Do most photographers reward their brides for referrals?

I’m surprised I got this questions a couple of times. I can’t speak for all photographers, but for myself and a lot of the ones I know personally…ABSOLUTELY!!!!!

With my wedding photography in particular, a large portion of our clients come from referrals. Chances are there are people at your wedding who are engaged, in particular there are usually people in the bridal party itself who are engaged or close to it. Those people usually have  wedding planning on their mind, get to see us interact with our couples and their families. They are also invested in your wedding and take a keen interest in your photographs when they’re released.

With weddings the photographs are important, everyone realizes that at this point, but the overall experience is something that’s hard to get across without seeing it in person. Think about it. You and your photographer are pretty much tied at the hip for 8-12 hours that day. Seeing someone in action who is fun, energetic, and a stress reducer goes a long way. I can’t tell you the amount of weddings where someone will come up to us and say “You all are doing an amazing job!” Think about that, at that point in the day they don’t even know for sure if there’s even a memory card in my camera. They just know that the experience has been more enjoyable and rewarding than they expected or have ever experienced.

So by saying all of that, my point is that as one of “our brides” you have a lot of wonderful information about your overall experience to share with people who would like to book us. You have the ability to turn your one wedding with us into several weddings.

Why would we not reward that?

I can’t specifically tell you what we will be giving to our brides in 2013 and forward, because it can actually change per bride’s interest, per what the referral books, etc. In the past we started with large prints but have more recently been doing album upgrades and canvases. Our brides know we like to spoil them for allowing us to be a part of such an important day as their wedding. A recommendation from a friend or family member goes a long way and giving us the ability to share our love for wedding photography with new couples is 100% something we will always want to reward.