Are you leveraging your online presence to its fullest potential? Adrienna McDermott of Ava and the Bee shares her expert insights on how blogging, Pinterest, and an updated website can elevate your wedding business to the next level. Plus, discover how Reddit can help you understand your audience better.

As wedding professionals, staying ahead in the digital landscape is key to maintaining a competitive edge. Adrienna explains how the online world is shifting and why wedding businesses need to adapt. A cornerstone of her advice is the importance of keeping your website up to date—it’s your storefront, your first impression, and often the deciding factor for couples researching vendors. She highlights the power of Pinterest as an SEO-driven platform that many vendors still overlook, despite its potential to bring in high-quality traffic.

Adrienna also stresses the role of blogging, not just as a way to share pretty photos but as a means to answer couples' most pressing questions and establish yourself as a trusted expert. Beyond traditional platforms, she brings up Reddit—a surprising yet invaluable tool for market research. Couples are turning to Reddit to crowdsource vendor pricing, reviews, and recommendations, making it an ideal place to gain insights into their needs and concerns.

From aligning your Instagram and Pinterest strategies to ensuring your website’s message and visuals are consistent, Adrienna breaks down the actionable steps that help wedding pros stand out in a crowded market. Her advice? Dive into these platforms strategically and focus on creating a cohesive online presence that turns clicks into clients.

Highlights

• The shift to self-research: Why couples now prioritize online presence over referrals
• Google and SEO: Essential tools for reaching today’s tech-savvy couples
• Pinterest power: How visual SEO can boost your website traffic
• The importance of storytelling through Instagram Stories and Reels
• Why price transparency matters more than ever in 2025
• How to use Reddit as a market research tool for content ideas

Do you have any feedback or questions? Leave a review, rate the episode, and share it with your network! Don’t forget to subscribe for more insights into mastering your wedding business.

Connect with  Adrienna:

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Connect with Kevin:

Wedding IQ

Fantasy Sound

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Kevin Dennis (0:0.846)

Adrienna (0:8.866)

Yes, correct.

Adrienna (0:26.212)

Hi, yeah, I have an interesting journey. feel like I've lived many lives before I even the bee is so I got my start in wedding industry in high school. I worked in accessory design and then I worked for a hat maker for a while I went to school for a textile and hat making millinery. But to pay for a very expensive art school. I worked for a retail. So I worked at David's Bridal and then private boutiques and anyone who's worked retail knows it's

Kevin Dennis (0:33.966)

Hmm.

Kevin Dennis (0:42.446)

Hmm.

Adrienna (0:53.434)

hard. mean, you're commission based. So I had to learn really fast the wedding industry slash working in a commission based environment where I had to figure out how to sell to a complete stranger who's naked in front of me to buy my next like set of books. So that was kind of like my interesting four way into the wedding industry was it kind of was just it was there and I fell in love with it really fast. And then when I was still in college, my senior year of college, I co opened a wedding planning floral and brighter boutique company. Because again, young

Next thing you know, it's now an agency. have five employees and we help hundreds of professionals a year, which is crazy. If you would have told me I would have even helped a dozen wedding professionals as a marketer, I would have thought you were crazy. But alas, going into year six. And that's how I got here.

Kevin Dennis (1:56.077)

Oh, well.

Kevin Dennis (2:8.586)

Well, that's amazing. So, very question for me. I have a daughter named Ava. So how do we get the name Ava and the beat?

Adrienna (2:18.202)

Yeah, great question. I get this asked all the time people either like are you Adriana or Ava? So it was kind of just a family nickname that people call me because my name is really long. And so I knew for SEO, I wasn't gonna have Adriana anywhere in my business name. So I went with Ava because it was a nice nickname. And then the B is my cat Brutus. He's my BB my boy. So yeah.

Kevin Dennis (2:20.598)

Thank you.

Kevin Dennis (2:32.046)

Oh

Kevin Dennis (2:38.126)

Adrienna (3:5.878)

Yeah, it's I mean, as as of this recording, who knows what tech talk is going to be doing. I they're literally debating it as we as we sit here. But it's one of those things where the last few years we've been seeing a shift post pandemic. And I would say in the last year, the biggest shift that I would say we've seen when it comes to marketing is that couples simply don't book referrals like they used to. They have to do their own research. And last year was the first time we ever started getting inquiries that kept saying

Kevin Dennis (3:9.676)

No.

Adrienna (3:35.098)

Kevin Dennis (3:43.502)

Mm-hmm.

Adrienna (4:5.562)

Couples and consumers, this is not just like a wedding industry thing. They have to do their own research. According to Vogue Business, 70 % of Gen Z and 69 % of millennials will only trust a brand after that research phase. So it's something that I like to tell my clients, it's not just the wedding industry. This is like a consumer buying habit. We were locked up for years and we had to do our own research and now we're just naturally attuned to it.

Kevin Dennis (4:19.534)

Hmm.

Adrienna (4:33.242)

Kevin Dennis (4:37.283)

Mm-hmm.

Adrienna (4:56.930)

So what I mean by that is, is we have to think about the online presence as a whole. It's no longer just I have an Instagram. It's like, okay, does that feed into a website that's converting? Are you focusing on an SEO strategy? Do you have a PR strategy? Like it's becoming more of this ecosystem, instead of just being like my venue sent me some referrals. So definitely the biggest thing is just understanding that they are gonna Google you. And they're gonna look at everything you got out there.

