The team over at SLR Lounge, a photography community and educational website, has launched a new directory for wedding photographers called Wedding Maps. Like other wedding directories, Wedding Maps brings together award winning photographers from all around the world, providing a platform for showcasing their work and entering contests for prestigious awards. Unlike other directories, however, the new platform aims to directly attract brides and grooms by providing information and inspiration for wedding venues around the world. In the following article, we’ll provide an overview of how Wedding Maps works.
How Does Wedding Maps Work?
The Problem: The typical bride or groom often starts their wedding planning journey by researching wedding venues. They browse sites like Wedding Wire, the Knot, Wedding Spot and more to find information on capacity, pricing, venue restrictions and more. The problem is that the images on these directory listings are provided by the wedding venues and are often outdated and underwhelming. They are often limited to the images the venue coordinator has rights to use or the images that she or he has handy at the time of completing the listing.
The Solution: The Wedding Maps solution is to bring together the best wedding photographers from around the world and have them submit their best images from each of the wedding venues listed. This lets the bride and groom see the full potential of each wedding venue, including the of artistic and creative opportunities available. The goal of Wedding Maps is to provide a centralized hub for the best photos from each wedding photography venue and location.
What’s in it for the photographer? The photographer is rewarded for their participation when the bride or groom discovers their work while browsing the venue listings. Essentially, the photographer becomes part of the wedding couples’ planning journey.
What Else Does Wedding Maps Offer?
In addition, Wedding Maps offers information that other websites and platforms do not, making it a one-of-a-kind solution in a crowded market. In the following section, we’ll review some of those features.
Engagement and Elopement Locations
In particular, Wedding Maps also lists the best Engagement (or pre wedding) Photography locations. This is useful for brides who want to see the full range of photo opportunities in a specific area. Wedding Maps also offers Elopement photography locations for brides and grooms looking for a more low key (often times free) wedding location.
Why don’t other directories and websites offer this information? Engagement and Elopement location information is not something that other directories offer, mainly because these locations are often national and state parks or public locations that don’t have an owner looking to pay for a listing in a directory. Simply put, directories don’t make money by listing these locations, so they often times do not. With a photographer-first approach, Wedding Maps is able to provide this insider information for those looking for it.
Wedding Tips and Inspiration
Wedding Maps also provides wedding planning tips and information for brides and grooms that answer common questions about a variety of wedding topics. These range from cultural wedding guides to insider tips for having the best possible celebration.
And of course, these planning resources showcase the images submitted by their photographers, linking back to the profiles and leading to additional discovery opportunties for their wedding photographers. Again, the purpose is for the photographers to be a part of the wedding planning journey.
Wedding Photography Community and Tips
Wedding Maps also provides a community for their wedding photographers. This is a place for positive interaction and inspiration. It’s also a place to connect with other photographers for shooting and networking opportunities.
How to Join Wedding Maps
Wedding Maps is open to photographers who demonstrate the following:
- Creativity
- Technical Mastery
- Storytelling and Photojournalism skills
- A client centric approach
- At least 3 years of experience
To join, fill out an application on the Wedding Maps website here.
