20. How to Effectively Plan a Styled Shoot

You got together an incredible group of women to create this amazing shades of purple shoot in Providence, and it was such a fun experience. It was the inspiration behind today's episode and why I really felt called to have you on to share your expertise, because you were a master at running that styled shoot. So this is going to be a treat for our listeners. 

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You got together an incredible group of women to create this amazing shades of purple shoot in Providence, and it was such a fun experience. It was the inspiration behind today's episode and why I really felt called to have you on to share your expertise, because you were a master at running that styled shoot. So this is going to be a treat for our listeners. 

Let's face it, most of us would rather be making art than running a successful business. But here's the thing, we can 100% do both. If you want a creative business that you and your clients adore and that supports the life of your dreams, you're in the right place. My name is Erica Ewing, and I'm here to challenge you to define your best life and then to cheer you on as you build a business that supports just that. Welcome to the Successful Creatives podcast.

Before we get into the meat of today's episode, can you tell us more about yourself and your company?

My name is Pearl. I am the proprietor and creative Director of Designed by Delsie, and we are a boutique wedding planning and design firm, and our major goal in life is to create experiences that spark joy. I have been on my entrepreneur journey for about 8 years now, and the wedding planning things. I always joke, I have enough. I've been on this journey long enough that I've probably earned 4 Harvard degrees in mistakes, but I think that is the beauty. I think in this journey, as a creative, you just kind of have to get down and dirty and learn and ask questions. So I'm really excited to be here today because after a certain time, you just kind of find the things that work.

A little bit about my team and myself. We are based here in Providence, Rhode Island, but we plan events all over New England and across the nation. We specialize predominantly in weddings, so I think the success of our weddings is predicated on the partnerships that we've built in the industry. I'm also really passionate about supporting women owned businesses because I am unapologetically female, and I love that as an entrepreneur, not only do I help to create these remarkable experiences, but I feel that our investments go to really great purposes as well too. I love that.

Pearl, we first met last year on a style shoot that was solely women entrepreneurs. You got together an incredible group of women to create this amazing shades of purple shoot in Providence, and it was such a fun experience, and it was the inspiration behind today's episode and why I really felt called to have you on to share your expertise, because you were a master at running that style shoot. So this is going to be a treat for our listeners.

I still can't believe it was like almost 1 year ago, but it definitely was the highlight. Just seeing all these amazing, creative, women owned businesses come together and didn't we have so much fun? It was for me. I love creating style shoots and it definitely was a treat to have you there and to be a part of it all. 

I really enjoy style shoots for a multitude of reasons. Most of my business as a luxury event planner comes from word of mouth, and it's not only a really great way to create content with amazing creatives and just showcase your creativity, it's also a really great networking opportunity as well too, it's kind of like a trial run. I always like to think I built really great relationships with my vendors, and it's kind of like a dating period, right? It's kind of like, okay, I want to see how you show up and how you work and oh, okay. We vibe, we blend, amazing. I know that from our time together, I can then kind of propose your services and learn more about your business and your services so I can support you when offering your services of collaborators services to my clients. In addition, you know the creativity component about it. A lot of times we’re designing and planning for the client and they have a very specific vision. So as a planner, when I create this style sheet, it's kind of like the possibilities are endless. We usually like to reach out to our collaborators and say, hey, you know, this is the theme, what are your thoughts? The possibilities really are endless. So we get to experiment with new trends and I really do feel like shoots are equally as fun and beneficial as well.

Where do you come up with your idea for a new shoot?

It's kind of my philosophy in everything. Like if it's been done before, amazing, that’s great. So we try to stay away from it.But if it's been done before, it's a great idea. How can we tweak and tailor it to do it a little bit better? My inspiration comes from really anywhere. I've had shoots that I looked at a painting and said, wow, this was a beautiful painting. What would happen if this was an event? I also feel that in the event world, it kind of takes its inspiration from art, fashion, travel. So really my inspiration comes from wherever and some of my biggest contributors to the inspiration are my vendors as well too. I might see a picture that a photographer posted, or maybe a dress that a bridal designer had just made a swatch of fabric and it just it just really sparks creativity. So it's not just 1 area. It really is just kind of whatever speaks to me in the moment. 

I love that.

I always think about styled shoots when it comes to wanting to create something specific for your portfolio. So say if you're a photographer and you're typically photographing coastal weddings, but you want to get more experience with mountaintop elopements, that's a great idea for a styled shoot. Then, is to get some content to add to your portfolio to show that you can do that sort of work. I love the idea of flexing your creative muscles and just looking around in anything that really grabs your eye and grabs your attention. Finding that as a challenge to say, how can we turn this into, like you mentioned, this piece of art and turn it into a shoot? 

I really love that idea.