Kevin Dennis (5:17.166)

You

Adrienna (5:26.734)

like an expired Facebook profile from 10 years ago, it's coming up and they're gonna look at it. And what if they think you're closed? Because there's a really good chance they're gonna see that and be like, oh, are they still open? So it's kind of in that social age of like, are you coming up? And are you actually looking like you're open and alive and working?

Kevin Dennis (5:38.209)

Oh,

Kevin Dennis (5:49.378)

Oh wow, that's a lot to take in, I think, because, yeah, I feel like you dropped the bomb. Here we go. All right, so I guess after hearing all that, where do we start or where do we, step one, where do we go?

Adrienna (5:52.140)

Yeah, I started with a big one because I feel like it carries all the rest of the conversation. Yes.

Adrienna (6:7.564)

Yeah, so definitely the very first thing is I want our vendors to think about what is my online presence? Like what are the platforms that are coming up in that Google search? Because we know they're going to be searching regardless of price point. I think a really big misconception is that high end couples don't also Google but like statistically we know thinks blended comes out with yearly reports they just came out with their luxury and ultra luxury report and

Kevin Dennis (6:19.576)

Mm-hmm.

Adrienna (6:35.098)

Kevin Dennis (6:42.391)

Mmm.

Kevin Dennis (6:45.870)

Wow.

Kevin Dennis (6:57.966)

Mmm.

Kevin Dennis (7:4.340)

No, we really don't.

Adrienna (7:5.676)

So we got to start thinking, okay, what is my online presence ecosystem consist of? So obviously first and foremost, your website, if you haven't touched it in years because you had a really busy couple years and you have outdated weddings, they're seeing that. And what they're doing is they're comparing you to the person who has updated everything and has consistent messaging. So we like, that's one of the things inside of like our agency, we started doing more website design because we realized that's like the ecosystem of your online presence. So when you're marketing,

Kevin Dennis (7:24.174)

Hmm.

Adrienna (7:35.042)

The goal when you hire someone like me is I need your website to convert. Like I have to warm them up. I have to give them a billion touch points and they're all going to eventually lead to your website, right? Like your Pinterest is going to lead to your website. Your Instagram is hopefully DMs or your website, Google, blogging, newsletters, like everything is in the ecosystem ends up there. So if we don't have a really strong foundation there, you've completely lost them in transit because they're like, this doesn't look like.

Kevin Dennis (7:39.938)

Mm-hmm.

Kevin Dennis (7:47.169)

Mm-hmm.

Kevin Dennis (7:57.805)

Mm-hmm.

Adrienna (8:4.844)

what I saw on TikTok, right? Like they have this killer TikTok and their websites garbage. Like they're actually going to think twice. I mean, just as a consumer, like if you're looking for a hairstylist and their websites garbage, you're probably going to have a second thought. You're going to be like, Oh, maybe not. So kind of first and foremost is think about where are the platforms that I'm online, including my website and is it up to date? Does it have up to date information and pricing? Are my images up to date? Is it consistent? Like

Kevin Dennis (8:9.502)

Oh, okay.

Adrienna (8:34.016)

So many times I look and they'll have different logos that are like ones and old logo, ones, a new logo or their colors don't match or their copy sounds like chat GPT. Like guys, they notice all of this y'all. Like I do hundreds of audits a year on websites, hundreds. They notice I can instantly tell within five seconds that a robot wrote your website and your couples are smart and they're going to read it and be like, this was kind of awkward. So just the kind of the first step is to really at the beginning of the year,

Kevin Dennis (8:37.687)

No.

Adrienna (9:4.370)

Really just look at all of the pieces of your puzzle I always encourage people send it to your friends not in the wedding industry and just ask them like would you hire me? Because that's a complete stranger like Asking your best friend who's a florist is gonna be like of course I'd hire your websites perfect like they're not gonna tell you the real stuff like ask someone who knows who's gonna be Honest and say hey like would you trust me based off of this?

Kevin Dennis (9:10.787)

Hmm.

Kevin Dennis (9:14.499)

Wow.

Kevin Dennis (9:22.253)

Yeah.

Kevin Dennis (9:29.666)

How often, okay, so like my company just redid our website and we put all a bunch of you know, newer photos and the whole thing in we're on a newer platform and all that stuff but then how often should we be touching it like with photos and Is it multiple times throughout the year? Every month like what is there a good number for that?

Adrienna (9:53.338)

So I usually suggest just twice a year. It's something where, mean, if you do it at least once a year, you're literally way better than probably 75 % of your competition. But even just twice a year, just to make sure like, hey, maybe I have a really great wedding that I wanna swap out my galleries for. It's just kind of keeping, it's your storefront. So think about it when you go to Target or any store, the front of the store changes for a reason. It's a psychological sales reason. They want to get you to pause at the front door.

Kevin Dennis (9:56.557)

Okay.

Kevin Dennis (10:9.762)

Mm-hmm.

So if we're changing it up, sometimes it can also just help with that. Like, oh, like I've been searching for this vendor for a while, especially if you're later in that funnel and they're looking at you like 47 times because you're not an early buying decision. Sometimes it can be kind of nice because it'll like bring them in like, oh, that's a new picture. And it makes them pause.

