Lessons

Lesson Info

How to Conduct a Wedding Photography Consultation

We're going to be talking about how to conduct a first client meeting and or interview. Now, I book most my clients by way of online. They will approach me by way of my blog or by my website and then we talk about that and then some clients would like to either meet face to face and this could happen in person or it could happen over the phone or it could happen over Skype, but in all of those situations I follow the same pattern. Now, ten years ago if you were to ask and say if I ever could picture myself having a one on one meeting with a client who could potentially be almost a virtual stranger, I probably would have laughed. I would say that would never happen because in a million years I would never say that I would ever come to a point to where I'm comfortable because mostly I defer to being awkward. I get very uncomfortable in silences with people that I don't know, and I have a tendency to fill these long gaps of silence with just me talking and then I just talk and then I'm ju...

st like, okay, am I a big talker because boy can I talk. Speaking of talking, do you know the average rate a person can talk is about like 16 to 17 words a minute but I think I go over that by like 35. This is me. (laughter) So, I knew that the things that I could do during a client meeting could potentially really hurt me. Now, I find myself having client meetings about two times a month. I have a really high booking rate not because I think I'm amazing but because the stuff the stuff that I have put online, there is so much information about what I put out on my business that if you contact me there's a really good chance that you're choosing between myself and one maybe two other photographers. My booking I know, just average, that my booking probability ranges between 33 and 55%. It's very geeky of me to know these things but I do, and I do that because I am so intentional with the things that I put out online that if you like me online, there's a chance that you're going to like me in person. Now, my very first client meetings when I started about ten years ago were very very difficult. I didn't know what I should be talking about, so, instead of just listening to the things they had to say I deferred to stuff I thought they wanted. Oh, the conferences I would go to, oh, this is my new camera and oh, I invested in this great new flash and they're just like okay. I thought that what's people wanted to know and so, I ended up monopolizing the course of our conversation and so, that when we'd leave the meeting I would be like I did most of the talking and I don't really know much about the client. Maybe I like the way that it made me feel and I've come a long way since then, so, I wanna talk about the things that I have learned as a byproduct of my mistakes. What I learned was that brides did not want to be listened to, they wanted to be heard, and that's a difference, because if you're just processing what people are saying and be like, okay, okay and you're always thinking about the next thing. What you want to do is you want to hear what they're saying in between the lines. They didn't want to hear about awards or memberships to photo organizations that you belong to. While that's nice, it's not the reason why they're going to book you. Oh, so you're a member of WPPI, done. No, they don't even know. You could actually say I'm a part of x y z photo organization and they'd be like, they don't know the difference, so, things that we value have very little value for our clients, so, based on my personal experience I wanted to create meetings about the client, less about me. Now, I can talk about me if that is what the client wants but what I've discovered is that most clients want to talk about themselves. It's just a fact. They're excited about their day, they have a lot of things to say to you, so, what I've learned is the best advice is keep your mouth shut initially. So, what does the prospective client meeting look like? Well, a prospective client meeting in the beginning I used to be so nervous and each meeting would look different and I didn't know how to find a way to get in front of it, and then I slowly realized that there was a pattern to every meeting if I stayed in control from the beginning, so, if I was able to connect the dots, if I was able to answer all of their questions as part of a conversation instead of saying so, my style is fun, fresh and editorial, I average about 100 images an hour, it doesn't feel natural, so, the thing that I needed to do is pull out who they are first before I get in to perspectives, so, a client meeting, how does this happen? Well, the first thing I want to do is I want to put my clients at ease. Putting them at ease means I have to meet them on a middle ground. Something that we all connect with and in southern California the thing that we all connect with regardless of our age, race, gender, social economic status is traffic, so, if they're meeting me and they meet me at the studio I'm like hey, how was traffic? Did you guys come up the 5 or the and in California I didn't realize that what we do is we say the and out here people say well, highway 147. It's like no, we just say the cause that's how pretentious we are in California, so, it's like hey, did you come up the or did you come up the 405, how was traffic? Oh my gosh, isn't it just disaster at four o'clock, so, we're walking in to the room, we're putting them at ease. I'm gonna talk about how their wedding planning is fairing, how that's going for them. I'm going to talk about making my clients comfortable. I meet my clients in a studio and there's various places for them to sit. I give them the option, would you guys like to sit on the couch, we could sit at the table, what works best for you? So, I'm empowering them with decision, so, I'm putting them at ease and then empowering them with the decision. The first question I ask, how did you guys meet? Now, it's not enough for them to say oh, we met in college. I must ask all of the questions to help build out a story because what happens is after people get engaged, people always say how did you meet, how did you engage? And it's natural for people to come up with a canned answer. We met at college, he passed by, I was riding a bike and he said whoa that's amazing and then boom, we started dating, but I'm like okay, if that was the story that was given to me. What was your reaction when you saw him? And then she'll say well, I just thought it was a little bit weird, and then if he's there with her he'll be like hey, what are you talking about? You saw me and then it was like boom, you're in love, and so then to get them conveying ideas about their personal intimate lives really brings down the barriers immediately to the wedding. What I want to do is I want to ask how wedding planning is fairing. Now, I ask with intention because yes, I want to know how wedding planning is fairing but it's really important for me to get the details because the details are going to help me become a better fit for what they want. One thing that's also very important is the couple will probably like you already if they're meeting with you, so, if she tells me how wedding planning is going and she's like oh, I'm debating between a florist or oh, I met this florist. I can then say oh, that's fantastic. I've worked with that florist too or if I have not worked with that florist I can say oh, I follow her on Instagram. Don't you just love those pink blush peonies that she does. Those bouquets are just amazing, so, you want to just try to say that we share similarities, I see you, do you need any help? Anything that I could do to be of service, so, someone will say we just decided we need a wedding coordinator and then my first thought is great, do you need the day of, a month of or do you want to start planning now. Then I come back and I'm like let me email you three recommendations. So, I want to find ways to service herself because the more that she trusts me the higher probability that she's going to book me. Now, when I talk about trust, people say, okay that's great. How do I get somebody to trust me within the first 10 minutes, 15 minutes of them meeting me? Let's talk about ways that we can build trust at a client meeting. We can build trust by working at the venue before, so, if somebody comes in and says oh, I'm getting married at the Four Seasons in Beverly Hills, I can say, I have shot at the Four Seasons Beverly Hills. Okay, but maybe that doesn't apply to you. Moving