Why is being first more powerful than being the best in today’s wedding market?

In this episode of Mind Your Wedding Business, Kevin Dennis sits down with Jordan Roepke, award-winning wedding photographer and videographer based in Nashville, Tennessee, to explore why speed, connection, and responsiveness often matter more than perfection.

Jordan breaks down what actually drives bookings in a crowded industry—explaining why couples rarely compare every option, how being first to respond builds instant trust, and why waiting to be “better” can quietly cost you inquiries. From paid advertising and text messaging to pricing confidence and automation, this conversation offers a candid look at how wedding pros can balance creativity with smart business systems.

They also dive into imposter syndrome, raising prices, and the reality that not every inquiry is meant to convert—plus why focusing on experience over deliverables leads to stronger client relationships and long-term sustainability.

Jordan Roepke is known for creating artful, adventurous, and epic imagery for couples who want more than ordinary—and he brings that same clarity and honesty to how he approaches business.

Highlights

1. Why being first to respond often beats being “the best”
2. How fast, personal communication builds trust instantly
3. Why text messaging outperforms email for inquiries
4. Using automation without losing the human touch
5. The truth about pricing, fit, and imposter syndrome
6. Selling experience and connection, not just services

Connect with Jordan:

Website

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Connect with Kevin:

Wedding IQ

Fantasy Sound

Instagram

YouTube

TikTok

LinkedIn

All right, folks, welcome to another episode of Mind Your Wedding Business. I'm here with Jordan Repke of Jordan Repke Photography. And we are talking about why being the first to reach your clients is better than being the best. So I'm really excited to jump into this topic with Jordan. So Jordan, can you tell us a little bit about yourself and how we got you here today?

Absolutely, ⁓ you answered a Craigslist ad where I was seeking personals ⁓ and you know, we just hit it off, had a couple of drinks and here we are. ⁓ My name is Jordan Repke from Jordan Repke Photography. I'm based in Nashville, Tennessee. I'm a wedding and portrait photographer as well as a business mentor for photographers all over the world.

Ha ⁓

There you go. And here we are.

I love it. All right. So what do you mean, Jordan, when you say being first is better than being best?

Absolutely, so ⁓ imagine this. You see a post in a local Facebook group for wedding vendors looking for exactly what you're offering, and you think, man, I have that data available, I am perfect, I'm exactly what this person is wanting, and there are 347 other comments on that post. There's a really good chance that no one in their right mind is gonna check out all 347 people.

Mm-hmm.

No.

No.

comment, ⁓

or maybe the comments have already been shut off, right? ⁓ In that circumstance, is that couple going to hire the best person that fits them exactly? No, of course not, because they're gonna go through 10, 20, 30, 40 people, and then they're gonna shut it down. It's too many, it's too many, and they're gonna shut it down. And so, maybe you were exactly the right choice.

Mm-hmm.

Which is too many.

You would have given them everything they wanted. You were exactly in budget. You would have been best friends for the rest of your life. But they're never gonna know because you were comment 348 on that post. So when you're fighting in that sort of environment, it's impossible no matter how good you are. And that comes down to this, I think we all have this idea in the back of our heads, which is,

Yeah, yeah.

If I was a better photographer, more people would hire me. If I was a better florist, more people would hire me. If I was a better wedding officiant, if I was a better DJ, if I could get the newest speaker set up, or if I could get these hazers, or if I could get this, or if I had this, then people would hire me. They didn't hire me because I wasn't using XYZ camera. ⁓ And maybe for some people that's true. ⁓ And I'm sure that...

Hmm.

Mm-hmm.

As photographers, we've all had the dreaded inquiry of like, give me your gear list. It's like camera, lens, flash. That's my gear list. But it's really a trap because we live in this world where 95 % of what people see are iPhone photos. 95 % of what people see are snapshots. 95 % of what people see are.

Yeah.

this curated version of whatever the environment is of these people. And they're not necessarily going to know that you took that photo on a 10 year old camera or a five year old camera or whatever. They're going to ⁓ see your work. They're gonna go, yes, I like it, no, I don't. And if they don't have the opportunity to look at your work, it doesn't matter how good you are because you were number 437 of that list.

Yeah.

You made me laugh. You made me think of something when you were talking about the gear list and all that and when couples do that. it just makes me laugh because many, many years ago, I started out as a DJ. We do so much more like lighting, decor, drapery, all that stuff. Now, DJing is not most important thing that we do. But when I was just a DJ, we would do bridal fairs, which were a thing. I'm going to date myself how old I am. But we would have all our gear set up. And it was like,

Are you selling the gear? Are you selling yourself? And so I went to a class and we stopped bringing our gear to the shows and then it started a conversation with people. And then we started talking, because we were the only ones there without speakers and blaring music and lights shining in everyone's eyes. And it started a conversation. And then before you know it, within about two years, no one was bringing gear to the Brattle Fair because what I was doing actually worked. And so I learned from someone.

