The client cycle

There is an ebb and flow to the wedding cycle, and that’s an important consideration when you’re deciding on how you work with your clients and structure your pricing. Here’s a guide to get you going.

12-24 months before the wedding
Engagement and sticker shock. The couple discovers how much more the wedding is going to cost than they expected. Budgets keep changing by the day at this point, as people start to think about all the little details they never thought about.

What this means for you: Not likely a whole lot at this point. People will generally pick a spot before they pick a photographer, and the reception location is really going to set the tone for the rest of the pricing more than anything else. But it’s good to know what your clients are experiencing and to be sensitive to it.

6-12 months before the wedding
The couple has come to terms with their budget, and they’re in it. They’re in the middle of their planning, and if they’re having fun with it, now is the time they’ll really be enjoying things. If they consider it a burden, they may not be enjoying it as much, but they’re still probably committed to it. Things are moving along quickly, and they’re making key decisions every couple weeks.

What this means for you: People are receptive at this point. If they’re willing to stretch their budget, then now is the time, and they’ll do so if they feel the value is there. This is a great time to talk with couples to learn about what excites them and what they’re up to. Don’t forget that people will refer you to others before their wedding comes around if you encourage them to do so. They believe in you, and they’ll be happy to help their friends. It’s no fun to hear how they’re going to 12 weddings that year, and you weren’t mentioned to any of the 12 friends. Be sure to stay in their minds.

3-6 months before the wedding
Most of the critical decisions have been made, and it’s too early to work on a lot of the wedding tasks, like invitations, table cards, ceremony details and such. This is the lull, where there’s some time away from the planning process for a lot of people.

What this means for you: If you haven’t booked the client, there are two opposing forces working both in your favor and against you. For you is the fact that time is running out. There’s less of a sense of leisure and more urgency. That means that people are more likely to be ready to act, so take advantage of that. Against you is the fact that for whatever reason, they’ve pushed photography a little later on the list. It might not be as much of a priority and budgets might be lower than they were a few months earlier, because they’re feeling drained. Naturally, this doesn’t apply if they’re on a short timeline.

If people have booked you, sometime during this period is a good time to reach out to the couples and connect with them about the logistics for the day. This is important. If you wait too long, you may not have the chance to influence the schedule, which could limit the quality of your portraits of the couple. Also, since they haven’t thought about specific details yet, they’ll be more receptive both to suggestions and to the things you require of them. You want to be preemptive. Set people’s expectations before they’ve created their own. If you wait too long, you’re fighting an uphill battle.

1 month before the wedding
This is crunch time. New tasks keep popping up every day, even though it’s quite probable that many details and logistics haven’t been finalized. The broad brush strokes are all in place, though.

What this means for you: First, know that they are busy, so be understanding. There’s a good chance by now they’ve forgotten about the things you discussed in your first meeting, and might not even know the package they signed up for. Get them ready for what to expect. If there are payments to be taken care of, now is a good time to remind them, and if your pricing structure involves post-wedding sales, now is the time to start talking with them about it. People don’t appreciate surprises, so, for example, hearing that an album upgrade now feels a lot better than hearing that there is an album upgrade after they signed off on a layout after the wedding. For that reason, I like to help my clients by taking them through the album process, and what will happen after the wedding.

1 week before the wedding
Everyone is coming into town, every detail is finalized, and couples are spending everyday doing the little things. Picking this up here, dropping that off there. They’re also handling all the payments to vendors around this time.

What this means for you: Try to get in touch before this period, if you can. They’re inundated with requests and task lists. Most people try to take payments before this period. If you take payment on the wedding day, be sure you’ve reminded them.

1-2 weeks after wedding
The couple is still basking in the afterglow of the wedding. They are most likely talking about it frequently, and friends keep sharing stories from the wedding with them. Friends are also sending them pictures of the wedding day regularly.

What this means for you: Get your previews to them sooner than later. My second shooter Irina tells me her definitive picture from her wedding is from her first dance. It was taken by one of the guests. “Was it the best picture of the first dance?” I asked. Nope. It just came in the first, so it’s what she had in her head. Capitalize on the excitement and get the processing and everything else done as quickly as you can.

1 month after the wedding
The excitement is starting to wane a little bit as they return to regular life. They are catching up on life after returning from their honeymoon and stalling things from the week before the wedding. About 70% of couples pay for a fair share of the wedding nowadays, so they’re probably tapped out in budgetary terms. They don’t want to be spending a lot of money at this point.

When you get your pictures to the couple, it will provide a natural boost. It lets them relive the day, and they’ll be excited. If you have things to sell at this point, do it soon after you show the pictures. Otherwise, the excitement will fade, and the fact that couples are financially drained will make them more and more resistant as time goes on. Splitting up payments can really help. Also, creating deadlines on album approval helps move things along, and I’ve found clients actually appreciate it. Don’t spring the deadline on them now. Tell them about it early in the process, well before the wedding. If you don’t create a deadline, it can take years for some people to get back to you. Also, getting the album half a year after the wedding is much more exciting than 2 years after. You’re more likely to get a bump in referrals by way of their sharing the album if you have it to them sooner instead of later.

1 year after the wedding
This is the official closing date in my mind. I know that people will refer you for longer, but after about a year, people really do return to their normal life, and being married doesn’t have the same sense of newness it did 6 months earlier.

What this means for you: Don’t make this your target. A lot of photographers let things slide after the wedding, and couples will allow you to do so. You’re losing out on referrals, impact, and excitement. Don’t waste that by stalling on getting things over that could have been done earlier.