Hmm

Mmm.

Wow, okay. So I was thinking you were gonna say like every like couple months. So, but I think, know, twice a year is more than doable. So the fact that no one's doing it is silly on their part. especially because it sounds like the website, like you were saying, this is your store. This is like having, you know, for people that don't have a storefront, that is your storefront. And that's where they're gonna be on. You're walking them into your showroom, so to speak, at that point. And if it's not clean and not up to date, then.

Exactly.

Kevin Dennis (11:9.102)

They're gonna move on, sounds like.

Especially because there's a lot of options. I mean they can look at 20 different websites in a 30 minute time span so It's it's one of those things where when whenever we're buying the second you get a pause You're out. It's just a natural thing It's it's you know, and especially when you're spending tens of thousands of dollars on something the second you're like Maybe you're not gonna invest in that you're not gonna buy a maybe you buy a yes, not a maybe so if you're giving them a second of maybe

Yeah.

Mmm.

Mm-hmm.

Well, they're gonna go to someone who gave them a yes, like inside.

Yeah. All right, so we've swept the showroom and we got it all clean. I'm sorry, you can laugh at me all you want. My staff does it all time. But anyway, so we're ready to go. We got the website looking good. We've updated our photos a couple times throughout the year. Now where are today's couples going next?

Adrienna (12:7.062)

Yeah, so there's a few different things we can we can kind of dive into. So one is definitely going to be how can you utilize SEO strongly, and that's going to be through a really great blogging strategy. I feel like I'm hoping that people realize that blogging isn't like dead, especially in our industry, because they're going to be wanting to search and consume more information. So this is especially great, honestly, for any vendor, regardless of your venue, and you're the first book or you're like stationary, you're like six months in.

Mm-hmm.

But they're going to be doing, as we know, a lot of research, which means they have a lot of questions. so whenever we're thinking about like the online world, so everybody has hopefully at this point noticed that when you Google something, Reddit comes up really high. And I could talk about Reddit for about 75 hours. Reddit comes up, right? Google's algorithm is changing. It's prioritizing other people giving answers. It's just it's a whole.

Kevin Dennis (13:1.388)

Mm-hmm.

Adrienna (13:3.972)

whole vibe happening right now. And what it tells us is that people want answers to questions that aren't on every other platform, right? They want something that feels special to them, whether it's in their city, their price point, like we're seeing a really consistent thing in Reddit. So I'm in, you name the Reddit, I'm in it. I have a separate phone. I'm in Facebook groups. I'm in Discord channels. Like you name the forum, I'm in it. Like I'm creeping.

Mm-hmm.

And so I'm looking at all these questions they're asking and it really re-emphasizes for us as marketers how important your blog can be to answer those questions. Because if they're going to internet strangers, y'all, internet strangers to ask about what planner to hire, because they will ask that, we need to be better educating them. So I think we as the industry need to be better at being the ones to educate them, to move them forward to the decision-making process instead of them just.

Hehehehehe

hopefully going to Reddit and hoping that some internet stranger answers it for them. So really thinking about, okay, even if I'm blogging once a month, that's 12 questions, I want you to just think about what are 12 questions that I can be the expert and answer. And those become your blog posts. Now, of course, you know, more localized answers, right? You're not just going to be like answering anything generic. But even if it's just 12 commonly asked questions that you can answer, and then maybe use them in your sales funnel,

Mmm.

Like y'all, if you're getting the same question over and over again, why don't you have a blog or video that answers it for them? Like, you, yes. Like instead of, so when they're in that sales funnel, you can send them something and say, hey, I know at this point of the decision, you're wondering about how our album process works. Here's a little, you know, three minute video. It goes over how our albums work.

Especially video, right? Video's key, yes.

If no one else around you is doing that, they're gonna remember you. Remember, it's just like little touch points to make it merely memorable. So it's like, what can we be using your content for that you then use that on Instagram and you repurpose the heck out of it. But like, why are we not being the ones to be the expert in that sales funnel? Why are we letting them go to other places? So help control the narrative around it.

Kevin Dennis (15:3.413)

Mm-hmm.

It's funny you brought up Reddit because I went to a wedding conference at the end of last year and the Reddit was talked about a lot and it was something that I as a wedding professional never in a million years even thought about but then you know it and so we immediately started searching our company's name in there and we did find our name a couple times all positive thankfully but it was like in a million years like

Yes.

I never would have thought to creep in there and get in there and answer questions and be that person, but that's where they're going.

been a Redditor for 13 years. I've been in these groups for 13 years. Yeah, going on year 14 of being in these Facebook, in these Reddits. Yeah, once you find me on Reddit, you'll know who I am because I'm a lurker, man. I am 14 years of comments. But they are and it's and they've been doing it for 14 years. They've been doing it since I started in the industry. So this is nothing new. It's just we're at the stage where it's becoming more like searchable. So it's like they've been they've been in these Facebook groups talking about y'all.

Wow.

Hehehehehe

you

for the last decade. Y'all's names have been mentioned for decades, just no one realized it. And so now we gotta like utilize it as our market research.

Yeah.

Well, and it's interesting you bring that up because I go to Google for everything when I'm trying to find something and Reddit does come up now and you kick in there and you can find sometimes an answer to your questions through Reddit. I guess it's a feed or a post or whatever they call the thing. So it is really becoming, you I'm searching if you say, you you're Philly, right? So you were, you know, wedding planner in Philly. there's probably a million.