Yeah.

Yeah, but it just, sometimes I think the couples ask those questions because they don't know what else to ask. So, yeah.

Yeah, absolutely.

And I think, on the other hand, have you ever seen the movie The Founder about Ray Kroc? I would say founded McDonald's, he stole McDonald's, but he founded the corporation. Yeah, there's that scene where he's talking to this business partner who's investing in the company. And he's kind of laying out, oh, we get this percent commission on the cheeseburgers and we get this.

No, I have not.

⁓ yes, yes, I saw that. Yes, I have.

And he looks at him and he says, you don't know what business you're in. You're not in the hamburger business, you're in the real estate business. ⁓ And I think that that is a huge problem that we have with vendors. Like you don't know what business you're in. You're not in the photography business. You're in the connecting with people business. ⁓ And we could be a little pessimistic and say that we're all salespeople, ⁓ which is true.

Yeah.

Yes.

But really all of that is about connection. And it doesn't really matter what your best is compared to somebody else's best or what your price is compared to somebody else's price. What matters is can you connect with the person who is in front of you? And if you can do that effectively, then you will be successful.

I think that's a hard lesson for people in the wedding industry to learn because you want, you know, because they just want to do every wedding, but you're not for everyone. And once you, I think, learn that, I think it's kind of like a weight is lifted off your shoulders and you're like, okay, I don't have to do every wedding, you know, I, you know, they're not my couple. And that's, I learned that probably the hard way too many times because I'm at this wedding and I'm going, what am I doing here? You know, like it wasn't,

Mm-hmm.

fun, but then once I learned to connect with my ideal couples when it made it became fun again. So yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

We're in Nashville. I'm based in Nashville. And Nashville, I believe, is either number two or number one. I'm not sure if we passed Vegas for weddings. At least a couple of years we did. Yeah, I think Nashville's number one or number two. ⁓ And so, you know, there are hundreds of thousands of weddings in the Nashville area every year.

Mm-hmm.

I heard you guys are giving them run for their money, I'll be honest with you. Yeah.

Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

You know, how many can you do? 50? 100? 200?

500 if you have a big team? And so the idea of like, there's plenty for everyone. And I don't believe in over saturation. That's not a thing that I believe in. I think that you, it's your job as a service provider to differentiate yourself.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

and to

do the things that you need to do to connect with the people that you need to connect with, which like you said, is not everybody. ⁓ You don't need everybody. You need a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of the people who are getting married in your given area, in your territory, ⁓ to be able to have a successful business.

No.

Yeah.

Yeah, love it. All right, so why do so many wedding pros obsess, obsess over perfection instead of speed and responsiveness?

I think it's that artistic mentality that we all have. I think that we live in a world where ⁓ we have so much access to things and we have so ⁓ much information and so little knowledge ⁓ in the world that we live in. ⁓ And you can flip through TikTok and see

Mm-hmm.

Hmm.

a million photographers that are better than you or that you like their work better than you like your work. I don't even wanna say better or worse, right? Like you see something and you're drawn to that. ⁓ You can find a million photographers who tick that box in an hour when you're just flipping TikTok, you know, or Instagram or anything like that. And a lot of it is just so much noise because that's what that is there for, right? It's there for...

Mm-hmm.

just this bombarding of content. And that's what we have turned what we do into this idea of content. Everyone's shifted to content. Well, what is content? Content is completely disposable. ⁓ It is something that you create with the idea that you will get as many people as possible to engage with that content, and then they just bounce off, right? You're chasing the numbers, you're chasing the likes, you're chasing this, that, and the other thing.

Hmm. ⁓

Mm-hmm.

⁓ I have a very small Instagram following and I shoot 20, 30, 40 weddings a year. I shoot all over the country. I don't post on social media a whole lot mostly because I'd rather be spending time with my wife and my cats and my dog and my son and all the people in my life that I would rather do. I'd rather be up playing, to be completely honest, I'd rather be playing PlayStation than posting on Instagram. ⁓ And so it just, you get...

Mm-hmm.

you get lost in this shuffle of creating content, which is not really designed to sell anything to people. ⁓ And so if you can engage with somebody, number one, you gotta be there early because people are just gonna bounce off, like I said, with content. You have to be the first thing that pops up on their feed or you have to be the first person to respond or ideally, you are showing your work to them.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

before they even know that they're looking for you. ⁓ That is the best thing to do because if you can get out ahead of a client, if you can get out ahead of a situation, then you get to control the narrative of the rest of their journey. ⁓ And that can be a really powerful thing.

