Hey babe, welcome back to another episode of Amplify Your Weddings. Today I am diving deep into a super hot topic: Reels and TikToks. I’ve got a boatload of ideas to share that will help you to create content that goes beyond just the current trends. I want to inspire you to create in a way that is uniquely yours and that will resonate with your dream future clients. Let’s dive in!

Today’s episode is brought to you by The Greenhouse, my resource garden for creatives to plant their dreams and grow money trees! These easy-to-use guides and templates will help you AMPLIFY your heart online and in real life to get dream clients begging to work with you year after year!

Review the Show Notes:

A Key Reminder For Creating Reels + TikToks (2:33)

Shoot Behind-The-Scenes Clips (3:25)

Transitions (5:23)

Wedding Party Roll Call (6:35)

Dance Parties (7:36)

Ask Questions (8:25)

Showcase Vendors (9:55)

Create Educational Tips (11:36)

Share Your Personality (12:40)

Showcase Your Edits (14:22)

Year In Review Posts (15:00)

Inspirational Reels (16:05)

A Few More Key Tips (16:56)

Review the Transcript:

All right. All right. Welcome back to another episode of amplify your weddings. Today I am going to be diving deep into reels and Tik Toks. Now, this is a super hot topic I know everyone is so concerned with being a content creator and pulling honestly the best ideas out of thin air following trends and all the things. I’m here to share a whole boatload of reel and tiktok ideas that you can start using to convert future dream couples today. Welcome to Quiana Marie weekly, a podcast for creatives who love to celebrate wins big or small by dancing in the kitchen photographers who are excited to serve their clients and friends who are ready to chase really, really big dreams. You can find all of the resources mentioned in this episode at quiannamarie.com/podcast. Join me as I share weekly motivation, chat about growing pains, finding genuine connections and celebrating your wins through the lens of a photographer at heart. Come join me for a dance party ready to love though.

Now, like I mentioned earlier, reels and tiktoks are so trending. So I actually don’t want to talk about trends today. I want to empower you and help you feel super inspired to truly create content that converts content that is uniquely yours that only you can create that only your couples will see and resonate with. And honestly, I think this will never go out of style. Because this is a marketing tool that I believe will stand the test of time, I could literally give you a bundle of trends today. And by the time you listen to this, like they may be gone, they may already be scrolled through and not that exciting anymore, you might have like missed that hot button, and then that time to get it done. So I want to come from a different approach where we can be in control. as content creators, I often find that we are trying to pull these ideas out of thin air put our tripod up in our kitchen are trying to find that best light in our bathroom to get creative. And to be perfectly honest, like I’ve mentioned this many times before on the podcast, like we just don’t have time for that we don’t have time for that creativity. So I want to take a super proactive approach and help you create video footage on the wedding day that you can absolutely turn that into converting reels. So before we even dive into these ideas and helping you feel super prepared at your next wedding, I want to remind you to seriously start recording everything. Okay, so bring your phone make sure it’s charged include a tripod if you can for your phone, they even have those super cute little emojis that go on top of your camera like in your hot shoe. It just like straps on so you can just record on your phone as you’re going which is which is brilliant. And you don’t even need anything fancy. Sometimes I literally have bridesmaids or groomsmen hold the phone for me to record or you know I always have my Yeti filled with ice water and so I’ll use that as a little kickstand for my phone. Once you have a bank of behind the scenes video footage. This is what allows you to easily create super fun and converting reels. Okay, so behind the scenes clips of the day, what do I mean when I’m saying that I it’s easy to say just record things right? But I know you’re flustered and I know that you will have a million things going on your mind you’re thinking about settings, you’re concerned about the timeline, you have vendors that are asking questions and bridesmaids that need to know where they need to be and there’s just there’s just so much chaos going on. And so I understand how it can be really overwhelming to think oh, I need to record all of this chaos. Okay. So like I said before we even get into these quick and easy tips. I want to create kind of like a baseline for you. Okay, so a couple of ways that you can do that are by snapping your way through the day, and just capturing quick three to five second videos like a mini documentary. Still need help with what to record. Start with just these Okay? Consider location shots, getting ready details, hair and makeup clips, bridesmaids, clinking glasses with their robes, the groomsmen getting ready, sneaky first local moments, ceremony details. Vow exchanges if you have time to remember during the super long ceremonies, wedding party dance parties, sunset portraits, the food don’t forget to capture the food and those delicious appetizers, signature cocktails tearing up the dance floor the cake How easy is that to grab a quick video of the cake and reception views I love to capture these actually before the guests arrive and throw their purses and jackets everywhere and just mess it up right but honestly just capture it all babe okay, this is honestly a A short list of what’s on my mind that I’m actually capturing. These are things that are happening organically in front of you, let alone moments that you could be capturing and kind of triggering for your couples in the wedding party to contribute to core memories of their day. Now that you kind of have a game plan for what to record, let’s dive into the quick and easy ideas for your reels and tiktoks. Okay, transitions, I encourage you to grab clips of the bridesmaid still in their robes, or pajamas, and then transition or jump or spin into their bridesmaids dresses. Another fun transition is to think way ahead, and to try to capture a clip from their engagement session, then catch the actual wedding day. Okay, that takes a lot of planning and a lot of prep. But if you constantly have capture behind the scenes capture behind the scenes in the back of your mind, you’re gonna have that, okay. And then one key tip that I always have is I always upload my images directly right to Google Photos. So I don’t have to ever worry about backing them up. And it’s a timestamp or for me, so let’s say go back to their wedding day. I’ve already shot their wedding, I got that little dip kiss that I knew I wanted to recreate, then I can go back and just search their engagement date. Do I remember when it was? Absolutely not? Could I remember the date or possibly the location, of course. So that’s how I find it. Dip kisses, twirls, or even jumping into the two different outfits from their engagement to their actual wedding day is super easy and has a huge impact. Your couple is going to absolutely love it. And I just think they’re so fun because they do take a lot of planning, but they’re so easy. All right. Another idea is the wedding party Roll Call. These are quick videos that I would literally just whip out my phone and record the entire lineup of bridesmaids, or groomsmen or even if I can the entire wedding party, you can use the bouquets to transition easily or just mix it up. You could literally just put your camera in people’s faces and be like Strike a pose.

