If you’re not in the wedding industry, you might not have heard the term, styled shoot (sometimes referred to as wedding inspiration). It’s possible you are a wedding vendor or an engaged couple and have seen one, but not known the name.

WHAT IS A STYLED SHOOT?

A styled shoot is a staged wedding that follows a designated theme and uses models as the wedding couple. Various wedding vendors collaborate and lend their talents to achieve the theme. This theme can be a color scheme, a consistent visual component, a certain time era, or clothing style. The theme can either follow a more traditional wedding look or go completely off the beaten path. In the latter case you might see themes like Halloween/goth, space, or manga/cosplay.

WHAT IS IT FOR?

A styled shoot has a few purposes for its existence:

1. Social media content. The photographer and videographer take and edit photos and videos for all the associated vendors to use on their social media platforms. This includes Instagram feed, stories, and reels. Specifically to wedding videographers are LoveStoriesTV, YouTube, Vimeo, and Facebook.
   
   
2. Exposure and SEO via wedding blogs. Every styled shoot gets published in at least one blog. Generally the photographer is tasked with this. The photos are submitted either directly to blogs like Orange Blossom Bride or Green Wedding Shoes, or they’re submitted to a 3rd party submission site like Two Bright Lights or Matchology. These submission sites have relationships with many blogs and after submission, they work together to see which blog is the best fit for the given styled shoot.
   
   While every blog features the photos taken from the shoot, not all of them will feature the video. While that’s not the best case scenario for videographers, it’s still worth doing because every vendor gets a backlink to their website. Backlinks from authoritative websites like popular wedding blogs are incredibly powerful for helping boost your rank in Google search.
   
   
3. Networking. In the wedding industry there are many networking events that occur throughout the year from social mixers to wedding shows. It’s one thing to pass out business cards en masse to all the other vendors, but it’s another thing to actually work side by side with the vendors and establish true working relationships. A styled shoot can be viewed as a sort of audition. If you work well with each other, you’ll be more inclined to recommend each other to engaged couples.

STYLED SHOOT EXAMPLES

Here is a collection of styled shoots I filmed recently. The wedding blog(s) they were featured in are linked below each video.

~Patrick

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