Mm-hmm.

wedding planner posts in Philly out there. Yeah.

100%. And I know so with Think Splendid stats that just came out because I bought them the second they came out. 18 % of luxury couples found a vendor through Reddit and 23 or Reddit or an online forum. 23 % of ultra luxury found a vendor through Reddit or an online forum. So it's like and that wasn't even really a stat like two years ago. So it's definitely taking off. My biggest tip for marketing on Reddit because this is usually that I get asked all the time is

Wow, that's a lot.

you can't really actually market on Reddit y'all because the minute they find out you're a vendor, they don't like you anymore. They don't want vendors, you have to be really, really, really careful with marketing on Reddit. So what I tell people because we've been testing things out over the last year, they don't like it's hard to be a vendor on Reddit and not get downloaded to oblivion. So what I tell people is for now,

Mm-hmm.

This might change in a year, but as of 2025, use Reddit as your market research and creep. Don't try to get clients off of there. Don't try to DM clients. Cause if you start messaging people on Reddit, the moderators will find out they will kick you out of that group. So just be really cautious. Cause in the last six months, vendors have infiltrated Reddit. So it used to be like, there were like six of us on there and we like had a little fan club. Now every Reddit, every vendors on Reddit, which is fine, but you can't really like

I know.

Kevin Dennis (18:4.366)

Hmm.

Mm-hmm.

I say use it as a market research only. See what questions they're asking, how you can answer that in a social media post. Like if you don't know what to post on Instagram today, go to Reddit, find a question, answer it. There's your Instagram post. Like use it as your content machine. That's what like I, y'all my secret sauce for content, people have asked me for the last decade, Adriana, how do you have so many ideas for content? And the answer was always Reddit. And now everybody knows my secret. The answer is Reddit.

Oh, that's easy.

Mm-hmm. I don't know.

When we don't know what to write about, we go to Reddit, we find a question and we answer it. So do that. Yeah.

That's it. Well, I mean, it's, simple. And that's the thing is like some of us that have been around a long time, we have the answers to all these questions that they're out there searching. Yeah. And so we just got to get in front of them in a certain way. All right. So social media where, where are we? I mean, we've talked about like TikTok possibly leading our world, which is so many people crying in tears, but with that said, like our company gets more action on Instagram than we do at a TikTok. So where, where

Exactly.

where the 25 couples come in with social media.

Yeah, so I mean, Instagram will always be a tried and true wedding thing, especially, you know, we don't know what obviously any other platform is going to be doing in a week. So Instagram, the biggest thing with Instagram is, I mean, obviously the biggest complaint we hear because we've managed a lot of accounts is, you know, last year, obviously, engagement is hard. So the biggest thing with Instagram that we need to remember is we need to be considering it as more about engagement and less about followers. we have

Mm-hmm.

clients with crazy engagement who have under 5,000 followers. Like your number of followers does not mean how many clients you book off of it. And it does not mean how engaged your audience is. Your engagement is what matters. And what I mean by that are people commenting, are they liking your posts? Are they sharing your posts? And that's all information that you can get inside of the analytics if you have like a business or creator account. So if you don't have that yet, you should just go do it now because if you don't know how people are engaging with your content, you don't know what works.

Mm.

The biggest thing with Instagram that we've seen that increase engagement because that's like our number one goal is engagement. Like followers are cool. I want them engaging and paying you money. That's what like I'm you know, really concerned about as a marketer is yeah, it's like I'm like, want them to pay you money like follower accounts cool, but that's not gonna pay the bills. A few things first, obviously video. I mean, I know it's been a broken record. My biggest thing for video though is invest in having some kind of content creator.

Mm-hmm. We are.

get behind the scenes of you guys this year. Because if you don't have great video, social media managers like me can't make magic. So if it's like really bad lighting, not great video, I'm not gonna post it because it's not gonna get you engagement. Like look at your feed and you're gonna see everything is shot even on an iPhone in like 4K now. So my biggest thing around that because the number one thing is, well, I don't have time on the wedding day. I know, hire someone.

Kevin Dennis (21:4.172)

Mm-hmm.

Hmm.

There are content creators in every single city that do this. I have one on my team that does this like have them come in for a few hours on a few of your biggest weddings the ones where you know you're gonna get good stuff and get transformation video before after before and after those perform time and time again regardless of what kind of vendor you are. You're a DJ, empty dance floor, grandma raging, hair and makeup before after like before and afters like piece of cake right you get like 30 second clip before 30 second after so

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Consider investing and having a content creator or someone who you know that's good at iPhone video and getting some high quality video that you can repurpose. The second thing with video is the good news is that doesn't have to be long. Our best performing is anywhere from eight to 12 seconds are our best performing reels. So if you have like two minutes of content on a wedding day, that's, I don't know, a billion reels. Like I can't math, but like that's a lot.

Mm-hmm.