on. Working with other vendors. Oh hey, I have worked with that vendor or hey, I follow that vendor on Instagram they do really great work or we went to an industry mixer a couple weeks ago and I had a chance to talk with her she's really nice. Anything to create similarities and connections. You can create trust by working with a mutual friend. If somebody says, oh, I saw you tag this person on Facebook and then my question is, oh, how fantastic, how do you know them? That's so great, they're such wonderful people. We're connecting by way of that and I think I might have mentioned this in a previous lesson, is finding commonalities that are outside of the wedding world. One of those things could be, oh, we went to the same college. You might have gone entirely different years, had never crossed paths but by way that you went to the University of Seattle all of sudden you're just like go cougs, right? You have this thing, right, cougs? Did I just totally ruin that up? Just kidding, I totally slayed it, I did, I totally did. Now you guys are like that's it we're done. (laughter) Either way, you guys have the common, obviously I didn't go to that school, you guys would never hire me. Another thing too is anything that you could put out and create commonalities is if you did not shoot at there venue, if you did not know any of their vendors, if you were not referred by a friend, if you did not go to the same college, find similarities that are outside of that. Talk about dogs, talk about movies, talk about anything that you can create a conversation outside of the wedding world so they can see more of your personality. Now, at this point in the meeting I have not said a single world about myself. This is like 15, 20 minutes of them just talking, them kind of creating the relationship between us which is great. Now, what I want to do in my meeting is I want to keep it short, and I want to keep it short so that I can get a pulse where do you wanna go with this meeting, where do you wanna go with this meeting cause the biggest mistakes that I learned is me just going on and me just going on and then we're just tired of me. So, how I keep it short. I explain what an engagement session looks like because I say the first time that we would interact with each other would be by way of an engagement session. I tell them how to find the right location, I tell them how many images they might expect from that session and I tell them how long the shoot lasts. Those are my three main touch points. If they ask me more questions about it then great. If not, I'm going to move on because interest hasn't peeked for them quite yet. Secondly, I explain how the wedding day unfolds for us. How many hours I'll be. All of my collections include eight hours of coverage if they would like to hire me for more they absolutely can at an additional hourly rate. I talk about my approach. This is when I'm talking about my photographic style. I want them to have fun, I want natural photos, I want to be carefree, and I want them to feel like their photos can grace the pages of a magazine. You will hear me say that a lot throughout this 30 day course. I'll tell them how many images they should expect on a wedding day and if a client has a question this is the time that she will ask, and if she still does not have any questions I'm going to move foreword in the meeting but usually in one of these two sections my clients at meetings and then they get back to talking. Thirdly, I explain JD's rule. JD is my husband, JD is my second shooter and JD is my business partner. I actually should say JD is my husband, JD is my business partner, JD is my second shooter, that is the order, and I do think to a way and this might rub a few people the wrong way, but I think of it as a competitive advantage to be shooting with your spouse and I'm not gonna shy away from that. Before I used to say, oh no, but it is. It is impressive to prospective clients, so, because I know it's a competitive advantage I absolutely will use it as a competitive advantage. I talk about what it means, that you're going to see it in the footage that we are about to show. You're going to see how that actually unfolds and it resonates, cause I always use the same example, well, you could be at a party and you could look at your significant other and just give him or her the look and then it's like, oh, gotta go, she's hungry. You know, like, we gotta go, she's tired. That look is what you know, we have that on the wedding day, you'll see it as we shoot the Knot wedding. JD and I don't have ear pieces but we look at each other and then he knows oh, gotta get grandma second row. This is the kind of conversations that we are having. Lastly, you wanna keep talking about yourself to a minimum. This is the big fundamental time, changer because you wanna prove yourself as an artist and a creative and talk about how great you are but figure out what the client wants to know and then only talk about that. Remember it is her day, you are just there to document it. Now, this brings us back to seeing what it would look like for a real client meeting. This is what we're gonna go in to right now. Now, here is the back story to this meeting that I need to explain. I met with Kathryn and Corey. Kathryn's coordinator Jamie reached out to me and she asked if I could meet with Kathryn and Corey in regards to their wedding that will be in August of this year at Saint Regis on our beach. Around the same time CreativeLive asked me if it would be possible to record a real client meeting and my answer was no. My answer was like you guys are straight trippin' but just, yeah no, that's just not gonna happen and then I guess over time I started realizing how valuable it could be. Not just to a CreativeLive audience but to myself. A couple years ago we came to CreativeLive and we did a course called Restart and it changed a lot of peoples businesses. It fundamentally changed the trajectory of what they were doing and one of the things that I threw out on our three willing participants as we reformed their business was I filmed them having a client interview and I literally threw them to the wolves, I'm like, go. Well, Karma. (laughter) Cause doing this was so disconcerting. One thing that I wanna point out is that I am naturally awkward, I get it but when they have the camera and lights set up in my studio, I can't tell you, I feel like I had an out of body experience. I felt like I was in my body having the meeting and I was outside of my body being like, shake it up, stop acting so stupid, find your words, and at the end of it I talked to the producer and I told her, we had only corresponded twice, Kathryn, the bride and I, we had only corresponded twice before this meeting. I didn't know what I was getting in to. Was I as pathetic as I felt? And she's like, Jasmine don't worry about it the greater good is that people are going to learn, so, having said that, I panicked about the outcome because how embarrassing to be like let me show you how to conduct a client meeting and then they don't book, right? So, this was the risk that we're running as we go in to recording these types of things. We're gonna give you a sneak peak, not a sneak peak, we're gonna give you a real look at what this meeting looked like, so, bare with all of the lovely awkwardness that transpired. When CreativeLive suggested the idea of filming me during a client consultation my first reaction was no way. There's something I find extremely uncomfortable about having my conversations with perspective clients filmed, but the more I thought about it the more I realized it might be helpful. Sure, to photographers watching but more so to give me a unique perspective of seeing what's working and what needs improvement. Before a prospective client arrives to the studio I want to create an environment that they feel comfortable in. I set music, light a candle, and create a space that feels professional yet personal. Prior to their arrival I review their names, their wedding date, and their wedding location. Not only does it act as a refresher, I'm able to organize full wedding galleries to showcase my work. For example, today I'm meeting with Kathryn and Corey and they're getting married in August at the Saint Regis Monarch Beach. Throughout the course of our consultation I'll be answering their questions but in case they'd like to see a sample of my work I'll be able to showcase a real wedding at their wedding venue as seen through my lens. If they're getting married at a venue I've never seen before I'll simply