Have your say: Love Stories By Lydia
I thought it’d be really helpful to ask some of my past clients to share their experiences from a Personal Branding Shoot. Everyone takes away something different from a shoot, so if there’s anything that would be beneficial to me and also a future client, I want to share it!
Introducing the beautiful Lydia from Love Stories by Lydia. An independent wedding Celebrant based in the UK, with passion and purpose to deliver meaningful ceremonies for contemporary couples.
Why did you feel having a branding shoot was important for your business?
As a Celebrant it’s really important that potential partners and couples get to know the person behind the brand, which means showing my face, personality and style across all my marketing channels. Doing so in a professional way is really important to me, so a professional shoot was the perfect way to capture loads of gorgeous and consistent content.
How was the experience for you? Was there anything that was unexpected or that you learnt from the process?
Even though I’m very used to performing, it was a little nerve racking at first and took a while to get comfortable in front of the camera and work out what angles and poses worked for me, I’m hyper self-critical and a huge perfectionist but as soon as Jade started to show me some of the shots she was getting my confidence grew – a few glasses of fizz (& some great tunes playing) helped too….! Jade is also just the kindest, most encouraging and lovely person to work with – hugely complimentary and relaxed which really helped ease the nerves, she also gave me tonnes of direction which is exactly what I needed. She didn’t make me feel rushed for time and even bought a little goodie bag of treats which was so unexpected and a lovely touch.
Having a trusted friend on hand to help with outfit changes and make up touch ups was super useful and being really prepared with props, outfits/accessories and a shot list made sure we had a solid plan to work to, and that we made the most of the time we had.
Was there anything that stopped you from having a brand shoot sooner? Or any hesitations beforehand?
No, not really – I knew I needed high quality content, especially for my website so it was a no brainer investment and decision for me.
How did you feel when you received your images?
Nervous, excited, but overwhelmingly happy with the result – a genuine “is that me?” moment – Jade is a miracle worker. The feedback and reaction from friends was so so lovely too.
How have you gone on to use your gallery of images and how (if at all) do you feel it’s impacted your brand?
I drop the images onto my Instagram feed every so often when I went to share a little more about me, and also on stories when doing Q&As, FAQs or sharing more about my services and style. The images are used across my website and in my proposal documents / introductory brochures – they align beautifully with the rest of my brand look and feel, and feel super professional, I think they given a great first impression to potential couples – both in terms of showcasing my style, and also what they can expect in terms of level of quality working with me.
If there is anything you’d like to change for a future shoot, what would that be? Anything you’d like to add into the session or perhaps leading up to it?
I think having a base location with different backdrops, furniture and soft furnishings/accessories to suit different styles would be so helpful – choosing the location, organising furniture and transporting all the props I wanted was probably the hardest part of planning.
If you could give one piece of advice to someone thinking about a branding shoot, what would that be?
Plan your outfits and accessories/looks in lots of details to get the most of out of the time and ensure you capture lots of different styles of content – this applies to thinking about different backgrounds/set ups too.
You can find out more about Lydia here:
I hope this blog post has helped you as you prepare for your Personal Branding shoot. If you have any questions or need further help, just send me an email.