Absolutely. And you brought up a really great point, too, Erica, about intentionality. I think it's really important to establish expectations as well as the end goal. Before even proceeding with anything, think about what are the things that you hope to gain out of this, whether it is specific content for a specific reason. For example, you had mentioned to enhance your portfolio in this specific area, whether it's a networking opportunity or even for editorial purposes, but for whatever your intentions are, just really developing a plan to help you to achieve that. It’s also just really a chance for you to kind of stand out and flex your muscles and really show your stuff with partners that are equally as invested as you are as well, too. I also think as well, when you’re thinking about the inspiration behind your shoot and who you're thinking about collaborating with. I find that my strategy in selecting the best vendors and collaborators in where I draw inspiration from as well, tend to have a common denominator as far as our values or our brand messaging, whom we're our target audience, our clients whom we want to support, and also the end goal and the intention in mind.

Okay, that was actually going to be my next question is, once you've got your plan in your in your overall thought process behind what your intentions are, what your vision is for the day you reach out to these people that you want to collaborate with. You mentioned that it's because you've got a shared vision, a shared audience. There's a connection there, right? So do you have any advice for people who are interested in planning a shoot as to where they can start to find potential partners?

I hope this doesn't sound creepy, but I tend to like Instagram stalk. For example, Erica, like your work. I look in and I have like butterflies. So with style shoots, it's scary sometimes, especially if you're not familiar with collaborating with. If you're new to the industry and you're not used to collaborating with certain vendor, and it's a vendor that you look up to. For me, I love reaching out to vendors. My brand is known for our use of color and innovation and design. So whenever I look at whom I want to collaborate with and how to proceed in doing so, usually the brands that usually support my my brand are ones that have like a unique and innovative approach. Perhaps it's a way that they capture a subject on film or photography. Or maybe it’s their use of color, or their vibe, or the way that they their philosophy and why seeking to fit in when you were designed to stand out. Usually Instagram is a really great tool. Also, word of mouth. Whenever I find a vendor that I really love, I'm always asking, is there another vendor in the floral department or in the cake department? That would be a really great addition to what we're trying to achieve here, and 9 times out of 10, a great vendor will recommend another great vendor. So there's something to be said about the Instagram as well as Pinterest. I use that quite often, but then also different networking organizations. For example, Somalia here in New England are really huge on that as well. Then just word of mouth. Just asking the good people that you've already established. Who else can we collaborate with to make the magic happen?

Excellent. That makes a ton of sense. I think none of us are beyond Instagram stalking. Let's be honest. I’m glad, because I'm not afraid to admit it. So now we have a plan and now we have our team members on this. How do you collaborate with those team members to make sure you're getting exactly what you're looking for? I'm going to refer back to that shades of purple shoot that we did together. There were some very specific deliverables that people brought to the table that I really loved. The florist did several different floral designs for you. The invitation designer had done several different invitation suites for you. The cakes were adorable and in all different sizes, with the most beautiful decorations and embellishments on them. How do you work with your team members on this? To get those sorts of deliverables that are really going to make your style, shoot, sing?

So I think that's starting with the end goal in mind and the vision. As a creative, as a planner and the designer of my shoots, it is probably understandable that if you say, okay, think of a gray shirt, let's use that example. Think of a gray shirt. If you leave it too open ended for 20 partners to think of a gray shirt, they might one might think of blue, gray, or some other vendor might think of like a darker gray. Or maybe it's a gray striped in different colors. So it's really important to establish some sort of starting point so that we're all getting on the same page. I think what's helpful is we call it a conceptual presentation, where we start with kind of a series of slides that will share with our vendors to kind of establish the mood and the vision. We’ll cover things like hair and makeup, the dress attire, the vibe that we're going for, the overall vision and the conceptual presentation. When I share it with my proposed vendors and collaborators, I say that this is just a starting point. This is really left to your interpretation, but it's also helpful to for, let's say, a cake designer to know maybe, perhaps the linens that we're using or the vibe of the linen so that they can incorporate that within their interpretation. It certainly doesn't have to be a 36 page conceptual presentation like we built, but perhaps, maybe even just a 1 or 2 pager of a document that says, here are a few inspirational photos. Here's who we're going to market. The more information that you can give to your creative team, I think is a better and more cohesive, that your end goal is going to be, that's incredible.

That makes so much sense, I love that. So talk to me about how you keep everyone organized prior to and on the day of. When we worked together, I remember that we got several timelines in advance, and you had different people arriving at different times. I thought that that was so smart, talk to me a little bit about how you just keep everybody on the same page and just make sure it stays on track, because I would imagine these sorts of things can go south real quick. 

Yeah. So I approach our style shoot days very similar to how I approach my events as it pertains to deliverables of production schedules for plans, timelines and anything that a vendor might need. I always have this approach that more information is better than less information, and so it's not common that you will have a whole novel wherein for a style shoot, because you never know. I think that timing is really important. Whenever we're working, we can be working with anywhere between 15 - 25 collaborators at 1 time. That's a lot of cooks in the kitchen. So we like to think about kind of the core. For example, the core might be the core of the event. Thinking about the evolution of setup, it might be starting with your tables, your linens, your chairs, if you're bringing in any fabrications, tenting, lighting, etcetera, that would have to be installed before. Kind of like the furnishings. I like to think of the evolution of a setup of event. It's a lot like building a house., you always start with your infrastructure and your core, and then you build out from there as well. What that also allows you to do as well is respect. I understand that style shoots take a lot of time and resources, and I always like to be mindful of vendors times. So I always welcome our vendors and partners to feel free to stay all day, if they’d like to network with a certain collaborator that they might not have had the opportunity to meet, but if they are short on time, they could kind of schedule their day to know when is expected.

