A big part of running a successful business is managing expectations. We enjoy reading easyweddings.com.au's Australian Wedding Industry Report each year as it gives us an insight into what's working and what's not for clients in general - as you can see from the images below.
Statistics provided by easyweddings.com.au in their Australian Wedding Industry Report for 2018
Positive feedback for wedding photographers provided by clients and collated by easyweddings.com.au (2018)
Areas of improvement for wedding photographers provided by clients and collated by easyweddings.com.au (2018)
So, couples appreciate that photographers, on average, overdeliver on time. That is nice. On a personal level, at Poppy & Sage Photography we try to be mindful that circumstances on the day can vary greatly when compared with a timeline on paper. We try to be reasonable in accommodating.
Couples feel listened to. That is also good news. Furthermore, their suggestions translated into action by the photographer. Wonderful. We imagine most photographers would realise that the day is all about the couple and so listening to and implementing ideas are non-negotiable for a successful business.
There has been more focus on the couple and allowing the moments to unfold rather than structured shooting. More good news for everyone.
However, we skipped one of the above points. You probably noticed. We will address it now and hopefully leave no stone unturned. :)
Sneak peeks.
The big question: does Poppy & Sage Photography supply sneak peeks?
Short answer: no. (Nothing against businesses that do. Of course. We stay in our own lane.)
Long answer: We do not supply sneak peeks for our clients because we choose to put the client first. Let us explain. We strive for consistency. When shooting a wedding (typically from getting ready to reception), we are shooting under variable light conditions, among other factors. When we provide you with our end product, we want it to be consistent. Consistent exposure. Consistent white balance. Consistent colours.
Here is an analogy. You research your local area in order to hire a cake artist. You find one that produces impeccable work and responds in a timely & friendly manner to your email enquiry. You pay a small fee to sample a range of flavours. You confidently order a 5-tiered cake incorporating a couple of layers of fruit cake because tradition and grandparents, a layer of coconut and lime for the groom, red velvet for the bride, and coconut with white chocolate ganache for the first wedding anniversary. However, your mum wants to see and taste the cake before your big day. You ask for a half-baked slice from tier number 3... Hang on... No, you wait until the job is completed and you physically catch your breath when you see it all completed. You arrange for the planner to call your mum into the reception before anyone else and take a few snaps on her phone of the cake. She appreciates the time and effort. And the day carries on.
When you provide sneak peeks before you have completed the editing job, you are increasing risk. By the time you have finished editing the job, you may have strayed away from the editing style you applied to the sneak peeks. You then have a choice: a) do you stick with the original plan that may not have worked for the album as a whole or b) do you send the newly edited - altered - images and hope the client never notices? We are in several online photography centric groups. We will let you know something that is not usually talked about outside of close-knit photography groups (hope you can appreciate that we are sticking our necks out here!): this situation ("Is this good enough to keep going with or do I change and hope my client doesn't notice?" "Gah! I sent out my sneak peeks last night, but I have looked at them again this morning and they are peach!" "Oh, my goodness! I started off a bit desaturated but now I'm loving the rich tones in this second edit! Do I give the client the first one and use the second for my portfolio? Will they notice - what do you think?") comes up more often than you probably would like for the amount of money you pay.
One other point: by not providing sneak peeks we are putting you first. Seems ironic? In practice, it looks like this: we shoot your wedding, we cull the images, we colour correct, we clean them up (if needed - remove pimples, for example), resize for social media use, and so on. We stay focused on completing your gallery to our full satisfaction. We do not insert in there time/energy away from your gallery to provide sneak peeks for a wedding that we have shot after yours. You remain number one priority the whole way through.
Finally, we have to acknowledge an inherent bias here, too. We love surprises. Both of us. At a time when everything is available at a moment's notice (and if it isn't, we will create an app so that it is only a matter of time), we like to take the more mindful route and provide a product that is worthy of the wait and will be valued. Back to us for a moment: we will wait months - sometimes even years - for the other one to successfully pull off something thoughtful and calculated (and is usually valued accordingly). We were the same when it came to waiting for our wedding images. You can ask our photographer (Lady Jayde Photography). We told Jayde to take her time: "We would rather you take your time for us to have images that we will treasure forever than to quickly turn them around for the sake of convenience".
At the end of the day, you are paying $$$$ for photography. We want you to be as happy with the product (hopefully more!) as we are, too. For this reason, we do the job in full and then deliver. You can be assured that we have spent hours (dedication not possible in 24 hours) to deliver a product that we can stand by.