How to plan a Wedding Styled Shoot
Styled shoots are the perfect way to meet wonderful new suppliers, show the world your work, trial new wedding trends and most importantly - build your portfolio!
Something I wish I'd done before my first styled shoot was to look up this exact question, but I didn’t. I mean, I thought how hard exactly could it be to run a styled shoot - well actually a lot harder than I had anticipated. I've always been the type of person to jump before I can swim - ever since I was young. I’m the type of person who never reads instruction manuals, they literally go straight in the bin!
I’ve learnt some key things along the way that I believe make a successful styled shoot and have earned me a good reputation with my shoots.I have luckily so far had features with many blogs including RocknRoll Bride, Festival brides, your London wedding magazine and an up and coming feature with Rock My Wedding.
Here's a fews things I can tell you that may help you with your styled shoots and eventually getting them featured.
Vision
No styled shoot can happen without vision, head to Pinterest {my go to for inspiration} scroll and pin save whatever jumps out at you, when I did my first styled shoot I started with one picture and that was of a lemon - suddenly the whole shoot incorporated that fruit. It even gave me inspiration for the colour scheme - the colour scheme is super important and really brings the whole piece together. Suppliers will need this as well to make sure everything goes, you really don’t want to have a situation where your colours are all mish-mash! Vibe killler!
So once you have gathered all your inspiration, you need to decide what theme your going to go with - a styled shoot really does need this so you know what direction you’re going to go with - alternative? Maybe celestial? Fairytale romance? Whatever you decide, just make sure that you are not departing away from is this still going to be relatable to the clients I want to attract? We still want our couples to look at the images and video and see that this could be their wedding day.
Ok, so next you want to create a mood board - you’re going to need one of these to send out to the suppliers you choose to approach to be on your styled shoot, This helps them understand and envision how you can see the shoot turning out, include your inspo pics and your colour chart. You can create a mood board on photoshop or tons of apps... #visioncomplete
Suppliers
No styled shoot can even take place without suppliers - there are plenty of groups you can join when you’re first diving into styled shoots on Facebook. Once you do a few styled shoots and get to work with a lot of different suppliers, you will form relationships and start your preferred list so you won’t have to spend hours and hours hunting Instagram for make up artists and so on. If you are approaching suppliers via Instagram just remember to be super nice; introduce yourself, show your work and tell them as much info about the shoot. When I’m planning a styled shoot, the first supplier I sort out is venue & models. The reason I do it this way is so suppliers know the distance they will have to travel for the shoot.
So you have all your suppliers... your shoot is pencilled in - now what I like to do is create a group for all your suppliers, so you can send out any updated info and you won’t miss anyone out. You want to make sure everyone is kept in the loop at all times, as planning with shoots can change very quickly. You can create a group whatever way you choose I personally use Instagram and a WhatsApp group - but it’s totally up to you.
Organisation
One thing you are going to want to make sure you do is get super organised, this helps everyone out and as the director of the shoot it is also going to help your mind on the day. Trust me - you are going to be running around all day, on top of that if you’re a photographer like me you will also be taking all the photos...!
On the run up to the shoot - make sure you send out a plan for the day (ideally over email) a suppliers tag list for all social media accounts - this is very important for after the shoot... DONT FORGET THOSE TAGS....
On The Day
So it’s shoot day - my best advice - arrive early. The first shoot I did I was super late.... and that made my life much more stressful. Get to your venue and give yourself time to get prepared for the day, greet your suppliers and make sure everyone is comfortable in knowing what’s happening and the plan.
If you’re a photographer, I would suggest grabbing your detail shots first - flat lays and jewellery etc. You really want to try and make sure you don’t miss any suppliers products. It happens, but we want to try and avoid this at all costs. Work with your videographer as they will become your right hand man for the day - working as a team has never been so important.
The running of the day is down to you - all styled shoots I do run completely differently but the most important thing have fun! Relax and grab that super lush content! Try and stick to the times you’ve given everyone and don’t forget to stop and have food! Recharge and go again!
After the shoot
So you’ve done the shoot... you’ve packed up... home time.. now what?
Well for me, the most fun parts is the editing ,me and my videographer try and get previews out to our suppliers within 2 days - but we are crazy. Don’t worry if it takes you longer; it’s a sprint not a race.
Once your gallery is complete and you have sent it to your suppliers, you need to think about where you want it to feature - you can submit it to wedding industry blogs or aim higher at print in magazines.
I also talk a lot about about styled shoots at my workshop Milkshake kisses, Sign up if you fancy grabbing a ticket for the next event!