choose two sample galleries and have them ready to showcase should our conversation lead to it. Once I have everything ready I sit back and hope for the best. Here goes nothing. Hi guys! [Kathryn And Corey] Hi! I'm Jasmine, nice to meet you! Nice to meet you. Hi, thanks so much for coming in. Oh my gosh, I'm so excited. Make yourself at home. Make yourself at home please. Thank you guys so much for meeting. Oh my gosh I'm so excited! I'm so excited to meet you guys. We've just kind of briefly kind of introduced each other by way of email but I hear great things about you guys. I'm excited, I'm excited so, Yeah me too. Thank you for meeting me in the afternoon. Well, it works. That's awesome. That's great. What do you guys do that affords you the luxury- Yeah. I'm in the film industry, so, I do a lot of work from home, like coverage on scripts and stuff. Yeah. And then we also started an online kind of business with skincare and health and wellness. Yeah. Very cool. So, I work from home. Okay, so, that's why the skin is looking good and the hair is looking amazing cause I've notice these things. That's good, thanks so much for being here. I totally totally appreciate it, so, before we get in to the meeting because we don't know each other all that well I'd love to hear a little bit more about you guys. Yeah. Ideally how you guys met. Yeah. That's always a fun story. Yeah. We met, gosh it's like what, three and a half years ago now? Yeah. On new years through mutual friends and then we were just friends for a couple years cause we were both in relationships when we first met, but yeah, we'd been friends for a couple years and then we kind of linked up again about a year and a half ago, almost two years ago. Just randomly you guys happened to be at the same place. My best friend is one of his best friends, so, we kind of- that's how we met. Re-got back in touch again and started talking and then it was just, from there it just kind of took off, it was really easy. And you guys both kind of fell for each other at the same time. Oh yeah. Really? The first time I saw her I had to keep my distance cause she had a boyfriend and I had a girlfriend and I was like I gotta be good here. (laughter) So, yeah. and so then years later you guys just reconnect and then you guys knew the timing is right. Oh, that's awesome. Definitely, yeah. That's awesome, so, what'd you guys do for your first date? We, this is a funny story because we always talk about this, was that our first date or? Okay, okay. (laughter) One of those but the first date we were with a couple friends but the first time on our own, they have this restaurant in LA and we go there all the time now. It's an Italian restaurant in Melrose called Franco, and we went there, it was our first real date and the guy that was working there was like, oh my gosh, you two, he was like, you guys are gonna get married and instantly and he was telling us all this stuff. He's like, you guys are gonna work, I can just see it, Really? And on our very first date so, we were both kind of like, oh, thanks. Wow, you need to go back and give him a big tip. I know right. He was right. That's amazing. We went back and told him and he was like, oh well, we cater. (laughter) I was like, oh thanks. Cool, that's really Yeah, that was really cool. Very cool, that's amazing, that's good. I think that part of the reason why I ask those things, I mean, they're super personal but it really helps me understand you're story. If we have the opportunity to meet and be together for the engagement session I really like knowing. Now I know about Franco, now I know that you guys were friends for a long time so, when you guys get in front of the camera it's just there. Just so you guys feel comfortable, enjoy and it's less about what I want and more about simply documenting you guys hanging out, being together. Franco's in LA, where do you guys live? We live in LA yeah, yeah. Oh cool, where abouts? We live in, do you know where the W is in Hollywood? I do. Our apartment building's right attached to that. Very cool. Sunset and Vine. So, Sunset and Vine, right in the middle. Have you guys thought about what you guys wanted to do for an engagement session? Not, we're hoping you could give us some ideas. Yeah. We love your work. We've seen everything so, Yeah. Thank you. You were the first person that when we got engaged we were on the train home from Paris. From Paris. And my sister text me and was like, okay, first things first, photographer Jasmine Star, look her up now. First thing. I was gonna ask, okay, so how did you find- My sister has been doing photography for a long long time and she has four kids so she doesn't really do it anymore but she still watches stuff and she had told me about you a long time ago, just looking at stuff and then she was like, look at it now, I was like, okay and then I looked at him and I was like, okay, and she was like, but it's gonna be really hard so you need to call her now, I was like oh my gosh! You guys! And then we got you and we were like, yes! I know we were so excited because I told our planner, I know it's a long shot but we would really like to at least try to reach out to her and see if she's available and when you were I looked at him and I was like, you're never gonna believe what I just got. That is amazing, I'm so, well, I'm just as excited. Jamie and I we met in the industry a couple years ago but our paths kind of have crossed at different times and so, when I got an email and she's like, I have an interested client I was like, Yes, absolutely and this is amazing. I love hearing that. Okay, so, now that I know you guys got engaged in Paris. Yes. Amazing. I know. (laughter) It's good because I think when you go in to the engagement session I really want you guys to choose the location, you guys feel comfortable. That's the only thing that I want. I don't have an agenda, I don't have any plans, so, people do come to me and say what do you think, and I'm more than willing to give feedback kind of based on what you guys do, who you guys are, but the best thing I would suggest kind of go back and ask yourself what do I do on the weekends, where am I most feeling comfortable and in love with my significant other. Okay. And then we kind of create a lifestyle editorial session around that. Oh cool. So, I have shot at empty movie theaters, I've shot in carnivals, theme parks, the beach, peoples homes, so, whatever you guys want we'll just base it off there. [Kathryn And Corey] Okay. So, I'm gonna get in to talking a little bit about the engagement session. Okay. But, this is a sample album here based on engagement session. Now, there's a lot of white space but they decided to use it as a guest sign in book. Oh! Oh cool! So, guests can actually sign around the photos, it's definitely an option for you guys. An average engagement session for me is about an hour to an hour and a half. We'll kind of go to a place within LA Orange county and we just spend this time together, so, I expect nothing except for us to have a good time. Okay. Cool. That's it and in the process I think it's good because I get to understand how you guys work together in front of the camera. I get to figure out if you have a good side, some brides have good sides, like this is my good side. Do you have one? I don't know. I don't think, both sides are great. I never know. People always say oh that's my good side. I'm like okay, I don't have, everyone always says that and I'm like, I don't know if I have a good side or not. Well, both sides are good. I don't have a good side either but all this stuff you find out at the engagement session so by the time the wedding comes around they're just chill. Just really excited, just relaxed and then the goal is to really trust that I'm gonna show up and do what I do and then you guys can just totally enjoy the wedding day. Yeah, sounds great. Awesome. I love these, they look awesome. Good, an average engagement session is about an hour to an hour and a half and what a client will get would be around 55, 60 images from the session. They're all high resolution. You'll be able to print them, use them, share them in whatever capacity you would like and it takes about two and a half weeks after the engagement shoot to actually kind of get in to sharing them and using them but once you guys have them they're totally and completely yours. Awesome. Cool. Okay good, are there any other questions in regards to the engagement session. No, so, you just recommend us starting to think of places, looking around. Get some ideas. Jot