Another Level

Lisa Devlin

August 3, 2012

I often get asked how can someone take their wedding photography business to the next level? Today I am going to give you some examples of things I did that worked for me, and offer some pointers for the direction you could go in. These are from my perspective on the industry. Sadly I'm not going to give you a magic formula to success but can start by saying that sheer hard graft plays a large part. What makes me qualified to talk about this? Well a few years ago I was maybe a lot like you. I was trundling along nicely and year on year the bookings came in. Yes, I was probably getting a little complacent.... If things were looking quiet I would take out an ad somewhere or submit to a magazine and boom, the phone was ringing again. But then things really slooooooowed down. My home life had been super busy... Hello two small blondes who are the best thing I have ever done but also the most demanding. Looking back I have no idea how I juggled things or got myself to any weddings at all but I did keep working. Then when the Winter kicked in and I had time to review the business, I was a little bit concerned that the next year's diary wasn't very booked up and being completely honest I wasn't that excited about many of the weddings.

Let’s Make the Web Faster – Images

Gareth

July 31, 2012

Beautiful photographs are our bread and butter. They're eye-catching, enticing and transcend language barriers. But they are often the heaviest elements on a web page and so they're the focus of today's article on speeding up your site.

Let’s Make The Web Faster

Gareth

July 24, 2012

At the School of Rock Kat talks about the importance of serving up a snappy website experience to your visitors. A statistic from Mashable claims that one in four visitors will abandon a website that takes over four seconds to load. While visitors do tend to be more tolerant of slower websites in image-heavy markets such as photography the underlying message is still important for us to hear.

The Purple Cow: A Guest Post by Charlotte White

Kat

July 20, 2012

"Well, it doesn't really have anything to do with cake. Shouldn't it be something a bit more 'cakey'?" he said. I was really excited to be sat in my first proper 'grown-up' business meeting, up until this moment. It was my first year as Restoration Cake and I was trying to get to grips with the concept of charging strangers for my creations. The afternoon was to be spent with a colleague who knew all the financial stuff. I went to the meeting with a website, a Twitter account, a growing list of orders, and a name.

Bitchless Bride on Rock n Roll Bride: Communication is Key

Kat

July 16, 2012

You may have seen me talk about Bitchless Bride before, especially on twitter. She is my new wedding industry hero! The alter ego of a wedding planner (and no, even I don't know her true identity!) who was sick to death of crazy bridezillas and mental wedding vendors, she set up her blog to give it to us STRAIGHT. I loooove her. She's a hoot. And hell, she rocks a pink wig. We're definitely destined to be BFFs. I just about wet my pants with excitement when her video guest blog landed in my inbox. Some exclusive Bitchless Bride on Rock n Roll Bride?! Hell. Yes. We are a match made in wedding heaven. Listen up brideys, listen up wedding suppliers, cos Bitchless is about to give it to you. No holds barred.

“How Do I Get More Likers?!” – Facebook Tips For Wedding Professionals: A Guest Post by Cathie Watts of Phunkey Photography

Kat

July 13, 2012

Originating from New Zealand, wedding photographer Cathie Watts of Phunkey Photography is a Facebook wizz. With just shy of 11,500 'likes' on her photography facebook page she boast more 'likers' than many full time wedding bloggers! So how did she get so popular on the social network? What things did she do to get herself 'liked'? This week I asked Cathie to share some of her top tips for getting started when using Facebook for your business. If you have any more specific questions for her, hit us up in the comments. I'd certainly love to read a follow up from her! Over to you Cathie...

Changing Your Persective: A Guest Post by Casey Fatchett

Kat

July 6, 2012

Ansel Adams famously said, “A good photograph is knowing where to stand.” I find myself coming back to that quote a lot. Not just as a photographer, but in life, I say to myself, “Why in the hell am I standing here? I should be standing over there!” As photographers, our job is to observe and document. Wait, that is oversimplifying. We look at the world and we choose a way in which to convey what we ‘see’ to others. That better? Anyway, sometimes, we get so wrapped up in what we are seeing through our lens that we don’t stop and take a look at our surroundings.

Stop Bartering Me!

Lisa Devlin

June 29, 2012

You and your product are awesome. You feel you have set a fair price for what you offer and in the words of our Cheryl "You're Worth It" Then what's with all the potential clients wanting to barter with you? It can be utterly soul destroying to be repeatedly asked to lower your rates because somebody else up the road is doing the same thing as you for less.

Why You Should be Hated: A Guest Post by Chris Barber

Kat

June 22, 2012

Perhaps supported by some kind of celebrity culture, but it seems to be widely accepted that in order to be deemed as 'successful' in mainstream society you have to be liked by as many people as possible. You have to have a certain number of 'likes' on your facebook page. You need as many followers as possible on twitter and your most recent blog post is only as strong as the number of comments that sit at the bottom of it. While this is not all together wrong, I'd like to start thinking about the other side of the coin for a minute.

