Wedding workflow with smugmug

smilenj · May 2, 2012

I looked around but didn't see this discussion. Does anyone have a wedding workflow using smugmug that works really well? Wondering how to best capture guest emails, have the couple select favorites for albums, and generally maximize sales. Is there a best practices section somewhere?

Matthew Saville · May 2, 2012

I certainly have one, but it would probably take me hours and hours to write it all up. But, let this thread be the start! First off, I'll say that I'm not too pushy about collecting emails. I just send my bride & groom an email link to their event page, and I set the event to "suggest" registration, not "require".

It seems to work well for me, generates enough print sales here and there to make it worth my time in up-keeping the whole system. Need to try and crank it up a bit though.

=Matt=

smilenj · May 12, 2012

This is how I think a good SM wedding workflow would go. This is a combination of what I do now and where I would like to go in the future. Did this as part of a plan to bring on an assistant and figure I would share it with other people. Let me know if you have suggestions or better yet, share your own work flow

Pre wedding:

Book Wedding via Shootq
Send questionnaires via shootq
Follow up with clients and finalize day of details
send worksheet to second photographer/assistant via shootq

Post wedding

Load into LR
do Initial Cull to about twice of promised amount
Export Culled Raws
Send to Shoot Dot Edit for color correction and culling
Receive XMP from SDE and reattach to RAWs
final Tweeks and Cull
Export to SM gallery

Preparing for client meeting

In LR, select images for album (80-100)
Tag with a "slideshow" keyword
Export those images to Animoto
Create Animoto slide show and download to ipad
Create event for SM gallery
Print out initial order with the details of their album

Client meeting

Show Animoto slide show saying these are the photos that I would use for your album. Usually use an ipad
Show them SM gallery and say how they can select their favorites for the album. I tell them that they can use my selection as seen in the video, select just a few favorites and I'll make sure they are in the album or select all the photos they want.
I give them a spread sheet that helps them calculate the total album cost given their initial package and how many images they want to use
Show them how to send out the event gallery to guests

Post Client Meeting

Send email with any follow up details
Receive confirmation that they have selected their favorites (if it were only that easy)
Get all album images into a single SM gallery (not sure the best way to do this)
Go to zookie Pro and create album order using the gallery with the album images
Receive design and make any initial tweeks
Send link to client so they can approve and order
Client orders album and any duplicates (ZP system is pretty cool for this)
Send Thank you card and present

Things that I wish SM did / or that I knew how to do

Have a partnership with a shootq alternative
Place for me to capture guest emails before the wedding
Ending date on the gallery with email reminders saying they date is approaching
Allow people to create folders or favorite categories (like "my album favorites", "prints I want to make", Joey-Don't show these (aka that isn't his wife).
Do above without having to create an event - figure this should be the default
A way for vendors to pass discounts through SM so clients can take advantage of them
Re-opening galleries at anniversaries with out me having to remember to do it

Matthew Saville · May 12, 2012

Good stuff, very comprehensive! Hopefully I can add my thoughts soon, and others too. Thanks for posting!

=Matt=

smilenj wrote: »

This is how I think a good SM wedding workflow would go. This is a combination of what I do now and where I would like to go in the future. Did this as part of a plan to bring on an assistant and figure I would share it with other people. Let me know if you have suggestions or better yet, share your own work flow

Pre wedding:
Book Wedding via Shootq

Send questionnaires via shootq

Follow up with clients and finalize day of details

send worksheet to second photographer/assistant via shootq

Post wedding
Load into LR

do Initial Cull to about twice of promised amount

Export Culled Raws

Send to Shoot Dot Edit for color correction and culling

Receive XMP from SDE and reattach to RAWs

final Tweeks and Cull

Export to SM gallery

Preparing for client meeting
In LR, select images for album (80-100)

Tag with a "slideshow" keyword

Export those images to Animoto

Create Animoto slide show and download to ipad

Create event for SM gallery

Print out initial order with the details of their album

Client meeting
Show Animoto slide show saying these are the photos that I would use for your album. Usually use an ipad

Show them SM gallery and say how they can select their favorites for the album. I tell them that they can use my selection as seen in the video, select just a few favorites and I'll make sure they are in the album or select all the photos they want.

I give them a spread sheet that helps them calculate the total album cost given their initial package and how many images they want to use

Show them how to send out the event gallery to guests

Post Client Meeting
Send email with any follow up details

Receive confirmation that they have selected their favorites (if it were only that easy)

Get all album images into a single SM gallery (not sure the best way to do this)

Go to zookie Pro and create album order using the gallery with the album images

Receive design and make any initial tweeks

Send link to client so they can approve and order

Client orders album and any duplicates (ZP system is pretty cool for this)

Send Thank you card and present

Things that I wish SM did / or that I knew how to do
Have a partnership with a shootq alternative

Place for me to capture guest emails before the wedding

Ending date on the gallery with email reminders saying they date is approaching

Allow people to create folders or favorite categories (like "my album favorites", "prints I want to make", Joey-Don't show these (aka that isn't his wife).