I even shot the cutest wedding party like conga line, which is so fun because you get them all on the straight line. And this is great for transitions to it’s so easy. And I love this because it takes zero editing, I just whip out my phone, record them dancing in a circle and little Whirlpool or get them to come at me one by one. It’s so fun. I mean, you could literally use so many incredible sounds and trends for this. The first one that comes to mind is a famous Shanaya Twain, Let’s go girls. I mean, how easy is that to get a quick video of your girls coming out of the getting ready suite and just rocking a cute pose. Boom, you got a reel for you. That goes into the next one, which I kind of already said is dance parties. This is a great way to get your wedding party moving. And your videographer will love that too. I’m a huge fan of working super well with a videography team and creating movement. I love motion and I love life and I love emotion. Okay. So if you could create those little spark moments, your wedding party is going to love it. And it doesn’t feel like you’re being a tik tok influencer, when you’re doing this, it feels more like a vibe that you’re just trying to create fun memories and just capture the day, you’ll see you’ll be able to read the wedding party, there’s going to be brides that maybe are a little bit younger, no shade on the older crowd that are totally invisible tic tock scene and that will get it and will want you to do that. others not so much. You just have to read the room. Another idea is to ask questions, be brave and ask a couple why they’re getting married today. This is so fun. I love doing this, especially on the way to the first look, I’ll try to capture a little clip of the bride. Then of course of the groom or the other partner. It’s just so fun to capture these candid voiceovers for them to see as the bridesmaids to share one word that describes their love. So like you know, say, Okay, I’m going to during the getting ready time when there’s chaos going on. I will literally ask the bridesmaids, okay, can you please share one word that describes Kendra and Nick. And it’s just so funny to hear what they say what they come up with. Ask the parents of the bride to share what brings them the most joy about their daughter. It’s just put them on the spot. Remember, these are intimate moments and you never know what people are going to say. So as long as you’re sharing humor and kindness in the best way. Personally, I believe it’s totally okay to share. Just please, please babe, use your discretion with these. You never ever want to put anything online that is just you know, just awkward. Okay. Let’s not do that. If you have any questions about that, please DM me because I would love to see what you’re thinking of posting. And most typically, if you are even considering it and want to send that to me, you probably shouldn’t. But I’d love to see it anyway and discuss ways that you can caption it or whatever. Please always send your ideas to me in my DMs. I’d be happy happy to support you. Next reel and Tiktok idea is to showcase vendors consider Making an entire reel to highlight each of your favorite vendors. Okay, picture this, you grab behind the scenes at each wedding from here on out, then you can create one reel that showcases your five favorite local wedding venues, then you pull that apart, and you highlight each one so they can each have their own reel. Okay, so let’s say you list your five favorite venues, located in Tampa, Florida, okay, whatever that is, then you pull out those individual venues, and you give them their own time to shine, then you take that a step further. And you can also have a reel that showcases your top three or three to five hair and makeup stylists friends, then just like you’d use that strategy before, then you pull that apart and you actually share, let’s say three to five weddings that your very favorite hairstylist and hair makeup team had done. Okay, so you’re highlighting them and showcasing them on their own. With just a handful of behind the scenes video clips, you could literally create 10 to 15 reels. Within an hour or so just start recording and get creative later. You can create them when you’re standing in line at the