When clients book you, they aren’t just booking the services that you provide. They are booking you. You were chosen out of many options because they want to experience the process of working together. Wedding or elopement planning is such an intimate experience that it’s an honor to be invited into this. That’s why making the client journey as seamless as possible for my couples is always my ultimate goal. Let me walk you through my own process for crafting client relationships and how I work to provide the best experience!

Client Relationships 101: Where it Starts

Client relationships usually begin with a client finding you through something like Instagram Reels (where most of my clients find me!) and then inquiring through your website form. I use Honeybook as my one-stop-shop client relationship manager that jumpstarts clients on their journey towards working together. Using my best client email template for the inquiry response, I also send along a link for us to get on a Zoom call together after they view my investment guide.

Connection with your potential client starts with that initial inquiry email response and the following video call meeting where you officially meet. After we have the call, I send over a proposal using Honeybook and once it’s signed and paid I pull from my email templates for follow up confirming the booking and outlining what to expect next.

Creating a Solid Connection with Your Ideal Client

Because the client experience is so valuable, I also send a curated gift either after we book or when I deliver their gallery. This client gift can include a ribbed tapered candle set, a beautiful floral vintage art calendar, and a handwritten note all inside of a box stamped with my logo. This will sometimes change according to the type of booking and the time of year! Connection with your client happens through a clearly outlined process, setting up expectations from the beginning, and adding those special touches specific to you.

When a couple skips the engagement session, our next touch point is usually one month prior to the wedding when I send out their final wedding details questionnaire inside of a curated email template. All of this happens within Honeybook, where I can track a client’s progress marked within the visual workflow.

I gather as much information as necessary before our time together. Outside of wedding days these questions include ones about their love languages, experience being in front of a camera, and what music they love so that I can curate a playlist of tunes for our time together!

The Story of Clients Who Became Friends

Lucy and Mitch went through all of my standard client onboarding steps including filling out their wedding questionnaire so I could create their wedding day timeline. We reviewed this over a final call, and next up I joined them for their entire Mexico wedding weekend. This started with a welcome party and rehearsal dinner at Waldorf Astoria, followed by their wedding day at the Sandos Finisterra resort all in Cabo San Lucas. The ceremony was held on the rooftop of the resort with a view of the whole city and bay.

Getting to know a couple through the wedding photography planning process is my favorite part of forming client relationships. In our process of working together, I came to love these two just so much. Lucy and Mitch are very close with their families and wanted an intimate, peaceful destination wedding.

They chose the Sandos Finisterra which is a gorgeous beachfront resort that allowed everything to be at a single location. Everyone stayed for several days getting all of that memory-making time especially with such a fun and long night of dancing at the reception! They love their people so much!

Other ways that we connected through their client experience was in the classy style and candid feel of the wedding day itself. Examples of this included Lucy’s gorgeous non-traditional wedding dress: a silk mid-length with a long ribbon bow down the back. Another was the newlyweds having lots of film photos taken because they love film! I got to capture all of the in-between details of their day using film photography in 35mm and shooting some Super 8 video footage.

 Caring for Your Client Every Step of the Way

I sent a sneak peek gallery within one week following the wedding that uses a templated email. I usually send between 100-150 of highlights throughout the day. This was Lucy’s response:

“Mitch and I are ECSTATIC about this sneak peak! Thank you so much!!! We will be sure to tag you in everything and download the high res version of all pictures! Thank you for making our incredible day PERFECT!!! We are absolutely loving drinking a glass of wine and looking at these pictures tonight and reliving the absolute best week of our lives! You are literally the best.”

The following are film photographs:

Closing Out Client Relationships in the Best Way

I then sent a full gallery within eight weeks from their wedding using another email template. Finally, one final email thanks them immensely and provides offboarding instructions including a review request. The couple shared this Google review:

“Hannah is absolutely incredible. I never thought someone would be able to so perfectly capture the way Mitch and I feel about each other in a picture, let alone like a thousand, and Hannah did just that. We were looking for natural and candid shots, and we are simply obsessed with the way she captured our wedding, and from EVERY angle!

She is organized, kind, happy, thoughtful, and SO FUN! Everyone at our wedding ranted and raved at how kind and fun she is, too! Coordinating with her was a dream and we felt so celebrated the entire time. Hannah, thank you so much for so perfectly encapsulating such special days for us!”

This entire process of building client relationships utilizes so many pre-planned components that allow it to go smoothly. The wedding day painted a picture of an intimate love story caught digitally and on film that never felt staged. I was so excited to be a part of every stage of it from planning to destination celebration.

Looking for more tips on creating a great experience for your ideal client? Let’s chat!