99%(??) of brides pass through one when choosing a wedding dress. Does anyone actively cultivate a friendly relationship with their local shops, get referals, offer a thankyou gift for successful bookings, cooperate with them to do photo work for their business?
It's always worth a shot, but don't for a minute think you'll be the only photographer to ask them, and why WOULD they recommend you for no reason?
Unless you've done a kick-ass shot of one of their dresses that they adore and want to use for their marketing, the only reason they'd recommend random photog you over random photog B is because you offer them more of a kickback, and then you're essentially just in a bidding war.
If your margins are high enough it might be worth a punt, but if you want my opinion, wait until you get a wedding with the kind of clients you want more often, then do a killer set of detail shots and e-mail them to all the suppliers, build relationships and bridges.
I genuinely see it going one of 2 ways :
Scenario A : The bridal shop says no, they don't know you from Adam, you could be a cowboy, they have a reputation to maintain amongst their clients after all.
Scenario B: The bridal shop says yes, which means they're making greedy decisions based on making a quick buck, would YOU want to be associated with that brand, and what happens when someone offers them £5 more than you? Work dries up overnight.
My question would be...why would they want to refer you? What are you doing for THEM? We have not done a lot of networking (working more on that this spring), but the people that have been telling others about us have done so because we had done things for them in the past without necessarily telling them to refer people to us. We were just being nice, friendly, and helpful without strings, and in turn, they started referring us. So, we have a plan we are going to execute that goes off of these experiences.
In addition to what Chris mention, with sooooo many people with cameras and calling themselves "wedding photographers" I would bet the shops already have people lined up from family and friends. This means others already have the inside contacts.
"Personal relationships" is what the wedding industry is all about for referrals. If you can somehow get to know the manager/owner, maybe through some local organizations that they belong to, that's the best way to get your foot in the door OR you get lucky and know them outside of the wedding industry. Cold turkey rarely works. Unless you are offering cash for "pay for play".
We have one bridal store by me that is significantly larger than the rest combined. I am going in there in a few weekends to spend the day shooting brides as they try on different dresses (probably 30-50 brides). After their dress consultation, they can come to me and get a 4x6 on the spot with my logo on it so they have something better than a crappy cameraphone shot.
I don't know if it'll land me any clients or not, but I figure it's worth a shot.
I had a contract with David's Bridal as the official wedding photographer in their store in my town for a couple of years. Before I got the contract I didn't know that this store was their busiest in the country. I had brochures going out in every bag, portraits on the wall, sample albums in the store and I would once a month go in on a Saturday and set up a table to do a raffle (or something) with the brides.
I paid a lot for this, but averaged 18-25 weddings from the store per year. It was a great thing for us until corporate decided to go with a national studio. I still get calls regularly from brides who tell me they have been contacted by this national studio and were told a photographer would be assigned to them. They felt it was so cold and impersonal they didn't even set up a time to meet with the photographer.
Anyway, if you can get in and do something like that it could be a good thing for you all.
First they have to like you, second they have to think that your branding is congruent with theirs.
I don't think it is impossible for you and i am coming from a position where i no longer promote for weddings so take my advice for what it's worth.
First upgrade your web presence. That can be done cheaply. Prophoto blogs are only a couple of hundred dollars. That is not everything but it would be a huge step in the right direction.
Once your online presence is raised a bit start making a list of where your brides purchased their dresses. After the wedding drop in and introduce yourself with a couple of nice 8x10 prints for them.
Now ask them if they have a site you can link to when you do the blog post but get around to specifically asking if you could do a blog article on them and their business. If yes then set up a time to take some pics and do an interview.
At that time really get interested in them and where they have come from. Let them approve what you write before you post. (you're already a writer i see so no advice needed there).
Of course they are going to send friends and family to check out the great article you wrote about them. Will that translate into clients being sent your way, who knows? but it would have to be good start to making a friendship and friends look after friends.
Question for the OP: How many smaller (non-chain) bridal shops around you are there? Be sure to check out what their average number of brides per month to see if all that is even worth your time.
I'm in a medium sizes UK city with half a dozen smallish specialist bridal shops. All clustered in a few streets outside the prime shopping centre. I suspect that they are rather different to the US scene. They have all been in business a while so must all be "processing" enough brides.
There are several large chain wedding dress stores that cover the entire country. The reason it worked so well for me was due to the huge volume of brides. I loved going in and spending tine with the brides as they tried on dresses, giving advice and having fun. It will give you a new perspective on the industry. I think it has made me a more well rounded and better photographer because of it.
Chances are bridal shops will not work with you.
They have 100s of photographers approching them every year.
Ask to shoot their collection and they may change their mind.
Shoot a few weddings with their dresses and they may change their mind
Recommending their store to your clients may change their mind
Offer a good incentive and they may change their mind ($500+ per each wedding or maybe a flat fee of about $500-$5000 per store. would depend on how busy they are)
Apart from that you need to make sure you provide solid work. They will not put their business on the line if you barely shot any weddings.
Some stores may work with a photographr for free if they feel that photographer can benefit their store.
I've given a local shop digital files from weddings where the bride had purchased her gown at their store. I got a very nice email once, from the shop manager after she got some of the images. I've never asked to promote myself through them, but I bet that if I keep sending stuff like that their way, should I ever bring it up, the topic would be warmly received.
