Stop haggling, chasing after leads, and booking the same old boring jobs. Reserve your spot now and be the first to know when doors open to this transformative online business course.
- Nail your messaging strategy
- Master your client experience to become a planner’s go-to creative partner
- Perform at luxury and Ultra-Luxury levels so event producers and vendors want to work with you again and again
- Command premium rates and be booked out with ideal clients and portfolio-defining work
- Become an in-demand brand planners and clients know by name
- And so much more!
Ready to learn exactly what planners look for in your portfolio, how to get on their short lists, and build relationships that generate more repeat business?
Join the waitlist for The Planners’ Code today to discover the secrets to “getting in” with planners and building relationships that transform your business and career.
In this online course for photographers and filmmakers, you'll discover how to:
Ensure how you show up in your client experience aligns with the work you create—it all counts.
Once you’ve worked to curate your portfolio based on a specific niche (or point-of-view), you’ll want to protect that by ensuring consistency across all touchpoints.
This means showing up with that niche and consistent perspective everywhere you have a presence – on or offline.
Not sure how to get started?
Here’s an exercise to try: Choose any premium brand and go to their website.
Then visit their social accounts. Sign up for their emails. If they have a brick-and-mortar store, go inside and look at their merchandising. Pay attention to how they present their products and packaging. Watch how their associates speak and act. Take note of how they represent themselves across all of these various touchpoints.
Do you notice consistency? Do you recognize their brand simply by the look, feel, and experience? Does it feel cohesive and relevant? That’s what you’re looking to convey with your portfolio.
The truth is, you can command high prices by making your ideal clients believe you will be able to deliver to them what they see in your portfolio—no matter what.
The way you do that is by demonstrating consistency across the board.
Additionally, you’ll want to ensure that your portfolio accurately depicts what it’s like to work with you. For example, if your images or videos call to mind an upscale, refined experience, but you swear like a sailor when speaking to clients, you’re likely creating a disconnect, which makes you seem risky.
In the event industry, your reputation matters—and word spreads quickly.
3. Consistency Rules.
When you nail your niche, you attract more high-end planners and couples.
Niching down means you’re choosing a specific aesthetic, style, or point-of-view to showcase—and every image or video clip you present is a demonstration of that.
Your broader niche is, of course, weddings. But within that niche are sub-categories, and it’s within those that you can cherry-pick events you’ve worked on and create a visual representation of your brand.
Some examples of a niche include:
- Refined, quiet luxury
- Rock & roll, celebrity
- Bold, bright, over-the-top, wild
- Whimsical, boho
The goal is to present yourself as a brand that is the best at your specific niche. Demonstrate you have a strong, reliable, and consistent finished product that appeals to a particular kind of person.
Unfortunately, it’s rare for mass market appeal to command premium budgets.
If you’re unsure of your niche, take a look at other photographers and filmmakers you admire. How would you describe their niche? What images define who they are (in your eyes)? What words do they use to describe themselves and their work?
Then, it’s your turn!
Really consider what you’re great at, who you want to work with, and what you love to shoot… and niche down. Once you do, watch how many doors it opens for you.
2. Niche Down.
Like attracts like—intentionally curate your work to attract what you want to create.
Resist the urge to post every single wedding you’ve ever worked on!
Your portfolio is not a running resume of all the events you’ve participated in.
Your portfolio is actually a curated sneak peek into how your brand presents events to the world.
The weddings in your portfolio should demonstrate your unique point-of-view as a creative brand. The only events that should go in there are the ones that best demonstrate this.
Before you can begin curating your portfolio, you may have some work to do on figuring out who you are as a brand.
Planners and couples are risk-averse. They want to see that you can deliver the kind of photos and videos they want from their special day. That means you have to be able to show you’ve done it before in order to get booked.
Get super clear on who you want to work with—planners and clients. Do some research on the planners you admire. What kinds of clientele do they show in their portfolio? What are the brand elements you notice across the various events they produce?
Then, turn to your portfolio and become your own ruthless editor. What do you need to cut in order to appeal to that wishlist of planners? What gaps in your portfolio do you need to fill?
Even if you haven’t worked many luxury weddings with the clientele or destinations you desire, every event has some aspect of luxury you can focus on. Put yourself in the shoes of the type of planners you wish to work with—what imagery or footage can you showcase that speaks to the type of work they do?
1. Only Show What You Want To Attract.
How to Curate a Portfolio that Appeals to Luxury Wedding Planners
Here’s a truth that often surprises photographers and filmmakers who want to get into the world of luxury weddings but haven’t quite made the leap yet: your portfolio says a lot more to a planner than you may realize.
Having a portfolio that appeals specifically to a luxury planner is an entirely different approach to displaying your work. There are certain signals a planner is looking for that reassure them you’re a creative partner who will understand the unique expectations and needs their affluent couples have.