I’ve been meaning to write this post for a while now. Hasn’t happened before mainly because I simply didn’t know what to put into it. Still don’t to be brutally honest so we’ll see where we end up.
Anyway, the reason behind this post is that I’m off on a four day wedding seminar next week. Should be a really good event too as it covers all apects of the industry from technique to processing to products, to pricing to marketing to running the business itself. Hopefilly I’ll pick up a few really good tips and tricks together with the knowledge I’m looking for on how to create, build and run my own business. A lot of the items covered in the seminar will also be directly applicable to my portrait business too so there is a double benefit to be had.
Right now, I’m really excited about it all. Particularly as this marks another step on the journey that this blog is intended to be about. On the whole, things are coming together nicely and at a pace I’m comfortable with too: not too fast, not too slow. Enough time to research, find, do, reflect and improve. [Ed. There is probably a good acronym to be made out of that :-)]
So, what is the plan going forwards from here?
- Prep the kit: charge the batteries, format the cards, clean the lenses, print the release forms etc.
- Go and have four days of fun shooting beautiful models in wedding dresses
- Absorb as much information as possible about it all
- Write the marketing plan
- Build my QTWeddings.co.uk website
- Have some more fun
- Prepare my image portfolio
- Start my marketing campaign and book a few weddings for next year.
- Define packages and pricing
- Have even more fun
Back-up plan
- Get some experience as a second shooter
- Get some more portfolio shots
- Prep some training albums and samples
Other things to consider
Insurance
This isn’t going to be cheap. What with professional indemnity, public liability and equipment cover I’m looking at over £300. Ouch.
Workflow
Getting the workflow right is paramount to success and reducing some of the stress on the day. There is no substitute for being prepared and knowing exactly what is and what isn’t required.
Back-up
Back-up plans for everything, from additional kit to strategies for dealing with too much sun, too little sun, dappled sun, and of course, good old Uncle Bob.
Anything can happen in the next few days. The doors are opening and I’m itching to walk through.
As always, have fun,
Gavin
Founder, QTWeddings
