilliant gift ideas for clients? What are your thoughts? What are you doing to build trust with your clients and wowing them enough to want to tell their friends all about you? Let’s hear it!

Many brides and grooms are looking for the perfect wedding photographer who not only fit their style, but who will also allow an affordable option for them to get their wedding pictures in a digital format such as a disk of images on cd or dvd. Let’s face it… we live in a digital world! Of course they want their digital files. It allows them to print an unlimited number of prints as well as share them on Facebook or other forms of social media!

But there is a problem that most people are unaware of. Did you know that computer manufacturers are no longer going to be building computers with cd roms or dvd roms? Apple has already removed them from most of their new models. So what good is that cd of images then? Another problem with getting a cd of your images is that when you have nearly 1000 high resolution images on a cd, it takes FOREVER to view them because it takes so long to transition from one file to the next. There is nothing that can be done to change that because high resolution images are such large files… well… that’s just the way it is.

But guess what?! You do not NEED a cd or dvd of your images because I have found a better way… a way that stays IN FRONT of constant changing technology! Internet… THIS IS PASS!

Why do I love PASS?

• With the custom app your photos will always be with you.
• You can download your photos instantly. No DVD. No software.
• Have prints and other products delivered right to your door.
• Your photos are safe…forever.

PASS allows you to share your images directly to your Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest with a simple click of a button! Try doing THAT from a silly ol’ cd or dvd! But guess what else? If you want to order prints of your images, you can order them directly from the PASS gallery. THAT’S RIGHT! You can get professional quality prints at a fraction of the cost that you will pay your product based photographer who depends on print sales. A FRACTION OF THE COST!

The new layout of the gallery inside of PASS is BEAUTIFUL! I love the collage look and feel of everything! But when you view them online… WOW! It will blow you away!

Want to see more? Just click play on the video below! It is pretty awesome… JUST LIKE MY CLIENTS!

I am proud to announce that I have been rated by local brides and voted The Knot Best of Weddings 2013 Pick. This award is only handed out to a handful of photographers in each state, so THANK YOU! Thank you to my previous brides who voted for me, and left your review of me and the service that I performed for you on your wedding. Because of you I have been recognized by being given The Knot Best of Weddings 2013 award! Recognition is always great! And the greatest form of recognition that anyone could ever give me is for previous brides to share their experience with me with my future brides. SO THANK YOU!

And to celebrate…

The next couple that books me for their wedding in the month of February will receive not only an engagement session, but a 20×30 Canvas Gallery Wrap of your choice at no additional cost! WHAT?

If you would like more information about booking me for your wedding, visit my website and fill out the contact form. Every bride deserves an amazing wedding photography experience on her wedding day.

One of my FAVORITE things to provide all of my wedding couples with is their very own Custom Client Site. A Custom Client Site basically serves as a personal website for my couples where they can share all of their wedding details, plans, expectations, and especially their engagement and wedding photos with all of their friends and family. And I am absolutely IN LOVE with this site that I put together for Dulce and Raul.

I have to admit that I was a little challenged with putting this site together. Dulce and Raul requested to have their site designed in both English and Spanish so that all of their family would be able to read it. And since I do not speak Spanish fluently, I had to get a lot of help from her to word everything correctly. But that is part of what is so awesome about Custom Client Sites… THEY ARE CUSTOM!

Take a look at Dulce and Raul’s site, and be sure to leave them a little bit of love!

CLICK HERE TO OPEN THEIR SITE IN A SEPARATE WINDOW!

One of my favorite locations to shoot a wedding is at The Gaylord Opryland Hotel in Nashville, Tn. There are so very many perfect places for pictures inside the hotel, and it is absolutely a gorgeous venue. I have shot several Opryland Hotel Weddings in the past couple of years, and my most recent wedding there was with a very stunning couple… Tanya and John!

Tanya and John are from North Carolina and they planned their wedding at the Opryland Hotel because they love Nashville. You may remember me telling you about this couple when I blogged about their engagement session at Arrington Vineyard earlier this year. We were excited that their engagement session was featured on not one, but TWO awesome wedding blogs. I have fallen in love with this couple this past year because their story is a extra sweet. John is a civilian contractor for the military, and stationed in Afghanistan. Tanya remains behind in North Carolina, eagerly awaiting him to return home to her. Their wedding was stunning, and I know that they are ready for John to finish his contract with the military so they can be together full time!

Congratulations Tanya and John! Thank you so much for allowing me into your lives and to be a part of your wedding! I have grown very fond of you both, and I can’t wait to watch your lives advance now that you are married! Welcome to the married people’s club!

A huge thank you needs to go to Scott O’Neal for helping me shoot this amazing wedding! A few of these shots actually came from his camera. I’m telling you internet… I love my second shooters!

 CREDITS:

Wedding Venue: Gaylord Opryland Hotel in Nashville

Wedding Coordinator: Jennifer Klein with A Magical Affair

Wedding Florist: Caprice Palmer of Enchanted Florist

Hair Stylist: Shannon Pitts

Makeup Artist: Lisa Proctor

Wedding Gown by: Sottero and Midgley purchased at Poffie Girls in Gastonia, NC

Bridesmaid dress by Dessy Collection

Tuxedos from: Men’s Wearhouse

Wedding Photography by: Nashville Wedding Photographer Wendy Cunningham