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Ep. 164 How to Get Visible and Stay on Trend with Wed Vibes Founders, Daria & Alina
37 Plays3 days ago
In this episode of Get a Heck Yes, I’m thrilled to welcome the powerhouse duo behind the popular wedding blog Wed Vibes—Daria and Alina! As trailblazers in the wedding industry, they’ve built Wed Vibes into an incredible resource that highlights trends, celebrates love stories, and empowers wedding professionals to stand out in an ever-competitive market.
We dive deep into:
🎉 The story behind Wed Vibes and what inspired Daria and Alina to create their wedding blog empire.
💍 The top wedding trends for 2024 you need to know about!
📣 Actionable tips for wedding pros to boost visibility and attract their dream clients.
✨ How storytelling and authenticity are game-changers in marketing your business.
Whether you’re a seasoned wedding professional or just starting out, this episode is packed with inspiration and strategies to help you thrive.
What You’ll Learn:
- Why staying on top of trends matters—and how to do it effortlessly.
- The secrets to getting your work featured on major blogs like Wed Vibes.
- Simple ways to leverage social media and blogging to elevate your brand.
Daria and Alina share golden nuggets from their years of experience, so don’t miss this insider conversation!
Links & Resources:
- Follow Wed Vibes: https://www.instagram.com/wed_vibes/https://wedvibes.media
- Free Resource: Wedding Trends for 2025
Let’s Connect:
- Follow me on Instagram: @carissawoo @carissawoophotography
- Make passive income http://bit.ly/passiveincomecarissa
🎧 Tune in and get ready to Get a Heck Yes!
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to Passive Income for Wedding Pros
00:00:00
Speaker
Welcome back to Get a Heck Yes. I have a new program for wedding pros to make income without booking more weddings. It's called Passive Income. The past four years in the digital space has led me to this amazing opportunity that I want to share with all of you. It's changed my life and I'm living a life of freedom. I'll link it up in the bio. The video, it's about 10 minutes long and this video could change the trajectory of your life.
Meet Alina and Daria from Wed Vibes
00:00:27
Speaker
So today's episode is extra special because we are joined by the amazing team behind Wed Vibes, Alina and Daria. Wed Vibes is literally the top wedding blog in the world. So today we're diving into the hottest wedding trends and more importantly, how you wedding pros can stand out and get visible online. So if you're ready to elevate your brand and attract your dream clients, this episode is a must listen.
00:00:55
Speaker
And yeah, go to their IG, Wed dash-vibes, and download their two 2025 wedding trends reports. It's 127 pages of glory. So yeah, tune in. It's a good one.
Carissa Wu: Photographer and Coach
00:01:14
Speaker
Welcome to Get a Heck Yes with Carissa Wu. I'm your host, Carissa, and I've been a Los Angeles wedding photographer for over a decade. I've traveled the world, built my team, and seen it all. I now coach wedding photographers hit 10K a month and build a thriving business. In this podcast, we are going to deep dive into how top wedding creatives get that heck yes from their dream clients. We are not holding back on the struggles of the business and how to push through the noise, some healthy hustle, mindset shifts, upleveling your money story, time hacks because I'm a mom of two, a little bit of woo woo, and most importantly, self-love and confidence are just a few of the many things we will talk about. I want to give you a genuine thank you for following along my journey. I hope to inspire you every Woo Wednesday so that you say heck yes to listening to this podcast. See you guys soon.
Focus on Wedding Trends and Visibility
00:02:06
Speaker
Hey, everyone. Welcome back to Get a Heck Yes. I'm your host, Carissa Wu, sales coach and wedding insider, industry insider. Today, I'm thrilled to have two special guests from Wedvise, one of the top wedding blogs inspiring couples and showcasing the best in the business. We're going to be diving into all things wedding trends,
00:02:26
Speaker
tips for getting featured on top blogs and how to elevate your visibility as a wedding pro. Whether you're a wedding vendor or looking to grow your brand, there's going to be so many golden nuggets today. So welcome Daria and welcome Alina to Get a Heck Yes. What's up, girlies?