You don't have to have hours of content. I'm not telling you to just stand there for hours. I'm saying get a few minutes and then break it down into like 10 second little clips. When it comes to what other stuff gets really good engagement, definitely carousel posts, single posts, just don't do it. Just do a carousel at this point. There's no reason not to share more than 10 images. Most accounts have more than 10 images. Some of our clients don't yet, but it's...

like one of those rollout features. eventually you should have up to 20. So do carousels. Another thing that works really well is vendor collaboration posts. I know they're the hardest to get. Like I know you trying to get all the vendors to cross post it, especially my photographers. Y'all are so concerned about the feed that you get nervous that the post won't be perfect. I know it takes a, know, us talking to people, but your collaboration posts.

Kevin Dennis (23:4.195)

Hmm.

I mean, the engagement will be through the roof because you're automatically in front of multiple audiences, especially if you can get in a venue is one. Anytime we can collaborate with a venue, it's like, whoo, skyrocket. Cause they have typically the most engaged audiences. Yeah. Are the venues.

Mm-hmm.

Bigger things. Yeah. It's when you said about the main thing, it's like most of the time when I'm meeting with clients and they're at a venue, like, you following their Instagram? Okay. That's a great way to see what we can and can't do out there. You know, like what's a great way. And I pushed them there as well. So yeah.

Yeah. And then my last kind of piece for Instagram of what to spend your time on is stories. Instagram stories have higher engagement pretty much than any other thing you're gonna do right now, even reels for a lot of people. It's not just, it's so statistically Instagram has said multiple times over the last year that Gen Z prefer stories. I mean, it makes sense. It's the swiping, it's fast, right? Like they're not, like, I mean, but even me, I'm a millennial.

Kevin Dennis (24:2.189)

Mmm.

Kevin Dennis (24:7.927)

Mm-hmm.

Mmm.

And I'm never in the feed anymore. I'm in the stories.

Yeah, I'm very, and I'm older than you and I'm very ever in the feed. I'm on stories and I'll go for it. Yeah. Sometimes I just get stuck.

Exactly. And, and the engagement is better because I for some reason for me, and maybe this is just a me, I don't feel as nervous when I reply to a story than when I comment. I don't know why, like when I comment on someone post, it feels like weirdly permanent. But when I like DM someone like, Oh my god, love that. Like that opened up a conversation that didn't feel as heavy. And I think it's kind of just has to do with like our society as a whole of like, like we don't want to like

Mmm.

Mm-hmm.

We don't want to come outside our bubble. I don't know. Instagram stories though, it's just such an easy thing. Try to make it a pillar to like post a few a week and don't be scared to show like behind the scenes and yourself. Like I don't think we, we know that couples tend to gravitate towards people that they feel comfortable with and how are they going to feel comfortable with you if they've never seen you or your face or your team?

Yeah, we hired a brand manager for our company, for my fantasy sound company. And basically I joked that we pay her to make fun of me. it's, it's so, it's funny. I've never had so many people go, what are you guys doing next? What do guys do? know, they want to know what we're working on and we've done all kinds of crazy things. And we just keep trying. We keep coming up with ideas and she's got one that she's working on right now.

But it works!

about being the most interesting man in the wedding, you know, in the wedding. But she used like, she used AI to get that voice from the commercial and we kind of mimic the commercial. mean, but people aren't eating this stuff up and you can't, you know, so it's like we're letting, I joke, I call it our freak flag, but we're letting our freak flag fly a little bit, but also being serious and we started some series and done different things, but we found the video engagement is just through the roof.

100%.

It's not even, even, like we still do the posts, you know, like, and then you were saying you do carousel because we still do single photo posts. I'm going to recommend to her, let's do some carousel posts. Um, you know, cause it sounds like, again, the people that are on the feed, they're going to want to see more. So crazy.

Mm-hmm. They want to swipe and no, but it's so true. I mean just it's the more they can see you and in your team if you have a team The more they can connect and the easier it is to sell to them because they already have some common ground with you There is no like like even for me. I post my breakfast. It's same toast I've had for over a decade. I've had the same breakfast literally the exact same breakfast like and I started doing it as a joke people have sent me

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Kevin Dennis (27:3.054)

Mm-hmm.

Adrienna (27:9.178)

toasters. People have sent me things with toast on it. People will message me if I don't have toast. Literally, they will message me and be like, Where's your toast pick? So like, it sounds funny. But how many of those people have become clients is insane. Because again, it's like relatable. It's just about being relatable and fun. So I love Instagram stories. And I know that for all clients that you do it more. Yeah, you said it's just great engagement.

Oh my god.

Yeah, you know, it just makes me, some of the stuff that people come up with is just genius because it's fun. I mean, like you said, you get to know a side of someone that you don't normally, know, they're so straight-laced, but we see them at weddings and so, but then they let their guard down and it just brings the human side as well. So yeah, it's funny too, because I'm a big basketball. I've seasoned tickets to Sacramento Kings. I love basketball. And I had a bride this last summer that was a warrior girl.

Yeah.

100%.

Kevin Dennis (28:2.254)

actually picked me to DJ her wedding, even though it was the wrong team, but she knew I loved basketball, and that's how we connected. And she even brought it up during her thank you speech at the wedding. So it was totally, because I didn't even know it until we did her final meeting. She's like, well, so we're going to be doing a performance. And she went through the whole thing. And I'm like, oh my god, I'm a Kings fan, and I love basketball. So that's why I picked you. And it was that aha moment.

that letting, know, just letting myself out there really, and showing all sides of yourself, was, you know, got me the game over someone else.