some stuff down. Yeah, I think so. I think that that would be best but if you guys are just kind of stuck let me know. I'm very familiar shooting in LA and we can kind of find a place that is like a mesh of your personalities. Obviously you guys are impeccably dressed, I'm like, wow, you guys look like you just walked off of a fashion shoot. (laughter) so, I think choosing a spot that highlights both this really put together curated version and also something that's really comfortable for you guys. We all have the I like to be in sweats kind of feeling, so, if we can kind of find a happy medium between really beautiful, high end, glamorous and then just something you're comfortable, relaxed. I think it would be good. Cool, yeah, that'd be really fun. Cool, so, the rest of the albums are here if you'd like to look through them that's totally fine. I'm just gonna kind of talk a little bit about what an average wedding day looks like but before I do that do you guys have any questions in regards to wedding photography. I don't wanna yap on if you guys, okay. I don't, I don't know you're the one more in to all of that. I mean, we've seen all your work, we love it. Yeah so, I mean not really yeah. Okay good. We'll kind of just go through it and I think as I start talking you might have questions. You might just bounce ideas off each other, so, we start the day, I shoot with my husband, so, we've been shooting, yeah, we've been shooting since the beginning of our business together, so, it's great, so, we're going in to our 10th year and I'm sure you guys have that communication where you guys meet at a party or somewhere and you look across the room and be like okay it's time to go and you don't have to say anything, so, that happens to us on a wedding day, like, okay, did you get that shot, great now you move in grandma, so, we speak through telepathy, so, that's great on a wedding day, but prior to that JD my husband will be with the guys and whatever the guys are doing that's what he's documenting, so, it's nothing posed, the guys aren't shaking hands. More natural. Yeah absolutely. That's how you get the best images for sure, yeah. Absolutely, guys just wanna have a good time on the wedding day too. I will be with the girls, I'll be shooting your details, girls getting you in to your dress, if your mom, auntie, grandma, whoever's there, making sure that I'm getting candid photos, relaxed moments but again, nothing is posed. We really wanna take a hands off just lifestyle kind of enjoying the moment. There will be time for posed photos but up until this point we really just want everybody relaxed. Enjoy champagne, go through the day. Okay, so, that's kind of what you'll see through each album. Each album will start off at the beginning of the day. Now, as far as albums go, you guys would choose the images that go in to the album yourselves, so, we'll kind of talk through the chronology of the day, so, after I kind of document the details. JD's with the guys, I'm with the girls. We then go in to one of two options. We go in to you guys seeing each other before the ceremony for the first look or we would actually go in to the ceremony itself, so, before I get too far from there, have you guys thought about the possibility of seeing each other before. Yeah. Yeah, I don't think we're gonna do that. Yeah. We're a little more traditional and Old school. Perfect. I want it to be a complete surprise. Okay, that's great. That's totally, totally okay. If at any other point in time you guys want to talk about what the options are please feel free to let me know. Okay. Okay. So, then we'd kind of just walk through the day exactly as it comes out. Guys hanging out, girls hanging out, then you have that private moment with your parents if you'd like them there Yeah. before they walk you down the aisle or your dad walks you down the aisle and then we simply document the day as it unfolds. JD and I are shooting together at the same time. He's at one angle I'm at the other and we literally just are hands off, so, if you're following we're hands off most of the day up until the point to where you guys are formally around for pictures, so, hopefully, the goal is you guys just wouldn't really notice us Okay. Yeah. Throughout the day up until that point. Love it. So, I think it's great because the Saint Regis has so many beautiful spots. I mean, it's like a photographers dream, so, as long as the day and timeline works out for us I would love to have you and the girls out on property, the guys would be tucked away, we'll get fun, just chill, we'll bring some champagne along for the girls, you guys just hang out, get some photos, girls get tucked away, the guys come out, sometimes we'll hang out at the bar, they have a really pretty bar, just the guys just chillin' before the ceremony, so, pretty just relaxed and you guys enjoying. Yeah, okay. How many bridesmaids do you have? Oh my gosh, we have so many. We have 12. Yeah a lot. Okay, so, there's 12 on each side, so, basically you have an army. That's so funny, that's what I've been saying. I like it, I have an army of bridesmaids. That's fine, yes, you just need to embrace it. That's amazing. oh, that's good! Where are your bridesmaids, what point of life are they coming mixed, childhood, high school. Yes, all over. One, I have two maid of honors, maid and matron of honor. One's my best friend for seven, eight years and the other one's the one who's like my sister who told me about you originally. Oh, so, she's in the- Yeah. Oh, the pressure's on. I better deliver, shoot, okay and her kids are little ones in the wedding and then I have some friends actually coming over from the UK in the wedding, my best friends cause we lived over there, I lived over there for awhile and then me and him lived over there again for a little bit, so, we have some friends coming from there and then I have friends coming from high school and childhood and all that. That's awesome. And same with him. That is awesome, that's great, that's very cool. So, have you thought about bridesmaid dresses and all that. (sighs) It's been a struggle. Yeah. We're looking. We're looking. Yeah, that part's so, I didn't realize how hard it was. Yeah, I know, and then you have 12 people that you have to make sure that you have to, this person doesn't like off the shoulder, this person doesn't like sweetheart. I don't know how she's doing it. They're all pretty easy going. It's just finding something that's gonna look good on everybody. Well, good luck with that. Yeah. (laughter) You can help with that too right? Yeah, if you guys need it I can come in and then just lay the smack down and be like no, no, too much attitude right here we need to bring it on down. (laughter) I love it, I love that. That's awesome, that's good and I actually, we are very familiar and accustomed to working with large bridal parties so, and even this bridal party who was kind of just a little bit, I think she had ten. Oh, okay. Oh, okay. So, I mean, we're good, we're gonna have a good time, we're gonna have a good time, so it'll be good. We're excited. It'll be awesome, so, after the ceremony we would, have you talked about the possibility would you need about having an extended cocktail hour the possibility- that came up. Yeah. So we could do the photo shoot during that time is that what? I think so. We would have to do the photo shoot, the majority of the photos after the ceremony but the light would be beautiful and we'll have appetizers and drinks flowing so everybody's happy. Yeah. But I think that an hour is kind of a short amount of time to get the large bridal party picture, all the family pictures and your pictures, so, just kind of seed in the back of your mind. Extending it maybe 15, 20 minutes. I think that would be, that would be fantastic. Then we would get everything that you guys want, so, that's good, that's great. I love these pictures, they're so great. That's awesome, yeah, okay. Have you guys thought about florists. We've, that's our next big meeting I think coming on the 1st of April, okay. and then we'll be talking about those then. So, who are your options right now? Do you know? I'm asking (laughter) I don't even remember honestly. What was the name of the one she might- It's totally, it's totally fine. Sometimes I just think about what the color pallets look like, I'm already, see, this is me, I'm a type A. Yeah, I'm like okay where are the color schemes gonna go, are we gonna be on property that, yeah, of course, that's good. Yeah. For the colors it's gonna be very, I mean, our