Do above without having to create an event - figure this should be the default

A way for vendors to pass discounts through SM so clients can take advantage of them

Re-opening galleries at anniversaries with out me having to remember to do it

jasonscottphoto · May 13, 2012

+1 for this...

Allow people to create folders or favorite categories (like "my album favorites", "prints I want to make", Joey-Don't show these (aka that isn't his wife).
Do above without having to create an event - figure this should be the default

sphynge · May 15, 2012

I do and I think we'll have a wedding workflow on the SmugMug blog pretty soon. Here's how I go about it:

Pre-wedding
Create an event link with guest registration optional (that's how I get the emails, which I only use once - see below)
Shoot the engagement session
Upload via the Lightroom plugin
Create a guest book with engagement photos - under "Buy" - create a book (Blurb)
Create business cards - under "Buy" - "More" - "Business cards" (with Moo). If you go to http://www.smugmug.com/ClubSmug and you're logged in you'll see a discount with Moo. On the business card I put the picture of the couple (close up) and on the other side I put a shortened event link plus text that says "Upload photos, view and print memories here:"

Day of the wedding
Put the business cards on the reception table. They're a HUGE hit because they have the couple's photo on it

Give more business cards to vendors
Put some business cards next to the guest book

Post wedding
Add wedding photos to a gallery (using the awesome Lightroom plugin still) which I add then add to the event page, and use the description to encourage guests to buy photos from me - see this gallery
If you can upload within 48h, you're sooooo much more likely to sell
I limit my choices in the shopping cart to 4 options that are not croppable, so that the final result in the print is *exactly* as I intended (no surprise destructive cropping my aunt Marty)
I include a limited time free shipping coupon which is very popular (you can do that under Pro tab, coupon, create coupon)
Email guests 2 days before coupon expire to remind them
I ask my couples to go through the event page and select their favorites
Thanks to the Lightroom plugin, I just sync the faves back in and have them right there as their own collection
Export and create a Bay Photo album
Take screenshots of the album spreads and do proofing on SmugMug
Go to Two Bright Lights, pull in photos from my wedding album (option: Upload from SmugMug), and submit to publication

And that's that! I get guest print sales at every single wedding thanks to this awesome workflow, and I got published 31 times last year with Two Bright Lights. I couldn't do it without an efficient workflow

smilenj · May 15, 2012

Wow - are you really able to finish the exit within 48 hours? I was shooting for two weeks and feeling good about it.

smilenj · May 15, 2012

Also - are there any features that you would like to see on sm that would improve your workflow?

smilenj · May 15, 2012

Things that I wish SM did / or that I knew how to do

With these things, I think SM becomes the absolute best platform for the wedding workflow. I went ahead and created/found the posts on suggestion blog. If you haven't done so, please vote for these items and ask others to do so as well.

sphynge · May 15, 2012

I haven't completely been able to deliver *all* the photos in 48h but I've been able to post 200-400 depending on the wedding. I'm shooting for almost-no-edits, that's my goal this year, which is how I intend to go on this crazy delivery goal. I've done 1 week in the past, it's feasible but it hurts

I can tell you this though: the only photos I sell to guests are the ones uploaded within 1 week. Anything after that, you've got a long shot a year after the wedding for grandparents / parents that aren't getting files from their kids, and that's it.
For editing, I find that I have a long tail (the last 200 photos might take a while) but I just can't commit to outsourcing that part of the creative process. I've signed up with and heard great things about both Shootdotedit and Lavalu, but I just can't take the big step - it seems like such a huge part of who I am as a photographer... I'm struggling with the idea of letting control and adding a management layer.

I don't know that I'm totally on board with the email ideas - I know where you're coming from but as a customer I feel that a lot of people abuse email. Email has a fine line between awesome and spam, and that's a line a lot of people don't know how to walk very well. Would it be great if it were easier? Sure. But I think there's a lot of your couples' guests that are worried they're going to get spammed to death, and frankly I don't blame them. Privacy is a hot button and I don't want to push it personally!

smilenj · May 16, 2012

Like the no edit approach. Harder said then done of course. I like Sde - I use them for wb and color correction. Then I do the more creative edits. You can send them a few shots to test to see if you like it.

Wedding workflow with smugmug

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