100 % like you said it's just a memorable thing when they were comparing you to someone else because they're gonna have more than one option they went oh wait like I love seeing them online I love seeing like that you know like it gets it it can be something that small that again makes a booking and makes money just by being you

Uh huh.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah. Yeah. All right. What are we not talked about? Because I feel like we've gone a long way, where? Leave us down another road.

Adrienna (29:5.282)

two more things I would like to discuss with you today. So first is when we're thinking about platforms, since we're on the platform train, you're probably like, okay, well then Adriana, where else should I be? Right, we have our web link, we have our blog, we have our Instagram, TikTok, TVD, don't know where it's gonna go. The other platform that I would recommend because there's so many, but honestly, the only other platform that I think would be worth it other than like doing a newsletter funnel, but that's again, totally different strategy, doesn't need to be on people's radar right away.

Kevin Dennis (29:6.446)

Alright, let's go. Alright, let's go.

Pinterest always hot always confused when I am starting a new client and there's only three people for me to compete with because I'm like I can dominate this keyword because I have 47 of you on Instagram and I have three of you on Pinterest like easy peasy Easy peasy. I guarantee in your city your competition is a third or fourth of what you have on Instagram I have yet to find a single city Where it's not that like at all it is

Hmm.

Mmm.

Hmm.

Kevin Dennis (30:3.660)

Wow.

Adrienna (30:6.016)

Some reasons still untapped cannot for the life of me figure out if you have a blogging strategy, do Pinterest, point blank. If you don't have a blogging strategy, Pinterest isn't for you, just not a good ROI, just don't worry about it, focus on Instagram and video, totally fine. If you have a blogging strategy and you're like, I'm putting blogs in the ether and no one's reading them, it's for a few reasons. One, maybe it's not really done SEO wise or two, Google is more likely to show stuff when it has.

Hmm.

like powerful signals, right? It's gonna be like, oh, it's posted on Pinterest. It's posted in an Instagram bio. it wants to see these connections. And Pinterest is like the easiest way for you to like make a connection of being like, I'm an expert in this topic, is posting on Pinterest. Cause you're already making images and already have content. So Pinterest, if you have a blog, really consider a strong Pinterest strategy. It's literally SEO with pictures. Like it's a hundred percent the exact same strategy.

Mmm.

Hmm.

Kevin Dennis (31:0.045)

Mm-hmm.

Adrienna (31:2.446)

you keyword the title, you keyword the description, you keyword the images, you post it. Like it is very similar. If you're comfortable with that type of strategy, hands down, our clients are like, how did my business blow up? And I'm like, blogging and Pinterest is how your business blow up. It's nothing to do with Instagram. So definitely untapped potential for probably everybody listening.

Well, that's funny because Pinterest came out, I remember going to conferences and it was, I mean, I wanna date myself, but it probably, even 10 years ago, they were like, you need to be on Pinterest, you need to be on Pinterest. And it's funny that it's still on top.

It's and you know, it's it's so crazy to me too because I was I remember when I first had Pinterest I had it was when you had a request you had to be like a blogger and you had a request so back in my day when I was you know working in retail I thought I was like a bridal influencer before it was a thing. I was a blogger So I had a blog I talked about weddings, right? I like a wedding blog and I remember getting my Pinterest like acceptance and being like I've officially made it. Thank you

Oh, yes. Yeah. Yeah.

Kevin Dennis (32:1.966)

You

Adrienna (32:3.650)

And like it grew, it grew our retail shop. Like we had people coming in the door through Pinterest and it's like a decade later and it's still people are always like, are you sure? And I'm like, very rarely in very few situations do we not suggest it. It's just an easy add on with blogging. a really great, is it time consuming? Of course, like any platform. But if you're already writing the blogs, adding that extra like 30 minutes a week will, can be a game changer for you.

Mmm.

I love it. So we gotta be on Pinterest. Because everyone else is not. Yeah.

I think so, because nobody else is. So you might as well join me on there.

Alright, what's the next one?

So the last kind of thing, and it's kind of has to do with marketing, but it also has to do with like consumer behavior because it's just, it's a soap box that I would like to be on if you don't mind. We need to have, especially because of Reddit. So this is really coming up because, okay, y'all need to be price transparent. Cause if you're not, the couples are gonna control the pricing narrative of the industry. So the reason I'm saying that is in the last like six months,

I'm on it. Let's go.

Kevin Dennis (33:5.890)

Mm-hmm.

Couples, I don't wanna out certain things. I have to be really careful so I don't make Reddit mad. Couples, it just, like, yeah. Couples have spreadsheets and websites that they are crowdsourcing vendor pricing on. For venues, there's a specific one where I can find literally even the rits. Like we're talking like all price points of venues.

Okay.

Mm-hmm.

If I wanna know what one of the top photographers in the world is charging right now, I know exactly what spreadsheet to look at because it's living on Reddit. It's living in these Facebook groups. We can't gatekeep pricing anymore because, so a few weeks, I actually was talking to Megan Ealy about this a few weeks ago. So a few weeks ago, I do know, I know you love Battlestar Galactica, which my husband got me into years and years ago.

Oh my gosh, okay.

That's my sister. I don't know if you know that she were related. Okay. right. Yeah.