colors right now are white, gold and then either a blush and champagne color mixed in with it as well so, it'll be in that, yeah, little. Very very very cool. How did you find Jamie? Through our, well, we found Saint Regis first originally cause we've both been there so many times and had so many good memories there. Oh yeah, they recommended her, so, that's it. And they recommended us to her, yeah. Very cool. And then I had heard, some other people had told me that as well. A couple of my friends that have gotten married had met with them but didn't end up using them for whatever reason or one reason or another but yeah. We walked in and we were like done. Yeah. We knew right away. Yeah. I love it you guys. You guys just make your decision part to like. (laughter) That's amazing, that's good. Look at that! Oh my gosh, that's awesome! Yes, as the night progresses the photos do get a little bit more crazy, funny, yeah. Our group of friends will definitely be a fun group to shoot. Yup. And I think this is great because this kind of shows you that we take about, our normal coverage is about eight hours and within the eight hours at the same venue which is the situation for you guys. You have a ceremony and reception there. Eight hours is a great amount of time for us to get the photos that you guys want, so, we kind of start the timeline from the ceremony start, so, if you guys had a 5pm ceremony, we would probably be staying until about nine or ten. So, we'll kind of show up, we get an hour of prep photos, we'll put an hour for just bride family photos and bridesmaids and the same goes for the guys. We'll do both 30 minutes each. Go in to the ceremony and then we don't usually need to stay til the end of the night unless you guys are gonna do something formal at the end, so, about an hour to an hour and half of dancing photos is plenty. Anything after that it really does get a little crazy. A little too much. I know. Yeah, it's probably not the most complimentary photos. I'm not sure if we want a document of that. Exactly, exactly, exactly, so, I mean, as you guys look through the albums all of the dancing photos were all captured within that hour to hour and a half timeframe, so, full coverage of the day is definitely great but if you want to add hours we totally can, so, that's definitely an option for you guys too. Awesome. So, usually we shoot about 100 images an hour, so, eight hour wedding at minimum would yield around 800 images, but we don't stop shooting, so, whatever is going on throughout the day that's what you guys will get, so, if it ends up worth more than that that's great. A nice average for us is 800 though so, we're looking at about 8% of what we capture on that wedding day will go in to the album, so, it's kind of great, so, you guys would go through and you guys would choose your favorites, so, you guys get to know exactly what's gonna go in to it and then I work with a graphic designer and she focuses solely on wedding albums, so, she and I would work on them, we'd do the layout together, I follow the chronology of the day. We do family photos, things like that and then we send you a draft and then based on that draft you guys can let us know what you like, what needs to be improved or some brides just get it and say this is what I want and we're good to go, so, that's kind of how it looks like. Where's this one at? That's at Pelican Hill. Oh, I thought so. oh okay, cool, yeah. We looked at that, next one. So, what drew you guys to get married down here in Orange county. I grew up in Orange county for the most part. How long? Well, I was born in the Midwest but I moved to Orange county when I was and grew up in Mission Viejo, Laguna Beach ish area so, Nice, nice. I actually had my 16th birthday party at Saint Regis. Wow, full circle. Yeah. oh my gosh. I didn't even remember until after we booked it and then we were walking around in one of the ballrooms one day and I kind of looked around me and I was like, mom, was this where my birthday was and she was like, yeah, it was. I was like oh my gosh. How sweetie. So, funny. We stayed there a couple of times together as well and we had a great time. Yeah. It was just like we love this place. Yeah. Very cool, who would have thought on your 16th birthday you'd be marrying the man of your dreams. In the same place Yeah, that's awesome, oh my gosh, so, tell me about your 16th birthday, this is totally off track but tell me about. I did not have a birthday at the Saint Regis when I was 16. That's pretty awesome. I wanted to do something fun for my 16th birthday and we were getting ready to move across country cause I moved to North Carolina for a few months and I thought it was gonna be a lot longer, so, we kind of wanted it be a fun big birthday, so, my mom and then our really good family friends they planned it for me and I had just said anywhere, don't care where it is, like a fun ballroom but our family always does events there and stuff so, we did it there and it was so much fun. I had so many friends, it was crazy but it was fun. It was a lot of- Wow Yeah it was fun. That is so much fun. We loved it, we had sectioned off one of the ballrooms that's really small and we had a DJ and snacks. And you know when you were 16 you just feel cool. I mean, you are so cool and this, no, (laughter) That's pretty awesome. I mean, Corey what did you do for your 16th birthday? Now all of a sudden I'm like. I think I had a pool party. (laughter) You and I probably had similar parties. That's awesome. Yeah. That is very very very cool. It was cool and we had pictures from it and stuff cause when we moved some family friends made a huge album for us when we moved and a bunch of pictures are in it. It was fun. Very, see that's the gift, but obviously I'm a photographer so, I'll say that, that's the gift that lasts. It is, it really is though. I know. I mean, how would you know what your hair looked like. I'm sure you had an awesome hairdo though (sighs) (laughter) That depends. I know right. What was awesome back then to now, I don't know. I liked it I guess. That's good, that's good. I mean, as far as other technicalities go, people wanna know about our gear and it's we have backup gear. Okay. This is what we bring with us. We've never had issues with it falling apart or not working on a wedding day, we also have insurance, so, because we have worked at the Saint Regis before they do know that we have insurance, it's usually required for the venue, so, we're fully covered in that respect. People wanna know how often, the timeline, the turn around is for the images, so, the goal for us always is to get your images back three to four weeks after the wedding but if we can get them back sooner we will. Okay. Yeah. We shot a wedding and our clients are on their honeymoon and I sent them the gallery when they were in Paris and they were stoked, they were really stoked, so, just for you guys to be able to relive your day and not be waiting weeks after the wedding. That's always our top priority. Yeah. Cool. Cool. Do you guys have any questions up until this point? We're just so excited to get started. Oh my gosh. I know. When would it be the engagement photos, is that soon? Great question. That's a good question, so, it totally depends on when you guys would like it. Some clients will do it about five to six weeks in advance and then some people will do it five to six months in advance. Okay. It doesn't matter to me as long as our schedules Align Yeah, align, we will absolutely positively- What do you recommend? What do you think just I kind of like the four month mark because it'll give us time- time to prep your- Yeah, exactly, exactly and it gets people excited. When you share your photos on Facebook or your parents start using them, or if you guys wanted to use an image for the save the date if you guys plan to go that route having them done earlier is always better but again, there's not, I don't have a preference either way. Whatever you guys are most comfortable with yeah. That's good. Well, I'm excited. I'm very very very excited. One last thing too is I wanna kind of walk through the digital delivery of your images, so, included in each collection you get the high res digital images, so, this is for you, it's as if the images, what we use to send would be a disc or a USB and so, now what I do is I have all the images in an online gallery and they're backed up, they're stored in the cloud, so if you loose your USB or scratch your disc you still have them. Okay. So, this is great, so, I kind of wanna walk you through just very