⁓

Mm-hmm.

And how would a wedding professional do that?

So for me, I do a lot of paid advertising through Meta. so that is, you're leveraging this idea of the algorithm is designed to show you things that it thinks that you will engage with. ⁓ And the great thing is nobody knows that you're engaged faster than Facebook. ⁓ Nobody knows, the first thing you do, you're gonna post those, the photos that your friend who was hiding in the bushes took with his phone.

Okay.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

You're gonna post that photo of the ring. You're gonna flip your relationship status over to engaged and Metta's gonna go, I got you, right? And it's gonna start bombarding you with everything that it thinks that you're gonna wanna engage with, no pun intended. Now that your relationship status has changed. And if you can be on that wave of the first few things that they see ⁓ with a compelling reason to book,

Mm-hmm.

whether that is some sort of offer or some sort of free resource that you can give to people, ⁓ you will be first on their list of names. And that can be helpful. It's great to be the first person to comment on that Facebook post, but what's even better is getting booked before they even make that Facebook post.

Yeah.

I love that. That's a great advice. Do you also work with Google? You said Google as well?

I have done some things with Google. The problem with Google is that Google is really relying on what you're searching for. So what I feel like is that Google ads are great for replacing a lot of time and effort with SEO because you can pop five or $10 a day into Google and all of a sudden you're the number one listing. You don't have to manage all your keywords, you don't have to do all your alt texts, you don't have to tag and get backlinks and do all of that stuff. The first three to five,

⁓

Mm-hmm.

Hmm.

⁓ research results that you will get when you search anything on Google is paid advertisement. so the Google is great if you have a couple who is looking for, if you have a really strong brand identity and you have a couple that is looking for that particular brand identity. ⁓ However, if you are, you know, in a position like most of us, know, most couples don't know what they're looking for.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Most couples

don't know what they need, they don't know what they're looking for, they don't really understand kind of like the process of getting married ⁓ from engagement to honeymoon. ⁓ And so if you can be the first person up there, then they're gonna compare everybody else to you, as opposed to comparing you to somebody, everybody else.

Mm-hmm.

interesting.

Yeah, you that connection quick. All right, so Jordan, so we got them from a paid ad or we got them from the website or they found you on social media and now they've made that inquiry. And so how does responsive, know, like immediately build trust with these folks, you know, before the conversation even starts?

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, absolutely. The first thing is don't stop sending emails. Don't send an email, send a text message. ⁓ Because if you look at the statistics, ⁓ emails have about a 12 % response rate. Text messages have about an 86 % response rate. ⁓ So you will vastly improve your response time by texting people. ⁓ The second thing is, and,

Mm-hmm.

Let me preface this by saying in no way am I telling you to withhold information from your couples. But they need to have a reason to engage with you because if you are, I'm gonna use a bad example so I apologize to everyone who's listening to this, but if you are a young person and you get dressed up really nice and you go out to the bar maybe with a group of friends who are the same sex, gender as you are,

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

That's okay.

and you're looking good and it's a hip crowd, somebody comes up and starts talking to you, trying to hit on you, flirting with you, you kind of know what you're there for, right? You're looking good, you're there to see and be seen, all that kind of stuff, right? If you roll out of bed in the morning, if you're a young person, you roll out of bed in the morning, and I'm sure this is much more applicable to women than it is to men, and your hair is kind of, you have a messy bun and you got your yoga pants on and you're just going down the street to get a coffee,

You

somebody rolls up to you and starts hitting on you then, that's a little bit weird. ⁓ And so you wanna have a reason for your couples to engage with you and for you to engage with your couples. And if you're sending over, if you get an inquiry and you just go, great, here's my pricing.

Yeah.

crickets, right? Because that is important, but that's not what you sell, right? Because what you have told that person, that inquiry at that time is, you need photos, I do photos, here is what photos cost. But what you are not establishing is the relationship. As a wedding photographer, I spend more time with you on your wedding day than your mom. I spend more time with you on your wedding day than your partner. I spend more time

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

with you on your wedding day, then you're made of honor. So if you don't like your wedding photographer, if you don't connect with your wedding photographer, that's a bummer, man. You know? And so what clients think that they want is, want someone who can produce this style of photo for this amount of money. And the truth is, those two things come way, way, way distant third to...

Yeah.