00:02:44
Speaker
Hi, how are you? I agree. So thank you for having us. It's a huge honor to yeah to be here with you today.
Daria's Journey and Passion
00:02:52
Speaker
Yay. It's all my honor. But Daria has to catch a flight in 45 minutes. So we're going to have Jan packed full of golden nuggets. But I'll start with you Daria. In a nutshell, tell me who you are.
00:03:05
Speaker
Okay, such a profound question. I would say that I'm a huge nerd. I used to be ah still ashamed of this fact, but today, living in Palo Alto, surrounded by my fellow nerds, I'm embracing this fact. I'm the lover of the facts, lover of the marketing. In general, I love ah beautiful things. I love to travel. I'm an an immigrant ah building a new life in a new country and it's such a fascinating journey here. So in a nutshell, that's me. Yay! And you're from Russia and today you're gonna talk nerdy to me. I'm super excited. yeah the life The life is unpredictable. Alina, tell everyone who you are.
Alina's Hollywood Dreams
00:03:51
Speaker
All right, ah I'm also Russian and I moved to the US five years ago because I pursued some dream of mine and I wanted to cheer in my career and work in Hollywood, which I never did.
00:04:03
Speaker
ah However, I ended up in the wedding industry. But for my entire life, I did marketing. So I would say that I'm a girl boss. I can convert consumer needs into money. So I'm not really creative and artistic in the way late people in the wedding industry perceive that. But I'm artistic in how to shape the deck, how to negotiate the deal, and how to understand ah someone's needs and give it what they want and make some profit.
00:04:33
Speaker
that's interesting that you say that you're like, you're, you're the brain, creative brains in a different way. She's an artist and yeah, in a way how she does business. Yeah. Well, we need you. There's different styles of creativity. my Totally. Oh my God. That ah that could be a book right in there. Well, thank you for sharing. I'm going to dig a little bit deeper. um Let's start with Daria. What were you like as a kid growing up? Anything you want to share? Any these stories you want to share that shaped you as a person today?
Childhood Stories and Ambitions
00:05:03
Speaker
I know that's a long-winded question. I can tell Daria's story because she has a lot to share. and yeah
00:05:11
Speaker
go ahead.
00:05:14
Speaker
ah ah Okay, yeah, I will try and do my best. And maybe Alina will also highlight something. Yeah, because once again, she is being so kind in highlighting my achievements in life and helping me as well, not only our partners, clients, et etc, to look at myself from a different perspective. i was right So ah I used to be the professional ah synchronized swimmer, so my childhood looked, I would say, kind of similar to my life today in terms of
00:05:47
Speaker
ah Every day I spend so many hours pursuing some of my dreams. I really wanted to be the Olympic ah gold medalist. Life changed so quickly ah but still I think it shaped me as a person in terms of how I'm very passionate passionate about what I do all this and if I don't feel i like it I'm very I'm never, I would say, um, I will never get excuses about for my life. If I don't like something, I'm ah very unapologetic. I will like change my way and I will just turn it down. Yeah. So I'm very passionate about what I do and I'm dedicated and I'm huge workaholic, which is good and a bad thing, but we're not going to dig into that.
00:06:37
Speaker
I really believe it was one of the reasons I'm here, like whatever I am right now. So but sometimes it's a bad thing, of course. Yeah, so I think your sport, ah like childhood determined your approach to life.
00:06:52
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. That's true. That's true. Yeah. So this is my story. And I always was as a kid, i ah especially with my trauma, I started watching lots of movies. That's why I quit my sport. I started watching a lot of movies, of course, American movies, because what else are you going to watch? And I got fascinated with the whole U.S. dream and that you can become anyone here, anyone you always this wanted to be.
00:07:20
Speaker
And I truly believe that here today ah we are blessed in terms that we can work with the whole world. wow Like you said, like today with like yes we're in in a different cities, but still we have an opportunity to chat with you.
00:07:36
Speaker
right And this is the beautiful thing that we can write. Mine and Alina's everyday life is filled with her calls with Australia, I don't know, Wisconsin, and New Zealand, China, would say you name it. And this is the yeah the perfect opportunity we have here. Wow, wow, wow, wow. Oh, it totally. like I was born in a small town.
