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Hello, and welcome back to the podcast. This week, I am kicking off a three-part series on how to position yourself to only attract premium weddings. Because positioning is actually the key that works different than any other strategy you're probably using right now. And if you're new here, I'm Allora Rochelle, and I'm obsessed with helping wedding photographers get their weekends back by doubling and tripling their prices with confidence, the same way that I did in my own business, and I've helped dozens and dozens of photographers do the same since 2022. So, this is a three-part series, so definitely make sure to subscribe and tune into the next one.

Speaker 0:37

In this episode, we're gonna talk about why 10K wedding photographers are actually the most in-demand in the industry right now. Yes, I am telling you the best-kept secret is that 10K wedding photographers are completely untapped. So why is that? It is because the demand is at the bottom, and the least demand is at the very top. So the industry right now looks like a triangle, and at the bottom of the triangle is gonna be the 1 to 3K pricing range where it's really easy to book, but you might be burnt out and you find yourself not having a lot of profit at the end of the month, the end of the year. You just seem to be very busy and always broke. And then if you go up a level, then you have the 3 to 5K where it is really competitive, where it's hit or miss. Either they're ghosting or you're overbooking at this level. You don't wanna stay here because you really do want more, and you don't wanna have to book 30-plus weddings to actually make six figures, which is the overall benchmark that every wedding photographer wants to achieve. And then you go up one other notch, and you got that 6 to 8K range, and this is where a lot of my students find me because 6 to 8K is now the ghosting, mid-tier, most affected by the economy pricing range. Now, where we want you to go is 10K and above, where it's at the tippy top, and only a few people are really charging this, But they are booking like crazy right now because the competition is so few. The competition is at the bottom of the triangle but what we really want you to do is get to the top of the triangle because, one, there's no competition, and two, the wealthy are never affected by economy shifts because they are wealthy Okay? It is something that we don't really think about. We think, "Oh I would never pay that much," or, "I don't have the budget for that." Look this isn't about you. I always say your dream couple, is the wealthy version of you. And what does that look like? It definitely looks at charging 10K minimum. So I'm gonna walk you through some stats right here. Okay, so 57% of couples spend the most money on photo. That is a little over half. Which means you could be a lot of couples' highest investment, but they're willing to make that investment because they are willing to spend the most on their wedding photography. They understand the value. Are you tapping into these kind of couples? 42 million weddings happen every single year worldwide, okay? That being said, I don't wanna hear anymore, "Oh, the market is saturated and the competition is high." there's 42 million weddings happening every single year, all over the world. And if you're a destination photographer, then you're in luck because So that means you get to travel, the world is your oyster, and you only need X amount of weddings to be booked, and we want you to be booked anywhere from 10 to 12 so that you can have so much more of your weekends free. In 2025, the wedding industry value as a whole was estimated to be $66 billion. People are still spending money to get married. They are, okay? And the average starting price for a luxury wedding photographer is at 10K. So if you are below this price and you label yourself a luxury wedding photographer, take it off, okay? People know that If you are priced at 10K, they're going to get a luxury wedding photography experience. The budget is not the problem, the number of weddings is not the problem, and the location is not the problem. This is what's happening right now in the industry, and I know that you guys all feel it.. When the costs rise, it always hits the lower end of the market the hardest. Okay? So the 2K wedding photographer is competing with every other 2K photographer for couples who are already stretched super thin on their budget because of the economy shifts. We understand it, we know it, it's here, we're just dealing with it. The 10K photographer isn't competing with anyone because there aren't that many of them, and the couples who want them aren't price shopping. That is the really cool thing about the luxury industry, is that if you have your positioning set right, they can make a decision in as early as a day. They can book within the week because they only want you, and you have completely answered all of their questions and objections through every single piece of your brand, messaging, marketing, and sales process The photographers thriving right now are the ones who stopped competing on price and started competing on positioning. They are not more talented, they're not in bigger cities, they're not connected to luxury specifically. They just made a different decision about how to show up, and their business reflects that decision with every single touchpoint It all leads to positioning. And guess what? Every single one of them came to me being like, "Oh everybody's doing luxury. The market is too saturated. I can't compete with these photographers. I'm scared that all my efforts are gonna lead to nothing. My portfolio isn't luxury enough. I need to change this. I need to get new gear." And what actually changes, it was never the thing they thought it was Just like Allie, who joined the program booking 41 weddings at 3K, burned out, uninspired, ready for a change. she then doubled and tripled her prices, made 