I want somebody who understands what I want. ⁓ And it is way more important to have that connection and that understanding than it is to actually have the final deliverable. ⁓ And I think that that is really, really important. ⁓ If you think about any successful company that exists, I'll use the example of BMW. That's the example I always use, right? You don't buy a BMW because you need to get to work.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

You can buy a Kia, you can buy a 20 year old used truck, you can buy whatever you wanna buy ⁓ to get to work. You buy a BMW because it's the ultimate driving experience. You buy a BMW because you are the kind of person who drives a BMW. You buy a BMW because when you go to the dealership, they know your first name. And that is the experience that you are providing to your client.

You

Mm-hmm.

You don't need to spend $70,000 on a car. Well, it's 2026. Maybe you do need to spend $70,000 on a car. But you can buy a used $5,000 junk bucket and get to work. But it's a different thing that you're selling. You're not selling utility, you're selling experience. And the only way to show people

Yeah, you kind of do now.

Yeah.

that that's what you're giving them is to have conversations. And so the first thing is text message. know I kind of got off topic a little bit, but you send the text message and then that text message is designed to get people on a phone call. ⁓ And so for me, I send a text message, hey, just got your inquiry. This is Jordan from Jordan Repke Photography. Thank you so much. You just sent me an inquiry for this date. Is this this person? Is this Stacey?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's okay.

Yep, this is Stacey, yes I sent you that inquiry, what are your prices? Because that's the number one thing that we hear is what do you charge? Because I don't have my pricing on my website. And I encourage everybody to take their pricing off of their website. Everybody complains about it, but trust me. ⁓ Great, yep, absolutely, I'd love to talk to you about your wedding day. When would be a good time for us to hop on a phone call? I ignore the pricing question because the truth is I don't know what it's gonna cost. ⁓ What do you need? I don't know what you need.

Mm-hmm.

You know, are you having a two hour elopement five minutes from my house? ⁓ Are you having a three day wedding weekend in Venice? ⁓ Those are very drastically different scopes of work. ⁓ And so it would be disingenuous for me to say I charge this much because maybe I don't for your particular circumstance. ⁓ Then when I get on the phone, we have a really great conversation. I talk to them about.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

⁓ them and them as a couple and I get to understand them and I talk to them about what's important for them when they're experiencing their photography, not just somebody showing up and taking pictures, but like, you know, are you imagining having a big, beautiful wedding album that you guys can sit on the couch and flip through and you know, maybe he's being a jerk and you need to remember why you married him in the first place, you know? ⁓ Are you imagining, are you imagining having a wedding film that you guys can watch? ⁓

They usually do.

If you are imagining a wedding film, are you thinking something short and sweet that you can post to social media? Do you want a six hour Lord of the Rings extended edition cut? Like what are you looking for? Like those sorts of questions because you don't want them thinking about the process of hiring a photographer. You don't want them thinking about what it's gonna be like on the day. You want them thinking about how they're going to enjoy these images for years to come. Now if you are not somebody who is providing something after the day like a photographer is if you're a DJ,

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

then you might be asking, are your friends party people or are they a little bit more mellow? Do you want music during cocktail hour? Do you want music during dinner? Are we doing a plated dinner? Are we doing a buffet? What's important for you? Is it more important for you that people are dancing and having fun and just having a club atmosphere? Is it more important for you that ⁓ it's ⁓ a more chill affair? Are you guys just gonna be walking and talking and hanging out? Are you guys gonna be cutting the rug and-

and make it ⁓ big scene, like what's going on? ⁓ So that's all pieces of information that you need to know in order to correctly provide pricing. So that's why I say take your pricing off of your website. And then after the phone call, then I say, hey, let's get on a Zoom call because I wanna meet you guys face to face. I never wanna be a stranger showing up on your wedding day. I'm gonna walk you through what it looks like to work with me. We'll talk about all the different pricing and I'll have quotes for you and all that good stuff.

Yeah.

and kind of go from there. But number one, you are meeting people where they live. You're not just getting lost in the inbox. You are part of the experience of booking you, which I think is really, really important. ⁓ There's a big incentive now to give things over to AI or to let these scheduling softwares do things or that. And that's great if you got weddings coming out your ears. If you're super, super busy and...

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

you can't be bothered like, okay, great. You are in a place where you, yeah, those automated things are great. ⁓ But for most people, if you don't have a completely full calendar for the next couple of years, you have to make that human connection. It is so important. And if you can do that before anybody else, then you can establish a set of expectations for everybody else because then you're going to stand out against everybody else who is sending an email with a pricing guide. ⁓ And that makes a big difference.