00:08:01
Speaker
not far from Moscow, but still it like limited opportunities and everything. However, as a kid from like early 90s, I tried everything. I danced, I did some sport, I attended a theater, so whatever you can try as a kid. And my parents always like enrolled me into new classes, and I had the school, then at the school I was like doing some dance, then I was doing some swimming, so I tried everything, but never ended up somewhere like Daria did.
00:08:31
Speaker
So all my childhood I was trying to define, all right, what's my talent actually? ah What are you going to do for living? And that was a big question. And also living in a small town, I always wanted to you know to move somewhere to the bigger place. And the Moscow for people who live in Russia, it's kind of a big city full of opportunities and the good education, cool people, fashion, art, everything.
00:08:57
Speaker
So I was pretty much growing thinking that I'm not sure what I'm going to do in life, but I'm sure that I will end up in a fancy cool spot, like celebrating this life. um Yeah, and thanks God, my mom and dad, they're extremely smart people, especially my dad. So I'm a very smart girl. So I had a very good ah like results, academic results. And I got a scholarship and the one of the best university colleges in Moscow. So when I was 17, I moved to Moscow. And this is where my actual story began, how I actually figured out what I'm going to do for a living. And what is my talent?
00:09:40
Speaker
Pardon this short interruption, but guess what? I have a new program. It's for all wedding professionals. It's called The Triple Threat. We redo your brand messaging, the homepage of your website. Part two is we do all your marketing. we
The Triple Threat Program
00:09:57
Speaker
create a beautiful brochure so you could start getting on Prefer venue vendor list and we do all your sales so we actually make you a sales presentation leading your client to the heck yes so you get paid. I have a free 20 minute demo training. It's only 20 minutes. Go to my Instagram at Carissa Woo.
00:10:20
Speaker
and DM me the word DEMO. I will send it right over. It's how to get 10 to 15 quality leads in your inbox per month. Enjoy, guys. Krista Wu is a LA-based wedding photographer who's actually turning business coach. She helped me grow and change, and I'm so proud to call you coach.
00:10:43
Speaker
Tell us how you're feeling. Like, I want to just know a little bit more about your thoughts. It's beautiful and you're you're awesome. It's beautiful. I'm speechless. I just like the fact that it feels like myself. like i can I feel myself when
Connecting as High Achievers
00:10:57
Speaker
I see this. Oh, man. Well, you got me pumped and excited for this. Carissa, thank you. Wow. You guys are both extreme high achievers.
00:11:09
Speaker
Yeah, that's true. That's why. Yeah, that is. Yeah. Even though we came from different background and we always like make a joke that we never met in back in Russia. We met in in Los Angeles in UCLA. So there is no chance we we would meet in in Moscow or like in Russia because we live different lives. We have different different hobbies and everything. But we have one thing in common. We are achievers, yeah disruptors. And this is how we actually figure out that we are a great match. Wow. And Alina, now you're in the most amazing place in the world, Manhattan Beach. Oh, yeah, that's right. right We wear neighbors. We still have to get coffee, but yeah. yeah and you both like i Yeah, just think about it. Most, I mean, not most of the people, but lots of people have this place in the mood board somewhere. Like this is the place yeah one day.
00:12:05
Speaker
then they will grow up. You ladies, actually, I mean, and myself, I also love. Paolo also is a dream of every north. That's true. yeah Yeah, of course. But yeah, I would imagine Manhattan Beach, like this beautiful houses, this is something that I will put and on my pin board. We are not bragging. We are not bragging. We will not always get there. No, I don't take that as bragging at all. I love it. I'm just so soaked in you your success. And living in a mood board, a Pinterest mood board, literally. Yeah, start staring into your notebook. Yeah, no it's ah yeah fancy, not fancy. Alright, so now this is also like kind of a very deep question or a very in depth question. But I guess tell me like, when you came to America, what that was like, and then also like, you guys coming together,
00:12:59
Speaker
um And then we could talk about how you started with Whatvives. So anything you want to share?