briefly, I'm gonna bring up a gallery from the Saint Regis so, that you guys can kind of understand what a sample of what the day would look like and I'm gonna pass this right over to you. Okay. Okay. But this is gonna be the gallery and then all you can just basically do is kind of scroll through the images as you guys see fit and then you'll see the way that we would categorize your wedding images because if you guys were to get 800 images it can be a little bit overwhelming, so, we break it up according to bride prep, groom prep, ceremony, and then the day from there, so, if you guys want I could pass this on over. You guys would kind of get an understanding of how this would work. Your engagement photos would be the same way and the best part of this is you simply click this button and it's a download button and all of the images will download to whatever device you're working on. So, it's great because- It's so simple. It is simple, it is kind of just a cool way just for you guys to share and the best part is that friends and family after, so, first shooting during the cocktail hour when your grandparents are there your friends are there, sorority sisters, we get those photos and now you don't have to be sending them their photos. They can go on and get them themselves, they can download them themselves, they can share it to Facebook, so, it's kind of great, you can have your mom if she wants her Christmas card, she's not calling you being like It's just like log on. Yeah, exactly. Exactly, exactly, so, look at this one. Aw, so cute. So, this is, that's kind of like what it would look like and definitely I think it's good for you guys to kind of see what photos are at your wedding venue and how the day would unfold for you guys. Yeah, that's cool. Yeah, I love it. Those stairs scare me. (laughter) I know, but it's gonna be so exciting just take your time and enjoy it. And my dad's a big guy so, I'm just gonna cling on to him. I already told him if you let me fall. No, no way, your dad would never let you fall. That's awesome, but it's such a great experience. Yeah, we're really excited. And to have that walk down that gorgeous staircase, that's amazing. That's what I'm, I'm excited for it, it's really pretty, I love it. It's like the most beautiful place ever. Oh my gosh. (laughter) Look at her face. That's so awesome. I love it. Have you found a dress yet? Yes. Okay, that's good! That's great. That I have down. Okay. Yeah. I mean, I don't wanna clump photography up in to the, you have your venue, you have your dress, you have a coordinator, you're talking to a photographer, great. I love the order of events. I actually got two. You have two dresses? Yes. Shut up! Really, so, you're doing a reception dress? Yeah. Oh, awesome. Yeah. Awesome. I don't know, I couldn't choose so I was like, well, Okay. Okay. I guess I'll do two. That's awesome. I like that idea. Is one more formal than the other? okay, cool. Oh, that's good, that's good. So, you guys can just dance the night away. I know right, I was like. He knows I have two because I can't stop talking about it but that's all he knows. It's so high, I just walk out of the room, I'm like (muffled speaking). (laughter) You need to get two suits. No, I'm just kidding. He's so used to knowing everything so, the fact that he doesn't know is driving him crazy. It's like the biggest secret ever. He's like, what? And he gets to look at you twice, in two entirely different ways, twice in one, I mean, it's emotional overload. I mean, that's amazing. You know. That's awesome. We're really really excited- That's very cool. about that. That's very, very, very cool, so, do you guys have any other questions right now? I wanna make sure that you guys leave feeling like we got the questions that we wanted answered. Just start thinking of places for the engagement photos and a date right? and contacting you, yeah. Simple. (laughter) Awesome. You come when we're getting ready, early in the day right? Yeah. Yeah. Yes. Cool. Definitely. I wanna make sure that you get photos of your dress looking brand new, pristine, of your shoes un-scuffed looking great, and just of your girls. If you have 12 people these are all 12 women have impacted your life in a different way and it's great to have these formalized photos of everybody but the ones that actually are funniest, the ones that get shared the most, are the ones where everybody's just hanging out. [Kathryn And Corey] Yeah. Just chillin'. Early in the day getting ready and the dancer photos those are the ones that everyone's like, yeah, yeah of course, of course. That's what Corey says as well. The real moments. Exactly, exactly. And so, as things progress feel free to email me at any other point in time. If things do come up, if things, any questions you guys have I wanna make sure that you guys feel pretty darn good about the decisions Yeah. you guys are making too. Yeah, we're really really excited. We can't wait. So exciting. Do we do an outfit change as well at the engagement- Yeah, yeah, I think that's great. I think that one outfit change for a total of two outfits is always great. Anything beyond that, because we kind of take 10, 15 minutes to change, you're kind of eating in to really cool beautiful daylight time. Again, like I mentioned, having an outfit where you feel a little bit more dressy and then one with a little bit more casuality. That'd be great. Okay, cool. I think I just made up that word casuality but we'll just roll with it, we're just gonna go. (laughter) Thanks, thanks for indulging me. I wanted to see the family photos. I love it. I just don't know what to tell my mom to wear that's why, but yeah, cute. Awesome. I'm so excited! Good, good. Yeah, they all look really good. Very excited. Awesome, and because I cannot end a meeting without thanking you guys for just taking the time to meet with me. I have something for you guys to take on the road, so, I mean, that drive back to LA can be brutal but we have something to sweeten it up so, Aw, thank you so much. Is there popcorn in it? No, it's not popcorn, it's not popcorn but it's something else probably a little bit sweeter for you guys. Thank you. Thank you guys. I totally appreciate it. We're really excited. yeah, this is perfect. We can't be more excited so, Thank you. I totally appreciated it. Awesome. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Awesome. So, I'm a hugger, so I mean, it's like, I am too. Thank you guys, I appreciate it. Thank you so much. Yes, Thank you (muffled speaking) I can't wait. Awesome. Alright. Alrighty. So, the meeting is over and I started to debrief with my producer and she had the idea of maybe turning on the cameras to get a real behind the scenes look at how I feel, so, what you guys are gonna see is the conversation that I'm having and get some real time honest feedback about how I thought that meeting went, so, here we go. (laughter) Already I'm laughing cause I'm just like, yeah, I probably could have done a little better but I mean, I don't know. I don't know what to think about it. Of course you're gonna be self deprecating. I though it was great. What don't you think went well? Or what did you think went well? What do I think went well? They were fantastic. They were comfortable in their own skin. I felt like they knew what they wanted, they came in and they said we've done our homework and we like what we see. So, for that I was like, great, I don't have to sell myself. That's the perfect scenario. What I thought didn't go so well was me being comfortable. I felt like I realized how uncomfortable I looked throughout the whole thing. I felt myself a couple of times during the conversation where I was like, you're on camera you should probably not be so caught up because sometimes, even when they were there looking at the albums or they were talking I was like, uh huh. (laughter) I just didn't feel comfortable and I just, I'm glad that the cameras were there. I'm glad that they were okay with the cameras being there but at the same time I just wish that I could have just been more like myself but at the same time I know that that's very close to how a meeting runs for me. That the duration of meeting, it was about 35 minutes, 40 minutes, We talk about things. I like to let them talk a lot which was great but I just think that I wish I could have been more of myself but at the end of the day I'm awkward, I'm just gonna own it. I think they found you very endearing, and you did have a little bit of a moment off camera even. After the camera shut down. Yeah. Do you wanna