Your Quarterly Mini Headshot Day is Upon Us.

LinkedIn is calling your name. Please, update your profile photo.

I hope you all have been enjoying this February—wow, January just would NOT end! It has been busy over here behind the scenes of Fancy This Photography as we are knee deep in Engagement Season! I have to be honest, I truly love this time of year as I have the opportunity to connect with so many couples.

Thank you to every single one of you who has referred me to your friends and family for photography services. It is because of you that I only have around 6 more wedding bookings for the rest of the year. This is no small item, and I have never actually been able to say that number out loud. This may be the first year where I book completely before the first quarter is even done. It hasn’t happened yet, but we are close. I have you to thank for that.

The new year brought some necessary tweaking. In 2019, I photographed HALF of my entire client list for their headshot sessions. What exactly does this mean? Well, half of my business was strictly headshots, and the other half was divvied up into Weddings, Family, and Boudoir Sessions. This was not what I expected when 2019 started. However, it makes sense that headshots would be so popular since we are located in the Triangle area. In fact, it makes so much sense that this was a big hit because there arent companies who offer the type of service that I do.

With this in mind, I knew I had to tweak my current offerings for headshots. I wanted to keep my clients best interests in mind, while also offering a more premium service for those who needed a more customized session. This year I am happy to say that I will be offering two types of headshot sessions. The first is a customized on-location headshot session that caters to each clients specific needs, wants, and style. I offer a variety of backdrops, and can also use your office and/or home as the backdrop of choice. Regardless of backdrop choice, our main mission is to create a warm and welcoming image for viewers to enjoy.

The second collection is a bit of a group collection—I like to call it the Mini Headshot Day. Every quarter I am going to offer an on-location studio session at the location of my choice. Our studio rents out a space (in the Triangle area) and will offer a discounted rate to women and small business owners to come and have their headshots taken. This will only be offered one day out of the quarter, and each session date will be posted in advance for clients to make arrangements to come. This is a 20 minute session and each client receives 3 high-res fully edited images.

Our first quarterly Mini Headshot Day will be Wednesday, February 26th. This is a 20 minute session and each client receives 3 high-res fully edited images. If you are interested in scheduling your Mini Headshot session, simply email me at nikki@fancythisphotography.com OR go to the Schedule a Free Consult page and submit there.

I am so excited to share with you an interview between myself and one of the co-owners of Makeup For Your Day! Makeup For Your Day is a hair and makeup company catering to couples in the state of North Carolina and beyond. I have been anxiously waiting to share this, as it holds some great information that soon to be newlyweds could use when picking out their beauty services for their wedding day.

From a photographers standpoint, I have worked with so many great beauty companies. I have also worked with some not-so-professional ones. That’s okay, because every person has to start somewhere. And yes, people have bad days. It’s when you work with professionals that make the biggest difference for us.

For instance, if the hair and makeup team runs late, a photographer loses precious time for those getting ready photos. If they are running late, then that would also put my clients in an anxious state…which in return makes for some interesting images. The whole point of getting ready is to put the clients in an easy state of mind. It’s their wedding day, and when you have people who are still learning the ropes, I find it a bit chaotic for my clients.

Photographers, I am anxious to hear your thoughts after you read this. Am I alone or do you agree?

N: How long has Makeup For Your Day been in business? How did it come to be in this wild and wonderful wedding industry? Tell me more about the client you serve.

J: Makeup for Your Day has been in business 12 years this April!  We started our company as an artistic outlet to our full-time corporate jobs in banking and property management respectively. After referrals started going through the roof from planners and photographers who were thrilled with our business model of showing up on time, dressing and working in a professional capacity and getting our client done on or before scheduled time we got more serious and began recruiting and developing staff to take on more accounts.  Our typical client ranges from young professional to established career veteran. Usually, it’s a woman that wants to feel lovely on her big day by looking like herself...only perfectly polished for the cameras.

N: What separates Makeup For Your Day than the other companies? 

J: A few things separate Makeup for Your Day from other companies. Namely, we have a large, experienced team to draw on for bridal parties both large and small. In addition, we live in an age where a lot of our clients are flying in from out of state to get married back in the Triangle where they may have gone to school, or to the coast or mountains where they may have vacationed growing up. The benefit of hiring Makeup for Your Day is that we have teams across the state in Raleigh, Charlotte and Wilmington that can accommodate any location and we even have teams in Atlanta, GA and Nashville, TN to pull from, as well.  Our clients can rest assured that they’ll get a consistent, luxury experience no matter which team they work with! Other distinctive qualities that we take pride in are personalized beauty schedules for our brides that expertly map out their “pre-wedding planner timeline” to ensure their day gets off to the best start and that everyone is completely pampered in time for the photographer, planner or coordinator to take over the reigns as expected. We also have a boutique studio location in Raleigh that is convenient for our brides that are flying in to RDU (less than 4 minutes from the airport!) and our Triangle and surrounding area brides to come in for all pre-wedding appointments and festivities such as their trial run, bridal portraits, engagement photos, boudoir session, etc.

N: For myself and my clients, I want the best for them, especially when it comes to wedding day. I have noticed in the past that if clients choose hair and makeup artists who are not well versed, or have not been in the industry long enough, etc., actually cause the timeline to shrink. This will, in return, give the couple anxiety, etc. Why is it important for a couple to have a decent hair and makeup artist? What are some things that they should look out for when booking this service?

