How did you do it?

In musings
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I had serious quandaries about writing this blog post. Like, serious ones. I almost didn’t write it at all. Because, really – who likes giving away trade secrets?

So, why am I writing it? One. Because really, shockingly, there really is enough business to go around. Every couple is going to find the right photographer for them. And two. Because it IS one of the most frequently asked questions I get, at least from within the photography community. “How did you start your business? How did you get it up and off the ground?”

Answers? Luck. Perseverance. Talent (right?) And Offbeat Bride.

Yup. Advertising. Paid for advertising.

At the time I got into the wedding business, there was a big push for not paying to advertise. There are so many other avenues, they said. You don’t have to spend a penny, they said. Blog, Facebook, distribute table cards, word of mouth.

And it’s not that that doesn’t work, and I certainly did my fair share of all of those things.

But target marketing can be a tricky thing, especially for people who know what kind of couple they want to photograph, but don’t know how to reach them.  And I knew exactly who I wanted to be photographing.

Enter, Offbeat Bride. I had followed Offbeat Bride in my second shooting years, but always with the mindset, “Oh, I wish, I wish, but I’m just not cool enough.”

But I wanted it. I wanted into the community so badly. I wanted creative, funky couples, that didn’t balk at my purple hair or the fact that I don’t show up to their weddings dressed like I’m going to a funeral. People who would take the time to let me get to know them before their wedding, to embrace their eccentricities and amazingness, and come into their wedding as if they really DID hire a friend to shoot their wedding (a friend who knows what their doing). I never wanted to be bored.

The month I quit my job and went into 100% freelance, single girl business-ownership, I bit the bullet, applied to be on Offbeat Bride, and told myself I wouldn’t cry if I was rejected for not being cool enough.

Lo – they took me. And it was the best thing that could have happened to my business.

When people started booking me – and in my first year shooting weddings for myself, my first year as a primary and only shooter – I had no idea why. I booked 20 weddings my first year, 5 more than my goal and 17 of them right from Offbeat Bride. And I loved all of them.

If my first wedding season had been filled with strife and stress and bridezillas, I probably would have quit and gone into something where I had to wear a skirt-suit every day. But that wasn’t the case. I – knock on wood – have never had a bridezilla.

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And I’m never bored.

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The couples I get from Offbeat Bride are creative. They want something different. And – this is going to sound crazy – they really really like each other, as far as I can tell. They make out, they laugh loudly, with and at each other, they write the craziest vows, embracing each others oddities.

20140914-202247 From Offbeat Bride, I’ve learned the beauty of the long day. My collections aren’t hourly, because hourly packages couldn’t accommodate what my couples wanted to do. I’ve had the longest cocktail hours on the planet, built in to give my couples time to escape for a bit, by themselves (and me), or with their wedding parties, to go bowling, play pool, or just wander a bit. I’ve learned that there’s WAY more to do at a reception than just dance – there are lawn games I’ve never even heard of, there are stacks of board games piled up on tables. There’s more to do at an engagement shoot than stand in front of flowers – I’ve had a couple pretend to be vintage bank robbers, I’ve helped people make hot sauce. I shoot people who are unabashedly themselves.

20140830-15410420140914-20350220150523-DanielleMike-wedding1313So, should you advertise on Offbeat Bride? If you like awesome people, if you’re creative and openminded and want to build that, not even into your brand, but into your life, with an awesome community to support you – I mean. Why WOULDN’T you do it?

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