Styled Shoots 101 - For Wedding Venue Owners
by Kristin Binford - Successful Venue Owner and Secret Sharer
What Wedding Venue Owners Need to Know About Styled Shoots
Have you heard the term 'styled shoot' and you're not quite sure what all one entails? This article venue-friends is for you.
A styled shoot is most often a photoshoot of a mock wedding or elopement. There is a photographer, models, flowers, a dress, a suit... etc.
The Purpose of Styled Shoots
Styled shoots (SS for short) can be done for a few different reasons. From the venue's perspective, perhaps you have something new you want to show off with beautiful florals and photography. Maybe you have a group of vendors you love working with and you all want to use your creativity to do something fun together. (Because most often we are all fulfilling the desires of the couple and not always using our own creative bone.)
You might also want to show off your space in a new way. Do you often have brides who love that bright and airy photography, but you really love the dark and moody vibe? A styled shoot would be a way to show your venue in a new light to position yourselves to a new "type" of bride. Another easy example is perhaps you are incredibly over burlap and lace... but you still see it all the time at your venue. A SS could illustrate the more glamorous possibilities at your venue.
The Venue's Role
There are more or less two kinds of shoots - ones you see business value in and ones you simply agree to because it could produce images you would like to use and share.
If you see business value in a styled shoot, I think you also have a financial responsibility. If vendors are coming together helping you show off your venue in a new way, please offer to help cover the hard costs of participating vendors. Flowers, camera film, quality makeup, etc. are not free. Asking for vendors to spend their time and money for a shoot that directly benefits you should come with an offer to help chip in on the cost. We have had shoots at my venue (Haue Valley) with $600 - $2000+ just in floral cost. The industry seems to think "everyone should donate their services," but we need to raise the bar as an industry and recognize there are very real hard costs associated with beautiful shoots. Many vendors will not take you up on your offer to help cover costs, but it speaks volumes about you and your business when you offer.
Other times a photographer or planner comes to you with an idea for a shoot. You're happy to allow the team to use your space, but the SS sounds too similar to another wedding or SS you've hosted to get extremely excited about. In this case, you may not have a financial contribution, but please make sure you ask up front if they are requesting one from participating vendors.
In either case, I think good etiquette is to:
Ensure your venue is clean and ready for the shoot before vendors arrive
Purchase snacks / a meal for vendors participating that day
Ensure you know what is expected of you and be ready to perform at 110%
Avoid These Things
A team of vendors who don't know one another - It's just awkward and that makes everything more challenging.
Getting the credits wrong - This will literally piss everyone off. Getting the credits right every time is of critical importance.
Conflicting goals - Make sure you are clear on the goals of participating vendors. If the organizer is looking to have some fun and you were expecting publication, it creates friction that can last long after the shoot.
Too many chiefs - Let me be clear, you need someone to be the primary organizer and voice on style and tone, but you don't need 5 of them.
Brief Thoughts on Publishing
Getting a styled shoot published in a magazine or on a blog is definitely possible if you have great images. Crappy photos get you no where.
The entire group needs to know if publishing is the goal. Being wishy washy about it can create a lot of drama later. For example, what if the photographer decides they want to submit the photos for consideration to The Knot, but The Knot requires that you don't submit those photos anywhere else or use them in your own social media until they decide if they want to publish them or not. This can create a lot of friction if for example the venue is a new venue and is waiting on those images to use in launch-marketing. See the problem?
An intermediate ground is non-exclusive publishing. This means that anyone can use the photos, but that some blogs and magazines are still willing to publish because they don't require exclusive rights. In a future post I'll share some friendly non-exclusive bloggers that would probably love to see your SS images.
Finally - don't overlook the fact that mainstream news media doesn't understand styled shoots. That means if you submit photos and a story they are likely to only credit the photographer, which is likely to wrinkle the shorts of everyone else who contributed.
Speaking of credits
These amazing folks contributed to the amazing styled shoot at my venue featured above:
Photography: @cieararuessphotography
Venue @hauevalley
Florist @rosesandmint
HMUA @eyedostl @eyedostlkim
Baby Goat @friedmannfarm
Dress + Tux @thebridalshoppe
Models @jouur + @clyburn_tyson
Calligrapher @emma.vonderhaar
Cake @angelcakesstl
Prop rental @renownrentals
Glass sign + banner @zcreatedesign
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