One of the subjects we covered in Monday’s workshop were the pre and post wedding shoots. Now I do know that some photographers seem to think that they invented this additional service however I must disappoint and say that many studio have been offering this add on since the early 80’s and possibly before. Its like the wheel, its been done before, will be done again all you have to do is throw a new twist on it and that will reinvent it again.  Pre wedding, or engagement, or E Sessions were originally simple, studio based sessions that produced a nice portrait as gifts for the immediate family in celebration of the engagement. This, over the years, became an opportunity to work with your wedding clients before the wedding giving you time to get to know the couple and to see how they worked in front of the camera. You could give them tips and pointers for the day, show them how to relax and pose etc. In the 90-‘s we used images from the engagement session for our Romantica Signature Mounts which we then took to weddings for guests to sign. Now these pre wedding sessions are becoming an integral part of any wedding photographers service either as an additional service or as a inclusive part of the wedding package. Now, taking this a stage further we can offer the Wedding Book through suppliers like Loxley. 10×10 custom designed books, image of the couple on the cover, date and wedding info on the inside followed by several pages, some lined for signatures and some left blank for drawings, poems etc. In addition why not add additional images of the couple at random staged throughout the book, some full page some half page some even positioned randomly on the page. On the back of the book have your studio name and contact details discretely but obviously positioned. All wedding photographers should take advantage of modern technology to add value to their wedding packages and profit to their business.

Then we have the post wedding session but we will leave that topic until tomorrow.

Delighted to hear that our talk on the 6^th of July for the London Portrait Group is sold out. Faye and I are very much looking forward to our return visit.

Today’s image is a sample cover for The Wedding Book. Taken way back in 1987 on a Hasselblad with a 150mm lens on T Max 100 and used as the cover shot for a magazine.