Bridal Inspiration Shoots: What’s the Point?

The Future of Vin­tage! Click to see more. Photo Credit Jonny Draper Photography

Do you, as a bride or groom-to-be, think cre­ative shoots are use­ful, give ideas, enter­tain or pro­vide good eye candy?

Or do you look at inspi­ra­tion shoots on wed­ding blogs and in mag­a­zines and won­der why wed­ding pho­tog­ra­phers, dress design­ers, florists, cake design­ers, sta­tion­ers and jew­ellers seem to spend all their time on cre­ative shoots?

Out­door wed­ding inspi­ra­tion shoot on Eng­lish Wed­ding Blog. Photo credit Mark Tierney

My thoughts on bridal inspi­ra­tion shoots

I’ve heard lots of opin­ions on the sub­ject of cre­ative shoots. Engaged cou­ples and indus­try insid­ers alike dif­fer in their views. Some think cre­ative shoots are a waste of time while oth­ers love the cre­ativ­ity they pro­mote and explore.

For me, cre­ative shoots can even drive the wed­ding indus­try for­wards, pro­mot­ing new ideas and con­cepts for wed­ding design. I love them. I fea­ture inspi­ra­tion shoots on Eng­lish Wed­ding Blog — the pho­tog­ra­phy and cre­ativ­ity inspires me.

Over­all though, I see two types of cre­ative shoot: those which pro­vide inspi­ra­tion for brides and grooms along a theme or style; and those which offer a cre­ative oppor­tu­nity for sup­pli­ers, a chance to push bound­aries and try new tech­niques and designs.

Fear­less Bridal cre­ative shoot by Yolande De Vries

What cou­ples can get from a bridal inspi­ra­tion shoot

There’s more to a bridal inspi­ra­tion shoot than pretty pic­tures to enjoy. Shoots will often pro­vide ideas for dec­o­rat­ing wed­ding tables, acces­soris­ing dresses, and cre­at­ing a cohe­sive theme in a cer­tain color or style.

Most inspi­ra­tion shoots are col­lab­o­ra­tions between local wed­ding sup­pli­ers, and can be a great way to find sup­pli­ers in your area. Check your wed­ding photographer’s blog: have they done any recent shoots? Who did they work with? Find­ing a group of sup­pli­ers who work well together can be a bless­ing when it comes to every­thing run­ning smoothly on your wed­ding day.

A gothic wed­ding inspi­ra­tion shoot — click to see the fea­ture. Photo Credit Alex Davies Photography

What wed­ding sup­pli­ers should get from cre­ative shoots

Cre­ative shoots can be a won­der­ful way to pro­mote your busi­ness to poten­tial cus­tomers. Espe­cially if you’re new to the wed­ding indus­try or just begin­ning to get to know other sup­pli­ers, they’re a fab­u­lous oppor­tu­nity. But you only get out what you put in. With­out good pro­mo­tion a shoot can be a nice day out and lit­tle more.

Net­work­ing and friend­ships with local wed­ding suppliers

Know­ing who excels at what they do means you can offer great advice to brides and grooms – and the wed­ding sup­pli­ers who meet you on a shoot can rec­om­mend you too.

It’s not just about busi­ness net­work­ing though (and I hate the word, by the way!) – friend­ships can grow from work­ing on cre­ative shoots with fel­low wed­ding sup­pli­ers. Many of you read­ing this will know what I mean when I say what we do can be a lonely job at times.

Iscoyd Park wed­ding venue inspi­ra­tion shoot. Photo credit Ash­ford Daly Photography

A clus­ter of blog and web pro­mo­tions for your business

If ten sup­pli­ers are involved in a bridal inspi­ra­tion shoot, and all blog about it, share images, namecheck the other sup­pli­ers and post links and com­ments on each other’s blogs – it’s an excel­lent bit of online pro­mo­tion for your business.

BUT don’t under­es­ti­mate the impor­tance of pro­mot­ing a shoot you’re involved in. Don’t wait for some­one else to do it. Don’t leave it at the bot­tom of your to do list.

If fel­low wed­ding sup­pli­ers have given up their time I really feel it’s impor­tant to give some­thing back: shout about the shoot and your new friends from the rooftops – if they’re amaz­ing peo­ple to work with, then tell any­one who’ll listen!

Pink wed­ding inspi­ra­tion shoot — sweet as candy Pho­tog­ra­phy by Cristina Rossi

More cre­ative shoots can be an oppor­tu­nity to explore new design ideas

For wed­ding sta­tion­ers and jew­ellers, for exam­ple, a themed shoot can be a great set­ting to explore new designs and more out­landish ideas. With so many design­ers in our indus­try, it’s excit­ing to see some­thing new and dif­fer­ent – and that goes for brides and grooms admir­ing the shoot as well as those involved in its creation.

1950s wed­ding inspi­ra­tion shoot on Eng­lish Wed­ding Blog Photo Credit Carla Thomas

Share your thoughts on bridal inspi­ra­tion shoots

I’d love to hear your thoughts on bridal inspi­ra­tion shoots. What do you think when you see a shoot on a wed­ding blog? Have you dis­cov­ered great ideas from shoots, or do you feel they’re too far removed from real wed­dings to be use­ful? If you’re a wed­ding sup­plier, have shoots worked for you? Do you have any tips for other sup­pli­ers con­sid­er­ing doing their first shoot? I’d love to hear from you!

alter­na­tive bridal inspi­ra­tion shoot on Eng­lish Wed­ding Blog Pho­tos by Damian Hall Photography