I love it. All right, so you were talking about texting and different, so what kind of systems or habits allow you to respond quickly without being like glued to your phone 24 seven?

So this is a secret hack. So I'm gonna share something kinda secret with you guys. ⁓ And it's not secret to people who are in like sales and enterprise and things like that. But the CRM that I use is a CRM called Go High Level. ⁓ Go High Level is designed for sales teams ⁓ in like corporate environments. That's what it's there for. But the thing with Go High Level is that you can white label it.

Love it.

Okay.

So there are a lot of different versions, there are a lot of different CRMs that are out there that basically use Go High Level as your base. So you can go to gohighlevel.com and subscribe right from Go High Level. I use a white labeled software called WedLaunch. So if you go to wedlaunch.com, you can sign up for WedLaunch. If you are not a wedding,

photographer, I know if you're listening to this, it's a wedding business. But if you do other things, then there are other ones as well. I used a white label version called Meet Nikki for a while that's actually focused towards boudoir photographers, but it's the same system, it works for everybody. ⁓ And the great thing about Go High Level is that it has text message automation built in. ⁓ And so when I get an inquiry through a Facebook ad, it is linked to my Facebook. I have a studio manager named Tessa who is wonderful.

Mmm.

And basically the first three text messages that go out for Tessa are completely automated. It is a photo of Tessa with a text message that says, hey, this is Tessa from Jordan Repke Photography. The second text message goes out after another 15 seconds to emulate someone actually typing a text message on their phone. And it says, you so much for inquiring. We got your inquiry. I want to make sure that this experience is smooth for you and that you can ask me any questions you have that you feel really comfortable throughout this whole process.

And then the third text message is, so tell me all about you and your fiance and ⁓ how long have been together? Just give me all the details, right? Give me all the tea. ⁓ And the nice thing about having that system automated is that if people aren't gonna respond to you, if you get ghosted or whatever, then you haven't spent any time. ⁓ But as soon as they do respond, then I get a little notification that I got a new text message from somebody. ⁓ And so then...

Mm-hmm.

you know, she can hop in or I can hop in and we can kind of continue the conversation from there and direct people towards a phone.

I love it. All right, so how can wedding pros balance fast responses with healthy boundaries? Because I think that's something in the wedding industry that a lot of us lack is healthy boundaries.

Yeah, myself included. ⁓ I would say having the automation is huge, ⁓ at least for that initial step. Having those types of automations are very helpful because those are automations that are going to direct people towards making a connection ⁓ as opposed to the types of automations that basically, not the Ron Popiel, it and forget it ⁓ system of management that a lot of automation is.

Yeah.

Okay.

Okay.

And as far as I know, Go High Level is one of the only system CRMs that has an integrated text message automation. And what is great about that is, let's say somebody doesn't inquire, doesn't respond to that initial text message. I have it wait a couple of days and send them another text message automatically. And then I have it wait a couple of days and have them send another text message automatically. And then I have it wait a couple of days and send another text message automatically. So I don't even have to worry about follow ups. ⁓ It's just.

Mm.

built into the system that if they don't respond, then it's gonna nudge them a little bit. ⁓ And the text message, I don't wanna say they get pushy or anything, but it is like, hey, did you get my last text message? Or hey, are you still interested in this? looks like you're not interested in this, totally cool, we'll remove you from our thing. And a lot of times that last text message, hey, I guess you're not into it. no, no, no, I am, I am, I am. They come back real quick.

Yeah.

That's really, really helpful. just having a system that is going to kind of handle those followups for you. A lot of people will do like email drips and things like that. But again, it goes back to the email. I just have another piece of junk mail in my inbox that's not personalized. Like, yeah, it has my name, but it's like, know, why couples choose Jordan Repke photography for their whatever. Like I've never done that. I think it's kind of a waste, ⁓ you know, good money after bad.

especially when you're using a system that charges you per email center, things like that. So you really wanna sort of maximize that. ⁓ I know you said we can swear on the podcast, but you kinda wanna maximize that shit or get off the pot mentality and just kind of get through that initial phase so that you can start connecting with people.

Yeah, you sure can.

Yeah.

Yeah, no, think and well and it's like again starting back to the beginning where you said we're in the connection, but you know, it's about connecting with people and that's where they're gonna hire us. So, all right, you talked about go high level, but is there like a ⁓ simple workflow change that can dramatically improve response time? Is it using high level or having a good CRM or you know, what do you think that is?

