The average wedding now costs close to $27k in the United States. That cost is what’s currently driving a huge boom in companies intending to capitalize on catering to rings, flowers, photography, and more for the bride and groom. Internships across the wedding marketplace are growing as a result of an increase in the availability of professional opportunities in that field. Some of the most lucrative specialties are in wedding photography and videography.
Couples are seeking higher and stricter standards of customization to help the biggest occasion of their lives feel special. As a result, more companies are swooping in on opportunities to appeal to the expensive tastes of their consumers.
People have grown increasingly aware of the importance of how they present their wedding day to others. The use of a well-timed photo to capture the bonds between two people in wedding photography has taken off along with wedding videography as two huge markets making opulent offers to couples. So what’s an internship in any of these two industries like? What traits are they looking for and how can you get better acquainted if your interests lie in photography or video shoots.
Artistic Creativity
Taking the right photo at the right time is a painstaking, time-consuming, and creative process all at once. That’s the kind of artistic creativity that’s involved in capturing or even creating the right scenes for these special moments during a wedding. It’s like taking a picture of a thunderbolt smashing into the ground or the breaching of a humpback whale out of the ocean. It happens very fast and the moment often slips through with a natural spontaneity.
Naturally, wedding studios doing video and photography work are prioritizing those who have the talent to capture those moments. One of the best ways to get better at this type of creativity is to train your focus. Your ability to be creative and pick up the warning signals that the figurative “Titanic slamming into an iceberg moment” happens will increase by a large margin if you work on your concentration.
Networking
This part is similar to most other jobs. You’ll have to know your way around the industry a bit if you want to get into a position like an internship. In a marketplace where anybody can buy a decent video camera or recorder, it will become harder to distinguish yourself against the flood of competition. The people in the business will need to favor you or have some big reason to recruit you. That’s why learning networking will be incredibly important.
So where do you start in the wedding marketplace? Well, you’ll want to see if there are any immediate opportunities around you. Are any of your siblings or people in your extended family planning or having their wedding soon? Try to see if you can get invited and then make some introductions to the people doing the photography and video work as a way to get your first leads or contacts.
You’ll need a stronger foothold than just a few people. Even if no one in your immediate or extended family is planning anything big, services like LinkedIn will be your friend when it comes down to setting that network up.
Marketing
It’s a bit strange, but having a strong background in being able to market and present yourself will be incredibly useful for you both in the present for securing an internship and in the future for securing potential clients.
Marketing actually intersects a little bit with networking in how it can enhance your chances. Networking tips for getting into a good marketing internship mirror the initiatives you’ll need to take as someone looking for an internship in the wedding marketplace. Marketing yourself your personal social channels, sending high quality communication, or pitching, they’re all essential skills you need to develop anyways in pursuit of a career in the wedding marketplace.
As cliche as it sounds, a large part of the chance of landing that internship boils down to the elements we discussed: artistic creativity, networking, and marketing. You need the skills, the connections, and the ability to present yourself. The summer is getting into full swing and along with it are many opportunities to nab that dream internship. What will you be doing then?
