Three Rules For Hosting Styled Sessions | Charlotte Wedding Photographer

One of the main purposes for doing styled sessions is for vendor connections. I was contemplating on listing these three things as tips, but I feel these should be used as rules instead. Vendor connections are just as important as happy clients, and these rules will help ensure vendors working with you are happy and ready to hand your name out to potential clients as well as showcase your work!

1) Be gracious. 
You have these vendors willing to donate their talents, time, and products to you. Be sure to thank them for this, and let them know how much it means to you that they are working with you! Show off their products, and give them the recognition that they deserve. If you don’t, you can be accidentally burning a bridge, which can turn into a flood of other burned bridges in this industry if word gets out that you upset someone. Your name and your reputation are in the hands of everyone you serve, so leave them with a positive taste in their mouths 🙂 You never know who or what you’ll need or the influence others may have.

2) Give them your product – in full.
They are giving you SO much of their time and efforts, not to mention the physical costs of what they may have paid for the products used, so return the favor by giving them your images – high resolution images, and all of the ones you edit. By only giving them, say, five images from six hours of setting up and shooting, they may feel cheated or that their product wasn’t showcased as well as they wanted. Be sure that each vendor is taken care of and happy.

3) Communicate.
If you state that you are going to do something or you ask someone of something, follow through with it. Don’t assume that others know your thoughts or actions, so be sure to keep every vendor updated on what’s happening. Be sure they all know the theme, the date, the time they need to be there, every single detail. If you asked a vendor to come onto your session and they agree, don’t ignore that. If things change, keep them informed.

Some of you may be thinking, “DUH!”, but it blows my mind at how many vendors report that they aren’t treated this way. Be respectful, kind, loving, generous, and be someone YOU would want to work with! We are in this industry together, so keep it a happy place!