Adrienna (34:4.930)

I sent her a TikTok a few weeks ago, hopefully not RIP TikTok, but a girl who's planning a wedding in Chicago posted the list of all the photographers she was looking at and their pricing. And some of the vendors were like, that's outdated pricing. And she's like, well, I got it from your website. So I don't know what to tell you. And people blew up. And the comments were couples being like, thank you for sharing. I'm adding it to my spreadsheet. And some vendors were smart and were like, hey, yeah, that's my pricing. That's exactly what I charge.

Yeah.

It's not a secret anymore, guys. Your pricing is not a secret. It shouldn't be. If you're trying to market in today's day and age, and you don't have pricing, it's going to be really hard for me to do my job because I know for a fact, you're going to miss out on inquiries. So it's like you could pay me all the money in the world, you could pay ads, all the money in the world. But if we're not controlling the pricing narrative, it's kind of like, well, what's the point? So price transparency is just kind of has to happen because if not, I'll know where to find your pricing online, which means

No. No.

Adrienna (35:3.992)

your couples know, which means it might be outdated.

Kevin Dennis (35:6.776)

So with that said, where's the big trend to do ranges or just be out there? Like, is that still a thing or like, okay, so having that on your website is good.

Oh yeah, of course.

Oh yeah.

Yeah, the biggest thing is they just want to know ranges like they literally don't need it like because I know you can't quote them like so for example when you outsource to me it could be $500 it could be $15,000 like I got a huge gambit just like you do ranges so I recommend average price per spend for certain people. So for stationary we work with a lot of stationary clients and I'm like do a price per spend like our average couple spends $100 per person for an elevated day of paper experience. It's 150 per person. They just want to know

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Hmm.

are you in their price point? And even in our big budget couple subreddits, like there's a subreddit called bigbudgetbrides, and they will say the word budget. I have a $1.2 million budget, I'm looking for a venue. Like someone recently posted, they had $600,000 venue budget, okay? And they use the word budget because they're not, not unlike, like they're not like us, like just because they have lots of money, right? They said, I'm looking for a venue, $600,000 buyout budget.

Kevin Dennis (36:6.862)

Wow. Yeah. Yeah.

And they went to Reddit to look for it because they couldn't find the pricing online. And they were like, someone please tell me I can afford this. And the answer is, imagine if you were a venue, you'd be like, yeah, you can buy out my venue. So it's, yeah, like exactly. Like you want the next month, like that's fine. So exactly, like they're using it to crowdsource too. So averages is fine. Like they just want to know, you 400,000 or 600,000? You a thousand or five, like averages, totally fine.

plan.

Yeah. How many days?

They don't want you to give them exact pricing. They just wanna know if you're affordable in their price point, that's it.

And so, okay, so as a vendor having ranges or what should we be doing to help drive the narrative to keep it, you know, more like not being like that one person that was like, Oh, that's my outdated. You know, like what's a good, something that, you know, wedding vendor could do with this information.

Adrienna (37:8.108)

Yeah, so just make sure it has like on your your website like your price point ranges so an average couple You know our photography averages, you know six to eight thousand giving them some kind of like Range I tend to I I prefer ranges or averages versus starting at because we all know the starting at is not usually what they end up paying I think you know, so I say no starting at I say averages and like

Mm-mm.

No.

Be strategic with it too, because the biggest thing when it comes to pricing, so I'll use a photographer, because they always wanna be at certain price points. So photographers, it's like, okay, I wanna start booking $15,000 packages, but I'm actually only booking 10. Okay, on your website, because we don't wanna be too low that a planner won't refer us, we don't wanna be too high, right? It's also that money game with your planners. Anyone who works in the higher end space know too low can be bad, just like too high can be bad.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Kevin Dennis (38:1.058)

Mm-hmm.

Adrienna (38:2.392)

So we'll kind of, know, mathematically think, okay, you wanna be 15, you're at 10. We're gonna say your range is like nine to 13 or 10 to 14. Like we're gonna give them enough that someone who's higher isn't gonna think you're too cheap and someone lower isn't gonna think you're too expensive. So that's why I tend to like ranges for a lot of people just because it kind of gives them that nice little like bubble.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

I know when I go to a website when I'm like shopping for myself, I love to get a range. It's, all right, you get a real idea how much this clumber is gonna cost to spend, you know? Yeah.

Exactly. know, they're couples know it's going to be custom quoted, but they just want to know if you're, if you're even in their conversation. And I think it just also has to do with younger generations don't want to get on the phone with us. So they're only going to get on the phone or a video if they like, at least know you're in their range. Like no one wants to hop on a call and be told they can't afford you. Like nobody wants that.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-mm.

Kevin Dennis (39:1.944)

Yeah. Well, I feel like you're doing your, the consumer service, but you're also doing yourself a service without having to respond to all these inquiries if they're not in your wheelhouse. Yeah.

Adrienna (39:9.646)

Mm-hmm.

100%. Like it's, you you want inquiries that are better fit. So if we don't have somewhat of a range and then you can send them a more detailed stuff later, but at least give them some kind of general, I average this, you cool. Yes, no. Yeah. You want to be my friend? Yes or no.

Yeah, yeah. we cool? Yeah. Remember, you said, well, I'm older than you, but you send little notes. You you go out with me, yes or no, and you send it over to the girl. That's kind of what they're doing. Yep. Yeah. Yeah. And that's how goes. All right. So now with all this information, what do you think a wedding vendor needs to like?

