Top 10 Places to Find Wedding Photography Clients

Wondering where to find wedding photography clients? A lot of wedding photographers tell me, Once I get the bride or groom in front of me, I can book them. But how do I get my stuff directly in front of real brides?

Step #1 – Find out where your ideal clients are hanging out.

Once you know where they are, you can meet them there. Then Step #2 comes into play – Get them to contact you or get permission to follow up with them.

Top 10 Places to Find Wedding Clients

1. Facebook.

   Brides are on Facebook! The average Facebook user spends over 55 minutes per day, and at my last check there are 1,459,740 engaged females aged 21-32 on Facebook in the US. Find more Facebook statistics here.

   Reach them with a Facebook page for your business, and market to your targeted region and demographic with Facebook advertising.

2. Google.

   84% of brides use the internet to plan their weddings and Google is the search engine of choice. Find them by making sure your website shows up on Page 1 for the search term, your local area photographer.

   You can do this with a smart SEO blogging strategy, article marketing or by buying Google Adwords.

3. Local and National Wedding Blogs.

   Find the local wedding blogs of other vendors in your area and offer them guest posts featuring your beautiful photos. Locate them on Google by typing in NAME OF YOUR AREA wedding, the brides you’re looking for are finding them, too, and you need to be there.

   Local wedding blogs get you targeted bridal traffic and are usually a better investment…unless the national wedding blog is big enough to rank for your local wedding search terms.

   For example, if I type in Hudson Valley wedding, (the name of our local region) a blog post from Style Me Pretty comes up on page 2 of Google. You’ll get targeted traffic from that one.

4. Bridal Shows.

   I know, bridal shows are so 2005! But if your ideal brides are going to these shows (and that’s key…they need to be the type of brides you want to book) it’s still a great place to meet them.

5. Jewelry Stores.

   Brides visit jewelry stores before they are even engaged, and grooms come back to buy the ring just before the proposal. One brilliant photographer partnered with jewelry stores to offer a free proposal shoot to any groom who purchases a ring. The result: he gets to show off his work to the bride before she even begins planning!

6. Bridal Shops.

   Where’s the first place a bride goes after she gets her ring? Yep, she’s on the hunt for a dress. Develop relationships with bridal shops and find her at the beginning of her planning.

7. Wedding Venues.

   A typical couple picks a date and books their wedding venue first. Network and partner with the local wedding venues you want to work at, attend their tastings and shows, to become their #1 referral.

8. Review Sites.

   Before a bride even thinks about calling you, she’s searching for reviews about your photography business.

   Make sure you have a free listing on wedding vendor review sites like Wedding Wire, and create local business listings that make it easy for them to find you.

9. Bridal Magazines.

   Brides still drool over bridal magazines, and a good ad can generate a lot of leads. Caution: this only works if you have a proven, tested ad. Test your ad in cheaper online mediums before spending big bucks.

10. Other Photographers.

    One of the best places to find brides is by getting referral overflow from other photographers who are already booked. Even a few of the right networking contacts can fill up your calendar.

Now that you know where the brides are, how do you get their attention? We’ll cover Step #2 in my next article.

Did I leave anything out of my Top 10 list? Leave me a comment with your favorite place to find wedding clients.

About the Author:

Stephanie Padovani

Stephanie is a Hudson Valley wedding blogger, writer and wedding business coach who has owned a successful wedding entertainment company with her husband since 2000. They started Book More Brides to help wedding professionals build 6 Figure Wedding Businesses: without fighting about price or wasting money on advertising that doesn’t work.

Want more wedding business marketing tips? Visit BookMoreBrides.com get the free report, The Price Shopper to Profit Email: How to Immediately Convince Brides of Your Value So They’re Primed and Ready to Book.