It’s the age of an era where a prospective couple can type in just a few letters of something they are looking for, and the Interwebs reward them with thousands of ideas. It is a great age indeed if you’re the engaged couple. If you’re a wedding vendor who works to ensure couples have the most magical day ever, not receiving credit for your work is not just hurtful to feelings; it’s potentially damaging to your business as well.

Most wedding vendors who focus on special events like weddings get immense joy out of being able to participate in such a special day for so many people. Whether it’s countless hours planning, designing, and executing to match the couple’s exact vision or coming alongside for the big day you’ve helped them plan, there’s a lot of blood, sweat, and love that goes into event coordination.

Give Credit Where Credit Is Due

When it comes to event planning for weddings or other similar functions, it’s important to remember that we vendors work with tons and tons of people annually. Our clients change regularly, and repeat business (with regard to a big wedding or the like) isn’t typically a part of our grand business plan. 

More than that, it’s a business field where word of mouth gets out and about–and it can make or break a vendor’s business, particularly if you’re just getting started. It’s vital that a solid, reliable network of vendors who can rely on each other for referrals is built, and the best way to do that is to make sure that ALL the vendors in your promotional posts on your socials and websites are credited. When an engaged couple sees the perfect image of what they want on socials but only sees the credit for the photographer, how will they know who did the linens? The florals? Where the venue is?

The answer is that they won’t, and the opportunity to highlight other professionals’ excellent work and build collaboration with incredible vendors is gone. Sharing images and posts that don’t reflect ALL the vendors who put their hard work takes that opportunity away, and if really honest, means that when they have the opportunity to highlight your work, they may think twice about doing so. 

For most of us in this industry, it’s about creating a strong network of trusted professionals. In a world where information is instant, if the information is not there, the referral won’t be either. 

How To Ensure Proper Wedding Vendor Credit on Social Media

You might not know this, but typically, a photographer does not actually sell their photos. Photos taken by a photographer are the photographer’s creative content and intellectual property, and they own them. However, they license them to couples for various uses, including reproducing (sometimes). The licensing rights will often allow clients to share images on their socials, provided they credit the photographer. The licensed pictures can be used specifically or liberally, depending on the contract with the photographer.

This also typically means that a client cannot let a vendor, like a venue or a florist, use pictures from their wedding for promotion either unless the photographer allows or licenses it. Typically a photographer will want this, as it’s an easy way to showcase their work. However, it must be done within the bounds of what the photographer allows and always with credit.

The work of the vendors involved in making the images brides love to share is just as important to the big day. If a vendor’s work, product, or venue is included in any photograph (with the photographer’s permission and credit) it’s important to credit the vendors as well–and this includes when we as vendors share images too. We’re in an industry where #communityovercompetition is what builds business, and our clients always win when they’re able to find vendors who work well together and use their shared experiences and expertise collaboratively. That’s just one more reason to ensure that whenever you’re sharing images, credit goes where credit is due.

How To Easily Ensure Credit For Wedding Vendors Online

First and foremost, when you share your images, include credits in the caption. Typically an @(theirinstagramhandle) suffices on Insta, and on Facebook or Twitter, you can usually tag their business. In those and any other platforms, be sure you’re tagging the correct business (and it’s spelled correctly), or you may lose the opportunity. If you’re a vendor, be sure to comment about how lovely it was to work with the other vendors. A little consideration and appreciation go a long way. 

Also, be sure that you tag the various vendors in the images you share, as it will help increase their view rates but also allow you to gently introduce yourself to their followers/audience too. When people see the collaboration between industry vendors, it’s comforting–the appearance of working with teams of friends (which is often the case!) is given, and that’s what many couples are looking for when they’re choosing wedding vendors. 

Make sure you tag the correct venues! It’s so easy to tag the venue at which an event is happening, so always be sure that you tag. Rest assured that when people are looking for venues, they’re looking back at previous tags, so seeing you as a vendor who has collaborated there makes you all the more appealing. Again, helping the community out also does a lot to help your business exposure as well.

If you’re planning on blogging about your work–whether as the venue or the photographer, or the design team, be sure to link to each vendor used in the entire day, and at the end, consider a recap roundup that links to each vendor’s business site as well. Consumers love just to click and go to someplace that will offer them just what they’re looking for, and the easier you make that, the better for us all!

Again remember, there’s always more to be gained with collaboration over competition, so even in your own portfolios to prospective clients, give the credit to other vendors. They may start their journey to plan with you and be completely clueless as to who is even out there. Crediting all those who make your portfolio pictures magic can help clients out tremendously. 

Sometimes you may not know which wedding vendor to credit–in those cases, just ask!

Ask the client, ask another wedding vendor–typically, the wedding planner will have all the vendors listed too. No one will ever be mad you’re looking to give them credit!

They say it’s a dog-eat-dog world, but the truth is that it doesn’t have to be. Some simple courtesy and consideration go a long way when it comes to crediting wedding vendors, and not only is it a best practice of integrity, it’s just kind too. Talk about this with your prospective clients as well, and let them know you’re not about the business, but THEIR best interests, and helping them find and share the best vendors is definitely in their best interest!

If you are ready to get started with your wedding planning and floral design journey, give us a call!