I honestly had no idea what the branding and website design process with a professional designer would look like. But now that it’s over, I can boldly say this: the countless days I would scavenge the internet for design ideas and play around with tools in photoshop trying to create my own graphics was a colossal waste of my time. Not something a wedding photographer should ever be doing.

Hiring someone to up-level my business was one of the best decisions I have EVER made as a business owner. My wonderful designer from Wonder Creative, Chloé, made the entire process fun, engaging and beyond smooth.

From the very beginning she gave me a schedule for the months ahead with a summary of her workflow. There were deadlines along the way so I knew when my “homework” and other certain items needed/would be completed. I don’t think I had to ask her a single time when something would be done. She laid everything out clearly from the very beginning.

Chloé and I didn’t know one another prior to this process so honestly, I wondered how she would be able to nail down exactly what I wanted for my new logo, brand and website. Especially because I don’t feel like I was super helpful. I’m *very* picky about what I like, but I didn’t exactly know what I wanted so I didn’t give her much to start with (or at least I felt I didn’t). I became fearful that she’d get frustrated with me because I’d often reply to her questions with, “I don’t like X, Y or Z, but I can’t tell you what I want…”

But as we walked through the process, I was amazed each step of the way. The questions she asked, the ideas that she had and the results produced were everything I never even knew I wanted. She absolutely NAILED every aspect of my colors, fonts, graphics, layout. All of it! Every time she showed me something I felt that it screamed me, my personality, how I wanted others to see my business and it aimed directly at my ideal client.

One of my favorite exercises she had me do was filling out a questionnaire about my favorite and least favorite colors, words I would use to describe my wedding photography and what my dream room was like (the smells, sounds, everything). From our wonderful conversations and answers to her questions, she was able to produce ultimate magic:

If you haven’t clicked around my website, please do! I am so proud of it and what it represents. I’m still over the moon about what Chloé produced and created. It’s as if she dove deep into my brain and pulled out a vision that I couldn’t quite put together myself.

Outsourcing as a small business owner and solo wedding photographer is so incredibly important, and I’m continuing to learn and see the value in it every day. I used to want to do it all, but that would often leave me feeling exhausted, overwhelmed, constantly behind and mediocre. Not to mention, I was also wasting an insane amount of my time trying to do things that I legit am not gifted at (which is FINE). As I shared in Part 1 of this blog, I KNEW for YEARS that I needed to take the step and hire someone to enhance what people would see when they found JWild Photography. Sometimes I want to kick myself for dragging my feet for so many years, but what’s the point in that? Plus, if I had done this any earlier, I wouldn’t have met the queen herself, Chloé!

So in the end, I conclude with this:

-INVEST IN A WEB DESIGNER (AKA SPEND MONEY!!!)

-TRUST THE PERSON YOU HIRE

-BE HONEST AND AS SPECIFIC AS YOU CAN

-BE PATIENT

-GIVE DETAILED FEEDBACK

-LOOK OVER AND OVER AND OVER AGAIN AT EVERY DESIGN PRESENTED TO YOU (AND SEND SNAPSHOTS TO A CLOSE/TRUSTED GROUP OF PEOPLE)

-TRUST AND ENJOY THE PROCESS

Chloé not only made my website dreams come true, but with her additional knowledge of SEO, I have seen incredible growth in interactions with my site AND my inquiries are the highest they’ve ever been. I’m almost 100% full with weddings for next year, and a quarter of what I have for 2021 currently, all booked within 2 months after my website launch. This is the fastest growth I’ve seen as a wedding photographer in my entire career.

Coincidence? Maybe. But I give the credit to Wonder Creative for giving JWild Photography the perfect 2020 [quarantine] makeover!

Cheers, my friends!