Quote:
Originally Posted by hotrod4x5
Do you shoot weddings? I am just curious how long it takes to show a bride and groom 4-500 images on a projector. Do you sit with them for hours and hours while they decide?
I guess I am a little confused on how to present several hundred images, if not proofs, or an online gallery? Time is money, what if a bride wants to sit and look at her images for 6 hours, do you block out that time in your studio?
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Guys, I have to agree with Mark on this. We stopped showing "proofs" about 16 years ago. Our after package sales went from $0.00 to as much as $8,500. I have been carrying a $2200 average on after package sales on weddings for the past 10 years.
We found a couple of things out about weddings.
1. When you include everything in the package there is no incentive to buy additional items.
2. When the packages are too cheap they will not respect you and they will expect everything.
3. Proofs will cost you most of if not all of your after wedding sales.
We found when you first show the images the Bride loves ALL of them. If you send them out in a proof format the longer the Bride has the images the less she likes them. It is not the Brides fault but the longer she has them the more she will pick herself apart. We actually tried this on several weddings. Some we let go out with proofs others we did in studio viewings. The ones where we had the studio viewings we had tremendous sales. This convinced us to do away with any proofs.
We found sometimes the clients (seniors) would try to copy the proofs. The answer to all of this is studio viewings.
As to your question about do you block out that time in your studio. Do you like money? Yes, block out the time and prepare to sell images. Brides and grooms appreciate the time you will take. We always ask them to tell us which images they "don't like". This means everything they "don't throw out" means they must like it and therefore they want to buy it. Sell it to them! Time is money and you want to make money for your time.
We also tell them the first viewing is included with the wedding. We also encourage them to bring their parents and anyone else who wants to purchase photos. Additional viewings were $75 per hour. This keeps the viewings to one and encourages everyone to come to that first viewing.
Another way that has worked very well for us was to "lay out" an album using Art Leather album blank mats. I would go through the wedding originals (our name for proofs) and then using the mats I would lay out how I thought the final album should look. I would do each page in order and lay them on several 3 x 6 foot tables so the bride and groom could see how the album would look. I gave them instructions on what they could change and how much the album would be if they purchased it the way it was laid out. In over 3 years of doing this I have only had one wedding not upgrade to the album I laid out for them. We have also use montage to do the same thing with similar results.
