What a wedding photographer should never say to a bride

[Read Time < 6 minutes]

It was early in my career. I was doing well with my local market and wanted to expand into nearby cities and states (more weddings = more business, right?)

I decided to attend a very, very large wedding show in the largest city in the region, just one state away. This would be perfect - three hours away, no problem, huge market - tons of brides - the plan was solid.

Little did I know the best thing to come out of the show wouldn't be more business but a marketing angle I would use for the duration of my career.

As I've mentioned before, I like wedding shows. If you do it right, you can get cozy with all the big players in your local market in one afternoon...and maybe even book a few weddings.

I was making the pre-show rounds and came across the BIG wedding photography outfit in town. Every town has one, and in this significant market, this was an impressive business - multiple photographers, multiple locations, you get it.

They also had a BIG marketing budget because they were located at the center of the arena (I said this was a big show, didn't I?) and hanging from the ceiling of the arena (a place reserved only for the major sponsors) was an enormous blue banner with their slogan,

No one tells your story better than we do.

Now, I'm going to let that slogan sink in for you a bit...

That's long enough.

The marketing part of me said, "Hmm, catchy, a bit trite, but it fits for the potential clients."

Then the photographer part of me kicked in and kicked hard.

"Wait a minute!"

You see, I decided right at the beginning of my career that I wouldn't be like the other photographers. I was going to be different (no one has ever said that, right?).

I was going to be the photographer who was NOT in charge. Even if I were in charge, my client would know that I was there to serve them and THEY would be in charge.

And that's how I turned this clever slogan into my own story.

The idea hit me fast, "No one tells your story better than we do" was their line, but it was 100% false!

EVERYONE tells the story better than the photographer. Why? Because the photographer is NOT the one telling the story!

This might be my bias, and you're allowed to be wrong, of course, but the photographer brings a camera to take photos to preserve the day, not create moments or tell a story.

Of course, I'm being a bit hard on the slogan. I know what they were trying to say, but I think their size and gravitas in the market distorted their role in the wedding process.

Wedding Photographers aren't exactly storytellers...they are story illustrators. Though they can tell a story with photos.

And from that moment on, in that big city, this small city photographer with a mailing address not even in that same state booked three weddings that day.

I used that slogan against the big dog all day long.

"I'm sure you saw that big banner when you came in today. It's funny because those folks are wedding photographers too and when I read, No one tells your story better than we do, the only thing I could think is...YOU tell the story better (gesturing to the bride), or YOU (gesturing to the bride's mom) tell the story better simply because this is YOUR story.

I'm just a wedding photographer blessed with the opportunity to preserve your wedding day. It's not my day - it's YOUR day. And over the next few weeks, months and years after your wedding, this story...YOUR story will be admired by everyone who sees your photos - family, friends, kids, grandkids and they'll all be thinking about you. No one will ever look at any of these moments from YOUR day and ask about me."

And then I stopped talking.

You might be good...even very good at clicking that shutter, but never forget the importance of your role on the wedding day and putting the bride (and her mom), and essentially everyone first...always.

I’m not sure if Teddy was into photography, and I’m sure he wasn’t into wedding photography, but I like his quote.

"No one cares how much you know until they know how much you care" – President Theodore Roosevelt