how do you approach your first client/couple meeting?
we often get asked this, as well as how much time we spend with our couples to get to know them. as you guys know by now, our desire to tell stories with deeper meaning sits, well, above all else. but in order to do that, we need to know these stories! do we spend hours? days? do we go live with our couples? these are all questions we get about our “process”. but really, it’s not a process at all. when you make a new friend, do you call it a “process”? do you take notes? likely not. we see it this way – we make friends for a living. so with that, we don’t focus on questions that don’t tell us anything about a couple – like their venue, who their planner is, or how they found us. we pay attention to the things that matter, and we do so genuinely…
we have a really unique opportunity in what we do – and that’s to get to know people on a really profound basis in a VERY short period of time. sometimes we read between the lines, but more often than not, people start sharing really interesting and personal things with us simply because they FEEL that we care – not just as artists looking for inspiration, but as newly found friends. below you’ll find an excerpt from an email i got this morning from one of our grooms. this is the FIRST communication i’ve had with him, and he’s already sharing THIS MUCH! and while it’s an entertaining read for sure, it also tells me so much about the types of people he and Nancy are. not only do i KNOW that we are an amazing fit for each other, i already have a TON of ideas for their imagery.
right from the beginning i know that:
• they appreciate the art of food (so it’s likely that they appreciate art in general)
• they work together on things (divide + conquer)
• they’re happy to admit they have a mess. but they word it as a fancy mess. (they fully embrace who they are)
• their dog is likely well behaved (if they can keep food on their ottoman, Pucca is probably not stealing it)
• their pillows are perpendicular to each other (they pay attention to detail)
• they are humbled by the people who love them (they stop to appreciate the things that really matter)
• they use Apple products (c’mon now. that’s a given)
• he takes care of her (but they’re big on teamwork so chances are she does the same).
• they’re intelligent (just look at how this is written. iDevices? yup.)
here’s the excerpt i’ve been talking about:
i hope this helps explain our “process” a bit. feel free to leave any follow-up questions below in the comments section and we’ll get back to you!
-Amina
Sam > that’s a great question too. i’ll answer it by saying that we start with finding couples who ARE willing to open up, and actually enjoy it! so i guess the follow-up question is HOW do we find such amazing and open couples? that might just be the next Question of the Week! :)
I’ve been bugging to know this too! I come from a culture where people find it very difficult to open up and share to you. How do you approach situations where you find very hard to get the couple to be open? Thanks!
- sam
good Q guys. it’s a little bit of both: prompting and blue. what i mean is, yes, i asked them to tell me about their typical Sunday. but there were a lot of things said that were out of the blue too. i think once people realize that you care about them and their uniqueness, they’ll be excited to tell you things. and often times, it’s the most random things that are the most interesting!
Amina,
Thanks for this post. This is a subject I’m very interested in, and have wondered about your approach. Question: what precipitated this email? Did you ask him to describe an ideal Sunday? It seems unlikely that you’d get this email out of the blue. Or, perhaps, it’s unlikely that I’D get this email out of the blue. You, more likely, since your brand is very well-established and clients know to expect this kind of interaction when they hire you.
Hi Amina,
so did you ask Nancy and Vince to describe their typical Sunday or how did your first email to them look like?
Thanks,
Jan
Hi Amina,
so what did you first email look like that you have sent to Nancy and Vince?
Did you actually ask them to describe a typical Sunday?
Thanks,
Jan
Hi Amina, great read! Out of curiosity, did you ask him to tell you about himself and Nancy? Or did he randomly send you this info?
-Kyle