I mean, definitely moving to text messages is going to impact a lot. don't be freaked out if people are treating text messages like email, because that's kind of what they are nowadays. Your email is for your junk and your text messages are for the things you actually wanna get to eventually, for the most part. ⁓ Who knows what that's gonna be, because I get a bunch of junk text messages too. But I think that that's huge. I mean, there are other independent systems. ⁓

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

that I've been seeing, I think there's like a blue check or something like that as a system that'll integrate like iMessage into your existing CRMs, things like that.

Yeah, and I

Something yeah,

there's one I just learned about and I'm blanking on the name right now that at wedding MBA too that someone was setting up to that maybe yeah, yeah, yeah. So there's platforms out there.

Is it text magic? Okay. Yeah, that's another big one.

Yeah, yeah, so I mean, just having something like that is, like I said, you go from about a 12 % response rate to about an ⁓ 86 % response rate when you do that. And also, don't give everybody everything all the time. Because again, if you're sending everything out in one big blast,

Yeah.

then the bride's gonna get it and go, oh, well, I want photos, this is a photographer, I like their work, I have their pricing, I don't really need to talk to them again, I have everything I need. And then somebody comes along who's gonna do the phone call, who's gonna do the Zoom call, who's gonna do a pitch and a sell and work with these people and close them on the call. And then you're like, well, I sent this pricing guy like three weeks ago, I haven't heard back from them, because they're so excited about the photographer that actually connected with them that they ended up hiring.

Mm-hmm.

or ended up, same thing with wedding planners or forests or sort of any of those people.

Yeah. You know, we're perfect in the wedding industry, we all are, but what mistakes do you see vendors make after responding quickly that still cost them the booking?

⁓ I mean, I think that you can do everything right and still not get the booking. And that goes back to are you the right fit? ⁓ Because there are going to be people that just don't want to get on a phone call. And I've accepted that, that those people are not my kinds of people. Because I'm sure you have this experience as well that

Mm.

Mm-hmm.

You have a wedding, you're like, man, I really, got this date booked or I don't have this date and I really kind of want to get it booked. And I guess I'll bend over a little backwards. I'll break my systems a little bit to get this booking. And then you do, and then the wedding's a nightmare. ⁓ And no offense to anybody listening to this. All brides and grooms are wonderful.

Yep.

No, but I mean I was that way. I

But I was that way when I started I wanted everything and I didn't care and if if you know, I I started I'm old so I started a long time ago But we would do a lot of school events back in the day And so, you know a school would say we only have five hundred dollars for a dj Sure when I was charging more, you know what i'm saying? And I would do whatever I can because I thought that one booking would get me another book, you know, I was just too eager

Mm-hmm.

Yeah,

yeah, yeah, absolutely. And I think that's a problem that I see a lot of wedding vendors kind of run into, which is like, ⁓ man, I booked this date two years ago, this person wanted to book me and they paid me in full and it's great. And now I have, I'm two years better and I'm two years more experienced and someone just inquired for that date and they want my biggest package and now my prices are 10 times what they were or five times what they were back then.

Mm-hmm.

⁓ And now I gotta turn down this $10,000 wedding to do this $1,800 wedding that I booked two years ago with these people that I don't even know versus this couple who we met and they love me and they, you whatever. you know, there are things that you can do, like, you know, you can associate out the new wedding. Don't associate out the old wedding. Like that's bad business. ⁓ There was one instance where I...

Yeah.

booked a wedding in Nashville on a Friday and then somebody wanted to book me in Virginia on a Saturday. And so I went to the couple and I was like, I will absolutely still do your wedding. Here's the deal. ⁓ I have an associate that can do your wedding if that's okay with you. ⁓ But otherwise I'm just gonna fly out to Virginia overnight and do the next wedding. But if it's okay with you.

Mmm.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

we can do this and they were very understanding and they got that. But it was a very specific set of circumstances that I kind of don't want to go into right now, but there's kind of a reason that I did that. Under normal circumstances, I wouldn't do that. But a lot of times, if you connect with people and they've kind of become your friends and they kind of understand when things happen, as opposed to the couple who's just looking for the cheapest person and then you fall down and.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Like what happened to me? I was walking downstairs I was doing some editing in my office and I walked downstairs and our little robo vac mop was at the bottom of the stairs and I was like I Mean, I love ours except for this one time It was spitting out too much water and I didn't even think about it and I went to step over it Completely did the splits off the stairs Totally. I probably tore my tore my hamstring or whatever and I shot Three weddings after that on one leg ⁓ Doing that, you know

My wife loves those and I hate those things. Yeah.

Ouch. Ouch.

Yeah.