grocery store when you’re sitting in line up with the kids pickup line or even just lounging on the couch. If I could sum up this entire episode, just record it, and then create and post later. Now this is an entirely different idea, but basically the same, do that same strategy with your favorite engagement shoot locations. Okay, ready, set, go. Just start recording and start putting them together. Another tik tok and reel idea is to create educational tips. So with the video that you’ve already recorded, take those tiny snippets and use a text overlay. To share information, share some quick tips share fun facts, you can keep it so incredibly simple. And you’ll be surprised how quickly it grows. In fact, there is strategy in having a clip that is only three or less than five seconds long. But then the text on it forces the viewer to watch it multiple times. Just like my reel hit over 5 million views. Trust me, it works. I could say that was a total fluke. But I do believe there’s a lot of strategy behind that. So go check that out. That was in Mrs. Doubtfire one and I’m talking about the bustle, which totally went viral. It’s the most viral thing I’ve ever had, it literally helped me boost over 2000 followers. And I don’t have any money to like, create any type of stats on that. But I just it’s pretty cool. So definitely consider educational tips. And other reel and Tiktok idea is to share your personality, have your second shooter capture you rocking wedding party portraits, get them in the to capture a good angle of your booty from the behind just kind of taking charge and sharing your personality. If you have a favorite snack that you pack for weddings, share it, I’m always packing my Yeti and ice water. And that’s a great transition thing too. I literally just take my Yeti, and I cover the the lens of my phone, like my camera on my phone. And I will just kind of like do a cheers toasted out, bring it back in. And then I start and begin every single clip. Throughout the day. I’m taking more of course, but this is just one little reel idea is that I’m taking that video and splicing it so it looks like every time I’m cheering and bringing my my Yeti back to my phone, I’m starting a new clip, shortening it really tight really, really close. So then it just like, like goes into the next scene. I have a whole wedding documented that way. And it was just all about drinking my way through a really really hot and sweaty Arizona wedding. Which was funny because as a California photographer, I have never experienced heat like that. And so it was just a cute little spin on staying hydrated, but also showing behind the scenes of the wedding. So that was huge. So that’s the way that you can share your personality by sharing your favorite cheese at snacks or your favorite power bars, or just your personality, you being goofy, you chatting it up with the wedding vendors dancing on the sidelines of the dance floor, just share your heartbeat. Okay, people want to see you. This is a key tip to make sure that you’re sharing you and your personality. Okay, and let’s dive into another idea which are edits. Okay, share before and after of your edits. This is a great way for future clients to see you whether that’s a behind the scenes video clip, that you’re kind of showing like the chaos of the getting ready details and the ring shots and you know, you’re kind of crammed in a corner and then pop pop pop, you’re sharing the gorgeous final images. Or maybe they actually are edits where you show a raw image and then you show your edit. This is another reason why I love to showcase that because then you’re also teaching people hey, this is why I don’t give away my edits or my raus because they don’t look so good. Okay and Another idea is to capture reels that showcase reviews. Okay, so this is reviews and testimonials, this is a great way for you to literally just capture a super cute laughing picture or a sunset photo. I mean like video, you’re a couple and then literally just type out and text a review over that. Hello, you have an instant and easy reel. And honestly, I just kind of keep that on my on the fly. What I meant to say about that was creating a year in review post. So you just got a bonus tip in there. Sorry.