117K with fewer than 20 weddings, and had no idea that was even possible. Now, when she came to me, she was very hesitant. She's like, "I'm a documentary photographer. I want to infuse a little bit of editorial, but I don't want super stuffy weddings. I don't want Catholic ceremonies. I don't want all of that. I just want people that value my work and that are willing to pay high ticket for it. Guess what? I'm gonna debunk that theory right now. Luxury is not a copy-and-paste aesthetic. I know it's been sold to you that, People willing to pay 10K have to shoot film, they have to be at this venue, they have to have drones, They are all different. Whatever you're willing to put out there, as long as you position yourself as a luxury service, as a luxury business, with a wealthy look, whatever fancy word you wanna use, people will pay. There is no one-size-fits-all luxury aesthetic. I'm just gonna hit that one on the nail right now. So many people come to me being like I don't wanna do this style." You don't have to. You don't have to. You just need to be the elevated version of you, and that's what we help you do with positioning. we also make sure you haven't been in business for less than a year with no experience. This is people who have been in the industry for at least three to five years, and they feel like they're stuck in the same pricing, and year by year goes by, and they raise their prices $200, $500. That's who I'm talking to. So with Ally, I looked at her website and I said, "We need a rebrand. A soft rebrand. We can do a website template shift, and we need your artist story. I wanna know who you do this for, why you do it. I want everything." that becomes your messaging map. And when you have that messaging map, you're going to be able to target people that have been looking for you all along. Half the time, your dream couple isn't booking because they don't know you exist. Have you updated your website portfolio in the past year or two? Have you? Are you communicating who you want to work with and why? Are you even in the middle of your business? Or do you just copy and paste an aesthetic that you see because you think, "Oh, this is luxury," but you can't really stand behind it because that's not what inspires you? The why behind your business is going to be the biggest driver of your passion, and passion drives way more than just what feels right. What are you passionate about? Why do you love being a wedding photographer? So this is what we did, and as a result, she was able to communicate the value of her services, the value of her photography, the value of working with her clients. She's obsessed with her clients, and her clients are equally obsessed with her. So all she did was put that into her marketing, and then we updated her website. We refreshed the portfolio that only catered to that specific couple she wanted to reach, and then she made six figures in a year. It's that easy. All you have to do is be so specific and be so clear and market that like crazy. The result is going from six figures, burned out, uninspired, to six figures with less than half of the weddings you shot, and being able to travel, and being able to now become a destination photographer, which was her dream, and charge prices that she never could say out loud before joining. That is what we help you do inside of Wedding Atelier. We completely take your existing business, and we elevate it from the inside out. From scratch, we rip it to shreds. I always say, burn it to the ground, whatever it takes it And she did it in three months. It's possible to do it in 90 days, but I like to give you guys the time of three to six months. Three to six months to completely shape everything step by step, brick by brick, and by the end of the year, you will be charging next year's prices double, if not $2,000 more, guaranteed it's always these three things every single client struggles with and every single client overcomes inside of this program. It is your pricing, it is your positioning, and it is your portfolio So stop telling yourself that if you raise your prices, you're gonna break your business. That is not the problem. The problem is not your prices. It's everything from what you're communicating, to what you're showing, to what your client experience is, to what it's like to work with you. What got you to the 3 to 5K range is not gonna get you to 10K, but that's what we help you do, is we give you the tools to elevate, and elevate quickly The most in-demand photographers right now are the ones who understand that if you want demand, you have to create it. But there are just these tiny tweaks that you can make that will change your business forever.

Speaker 2 10:30

So just to recap, people are booking 10K wedding photographers. It is not a dime a dozen. It is not one in a million. It is happening every single year. People are taking the risk, and they are leaving behind the business that they built that is no longer gonna serve them next year and beyond. I know you want to book less weddings. I know you want to free up your time and I want you to know that at the very top, the most in demand is five-figure weddings and above, and they are booking quickly. They are booking within weeks. Sometimes they're booking within months. But you know what? I'd rather you be on the list of flying on a plane three months from now at a dream elevated wedding that you never thought you could book, versus booking 20 to 30 to 40 plus weddings a year just to make six figures like my students

Speaker 11:19

And in the next two episodes, that's exactly what we're going to build together. So if this is already clicking, and you've been nodding your head for the past few minutes being like, "Okay, yep, called out," The link for Wedding Atelier is in the show notes, but stay with me for episode two because we're gonna dive into exactly why the gap between where you are and 10K is much smaller than you think. I will see you in that episode