This post is completely and utterly selfish but I wanted to write it anyway. It’s my blog I can do what I want right?!

Photographers work their butts off but a big thing about being a photographer is that we are introverts in the best way of the word. We spend a ton of our time sitting in a room all alone staring at a screen. Scrolling through Facebook knowing we have a mile high list of things we must do. Marketing. Networking. Blogging. Updating our Website. Shooting. Updating our Gear. Ect. Ect.

I am in no way complaining. I happen to love the heck out of my job. But I will admit that sometimes I feel undervalued. Sometimes I feel like my heart is completely in and I give every bit of me and sometimes I don’t get that feeling back.

But for the most part I have pretty fabulous clients that make me feel so darn special.

I hear photographers gripe about this stuff all the time, and while none of the following is expected, if you want to make your photographer feel like a million bucks or if you want to brighten up their day, here are  7 ways to do that.

1. Thank them during the speeches. I know you havent seen the product yet but by now you should know that your photographer is awesome. They have spent the entire year (if not longer) planning and prepping you for your big day. You had an amazing engagement session together where you adored the images and now you just spent your entire wedding day with them by your side. Standing for usually 10+ hours with high energy, a smile on their face and a million things going on in their creative minds. THANK THEM. I mean come on, the bartender ALWAYS gets thanked, and while I know this is because booze is involved, I think your photographer deserves a thank you as well. Adding your photographer to your thank you speech hits home and makes them feel incredibly important and like their time was well worth it. I’ve even had clients make me cry in front of everyone because of their heart felt thank you. It means the world to us.

2. A personal gift. Now no this is not mandatory  nor are any of the things on this list but we try our very best to make you feel special in your time with us, we love when you make us feel special too. Stalk us on instagram and find out our favorite wine or that we absolutely love Home Sense (hint hint).

3.Hello Social Media. Please give us some props and do a little shout out on social media when displaying your photos or even a status update can make a girl blush. Facebook is choosing to be challenging these days so word of mouth for small businesses is huge. Tag their business, say how fabulous they have been and how much you would recommend them to your dear family and friends.

4.Share the love. Chances are your photographer will blog your wedding. Please share that with family and friends. We spend hours…I literally mean hours, putting your images together and writing about your intimate day and doing it all in a way that hopefully it helps other brides and grooms find us in the future. Share away. We will love you for it.

 5.Tell them you love them. No seriously, tell them. So many times photographers will mail out product or upload a gallery and not hear back from their clients. GASP. We NEED to know you love your photos as much as we do. Yes, we are all super needy and need that confirmation that we did a good job.  So please pop your photographer an email and tell them how fabulous they are. Please don’t leave us hanging, we deserve to sleep too.

6.And which seems so obvious to us but may not to the general public, referrals. Referrals are the yellow pages for photographers. Word of mouth and sharing the joy and love for your photographer goes a long way. Everybody has a friend of a friend that picked up a camera but if you can boast about how fabulous your experience was and how much you love your images maybe they will take 5 minutes and check us out and fall in love too.

7. Review time. Yes, this may take you 10 minutes to put into words how much you adore your photographer, but I can tell you that those 10 minutes taken can brighten up a very tired photographer. Wedding season can be insane and can feel lonely and chaotic. To get a message from a loving client saying how wonderful everything was can put a skip back in our step that we need to make it through the rest of the season.

So there you have it, make your photographer feel like a million bucks with these easy steps.

Share the love!