Also, just being mindful of making sure that the photographer and the videographer might be there to have perhaps maybe a few setting up shots for set up shots of our creative partners. But they don't necessarily need to be there when the lighting and the furnishings and the floorings is going down. I also think that by having a cohesive day of timeline can also help us to keep on track as well too. Typically a style shoot, the entire setup, the execution and the breakdown takes anywhere between 6 - 8 hours and that's a lot of time. But also, I feel that it helps our vendors to plan accordingly as well too. Also, it's important, you know, even if I have my assistants and we have all the contact information, I think that it's important to relay that information for all creative partners. For example, style shoots is a really major part of our social media marketing and content, and we receive a lot of inquiries based upon our partner sharing our work. So we always like to provide Instagram handles and social media handles to our partners. And just to help elevate the experience and extract everything that we can out of the experience. I hope that answers your question.

Absolutely, it absolutely does. I'm still being tagged almost a year later on our shades of purple shoot. That's 1 of the things that really struck me with these styled shoots is just the table life that this work that all of these vendors in the program. In this shoot, the investment that they've placed into that day really does pay off tenfold. When you consider the fact that it's a year later and all of the partners who were involved, you mentioned it could be anywhere from 15 - 25 on any given shoot, are all still sharing the content, still tagging one another. I think that that's pretty powerful. So after the shoot, once you have photos and video in hand, you've got the the final piece. What are you doing with that to make sure that you're really leveraging everything that's gone into this styled shoot?

It really depends on once we have the final deliverables in hand and the intention of the shoot for my shoots. I like to capitalize and extract everything. It's equal parts branding for my business as well as submission to publications. However, if you would like to submit to publications for, let's say, more visibility, sometimes you may not be able to share those pictures or that content for a while externally, but it also serves these pictures, and this content also serves as internal marketing. Tools for when I am pitching to clients, potential clients as well as existing clients on perhaps. Maybe it's the style of photography that I'm proposing for a vendor that I might have collaborated with. Also, it's important that I do share it with my collaborators because they've worked so hard and they should be able to have the same opportunity as well. For branding purposes, Pinterest is a really great tool for my business as well as Instagram. I also have a YouTube channel as well too. So a lot of times the video content will migrate its way on there as well. There's a lot of really great ways to repurpose this content and again, chances are you'll be using this content for time after time. Erica, as you've mentioned, you're still being tagged in the shoot that happened almost a year ago. All of that content and those partnerships are still relevant to your branding and your marketing now.

Absolutely and when I was looking at your website before we started our call, I loved seeing that the video that we created is like the background of your home page. Several of the shots that Marcella took during the day are featured on your home page and your about page too. Like you were mentioning, it’s a great way for vendors also to get some of those behind the scenes you in action types of shots, while not taking away from an actual client's wedding day or experience.

Exactly and so for vendors who are perhaps their planners or photographers and other creatives that are just starting out, I love style shoots because when I was first starting out, it's kind of like, how do you. I feel like as creatives, I know for me, as a creative, I'm very particular about the way that I show up in my work. Perhaps maybe a stock image is too stock like and. But I want to showcase my own work, so I feel that style shoots and the content created from that. It's very real life images that you would have created anyhow, just to really get your foot in the door and establish those partnerships to help build your business and your brand, and the partnerships that will inevitably make you very successful.

Absolutely. Well, this has been incredible. Pearl, I appreciate you bringing all your wisdom. I think you're making this seem completely doable for anybody who has maybe thought about planning a styled shoot, but has been overwhelmed by the idea, and we spoke very specifically to the wedding industry and planning a wedding styled shoot, because that's that's our language, right? That's where we live every day. These things can absolutely extend to like a branding style shoot. Or I think we mentioned in the beginning an editorial style shoot or product based style shoot. These tips that you've given really, I think I just want to make it clear to our listeners that these extend well beyond wedding specific shoots.

Absolutely. I think that the concept from style shoots as it pertains to wedding shoots can be transferred into any industry. I think that there are many similar common denominators. For example, the setting, an intention, finding the right collaborators, thinking about the products or services that you would like to feature that's relevant to your business or brand, and really taking it from there. I really feel like this can really be transferable, whether it's fashion or, you know, or any industry at that, at that fact. I know that it's blessed my business quite well. I can't tell you what it's done for my network. I have so much fun, and it's been truly a treat to meet so many wonderful creatives through this process. I would just say that for anyone who's listening, if you’re ever nervous about getting started, the easiest thing to do is just kind of get started. I know my first couple of shoots, I was so nervous, but you'd be so surprised with how many creatives would really love your concept and want to collaborate. All you have to really do is just ask.

Absolutely, 100%. That's how we got connected. Okay, you mentioned all of these great places where you're living online. How can people find you?

Sure. So on all social media platforms you can find me at, Designed by Delsie. That's through YouTube, Instagram as well as Pinterest. I'm also under LinkedIn at Pearl Parkinson, you can always shoot me a DM and contact me whenever. Would love to chat.

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