talk about that? I think. Yes, I do, once the cameras turned off, I just felt like maybe it was a guard. I don't know, maybe I'm nervous about what photographers are gonna think about me or what I'm gonna think about myself. After I see it I'm gonna look back and be like oh why were you doing this? Why did you say that? I'm going to say those things but I think that once the cameras turned off and we just had a normal conversation where we were just like, okay, let's just be us and it went really well. We talked about her bridesmaid dresses, we talked about the proposal. I wish I would have talked about their proposal on camera. He proposed in Paris. It was all kinds of romantic, but I think that once they got to see me, just me and them just be them. We connected on such a deep way and that I feel really confident. I feel really confident about booking the wedding and I feel really confident about shooting the wedding, so, fingers crossed but I think it's gonna be a good one. It's just like ask the photographer keep talking to a photographer, it's like what thing did you grab out of that meeting? Or was it more just to comfort them entirely? Most of the time I think that the meetings are to comfort, or assuage my clients perspective worries. They come in, they really liked who they saw online. She did a lot of homework, she went to my website, she went to my blog, after a recommendation from a friend which are always the best kind of recommendations, so, I think in that regard she felt confident. Most of the time the meetings are simply just for my clients to show up and feel like great, the person online matches the person in person and I think that that's the valuable thing for a wedding. Now, for me, I understood they're very traditional. She's grown up in the south, she's grown up in various places and she has made her mind very clear. She does not wanna have a first look and even though there's a part of me that's like yes, you do. You really wanna see him before cause it's advantageous to the photographer, it's advantageous to photos, but I peeled back, I didn't push the subject because she already had her mind made up. She has two wedding dresses, she has a wedding coordinator, she had her 16th birthday at Saint Regis which is unreal, so, it shows to me that she comes from a family of affluence, and she comes from a family, later on the groom or excuse me Corey, the perspective groom had said oh her dad flew in to Paris on his jet and I was just like oh, okay, and then I just started realizing that the affair, their family, their wedding is going to be a big to do and so, in that regard it might be advantageous for me to maybe bring another photographer. If it's gonna be a black tie affair I need to wear a certain thing to the wedding. So, the meeting for me was advantageous in that I understood more about who they were and their day. Cool, so, obviously, I probably mentioned before, I can't watch this footage without cringing at some of the stuff that I said or how I interacted, but the bigger picture. I think in a few months when I step away from actually being throughout this I can look at it as a valuable tool to see on ways that I can improve and furthermore that other people can actually get a sneak peak in to what I do and yeah those awkward moments. I am not always articulate, I am not always confident, and then kind of just seeing the way that I prod out answers from my clients. I think that this meeting really showed how the clients can talk and how we kind of brought personal elements to the surface which was very valuable. The good news is that Kathryn and Corey did book our services for their wedding, so, we will be shooting their wedding this August at the Saint Regis Monarch Beach. I'm so excited and now that you guys know the back story in the future when I shoot their engagement session I will be shooting their engagement session in the next month and when you guys see them online you guys will now know the back story and then you guys will be able to see as I ask them how did you guys meet. Oh, they met by way of a friend but they were both in different relationships I won't included that in the blog post. I'll say they met and then came back awhile later right, because you have to curate the story. They came back after one date, the first date that they went on to, their waiter came up to them and said oh, are you guys together and they said oh this is our first date, he's like, you're gonna get married. So, that obviously when they told me that in part of the story that's going in the blog post. These are the things that we're thinking about, these are the things that we want. You're gonna see how all of that comes to fruition. So, let's move in to your homework. I want you to make a list of your weaknesses in regards to your meetings. If you were to assess yourself. If you have meetings at Starbucks and you were the person sitting next to yourself listening to your meeting. What could you do to get better? Then I want you to make a list of your strengths. Are you really good at making small talk? Great. Are you really good at elevating other people in a social arena or a social way. Great. Play to your strengths and then strengthen your weaknesses. What I want you to do is to create a list of questions that you can ask perspective clients to get to know them better cause sometimes, what I discovered was going to a meeting and not having a cache of questions I was like sometimes, oh, yeah, so, what you want to do is the key is get them talking more so you can listen to how you can cater to their needs. That is the sneak peak. The good news is they booked. I'll be really proud to share that and on that note we can go in to questions and answers if you guys have any in relation, wow, this is great. Let's start here, I'd love for you to get a mic and then we're gonna give another mic to you right behind. That'd be great, thank you. [Woman In Green Shirt] Hi Hi. So, let's see. I shoot by myself sometimes I have a second shooter, my husband is not available to shoot with me. Is there any way you could speak to that? Or help me to see how it's an advantage? Well, just the nerd technical side of me is, JD is an amazing safety net to have, should anything happen to my camera at the moment, even if I'm carrying a spare, that swap could eight to ten seconds. That swap could have to happen during the first kiss, during the first dance, as the dad walks her down the aisle, as the husband walks her down the aisle, moments that I might have missed with her and her mom. All of that stuff is in the back of my mind knowing that if I have a second shooter who has my back and is shooting the same moment from a different angle I feel okay knowing that if I messed up somebody's there with me, on an ancillary note you've been at weddings, I'm just gonna be real, it's lonely, it's eight to ten hours and sometimes people make you feel like hired help. You're wearing flats, you feel frumpy and you've got a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for dinner, right? It is better to do all of that with somebody next to you who can be there with you, identifying with it. You don't have to have a spouse but if there's any possibility of you creating a network so that you can have the same consistent second shooter or maybe a network of second shooters, so that when you talk to your clients be like, I work with the same two girls at every wedding. One of the two will be here. We've established a relationship, we trust each other, they know how I work, so, it's the same speil. Having a consistent partner is the main thing. Whether or not that partner is your spouse or not doesn't matter but consistency is a selling point. Cool. Did I answer your question all the way? I guess. I'm more comfortable shooting alone. I've done both. I have a lot of second shooters, friends who I can use if necessary, but I've found that I'm more confident and more relaxed by myself, so, I see all the advantages but I'm comfortable with the decision to sometimes shoot alone although I know there have been occasions where the client has chosen someone else because they were a husband and wife team. I agree. I totally agree. So, I don't know if it's the husband and wife thing necessarily that's the competitive advantage but I do think a second shooter, competitive advantage. A consistent second shooter, a greater competitive advantage and I'm going to step out on a limb and I might rub you the wrong way but you're coming here to get straight up honesty. If you've had not so great, if you