But again, that kind of goes back to like, if those were couples that I didn't know that I had booked two years ago that paid me in full for like $1,700 weddings, like I would have been miserable. I'm hobbling around this thing for 10 hours on one leg because whatever. When you're booking a wedding, you have to sort of be, ⁓ sorry if I'm rambling a little bit, but if you're booking me two years in advance, which does happen.

Yeah.

No, go.

Mm-hmm.

You're not booking me today. You're booking the photographer that I will be in two years. And that photographer will have two years more experience. That photographer will be two years better. That photographer will have much newer equipment. That photographer will have, you know, much, all those things. And so then you're asking the photographer that you will be in two years to do the job for the photographer you are now.

Yeah.

for sure.

You know what I mean? It's like you're associating it out to your future self. ⁓ And so you have to take that into consideration when you're choosing to take these gigs and what to charge. And when you're having these conversations with people. So that's all important to kind of figuring out like, is this really worth it for me to do?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah, gets, it's hard and long time ago, I used to do a lot of subcontract work for an audio visual company in San Francisco and it was a good during the week stuff. So I would go in and do like sort of corporate events or whatever, but the owner of that used to say something like when.

something was really hard and you'd always say some dollars come hard and some dollars come easy. never know which one you know and it just and for some reason when something is like really hard or something goes I'm always like some dollars come hard you know and it just that's how it does and some dollars come really easily you know and you just and hopefully it all melds out and it always becomes one so yeah it just is.

Mm hmm. Yeah.

Huh.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, and it's your

job as a professional to not make it any harder on yourself than it has to be. You know, like you kind of get to decide.

No, no, but those ⁓ and then

but if you do make it hard on yourself learn from it and don't make that same mistake again as you get. Yeah, that's a big thing. So All right. What's the hard truth about inquiries that wedding pros? Don't want to hear

yeah. Yeah. Absolutely.

hard truth about inquiries that wedding pros don't want to hear. ⁓

I mean, we're hammering on this episode, but not everybody's your client. Not ⁓ everybody's your client. And I know there's a real pressure. If you're a business owner, if you're a creative person, it is very, very easy to feel like a failure. And it is very, very easy to feel like that...

Yeah, yeah, I think that's right.

Mm-hmm.

One inquiry was the difference between my kid getting a secondhand bike for Christmas and getting the brand new Huffy. That one inquiry was the difference between me being able to afford that 28 to 70 F2 lens. That one inquiry was the difference between us taking our usual vacation to Cancun or us having to go to Florida. ⁓ But I think one thing that I love to remember when I'm feeling ⁓ imposter syndrome about

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

losing a client is one of my favorite quotes of all time is, I have offended both God and mankind for my work is not of the quality it should have been. And those were the last words of Leonardo da Vinci. And if Leonardo da Vinci had imposter syndrome, there's no hope for any of us. So you just kind of got to deal with what you got to deal with, you know? And so like, if you lose an inquiry, it is not your personal failure.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Yeah, that's no, there really isn't. Yeah.

If you lose an inquiry and you did everything you needed to do, then it is not your fault. And you should be able to give yourself a little bit of grace. And if you lose an inquiry and you half-assed it, like maybe have a little bit of a come to Jesus with yourself and say, hey, you know what? I knew what I was supposed to do. I didn't do that. I lost the inquiry.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Next time let me do what I'm supposed to do and maybe you get the shot. ⁓ Second half of this answer, because I just thought of it, is that sometimes you lose an inquiry because you're too expensive. But sometimes you lose an inquiry because you're too cheap. if, going back to my example of BMWs, if I see a used BMW on Facebook Marketplace for eight grand, maybe it's in my budget and maybe it's not.

Yeah.

You

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

But I understand why that car is eight grand. If I see a used BMW on Facebook Marketplace for 500 bucks, what's wrong with it? Is it full of bees? You know, like what's going on? ⁓ And so you might be producing work that is just not commensurate with your price point, whether that is, or your experience that you're providing might not be commensurate with your price point, or your experience that you're professing to provide to your couples might not be commensurate with your price point. ⁓

Mm-hmm.

Yeah. Yeah.

Mm.

Mm-hmm.

And so we, think as wedding vendors, a lot of times, especially if you're in the service end of it, not necessarily florists or caterers or things like that, we have this, oh God, I'm not getting any bookings, I gotta lower my price, I gotta lower my price. That is the surest way to just tank your business. And if you were listening to this podcast, I don't care what you charge, double it. Double your pricing, right now.

Yeah.

for sure.

Yeah. Yeah,

I did go to a conference one and they said every 10 weddings you should be raising your pricing. I was like, yeah, I was like, that's pretty bold. I don't know if I could do that, but yes.

