8 Email Templates Every Wedding Photographer Needs

Part of being a wedding photographer is capturing love stories on camera. It seems simple enough, but in reality, there’s a lot of magic happening behind the scenes to do this. Planning, communicating with clients, editing, and emails…so many emails.

While each photographer has their own secret sauce, I’ve found it crucial to really create amazing email workflows that assist clients throughout the entire client journey – from booking to wedding day prep to post-wedding sales.

Purchasing email templates crafted specifically for wedding photographers has helped my clients get back hours of their time and sales. Because it’s not just about having an email, it’s about having the right email and the right words to create an elevated client experience.

Today, I’m sharing the top 8 email templates every wedding photographer must have for their business.

Why you should incorporate email templates in your workflow 

To put it simply – time! As a service provider, you’re consistently having to balance time doing your craft with doing all the backend tasks in your business. Creating custom emails for every client isn’t realistic. (No one has time for that!)

So, most of us start out trying to copy/paste emails from one client to another. Unfortunately, that can be time intensive too because you have to dig through your sent folder to find the email you need, edit it, then update it with each client’s information.

Now imagine doing that for each email you send during pre-booking, booking, the 8+ months between booking and the actual wedding, then after. You’re looking at 25+ emails per client minimum.

No, thank you. I’m getting carpal tunnel just thinking about it.

The solution? Email templates.

The difference between email templates and copying and pasting emails

Email templates are pre-written emails that you customize with your branding, and can use on any client. You input these templates into your CRM so it will automate and customize each email to your client. With one click of a button.

The difference between email templates and copy/pasting is that you can purchase email templates for wedding photographers written by copywriters or business coaches, like myself, who understand what you need in your workflow. 

Templates typically come in a proven, pre-made workflow to help you at all stages of your customer experience – from inquiry through post-wedding sales. Eliminating the need to create, write, test, and tweak your own workflow.

7 Email templates wedding photographers should be using

There are three main stages to your client journey: the pre-booking stage, the pre-wedding stage, and the post-wedding. Each stage requires lots of communication with your clients to provide top-shelf service.

These are the top emails to include at each stage of your client experience.

Pre-Booking Email Templates

Your pre-booking phase starts the moment someone inquires on your website until they sign on the dotted line. This is a critical time when your communication needs to convert. The two most important emails you’ll send during this phase are your initial response to an inquiry and your contract signing email.

Wedding Inquiry Response

Once someone inquires, it’s important to touch base with them quickly. I like to use a two-part response.

First, my wedding photography template package includes an auto-response. This is a great option to touch base with your couple immediately, even if to simply say “thank you” while you check if you’re available for their date. 

Our initial inquiry response email template gives you room to personalize your goals and values as a wedding photographer. Then, it gets straight to the point with a replaceable copy to point them to your session guide and invites them onto a phone.

This one-two punch keeps it short and sweet, so you can get to the sales call faster.

The Contract Email

Once your couple is ready, it’s important to send them a formal attorney-drafted contract to iron out the legal details of your services (and payment, of course!). A common mistake among new photographers is to agree via email or phone and forgo contracts. Never do this! Contracts are there to protect you and can end up saving you thousands of dollars in unfulfilled payments later on.

Now, back to the contract email template. Since these are important legal documents, I always go with a short and sweet email. Thank them for inquiring and let them know you’d love to be their wedding photographer. Then, simply ask for them to secure their date with you by completing the contract and their initial deposit.

Legal contracts can be intimidating and confusing. It’s best to purchase a wedding photography contract from a lawyer or a lawyer-drafted contract template. If you don’t have one, check out my contracts in the shop that I had drafted by a lawyer. These cover all your bases.

Pre-Wedding Emails

Once it’s official, your second workflow can get underway. This workflow is your pre-wedding email workflow. It includes everything from the time they sign up to the day of your couple’s wedding. My Pre-wedding email workflow has 11 emails in total, but three stand out.

Shot List Request Email

Even though you’re the expert at wedding photography, your couple may still have a few shots in mind that have sentimental value. I see this often when a bride or groom is recreating their parent’s wedding photos or trying to get shots in a particular location at their venue.

This makes it important for you to send a request to the couple for any specific photos they want. While you’re at it, get the names and phone numbers of everyone who’s going to be in the photos and inquire if there are any specific family dynamics you should be aware of.

Your couple will appreciate you being proactive to get shots important to them and you’ll come out looking like a superstar.

Wedding-Day Timeline Approval Request

I can’t stress enough how important this email template is to include in your workflow! It may be the most important one after having a signed contract. 

Your wedding day timeline is extremely important to share with your couple. It’s likely to take a bit of coordination to get it approved by the couple, their venue, and other vendors. So, the sooner you can start initiating the conversation and getting approval the better.

Keep in mind, plans may change over the course of the 8+ months between booking you and the actual wedding date. So, make sure you use my check-in email templates too!

Check-In Emails

As I said, most wedding photographers are booked anywhere from 8+ months in advance. That’s a long time to go without touchpoints. 

You’ll want to check in with your couple from time to time to assure them you’re still around and to get updates. I like to send these emails every 4-6 weeks. If you’re using a CRM, you can pre-schedule this in your workflow so it does all the remembering and touchpoints for you.

Post-Wedding Emails

As you know, the majority of the work for wedding photographers comes once you finally have that magical six to ten-hour wedding day. (Yikes, your poor feet!)

The post-wedding phase can vary depending on your sales model structure. A great post-wedding workflow includes lots of communication with clients and covers everything from assuring them you’re working on edits to gallery delivery to the album and product sales.

I have all that in my template workflow, but the email that most photographers neglect in this workflow is the testimonial request.

Testimonial Request Email

A great time to send your testimonial request is right after your client is swooning over their gallery and/or right after they get their products in. This way, they’ll channel their love and excitement into a raving 5-star testimonial on Google or your website.

You can then use these testimonials to help assure possible future clients that you’re the right wedding photographer for them.

The perfect wedding photographer email template bundle

I hope these 7 emails get you going! There are so many more emails I could have detailed for you but these are the most important to have in your workflow.

If you’re new to photography or you’re looking to elevate your client experience, I highly recommend you hop over to my template shop. I have email template collections for wedding and engagement photographers that will save you tons of time.