prefer working on your own and you think it's a greater experience I'm gonna venture to say it's because you haven't met the right second shooter. The minute you come across a good second shooter you see your portfolio strengthen, you see the joy that they bring. If they offer you a cup of water on a hot day, if they're escorting grandma to make sure that she's there and for family photos on the same weight, she's a team player. You will never wanna shoot on your own after that. You just need to find the team player. Work hard at that. It'll be a competitive advantage, it will. Awesome, we're gonna go back. So, how do you remember everything when you meet with clients? I know when I meet with them I ask them questions and then I leave the appointment and it's all I can do remember their first name. (laughter) how do you keep track of everything and do you have a system for that or what do you do so that when it comes time to blog that you can write the whole story? Great, okay. Now, I saw the beginning, middle and end. So, I ask them the questions about how they met but chances are they may or may not book me. I might ask people questions and they'll give me details and then we don't end up booking and so then I learn their story, but I will say that when you listen to something once, when you hear it again the second time there's a higher likelihood of you remembering more of those details, so, when we are walking through the engagement session, right? So, if they book me, we talked about how they met and we meet four months later chances are I'm not really gonna remember all the details right? And so it's like, hey guys, can you remind me how you met? And they say oh we met at college and then I might remember okay college, and I was just like, remind me, so, tell me who was interested in who again and we kind of go in to it and then you would be surprised how small little triggers, be like, actually he drove me home, I was really kind of drunk after beer pong and then you're like, yeah, you guys stopped for tacos and all of a sudden this thing kind of happens right? Between the two of you, between the three of you and then when you go home, sometimes at night I'll get back in the car and I'll send myself an email. Like, Emerson College, frat party, rings, tacos, sunny day and I just send that to myself and that's gonna be the thing that I need to know and on a wedding day if I don't get a list of vendors or the dress she wore, the shoes she wore. I do not wanna be on my phone ever in front of my clients on a wedding day, so, if I am shooting her dress and I don't know the designer I'll look at the tag and the I might step outside and write Badgley Mischka shoes, this wedding dress designer, this veil designer and then I just email myself and then I'm good so that I can put that in the blog post later. Great, so, we have time for one or two more questions. We're gonna go to Tera and then we will pass the mic back that way. Jasmine I'm wondering at what point are you talking to your clients or potential clients about your wedding packages and I mean, that couple definitely was interested in having you but if you're not quite certain when they leave do you know that they're going to book or are they going home to decide and you send them info. Great question and totally awkward. I was trying to avoid that whole thing. Thanks for calling me out on that. Okay, so, by the time the client wants to meet with me they have everything at their fingertips. I have sent them my collection menu and I've sent them the contract. I do not wanna meet with a client and the first time they realize you charge how much? It'll be a waste of their time, it'll be a waste of my time. Also, I send them the contract because I don't want them at a later point in time to be like, oh well, we really don't want our photos shared online. I want you to know what my expectations are, I want you to know my prices before we actually get to meeting, so, when I know that they have their collection menu which in this particular case, I knew they had the collection menu and I was pre qualified in that they could afford me because they were meeting with me. That's the assumption and that's generally nine times, nine point five times out of 10 the case. So, if they come to me I'm guessing that it's more of an opportunity for them to see do we jive together, can you do what I want, so, there's no point in me at that point because it does not play to my strength to say, so, have you guys talked about what collections you guys are interested in. Now, our fuller collection is this if you would like an album or do you wanna do an engagement album this time. I'm terrible at sales. Terrible. I only know how to sell the way that I like to be sold to and I have a tendency to attract that same type of client. When I walk in to a store please don't sell to me. I know what I want and you're gonna be distracting and you might loose the sale because you're just talking to much. JD on the other hand, we go to a restaurant and the server says let me tell you about the specials and JD's like yes, yes. If he orders a baked potato he says would you like bacon, chives, sour cream, butter whatever else, crumbled blue cheese, bacon fat, all of the, yes, yes that's what I want. He loves the art of being sold to. If I was attracting that type of client and if I felt like it was a strength that'd be great but it is not a strength, so, I do not talk about it. I say, thank you guys so much. Please let me know how you guys are fairing in decisions. If I receive another client inquiry I will follow up with you and now you have the first right of refusal. I hope we have the opportunity. Let me know, email me, I will get back to you within 24 hours. I leave it at that. Now, there is a lot of photographers who love and are good at the hard sale. If you sign now you get a 10% bonus but I had never been the girl who's attracted to the but wait, there's more ever, so, if I'm not attracted to it I'm gonna guess that it will seem inauthentic, insincere and make me look like a fraud. I would rather just say you make your decision. I do not want used car remorse like when you walk out with a car and you're like, ugh, no. I don't want that I'm already off to a bad start. Cool. We'll end with here, this question. Thank you, so, I'm part of a husband wife team as well and so, do you bring JD with you to your consultations and does he interact? He's probably off camera being like no, no, please don't give her any ideas. No, I cut you off again. I just love cutting you off in particular. [Woman With Green Hair Ends] I like it too. Was that the full question? I wanna make sure that you ask the question in it's entirety. Do you bring him and if you did how would you incorporate a second person to get to know the bride and groom? Very cool. If my- Oh. Yes. And when I have a second person with me he often takes notes on a notepad. I never take notes if it's just me but is taking notes something you ever do in front of the bride or if you had a second person would you do that? A long question sorry. Okay, so no JD does not come to the meetings with me and this is why we have made that decision. My brand is Jasmine Star. The brand is not Jasmine and JD. If the brand was Jasmine and JD I would want JD to come. I think in very strategic business ways. If I have JD at the meeting with me when he says yes to a meeting he says no to something else. If we can be at two different places finding ways to generate income that's what I would prefer or completely transparent, if I go to a client meeting and he is there with me the odds are that we're gonna go out to eat after or just maybe if I'm like do you feel like cooking dinner cause I'll be at the meeting, I can just come by we can have dinner together. If I'm at the meeting and he's at home finding ways to create more business, or curate, or take care of the business and maybe make dinner in the process it's a win for us from a business and personal perspective. If it was a husband and wife team that might be different. No, I do not take notes. Personal preference I don't have it but there's nothing really that I would take notes about. I ask them in advance where's your wedding, where's your reception, how many guests will there be, is there a wedding coordinator? I have all these questions answered so, I would be just kind of trying to look official. I'm paying very close attention, so, for me it doesn't really work. On that note, thank you guys for the amazing questions. I appreciate you guys very much. (applause)