That's great. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah,

you know, back in my previous life, I was a musician and I worked for Guitar Center as all musicians do when you're in your early 20s. But yeah, exactly, yeah. You gotta have your Guitar Center employee number tattooed on your forearm. ⁓ But we were, the Fender guy took us out, or sorry, it the Gibson guy took us out for drinks one night. And he was talking about how... ⁓

I was gonna say, isn't that part of the right passage?

Yeah.

Gibson kind of did their numbers and they determined that if they raised their prices by about 30%, they would lose X amount of customers, but they would still make more money because the additional profits would take care of the sales that they lost. I think as, yeah, and as vendors, we have this idea that busy equals successful. And I know a lot of photographers who are my friends who they're shooting

with less stress.

Yeah.

seven, eight, 10 sessions a week and no shade to them, but they're still living in a trailer. And you're just like, if you're that busy and you're still struggling financially, you are too busy to be that broke. So you gotta figure yourself out.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, yeah, it just well and I feel like too in the wedding industry There's so many of us that are guilty of FOMO. Yeah, well, you know We don't have a wedding on a friday or saturday or sunday or whatever and we're scrolling instagram and you see your competitor you see someone else at you know at a venue or whatever and you're just like and you it just like You know, we got imposter syndrome. We got to stop it. I think

Mm-hmm.

yeah, I mean I know so many venues, especially in Nashville where ⁓ they're sort of these like portfolio worthy venues, but they're such a pain in the ass to work at. I mean you gotta pay them to be on their preferred vendor list and then if you're not on their preferred vendor list you gotta have three meetings there and do a whole rundown and you gotta pay an extra fee and it's just like no man, I don't care that much.

Yeah.

I'm here for my couples, I'm not here for the portfolio. ⁓ I don't post on social media very often, I don't have a huge following, I don't really care that much about it. What I care is that my couples love working with me and that they love their photos. And if that is out in grandpa's backfield somewhere, ⁓ great. I don't need to shoot at the hottest venue in my area. Yeah, exactly.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah, the ABC wedding venue. Yep, you don't have to get in there.

So, all right. So as we wrap up, Jordan, if wedding pros could improve just one thing after listening to this episode, what should it be?

Well, I'll give you two. Number one, raise your prices. Number one, raise your prices. That's the easy thing. ⁓ If you are a photographer who is listening to this, if you're a wedding photographer and you've shot more than 10 weddings and you're still charging less than $3,500, raise your prices up to at least $3,500. Do your cost of doing business. Figure out what you gotta charge. It's gonna shock you. And the price is the price, right? Don't worry about competing. ⁓

Okay, I like to. One raise prices.

Mm-hmm.

Would you repeat the question for me one more time?

⁓

Wedding prose could improve just one thing after listening to this episode. What should it be?

The second thing would be stop sending emails. ⁓ Start move to text messages, stop sending emails. You will see a huge difference in the amount of people who ⁓ respond to you. Stop sending prices, just connect. Just connect with people, just talk to people. ⁓ And when you get people on the phone, if you send them over a price and let's say you're charging $6,500 for a ⁓ wedding, ⁓

and you get them on the phone and they're super cool and the wedding is just down the street and it's a venue that you love working at and there's a DJ that you love working with and the wedding planner you love working with it and their budget is $5,000. If you just send them over the price sheet, they're gonna go, well, I can't afford them, my budget's 5,000. Maybe you wanna do it for five grand. Maybe it's a wedding on a Tuesday. And you're like, I got nothing going on on Tuesday, yeah, this is easy for me. I can do it for five grand. Let's have a conversation. Let's build a relationship here.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

⁓ because, you know, don't do it for 500 bucks, you like you can meet people and you can decide, you know, we didn't get into this business to work 40 hours a week. You know, we got into it to work 24 seven. No, we, but if it's just a job then yeah, yeah. But this is not just a job. This is, should it be something that supports the way that you want to live your life?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

You laugh, but it's true. It's true.

Yeah.

and you get to decide how that is.

Yeah, I love it. All right, Jordan, where can our folks listeners find you and learn more about you and your work?

Absolutely, you can find me on all of the socials at Jordan Repke photography. That's J-O-R-D-A-N-R-O-E P as in Peter K-E photography and you can find me at www.jordanrepkephotography.com

All right, folks, and we'll have all of Jordan's information in the show notes. And the email blast that goes out. And so that way, you'll be able to connect with him and learn more about all his wonderful things that he's doing. So Jordan, can't thank you enough for being here today. I really appreciate it. I love it. All right, folks, thank you for listening to another episode of Mind Your Wedding Business. We'll see you again next time.

Thanks Kevin, had a blast.