Last Tuesday, the San Diego Association of Bridal Consultants held a wedding seminar at the Estancia La Holla Hotel & Spa. The property is beyond gorgeous, combining the traditional mission look and feel with modern elements–like exposed bricks–and plenty of open spaces. Looking at the grounds as a creative wedding photographer, there was texture everywhere to pull into bridal portraits. They also recently revamped their event space to bring in the same modern feel. As you’ll see in some of the images below, it lends itself really well to uplighting.
The first hour of the evening was spent on professional development. I really enjoyed hearing from Bethel Nathan, an officiant based in San Diego. She also runs a consulting business for creative professionals, Elevate by Bethel, and so spoke on time management and overall productivity.
After that was cocktail hour, leading into dinner and the keynote presentation of the evening. The speaker was Kevin Covey, a tremendously talented and extremely accomplished celebrity wedding planner. His presentation was titled You’re Almost There, But Not Quite, and it hit home for me. As a wedding professional, it can often be difficult to communicate the value of what you bring to the table. Not only are there thousands of wedding photographers in the Orange County area, many of them are very gifted at their craft. But Kevin affirmed that doubt is not the path to success. There may be nine couples that find you too expensive, but then comes along the tenth couple and they’re the perfect fit for you. That’s what makes this a sustainable industry.
Halfway through the presentation, Kevin asked for volunteers and they did a live demo of a consultation. It was fascinating to see how the process worked and I’m excited to bring some of the nuances I picked up into my own consultations this year. All-in-all, it was a worthwhile event!