Founding Wed Vibes
00:13:05
Speaker
Yeah, so like I moved to Los Angeles to change my career because I spent 13 years in corporate world in multinational companies, did marketing. Pretty much again, I converted needs into money for the companies, not for myself though.
00:13:22
Speaker
So I built a career and then I decided that I need to change something. And I was always like, were fascinated with California and they gave myself a shot and I came here to study at UCLA for nine months and then to figure it out. So, and the ah I would say that when I first moved here, Los Angeles, living and visiting as a tourist is two different cities.
00:13:50
Speaker
Because as a tourist, you hit totally different locations versus when you live. And they discovered the beauty of nature, some hidden gems, and they fell in love with the city. How many opportunities it gives. It's also a melting pot and yeah a lot of nations, a lot of cultures, even people from all over the state coming here and like all over the countries. And they love that you know vibrant energy.
00:14:17
Speaker
And I kind of blended into it. And yeah, then like we met, Dari and I met at UCLA. And of course, when you speak some languages, this is the first point how you connect, right? There is always a group of French people, Italian people, Indian people. And I was under impression that my English is brilliant, but somehow everyone figured out that they have a strong Russian accent. They said, are you Russian? Like, how do you know? Yeah, that was like, she approached me. I said, how do you know? And this is how our friendship started. And we first just hang out together, discovered Gettyville and all this cool stuff that the newbies in the city do and discuss some classes, you know.
00:15:01
Speaker
and how we're going to work in the movie industry because we started the same class. And then eventually we worked at the same project together. Nothing to do with wedding. We produced a commercial in Los Angeles because a lot of commercials are filmed in Los Angeles and Venice Beach or whatever if you need to showcase the vibrant energy. And when we work together through that project, we figure out that we're a great match.
00:15:27
Speaker
not only for hanging out together talking about our dates and the, you know, how a Russian men are different from American men and European men, but also like, all right, how we can make business together. Oh my gosh. Wow. You guys have such a.
00:15:43
Speaker
soulmates story. Yeah, when like I'm gonna add to it it's gonna it. It was my first day at UCLA, my first, like we met at UCLA and it was my first day, my first class. And I heard this, yes, beautiful accent. laugh but Slight, slightly recognizable. Right, and right. That was no accent at all. Yeah, yeah.
00:16:12
Speaker
Okay, well, I love that story of how you came together. So I guess it's time to walk me through just like the early days of Web Vibes, how you guys started, came up with this vision. I know this could be an hour conversation, but kind of just like you might not paint the picture like in kind of like three, four minutes.
00:16:34
Speaker
coming Okay, I'm gonna take over here. ah So um my story was that I used to be the wedding
Wedding Planning and Vendor Connections
00:16:43
Speaker
planner. I got into this industry by accident, ah because my friend was a wedding planner, she used to be and she was looking for help.
00:16:54
Speaker
And she kind of she told me those fascinating stories about the how it's going to be so creative and I'm going to think about flowers all the time and talk to the romantic couples and love and like you try to figure out like what kind of entertaining things we will do for them.
00:17:16
Speaker
I fell for that. It turned out to be like the most amazing journey, I would say, because I really loved the event. I was lucky because I used to organize weddings all around the world in Italy, a France, even in India. now And um yeah, and so the idea was as a planner, and I'm sure all the planners listening to me would agree, I hope so, they would agree. So the planners, the important thing for them, the important task is to create, to make this match.
00:17:53
Speaker
between a couple and a sort of talent, right? How to find ah those people who like, I don't know, ah hikes and pickleball, or maybe they travel as volunteers around the world, how to find the best photographer for them, how to find someone who will not only picture them perfectly, but will connect with them on a human, on a personal level.
00:18:16
Speaker
And i I was a planner before Instagram and everything. And it was we used to have those CDs that we showed to couples like, oh, here's a videographer. That's his story.
00:18:29
Speaker
And I used to make so many sales pitches. Like, this is a person amazing big big bit because this, this and that. And before they even have a connection, before they even will meet, I had to create a story. And that's how ah I came up with this idea that um Maybe I will give my friends the talents that I know, the voice in the industry, because and back in the day, it wasn't as many blogs as like more magazines as we are today, especially in Russia. And it was an idea to create something new, something fresh at the time.