Bye. But that’s why I saw a review. And then I just kept rolling with it. And that’s what I came up with.

But don’t forget to create a year in review post, share highlights for the year and recap all of your weddings and one quick recap reel. You can also consider this to do this every month, you can do a season you can you can call this your spring 2022 weddings or your fall 2021 weddings or something like that. That would be a great way to showcase trends and stuff like that. Which leads me to the next one, which is consider inspirational reels. These are so fun. You could literally post an entire reel about bouquets, trends, signature drinks, favorite first dance songs of the season groom outfits, which is something that I feel like a lot of couples need help with. I mean, everyone needs wedding help for everything. But we don’t get we don’t get Dye as a lot of the attention. It’s always about the dress. So don’t forget to showcase our grooms to we can showcase pocket watches or you can do a whole reel on ties versus suspenders versus bow ties, right like the the traditional tie versus the bow tie or do people prefer oh my gosh, that can easily go viral. Share that you’re living it up in the wedding season and that you’re super relevant with what’s going on right now. So in closing, you know your girl, I cannot stop without sharing some more key tips to leave you with to help you feel inspired and empowered without feeling like too overwhelmed with any transitions. It’s important to always keep the subject or your camera moving slightly. Okay, I’m not talking like roller coaster status, okay, like you don’t want to get your your viewers to be getting dizzy. But it does help when the wedding party is moving and shaking and wiggling. And then transitioning into that wiggle, it’s really hard to create that alignment when everything it’s like still imperfect. So definitely whether like use your phone to like walk towards them towards the transition, walk away, ask them to twirl ask them to move and just kind of wiggle and that transition will look so much more seamless. Another tip is to just create Hyperlapse moments. Okay, so Hyperlapse is a separate app that you can download, or I think even time lapse is something all of our iPhones have. Instagram also has some sort of Hyperlapse feature I believe, but all you have to do is set up your phone and record the first look. Record the first dance even first look for the bridesmaids or groomsmen, everyone on the dance floor just living it up. This is a great behind the scenes footage just had on your bank of content. Okay, super easy once again to record. Honestly, baby, just record as much as you possibly can. The more footage you have, the more creative you can get after the wedding. Also, it’s super important. I cannot in this episode without reminding you that you absolutely 1,000% need to have behind the scenes coverage stated in your contract. As photographers, they’ll be signing a model release for the photos, which is a given. However, it’s super important to be transparent about these clips, and always respect the wishes of clients and their families prefer to be left off line. Now I post a lot I post a ton and to be perfectly honest, I’m so grateful that I’ve just been dripping this for honestly years. So my couples truly expect it. If I don’t post about it, I honestly believe they would be offended. But if you are just now starting to get into this and really are trying to amplify your brand, amplify your weddings and truly, truly create genuine connections with your couples and build those super easy organic referrals. This is for you babe, okay, you absolutely have to be forward thinking transparent about it. And honestly, even if you’re getting started and maybe you don’t have those already in place, which is totally fine. I’d say fixture contract today to to include those you know those pieces of the contract, but it’s okay. You can still absolutely share video clips of the location of the decor this is your time to shine with wedding vendors as long as they allow it. Just be super safe and strategic about it. I hope you found this episode to be helpful. Trust me babe. I am all about the trends and all about these Malaria sounds that most people don’t even understand what I’m talking about. I talk in Tic Toc, and I talk in real time all the time. So if that sounds like you, you’re trolling my people. But if we’re being honest, they’re so fleeting. Okay, like these trends, like I mentioned earlier are just coming and going so fast. I mean, daily, they’re coming out with new things. And I’d rather have you pour your time and energy into evergreen content that sticks content that doesn’t ever just disappear. And it doesn’t feel like it’s a waste of your time, or goofy or silly like this is the type of content that we should be striving to create. That elevates us as business owners that creates that professionalism, and most importantly, fun, share your personality, share your heart because the more you share you truly who you are, what you stand for what you love. That is when your clients will be magnetic to you, they will just be pouring into your inbox pouring into your DMS that hopefully go into HoneyBook workflow. And honestly, it’s just the best way to truly amplify your weddings.

So keep on dancing, baby. I cannot wait to see these. Please, please tag me in these. I would absolutely love to support you and cheer you on and share them. Get the word going for you. I’m always your biggest biggest cheerleader. Keep dancing, baby. I love you. That’s a wrap on another episode of Quianna Marie weekly. Thank you so much for your listenership and support. You can find the resources and show notes for this episode and more at quiannamarie.com/podcast. I’d be honored if you’d show your support by leaving a review and rating on your favorite podcast app. Until next time, keep on dancing.