091: Amber Henry – Creating a Functional Timeline For Your Weddings & How To Shoot For The Album Sale

I learned something a long time ago and it was to treat your clients like a loved one. So when they come into your studio or when you meet them for coffee or however you go about meeting them, to look at them as if they are a dear person to you. They’re already a friend, they’re a cousin, they’re someone that you like. And you will look at them differently and you will treat them differently. You know how sometimes you get that email from a potential client and it kind of rubs you the wrong way, but you still have the meeting with them. You go into that meeting a little bit offputtish and maybe kind of like, “I don’t know if I like this person.” So you already start the rapport off on the wrong foot. So I think if you look at your clients as just people who have their own lives, have their own problems that have nothing to do with you and they’re coming to you for the solution. The solution is that they need beautiful photographs and you’re the one that they think can handle it.

And conversely, you shoot them that way as well. You photograph them that way as well. It really does change everything. It really does change everything. Very, very quick story. I had a client once who was driving me nuts, emailing all the time, sending me these little snippet of emails that just seemed kind of rough. I went on vacation and they emailed me and they’re like, “How dare you go on vacation when my wedding is three months away? You should be concentrating…” I was irritated. And so I wrote this person back and I was like, “You know what? I’m not the person for you. I’m going to put my boundaries up. Here are a couple other photographers I recommend. I will gladly transfer over to them.”

And she wrote me back in tears, apologizing, and she said, “My fiance is sick. We just found out my baby is sick. My mother is treating me badly.” All of these things in her life. And she was freaking out and somehow she was taking that out on me as if me going on vacation was also abandoning her. So it had nothing to do with me, it was all internal. But it wasn’t until I put up my boundaries that she opened that door. And we’re friends now. Her and I, we’ll chat. We stay connected. Every once in a while I’ll post some of her pictures just as a “Hey, still loved your day, still loved being there for you.” Our rapport completely changed after that, simply from having that more human connection of it wasn’t me, I wasn’t the bad guy, it was just life was happening. Life was happening.

I don’t even remember when I started doing timelines, but I think it was somewhere when I was just getting very frustrated because I wasn’t getting the pictures that were needed or I felt rushed. So I don’t remember how it came about, but I will not do a wedding without a timeline. It’s so much simpler than it sounds. I just treat it as if it’s just a next step that we have to do. From the minute that we meet with the bride and groom for the first time, I tell them about the timeline, like, “We’re going to do timeline planning.” And sometimes even in our initial consult when they first come in, I will run through a quick little verbal timeline with them. So many benefits. Other than just knowing who’s going to be where when, making sure that I have enough time to photograph what’s needed to be photographed.

Clients, I’ll tell you the number one thing clients don’t think about is travel time, ever. They don’t consider it. So if they’re traveling from one city to the next or different venues, locations, they’re like, “Oh, it’s a five-minute drive.” Well, we know it’s a 15-minute drive, plus we have equipment. They just don’t understand it. And you got to not expect them to understand it because they don’t do weddings. We do weddings, we’re the professional, we’re the ones who have to explain it to them. So the benefits of doing a timeline for purposes that are financial is because a lot of people don’t think they need as much time as they do on a wedding day. So I’ll have clients who’ll say, “We just need five, six hours, five or six hours on the wedding day, it’s all we need.” So we’ll sit down, we’ll start doing their timeline and she’s like, “Oh, I need like 10 hours.”

Because you know wedding days fly. Oh, there’s so much. It’s absolutely hectic. And I always tell my clients that you don’t want to spend your wedding day running, running, running from picture to place. You also want to be in your day, you want to enjoy your day, you want to take a breath. So the way that I structure my timelines with my clients, when we have our meeting, we’ll have a consult either in my studio or on Skype or Zoom, usually as quick as possible, but at least maybe six months or so before their date, depending. Four months would be the absolute least because by that time things have been decided and you can’t change it. So about six months or so before the wedding date. I like to start with the ceremony time. “What time is your ceremony?” Because usually that’s set, they already know that.

So that’s your basis to start your day. And then what time is dinner, or what time does your reception start? So you know if the location is the same, the ceremony and reception are the same location, then it’s a lot closer. Whereas if it’s not, then you have travel time and play time. So I will use those basises to back date to the beginning of the day and go forward into the reception, to explain to them why they need the time that they need. This also helps if you maybe have a client that’s hesitant for a first look.

So when it comes to first looks, which are a little controversial with some people, I don’t push first looks on my client. If they don’t want to do it, they don’t do it. However, if they need it, I will strongly explain to them why they need it and then let them decide. But I make sure that they know from me that if pictures are missed because they absolutely would not do a first look and we have no time, that that’s not something that I’m going to have to take care of in the long run. That’s something that they’re going to have to be okay with.

Just treat your clients like loved ones. It goes such a long way. And you will struggle. And it’s those people that you, like, “Oh, I got to love you, but I just don’t want to love you today.” It will change your world. It will change your perception on the day that you’re photographing them. Even if you’re not a wedding photographer and you’re photographing a senior session and mom’s stressed out and you’re like, “Oh, mom is irritating me.” Why is mom stressed out? Mom’s stressed out because she’s got three kids at home and Dad didn’t help her get her daughter ready and daughter’s concerned about her hair. I mean, talk to mom like you’re a mom. Just learn to put yourself in the shoes of your clients and you will go far. You’ll go so far.