Have you ever been approached by any Bridal companies?

[andrea_robinson]

Hi Everyone.

 

Has anyone ever worked with David's Bridal as one of there preferred vendors?

If so, how has that worked out for you? Did you received leads? Get booked?

Etc.

 

Thanks

Andrea

[wedding-photography-denver]

You will get lots of "price alone" shoppers. I don't think its bad, just a slightly more dollar conscious clientèle.

[john_redding]

Yes, I?ve inquired about their vender program, It was like 300.00 something a month and you could display some large prints in the store, come in on certain days and sell your stuff to brides also put business cards and such on the vender display. I just don?t do enough weddings to make that work for it me.

[annealmasy]

A colleague of mine did the David's Bridal program back in 2000. He said it was way too

expensive for the leads it brought him. He said that MOST of the brides who contacted him

were on an EXTREMELY limited budget, making the $300/month investment a bit ridiculous.

[colleendonovan]

I agree with it being too expensive! When the David's Bridal store opened up in a nearby town they contacted me. I told them no thank you! I just can't see brides who get their dresses from there wanting to pay me what I charge. I suppose it could happen, but I don't think that there would be enough to cover $3600 a year in fees. :)

[gerald_donnelly]

From what I've read on other chat boards it's expensive & you're lucky to get your investment back from bookings. I think it's just a way for David's to collect some money to help with their overhead.

[savagesax]

Yes, they usually want a commission or worse, they want you to book the wedding and they pay you at a fraction of the cost. It's never worked out for us.

[jeffrey_blake_adams]

Brides that use David's Bridal would not be a Bride I would be able to accept. I try to limit myself to 25 Bride's per year, and they will be brides who use designers that will make for elegant award winning photographs, their venues will also lend themseleves to awesome imagery. Think about your target client, and get your work in front of them. I am sure David's Bridal is great for many many Brides that can't afford to have a gown made for them, but if they can't afford a special gown, they don't need a special photographer either IMHO.

 

Jeffrey

[eric v]

"if they can't afford a special gown, they don't need a special photographer either"

 

Wow. I don't even know where to begin with that statment. But you are certainly entitled to your humble opinion.

[colleendonovan]

Wow. I've never seen that stated quite so eloquently Jeffrey! I hope you're kidding.

[tisha_morris]

OUCH! Ok Jeffery is a bit shall we say...I don't think I even need to say. Yuck. That attitude is yuck. Many great women come from modest beginnings. And many great photographs come from modest subjects.

Back to the question at hand. The best advertising is word of mouth and a simple phone book ad. If your photos are great you will get great clients. Save your money and use it on equipment. We all know that don't come cheap.

[katie_odell]

Wow Jeffrey. I'm appalled. Apparently you've never heard of the saying "Don't judge a book by it's cover." I'm pretty offended, actually, especially since I loved my dress that I got from David's bridal, and I think my photographer was pretty darned special too.

 

My studio has worked with several David's brides. In fact, we specialize in the so-called "budget bride." Each wedding was a pleasure to photograph, and we have met the most wonderful people. I guess since we DO photograph brides who can't necessarily afford (or perhaps! CHOOSE) to get a designer gown, we must not be special photographers.....

 

In response to the original question, I do think the fee to be a David's vendor is a little steep. However, if you book a lot of weddings, and your pricing supports the fee, it would at least get your name out there, and maybe get a few more weddings a year to boot.

[mark_jacoby___raleigh__nc]

I agree with Katie 100%. We have been with Davids for the past 18 months and got a lot of business and I have nothing but good things to say about the people and the program. It gave our business a great leads list each month and put our cards, etc in the hands of hundreds of brides each month.

 

Granted it is expensive ($350) per month but it was worth it to build some business quickly. I think we have raised our prices to the point where we are not as attractive to thier clients so we are winding up our contract with Davids now.

 

We are now getting some good referals from those Davids brides and word of mouth is working for us. If you expect to book a couple of extra weddings per month it can be worth the investment.