SERVING YOUR COUPLES // COVID-19
Serving your couples amidst the Covid-19 Pandemic
Since I (Kaila) started my business full time in 2015, one of my top priorities for Kartsie has always been to serve others the best I can. Why? Because I believe God gave me the gifts and passions and opportunities I have to be a light for Him and I want to do everything I can to spread His love ❤️
JP and I do our best to be constantly serving our couples year round and finding ways that we can make their wedding experience as a whole BETTER. Not only do we want to bring them a positive experience with us, but we want to help bring joy and ease for their wedding day and their wedding planning process as we know how stressful it can be.
We are amidst some unfamiliar days with Covid-19, and we believe at this time we should be striving even harder to love on and ensure our couples continue to feel loved and supported through these uncontrollable circumstances! The couples having to go through this who are postponing or considering postponing are dealing with an extremely emotional toll that we can’t possibly understand, because this is THEIR WEDDING DAY. They have put so much time and energy into what they wanted this day to look like and never could’ envisioned something like this happening - there was no way to prepare for this!
This time has definitely been stressful for us as well - helping choose new dates, updating contracts, canceling travels, loss of income, etc, but at the end of the day our priority is to help our postponing couples to feel loved and cared for!
Here are some ways to serve your couples during this time.
1. COMMUNICATE
Contact your couples who have scheduled weddings in the next couple months. Be calm and sympathetic towards them! We have personally chosen to text our couples as it feels more personal than a mass email out to all. Throughout the wedding planning process, we don’t want to just be another vendor, we treat our couples as if they’re our best friends, so this unusual circumstance is no different. A text also allows a conversation back and forth with a friend to help and support! I know this is a big no-no to most photographers in general, but it may help them feel especially cared for during a time like this!
2. BE GRACIOUS
Be gracious (as your business allows) and easy going during the process. Yes you might lose some money, but they’re losing money in addition to dealing with the loss of a planned wedding day and the emotions that come with that.
3. OFFER SOMETHING
We are offering free mini sessions to our postponing couples to announce their new date to family + friends! Your couples have chosen to invest a lot of money in you and are trusting you with their most important day; use your gifts to help bring them some joy to a really emotionally upsetting situation that they have no control over.
Offer to take some photos at the courthouse! Some couples will want to get married now legally but still have a wedding in the future. Spend 30 minutes with them documenting that time so they feel special! Help them feel excited and giddy about this unexpected change! (Not in Orange County as they’re no longer allowing couples to do this for the time being.)
4. SEND A GIFT
Send your couples a personal card, or even a little gift to bring them some joy. Some suggestions might be the necessities for a relaxing spa night (face mask, nail polish, bath bomb, wine), a gift card to a local coffee shop or restaurant (support those local businesses!!), something for a fun activity together, favorite game they can play while social distancing, ingredients for a movie night (popcorn and m&ms, a cozy + cute blanket) or something more personalized that goes along with their wedding day!
5. BE A FRIEND
We strive to have the relationship of besties with our couples throughout the entire wedding planning process in general because we truly want to be their friends and we want to have a relationship that lasts far past their wedding day. And honestly if you have already focused on having a relationship with your couples and are genuine and loving, they won’t want to have anyone else there to document their wedding day as they will value and respect you and your business!
If you’re thinking HECK NO to all of this, maybe consider changing your mindset and think about why you’re in this industry! Yes this is a job and we need to make money, but for us that’s not what it’s all about. We LOVE that this is our job and feel so blessed and grateful that we get paid to do something we love. But it also allows us to build lasting relationships with people that we wouldn’t otherwise have the opportunity to get to know. It allows us to remind others that they are loved and beautiful and worthy. We believe that YOU were made by a loving Creator who made you PERFECTLY, and getting to know you helps us get to know Him a little more 💕