Something Borrowed, Something Roo: The Rings

Kat

June 21, 2012

So Roo's been a busy bee for the past few months. Not only has she been planning her wedding but she's been up to her cute little eyeballs (can eyeballs be cute? I think hers can!) studying for Uni exams and turning in coursework. So she's had a little break from writing for the blog recently but I'm pleased to report that she's back! And as she's now on her summer break, wedding planning is ramping up full throttle as will be the blog posts. HURRAH. Over to you sweet cheeks...

Personal Posts – How Much Is Too Much?: A Guest Post by Sara Doron of Under the Vintage Veil

Kat

June 15, 2012

Hello, my name is Sara (that's me on the right) and I’m a share-a-holic. Confused? Let me explain. I’d say the majority of wedding businesses have blogs – and as wonderful an engagement tool as they can be, they can also be a little bit dangerous – and I’ll explain why. Let me preface this by saying that, as a blogger, I am a strong believer in sharing parts of your personality, your quirks, your likes and dislikes and your major life events with your readers. Being a human being is what distinguishes a blogger from a magazine. Unlike with a magazine, where readers buy a copy once a month, but are outsiders looking in on an experience, with a blog, people get to know you, follow your journey and interact with you, even come to care about you.

Why Video is the Future for the Wedding Industry: A Guest Post by Victoria Grech

Kat

June 8, 2012

In January last year I made a somewhat controversial decision for a stills photographer – to venture over to the 'dark side'. Yes, I wanted to see what film was all about and how I could use it to improve my wedding photography business. I had heard a lot of hype about DSLR cameras being able to record HD video and that had piqued my interest. With the two technologies being used side by side, was I missing a trick by not learning how to use film alongside stills?

The Importance of Communication: A Guest Post by Brett Harkness

Kat

June 1, 2012

If you read through a bridal magazine, you will notice that there will be plenty of ‘How-to’ articles and ‘What questions to ask’ advice pieces. There’s a reason behind this of course. For the most part, planning a wedding will be a very new experience for those about to embark on married life and guidance will be really important. Because of this, it isn’t uncommon for the happy couple to be full to the brim with questions, no matter what you are offering them: a venue, the food, photography. They will want to know about sizes, options and prices, and how you can help them to create their special day.

Why You Should Offer an Album

Lisa Devlin

May 25, 2012

As a wedding photographer, are you including an album with every package that you offer clients? I didn’t used to but I have recently changed this so that I do. It's been a huge few years for wedding photography. The arrival of affordable digital SLRs have of course impacted massively on how many people now offer their services as wedding photographers. It feels like a buyers market a lot of the time as anyone looking to book a wedding photographer in the UK has a huge amount of us to choose from. Potential clients are often putting their demands in at the initial enquiry stage instead of waiting to see what you offer. As an extreme example, I had this in my inbox a while back...

If You Love Her, Let Her Grow

Gareth

Made U Look

May 18, 2012

Almost exclusively the Green Room centres on the successful businesses, the people who run them and the strategies they employ to get, and stay, where they are. These are all super-important and you should be learning something from every article but we have absolutely neglected something equally critical from these pages. Something it took me too long and too much effort to realise on my own.

Speeding up Workflow by Outsourcing Editing

Lisa Devlin

May 11, 2012

Help! My Fiancé & I Have Very Different Tastes – How Can We Style Our Wedding to Reflect Us Both?

Kat

May 7, 2012

Last week I received the following email from bride-to-be Tiffany... Dear Rock n Roll Queen, My name is Tiffany and I've been a quiet reader for a while. Reading your blog has always gotten me excited for my own wedding and I'm happy to say, that after 8 years, me and my fiance are going to get married. It'll definitely be diverse since his parents are Scottish, mine are American and he is Canadian. But, I digress.

Pinterest for Photographers

Lisa Devlin

May 4, 2012

Are you pinning? I hope so but if you are thinking, what is she on about now then you need to check out Pinterest. Simply put, it’s an online pinboard for images found around the internet. You can start a board for just about anything but Pinterest has some suggested themes to get you started like Home Decor and DIY & Crafts. Lots of people and businesses are getting on board with Pinterest and it’s not surprising. It may be one of the newest social networking kids on the block but it was the fastest site ever to reach 10 million unique views in one week.

Zero

Gareth

May 1, 2012

Rock n Roll Bride, a little haven of kick ass weddingness in a cookie-cutter, pastel and often puke-worthy wedding world. You’ve likely all seen this mantra, it sits proudly on the front page of this website and quickly sums up what this place is about, with articles ranging from rainbow petticoats to New York steampunk.

Shooting Your Passion: A Guest Post by Steve Gerrard

Kat

April 27, 2012

In a previous life I stumbled into a career as a club DJ that took me around the world, saw me open for Oasis at Wembley Stadium and release my own mix CD (if you're interested it's called Thinking Out Loud and you can probably get it in your local charity shop for about 50p!) I loved every minute of it but none of it was really planned. It developed naturally from my love of music. And from me wanting to share music with anybody who'd listen. My passion became my career. And quite a successful one at that.