wedding portfolio

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Permalink Reply by Platinum Touch Events on June 22, 2010 at 9:24pm

Hi Iris,

I follow a blog called "Become a Top Wedding Planner" and I just read a great post about putting together your portfolio.

http://becomeatopweddingplannerblog.com/new-wedding-planners-7-tips...

Hope this helps!

Nikola Ahaiwe
www.aplatinumtouchevent.com
www.platinumtouchevents.blogspot.com

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Permalink Reply by Iris Susanna on June 23, 2010 at 1:16am

Thank you Nikola!

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Permalink Reply by Caren Jeanty on June 23, 2010 at 2:49am

you can add a list of vendors you have partnered with and pictures of site inspections you've done

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Permalink Reply by Event Wedding Planning on June 24, 2010 at 4:18am

I agree with reading a lot of Vendor books or blogs on starting a wedding business, including one book that is well done for all vendors. It is called: "Wedding Vendor Handbook- Get to thye top and stay there" by Barbara Wallace, a Top Southern California Wedding Planner. She has all the in's & out's you need to succeed and run a professional wedding business.
One thing I must add, is use your own work at all times on your website or when showing a portfolio, but you can show "Examples" of others or ideas for brides, you just need to be honest too. Brides respect honesty and if you want to run a professional & great business you MUST be honest with your clients, they need to trust in you. Even if you only have one wedding, grab the best shots & show them. Have fun & read all you can! A lot of us vendors out there help one another, so look at all the wedding forums for Pros such as Wedding Wire, there is a lot of topics on starting up businesses.
Good Luck!

Diane Merriss
Owner & Founder
Event Wedding Planning
www.eventweddingplanning.com

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Permalink Reply by Iris Susanna on June 24, 2010 at 5:23am

Thank you all for the ideas and tips! I will surely using them. Keep posting!

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Permalink Reply by Crystal Unrau on July 7, 2010 at 4:57pm

There are a few things I have seen local planners do to pad their portfolios when they first start off.

Team up with other vendors (a florist, decor rental specialist, photography, salon, etc) and plan a themed photo shoot. You design the "set" - table decor, bridal outfit, florals, etc - together with this professionals and in exchange, all the vendors work together to promote each other. The photographer gets to show off their work, the salon gets credit for the dress, you get pictures for your potrfolio, the florist gets credit for the flowers, etc. This is especially effective if your photographer is fairly well known and has a blog or website where they can show off the photo shoot as well. I've seen some great ones recently including a few that come to mind - an Alice in Wonderland themed wedding shoot, a Twilight themed wedding shoot, a Vintage Glam shoot, etc.

Alternatively, you could hire a photographer for a day (you may be able to work out a cross promotion deal here as well) and shoot photos of different table setting ideas. You decorate tables in a variety of different styles that showcase your design style. The photographs can be used in your portfolio. Pick a photographer who has done a great job of photography tablescapes at recent weddings because good pics are important. Crappy pics will make your design look much less impressive.

Also - make sure you team up with photographers at each even you go to. Ask them to email you photos of the decor/wedding. Allow them to put their logo/watermark on each picture so that they get promoted to each bride you show your profile to and most photographers will gladly give you a few pics you can use from each wedding.

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Permalink Reply by Iris Susanna on July 12, 2010 at 4:27am

Great advice Crystal! I already themed with a photographer to take pictures of different wedding venues and I plan to do a shoot with different table settings to.

Thank you!

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Permalink Reply by Johanne Belfield on July 11, 2010 at 5:03am

I am a photographer, though unfortunately not in your area. I would be happy to discuss with a supplier or vendor somekind of deal whereby I spend half a day photographing their items in return for them passing on referrals for my photography to their clients.


Best regards,

Jo Belfield
Jo Belfield Photography

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