Laura and I have been in the wedding industry for a while now, and we are both full time photographers that know the highs and lows of working from home and owning a business, but something we both have always agreed on is client experience comes first. Perhaps the most important aspect of your business, and what keeps people coming back or recommending you, is the experience that they have with you. And that experience begins on your website and with the first words of communication you exchange via email. But we aren’t here today to talk necessarily about that client experience. We are here to talk about how you need to take care of YOU and what you can do today to better serve your clients so that they walk away from you with a 5 star review ready to be written, and nothing but praise about how you served them SO WELL.

Our guest today is Jennifer Vernarsky, a fellow elopement photographer here in northwest Montana. From global reach to a solid marketing strategy, social media is a great place to start to reach your target market for your business. However, we eventually land on the fact that you do NOT need social media to run a successful business, but you do need to have other avenues that you are pursuing to find clients or sell your products or services.

If you are thinking of booking your own vacation in the Last Frontier, definitely check out All Alaska Outdoors and the amazing trips they offer.

We both got married in 2023, so we just went through this and want to be a resource for the couples planning their dream days. And since we are both photographers, I feel like we have a leg up on the couples that have never been a part of the wedding industry.

If you are wanting a look into two real elopements and what we did to make them unique, along with our dos and don'ts of planning, this podcast is for you!

From tips and tricks to narrow down your dream photographer list, to what to do when you actually decide, this podcast is perfect for you if you are in the middle of wedding planning bliss (or horror for some of you that hate planning).

I wanted a way to allow my past couples to share their stories so that maybe someone planning an elopement, or someone who needs some encouragement or is on the fence can hear a real elopement story.

Today's episode features a September 2022 couple who eloped in Northwest Montana, and had a two day elopement in Whitefish and Glacier National Park. From the sweet details to the hiking stories, you don't want to miss what made their elopement special!

Today our guest is Samantha with Samantha Kleven Photography. She is a wedding photographer based in Minneapolis, but travels worldwide regularly to capture love, and I am so glad that she is on the podcast today chatting about the destination and travel side of photography!

From how to market to destinations to how to prepare for traveling for weddings, you will want to get in on this episode!

This episode details outsourcing: What is it, how do you do it, where do you start, and what sort of tasks you can outsource to free up your time and start filling your days with things that actually bring you joy. You need to be filling your work day with tasks that fuel you, tasks that you don’t dread sitting down to do, or tasks that do not prevent you from living the life you want to live, or running the business you want to run.

For our first Wander with me episode, I am taking you all the way to Washington state, to Mt. Rainier and Olympic National Parks. We rented a van and had a ton of freedom living on the road for a week while we visited two great national parks and enjoyed the spring weather.

Listen to this episode for our itinerary, our tips, and must-sees and dos from this trip to Washington!

Today she talks about budget travel, money mindset, her career as a travel coach, and you will get some amazing insight into over 10 years of world travel.

Videography compliments photography, but it is a completely different form of coverage. It is a way to involve sound and motion to evoke certain emotions, feelings, and memories. It is a totally different way of telling your wedding or elopement story.

Hunter and I actually have a partnership discount, so if you are looking for a photographer and videographer for your elopement day, we actually offer a pretty sweet deal if you book us together. So if you want to reach out, mention this podcast or that you want to book us together, and we will give you 5% off your package with both of us.

Your marketing strategy, the SEO on your website, the ads you run… it is all so important to selling more products, booking more appointments or serving more clients. It is the difference between waiting for clients to find you versus you putting your work out there to find your clients.

For more business chats, follow me on instagram @readytowanderpodcast and @sydneybreannphoto, and find the show notes on sydneybreann.com/readytowander

In this episode, Sydney and guest, Ethan Evans, detail their top tips for traveling cheap and saving money while on vacation.

Find me on instagram: @readytowanderpodcast and @sydneybreannphoto

See more of Ethan on: @huntfishconserve and listen to the Hunt Fish Conserve Podcast on all podcast streaming platforms.

Find me on instagram: @readytowanderpodcast and @sydneybreannphoto or on my website sydneybreann.com/readytowander

The show was created to share inspiration for trips and travels, entertaining stories about adventures, encouragement to chase dreams, motivation to start or build a business, and education for elopement photographers.

So what are you waiting for? Are you ready to wander?

Find me on instagram: @readytowanderpodcast @sydneybreannphoto