Yes, like a little letter. Like that's all we want is you just want to know are we going to be friends or not? If not, it's fine.

know, everything, I mean, this is all amazing stuff that you talked about today. So where do we go from here? I guess is the biggest thing.

Adrienna (40:2.018)

Yeah. Okay. So your first step is you're going to Google yourself and you're going to see what comes up. You're going to see, you on Reddit? Are you on any other platform? And does anything look outdated? Super simple. It'll take you two minutes. Your second step is I want you to take a look at your website. I want to make sure it's working really well for you, especially if you're doing strategies that like we talked about today where we're driving them to your website. Please do not have that be the reason you don't book them, especially when it's like

Kevin Dennis (40:6.893)

DOOM

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

100 % in your hands. This isn't like an uncontrollable algorithm, right? Like this is something you physically like you own. So check your website. I want you to make sure, know, do I have up-to-date images? Do I have pricing? Is my branding consistent visually? So that way when they're coming off of all these other platforms, they're like, okay, this is the same person. And then I want you to think about when it comes to your social media strategy. So for Instagram, okay.

Do I need to hire someone for some weddings this year so I can get some content? And then what are ways that I can incorporate stories or some kind of more personal mementos in there? So that way I'm really connecting with the audience because I think that's gonna be such a big part of the differentiators. Like whenever we think about all the youngins coming into the industry, because like we get older and they get younger, the reason a lot of times they're killing it, yeah.

Hmm.

Yeah.

Younger No, we get older our clients. Yeah, our clients stay the same age. Yeah, we just get up. Yeah

Exactly, that's it. The reason they're usually killing it is because they're just, their face is there 24 seven. So I'm not saying you have to be there 24 seven, but even if you're on once a week, what are ways that you can interact more with your audience?

Yeah, I mean someone that kind of went through this process starting in June of last year like it was hard at first but now it's like I look for things to record and I don't care if I look fat in the video anymore. don't worry, you know, I just I am who I am and people gotta love me the way am and people that like me are gonna connect with me, you know, if they like what they hear. So anyway, yep.

Adrienna (42:4.259)

Mm-hmm.

100%.

Kevin Dennis (42:8.908)

I think you left out another important step. I got to hire you because I think you are absolutely amazing. So that's the last step. going to move on to step. Yes. By the way. All right. So I mean, we went over all the tips. Something that I like to do when we get to the end is I always like to ask my guests, favorite app that you're using right now.

Yes, hire me and I'll do it all for you. You don't have to do it anymore.

in a world of weddings, we all love apps. So what's your favorite app you're going to? Other than TikTok because it may be going away and dying. Yeah, other than Reddit, because it sounds like you're on that a lot as well.

Wait, you mean other than TikTok?

Okay, okay. Okay, so I would say if I if I had to get if I couldn't have a wreck as it would have been. Honestly, I love threads. I think threads is like a really, I love the wedding industry on threads. Everyone's way nicer on threads than they are at Instagram. I don't know what it is about it. I feel like my algorithm understands me really well on threads too. So that is my like

Mmm.

Mmm.

And I don't use it for market research, surprisingly. Like it's the only app where I am not in the wedding world. And for me, that's kind of, I love that. Like I like having one space where I'm not wedding focused. And I'm just talking about books and music with other vendors. So I love threads.

Mmm.

And that's it's a VIMS take to go after Elon Musk, right? Okay. I don't know. He's got too much money, that guy. anyway, if you, I live in California and like, literally every other car on the road out here in California is a Fasten Off South East. Yeah.

Yes, trying to take him down one little thread at a time. We'll see.

Oh yeah, I bet. I saw a Cybertruck for the first time like two months ago and I was like, I don't know what's happening. I never saw one out here. guess, I mean in Philly maybe there's more, but I was driving through Philly and it was like, oh, there's a Cybertruck. hadn't seen one of those in Wisconsin. Yeah.

Oh, really? Oh, yeah.

Kevin Dennis (44:3.150)

They're the ugliest thing you'll ever see in your entire life. Yeah. And it's funny too, because my 10 year old daughter hates Tesla and this is what she does to it. I think that you see Tesla, which is that it's her. I'm sure you figured out what that is. And I'm a bad dad because I love you. I'm like, oh, you may want to give your salute to one of those stars over there. That's what we say. So anyway. All right. So how do we get in contact with you? How do people find you?

Oh.

Yes, I love that.

salute to Tesla.

hire you, all the above.

Yes, you can come find me at Ava and the B.com. I'm in the Instagrams on the daily with my story. So come tell me your favorite breakfast food. Hop in my DMs at Ava and the B and we would love to help you guys out.

All right, sounds good. All right, well, can't thank you enough because this was actually, I feel like I learned as we go, you know, I'm learning from you as we go through this and I'm like, all right, I got some things I need to do. Check some things off the list. You just gave me more things to do. So as we go into 2025, but the pink, it is like the Reddit and the Pinterest are the two things that I was like, okay, I need to go get a Reddit and I need to get our staff focused on Pinterest again.

Adrienna (45:4.228)

But it's a good list. It's a good list.

Yes, I love that.

All right. Thank you so much having you here. Also, folks, don't forget to love us, like us, review us on all the platforms. We'd love to hear that as well. So I can't thank you enough for being here, and we'll see everyone next time.