We’ve photographed 123 weddings. We’ve reached the point in our business that we can decidedly say we know who our ideal client is. When we first started out, we shot anything & everything. One reason we shot everything was because we hadn’t quite figured out yet where our passion was. We had an inkling that our passion was going to be weddings, but we wanted to determine that to be true. Once we figured out that weddings were indeed our thang (just typing “thang” reminds me of Kevin G from Mean Girls, but I digress) we dove in. We shot many different types of weddings at many different price points. We shot at many different venues. And we’ve shot for many different types of clients. Our ideal client isn’t a “type” of person because we’re firm believers that people shouldn’t be labeled or limited in such a way (the old adage “Labels are for soup cans” rings true). However, we have come to realize over the years and the 123 weddings that we absolutely love shooting for people who have the following attributes in common. It sets our hearts afire, if you will. If you won’t, that’s cool, too. I guess “hearts afire” sounds a bit dramatic anyway. The ideal Menning Photographic couple believes:
- Their marriage is MUCH more important than their wedding day. They often take premarital counseling courses, read marriage books, and focus a lot of their energy during their dating years on learning how to be the best spouses they can be. Weddings are amazing, don’t get us wrong, but marriages are forever. Our ideal couple keeps this truth close to their hearts & places more emphasis on the importance of their marriage than they do on their wedding day.
- They value photography above everything else on their wedding day. They understand that once the vows are said, the toasts are made, the cake is cut, the dances are through, and the last guest is hugged goodbye, their marriage & the photos are all that remain. Sure, you can save a centerpiece or two, your daughter may cut a strip of lace from your wedding gown to use for her wedding bouquet wrap, you might eat a bite or two of freezer burnt cake on your one-year anniversary, but what’ll bring you back to the moment that your father walked you down the aisle and kissed you on the cheek with tears in his eyes or the moment that your groom’s lip quivered as he slipped your wedding band on your finger or the moment that you danced to your favorite song together as the rest of the room faded from existence in your minds or the moment that your grandma busted out “the Carlton” on the dance floor are the photos. The photos will let you relive your wedding day. Your photos are how future generations will piece together stories in their minds of what great grandma & great grandpa were like when they were kids just starting out in this life together. Our ideal clients value photography above everything else on their wedding day for these reasons.
- They want Menning Photographic specifically. We’ve had clients call us before booking their venue to make sure that we were available for the date that they wanted to choose because it was more important for them to have us specifically than for them to have a certain date or even a certain venue. That is humbling! The reason we love when our clients want us specifically and not just whoever was in their budget or whoever called them back first after they emailed 17 photographers that they found on Google is because we know that they trust us, that they love our style, and that we’ll be able to provide them with the best possible experience. When clients trust us, we are able to do our very best work. When clients love us & our style, they will love their wedding images, but not only that, they’ll  have an amazing experience with us during their engagement session and on their wedding day. We love operating our business in a relational style. We want to be friends with our clients. That’s why we love it when clients want Josh & Danielle to shoot their wedding & no one else will do.
And that’s it! Those three qualities encompass the attributes that our ideal clients possess. We love our clients & strive every single wedding day for them to have an absolutely unparalleled experience & for their wedding images to be family treasures for generations to come. And we are always so thankful when clients choose us! It is always an honor to be trusted to photograph such an important event in someone’s life!
P.S. An added bonus that we LOVE is when clients read our blog! Blogging takes time & effort! Lots of photographers don’t do it for this reason. We do because we want to educate our clients about timelines & other wedding stuff, entertain our clients, share about ourselves so our clients feel like they know us before even meeting us, and make our clients’ experience even more wonderful by allowing them to have their own little “corner of the Internet” all about their wedding day.
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