Are you an aspiring or already established elopement photographer looking to book more dreamy elopements in adventurous destinations? Then this blog is for you! I’ll be diving into my latest Zion elopement styled shoot and workshop experience and how to use these styled shoots to book your dream destination elopements!

The Power of a Styled Shoot

Styled shoots are not just about capturing beautiful photos! While styled shoots definitely help you build a portfolio, they can do so much more! When you know how to use them to help you attract your ideal clients, you will be booked out in your dream destinations in no time!

Let’s dive into our most recent styled shoot targeted towards booking more Zion National Park elopements! And also – how to use these styled shoots in your marketing!

The Zion National Park Elopement Styled Shoot Experience

Steph and I created an awesome and adventurous 3-day workshop experience to help other elopement photographers add Zion elopements to their portfolio and learn exactly how to market themselves!

Here’s all that we did!

Day 1: Ignite the Fire

We kicked off the 3-day experience with a meet-and-greet and a fireside chat. It was chill and casual, however, we had really fire discussions about all things elopement photography, business, and more!

Day 2: Shooting in the Wild

Our second day was a full 6-hour elopement day experience, capturing both sunrise and sunset Zion elopements. The styled shoot was perfect for elopement photographers as well as for aspiring elopement videographers. The participants left with so much content that will definitely make their ideal couples swoon for a full-day elopement package. They also got personalized feedback and advice for posing and creating an amazing client experience for adventurous lovers!

Day 3: The Business Behind the Lens

The third day was seriously action-packed as well! We had another hands-on shooting experience where we showed the participants on how to shoot video as an add-on to their elopement packages.

Steph and I also dove into client experience, branding, and business workflow. Plus, we mapped out how to turn your dreamy snaps into content that converts to bookings. It was a full-on session on sustainable business strategies to keep your bookings rolling.

A fun bonus we added to the third day was capturing each other’s adventure headshots that we could use to update our websites, and IG accounts – we have to fit the adventurous brand to attract adventurous couples!

If this workshop experience sounds like something you’d love to be a part of, click here to stay in the loop about all our upcoming workshops!

Here’s What The Participants Thought of The Workshop!

“The zion retreat was so much fun! Connecting with others was such a blast. Heather knew all the best places to go to take photos while we were there. I can’t wait to go back again. Taking photos with Heather and the others in our group was a fun adventure. I am so happy to have broadened my elopement portfolio while also learning so much more about how an elopement story is captured. I would definitely go to any future retreats run by Heather! This adventure was a pleasure to go on with Heather and so many others!” – Tabatha

Check out more testimonials here!

How to Leverage Attending Styled Shoots in Your Marketing

Hosting your own content days and attending styled shoots can really help you create a thriving elopement photography business! While you can try using stock images, nothing beats your own photos, captured and edited in your style. Also, you get first-hand experience that is difficult to come by even after spending hours researching the locations online.

Without further ado, here’s how I recommend utilizing the content to attract your dreamy elopement bookings:

Your Website and SEO

Add your styled shoot images onto your website under your portfolio so people can get inspired by the locations and adventures they could experience for their elopement day. You can also create a targeted landing page on your site dedicated to attracting clients as a Zion elopement photographer.

Blogging

Blogging is definitely not dead and is still an untapped marketing potential for a lot of photographers! Use your images and experience gained from the styled shoot and create valuable resources for couples who are planning their elopements. Don’t forget to do keyword research for your blogs using a tool such as Ubersuggest to ensure you use words your dream clients are actually searching on Google.

You can create a wide variety of blogs from a single styled shoot! For example, a portfolio-based blog showcasing the elopement day or educational resources, such as “Zion National Park Elopement Guide”.

Pinterest

Pinterest is another underutilized marketing tool among photographers! It is a visual search engine, and around 40 million people use it every year while planning their weddings and elopements. 

Pin your styled shoot images and use relevant keywords in the Pin titles and descriptions so that your dream clients come across them during their planning process. You can research the keywords using Pinterest’s search bar –  try out different ways you’d describe the gallery, pop in those words in the search bar, and write down all the relevant keywords that come up! 

When you Pin your gorgeous, eye-catching images, combined with the right keywords – your work will be seen by thousands of people every month!

Instagram

Instagram is one of the most popular social media platforms photographers use for their marketing. Use BTS videos from the styled shoot to create fun and eye-catching reels, and make sure you post your styled shoot images to your feed. You want to post more of what you want to book! So if you want to book more adventurous elopements and your feed is full of family and senior session – you will have a difficult time attracting your ideal clients.

Ready to Create a Photography Business That Thrives?

Attending styled shoots is a powerful step towards attracting and booking your dream destination elopements. I hope that this blog has given you an insight into how a styled shoot works and how to leverage it in your marketing.

If you want firework-level income and dreamy travel plans plus someone to guide you who has already cracked the code on building a thriving elopement photography business… then I would love to chat!