Goooood evening!  If you’re just joining the blog for the first time, we’re doing a bit of reflecting here.  We’re looking at what worked well for René Tate Photography in 2010, what didn’t, and what is next for 2011.  Here are a few of our goals for this new year.  To catch up on what worked and what didn’t visit these links: What Worked and What Didn’t

Pre-Wedding:

— Send out info/vendor sheets well ahead of the wedding – we want to help our vendors just like they help us!

— Send Welcome Kits to new clients

— Move to paperless, soft-copy contracts with digital signatures

— More effort to reach out to groom’s family prior to wedding

Shooting/Blogging:

— Family photos with one light set up

—  Designate time and photographer for detail shots using one light set up for consistent lighting

—  Plan ahead and preschedule blog posts

—  Provide bottled water on engagement shoots

— Blog post of only my favorite, most powerful wedding images (20-40) made 1-3 days after wedding

Post Wedding:

—  Send vendor discs within a week after the wedding

—  Order event cards in bulk two times a year: January and June

— Turnaround on weddings no more than 4 weeks

—  Turnaround on engagements no more than 2 weeks

—  Similar to the above two, minimize the number of inquiries about “when will my photos be done?” or “when/did you send my disc?”  Do it quickly so clients don’t have to ask.

Other:

— Custom thank-you cards on RTP stationary

—  Celebration of 1, 5, and 10 year wedding anniversaries

— Wedding Client Lifecycle Checklist – maybe in GoogleDocs so we can access from anywhere?

— Get published in Colorado specific magazines and a few online blogs – maybe PPA Mag!

— RTP Mentoring Program.

—  The preliminary work on starting a non-profit.  Yeah.  That’s a big one.

Personal:

—  Use my new fancy kitchen and get better at cooking :-/

— Run 211 miles in 2011

— Run three 5ks

Woo!  That’s it for now… My brain is full and I’m completely overwhelmed.   Thing is, I know there’s so much more out there that I want to improve on, and I’m sure after our retreat this list will grow.  But these are my thoughts for now…  The last several years have been so wonderful; I have no doubt 2011 will bring its own set of victories! And failures – because no one is perfect.  But I’m ready for this.  Let’s do it!  Bring it on, 2011.  I’m ready for you.

Lastly, thank you to everyone who actually took the time to read these.  I share these details for several reasons.  Mainly, I’m sharing this publicly because there are so many stakeholders of RTP that read the blog and it’s my responsibility to you and to potential brides and grooms to be honest with who we are, where we’ve been, and where we’re going.  You’ve helped make us who we are today.  Secondly, I’m starting to realize that more photographers read this blog than I realized.  I’m here for you, you guys.  May these little bulleted lists help you avoid the rough patches I hit and inspire you in some way, shape, or form!

As always, I would love love love to hear you thoughts in that little green box below. ;-)  It’s a team effort; what do you think?

Cheers!
— R