J: Great point and one of the biggest talking points for us with our brides! The makeup artist and hair stylist completely set the tone for the day first thing so if they are late, working too slow or worse, can’t manage the bridal party to keep them on task of “cheeks in the seats” when they’re supposed to be...the whole train become derailed.  Hiring a professional makeup artist and hair stylist (read “professional” again and again) that is talented in their art for color and styling is only half the battle. A client truly has to find someone with an understanding of business and customer service in order to not have any worries going in to their day. I stress this because a lot of people can do beautiful makeup on themselves and their friends and some can even style hair that looks gorgeous for a few hours or for a night out but how do they work under pressure?  Can they conform to a strict timeline? Do they show up early and with everything they could possibly need? Do they communicate well with not only the client but her guests and other vendors? Do they understand what mediums the photographers and videographers are shooting in so they can adjust the makeup accordingly? Most importantly, do they have a contract and is it THOROUGH? I could go on and on! The biggest advice is do your due diligence and research the artist or stylist you want to hire. Read reviews and dig for more than just the superficial “look” that they gave the other client. Find out how professional they really are from the way they dress, their timeliness to their discussions with people in their chairs. That will help you decide if you’re working with someone that takes your day seriously and approaches it from a business transaction standpoint or just a hobby that earns them a quick buck on a Saturday.  

N: How often do you receive images from wedding photographers who have photographed weddings that you or your team have done hair and makeup services on? Which images are you looking for in regards to showcasing your work?

J: I’m chuckling at this question because I can answer it two ways. The first thing that came to mind was, “rarely”. Even though our handiwork is featured on every shot of the bride and bridal party, MOB, MOG, extended family, etc. we are so often overlooked for receiving credit on such images and even more so included in albums that get shared by photographers. It’s sad, really!  The reason why I say I can answer it two ways is because the second thing that comes to mind is that I actually get images of our clients pretty regularly now because I go after them. It’s like a second job sometimes to track down all of our clients’ photographers info and reach out and follow up (and follow up again...sometimes with the planner instead) but it’s worth it once we get access.  Other times it takes some serious internet stalking to find the photos and reach out but it’s all taught me to be super thankful for blogs with a search feature! :) We’re typically looking for a series of images that tell the story of their day. In general I like to have bridal portraits from the day both profile and face forward with eyes up and gazing down - to appreciate the awesome lashes and eyeshadow work -  as well as an aisle shot (for the hair), ceremony shot, the kiss, after they’re pronounced married, first dance either with spouse or we always love a good bride/daddy shot or groom/mama shot, and finally the exit.

N: Why is it important to know the style of your clients photographer? For instance, I shoot film on a wedding day. Does this have any inkling to what you do as the stylist to mesh well with that? If so, what is the process of determining how to correctly apply makeup, etc.?

J: It is IMPERATIVE to know the style of your client’s photographer and the medium in which they are shooting!  For a makeup artist, we need to know if the client will be photographed in film or digital and if film which type of film. The type matters because, as you know being a film photographer, certain film is more saturated than others and that’s important when applying color to the face.  The makeup artist only has one shot to get it right with film because it isn’t like digital where you can edit to the hills for more or less saturation. With film, a client generally doesn’t want as much post editing done because that defeats the purpose of using film in the first place and negates the authentic feel of the overall image. Therefore, if a makeup artist puts too much blush or a lip that saturates to fuchsia or worse, a chunky highlight that renders like glitter in the sunlight on film the photographer is going to be in for a heap of issues to try to tone all that down without losing skin tone in the process.  It’s a mess! And that’s just one example. So, I’d highly recommend that photographers also start referring clients to professional artists that really invest in their craft that take classes and educate themselves with multiple mediums so they can better inform their clients where to go and save themselves an editing headache in the process.

N: What advice would you give newcomers that are coming in to this wedding industry? 

J: Newcomers to the wedding industry: welcome! Find your niche and go after it. We are blessed to be in a big wedding area and there’s more than enough business to go around. Don’t undercut others and do a disservice to yourselves right out of the gate...charge what you’re worth!  Network with others and really LISTEN to experience so you can take the good with the bad and make something awesome for yourself.

All images were taken by Fancy This Photography of Makeup For Your Days work.

March held our first and only mini headshot extravaganza day. Samantha and I photographed 12 ladies in and around the triangle and yall—it was just a blast! Since announcing Samantha as the newest Associate Photographer for Fancy This, I wanted to get her involved with the Raleigh/Durham community of amazing ladies. We offered up 30 minute portrait sessions for women who needed an updated headshot—the results are kind of magical.

Some of my favorite images from the day are the ones that are just not your typical headshot. Seriously, when I look at these I think “oh my goodness, girl—I’d hire you!” I feel like it speaks so much to have a headshot that is completely you, different from the crowd, and still professional. I get that the traditional headshots are, well, traditional—but, it’s 2019, yall! I am trying to have some fun with it and make something that is truly unique.

For those of you wanting to update your headshot—send me a message. I would love to chat with you about what you are wanting and needing for your profession. Think of it as the first impression you give someone. When is the last time you have had yours taken?

Tell me your favorite headshot from the day!