00:19:08
Speaker
So we started back in our mother country and when I moved to the United States and where we met Alina, me and Alina met each other, it kind of slowed down and I went to a different direction.
Expanding Wed Vibes Internationally
00:19:22
Speaker
of Actually, as Alina is a marketing guru, we decided to create a marketing agency and it wasn't about weddings at all.
00:19:31
Speaker
But because they in still in this industry still have so many friends in this industry and they all needed our help. So many people started coming away and started to ask our help to help with their promotion, with their marketing strategies, with everything. And that's then we fought. What if we will bring this project back to life but do it in international level ah because it it made sense for us. We've already been in the you US for several years at this point. What if we will do it? Because we realized we had American clients, we had, I don't know, Canadian clients, Italian clients, and realized the their goals or the struggles are the same. Market could be different in terms of the country, but the struggles are the same. All the artists, they don't know how to build, or maybe they do know, but they kind of they have the imposter syndrome. They don't know how to promote themselves, how to talk about them, how to brag about themselves, how to showcase their work to the clients. And we thought, what if we will start and what if we'll change our perspective angle and we will bring that vibes back to life again on an international level, but we will help the artists to earn money, be successful.
00:21:05
Speaker
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00:21:31
Speaker
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00:22:00
Speaker
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00:22:24
Speaker
Wow. And Alina, do you want to? How amazing it sounds, I want to shame him and make a very important comment. Yeah. Because Dari and I, we we both had a great expertise i in marketing and me in marketing and Dari in weddings and planning and also some kind of wedding marketing.
00:22:43
Speaker
And why didn't we, let's say, start developing web vibes internationally from the very beginning? Because as an immigrant, we had a lot of fears and I want to bring everyone's attention to it because maybe someone can kind of read their own stories or like relate to that. And it took us some time and bravery and I don't know what some inspiration that we can do it. Because if you think about any other wedding international projects, it is all, first of all, been around for more than a decade, like Stalmi Priti, walk, maybe carrots and cake, one of the new. And if you think about people who run it, it's mostly Americans. And that's why we didn't feel confident that we can actually step into the world and do some international big scene.
00:23:30
Speaker
And that was because I know, Harisa, that you want to do this podcast very much connected to the personal story. So on the storefront, it looks like, all right, we met, we have a great experience, we matched and we started doing that. But now on the lake other side, we had a lot of our personal doubts if we can dare to do that. yeah And two years ago, it felt like a crazy idea.
00:23:58
Speaker
that we cannot do it because it's only you have to be born and raised in the United States to do something like that. Just because we have an accent, we still like have some I especially have some questions with how ah fluent I'm in English. so that but Other than that, are we enough for that? and yeah There was like a mix of factors why we decided to try and give it a shot.
00:24:26
Speaker
And it worked out, it's still a long way to go. ah However, i I really want to like focus, not focus, but bring it up that it wasn't easy and spontaneous. It wasn't really like fun idea. Let's try. We like pretty much put a lot of work strategy and there also kind of, we did the extra mile. That is why a lot of people talking about us and reaching out to us today, two years later, because we worked hard to, you know,
00:24:58
Speaker
to have some room in the industry. um Thank you for sharing. That's such a beautiful story. and I don't know, it's just your passion and like your drive like took you to this and I can't believe it's only been two years since you started. I feel like it's Yeah, I mean, stroke ah let's say so we celebrated just nine years from the beginning of the project. But ah two years ago, it was a time that it was a complete reboot.
00:25:25
Speaker
they would talk into Once again, ah I didn't do anything with the project since I moved into the United States, right? So it was basically in a frozen state. And ah when we met Alina and we met each other, we started as marketing experts. We started with ah we have the marketing agency, we used to have a marketing agency. Yeah, I got it. And we started something a little different. And we consulted and worked with a business that's far, far away from wedding industry, we help businesses. I don't know, the deliveries, we helped the fireworks stores, etc. It was completely different approach. And that's when we started getting inquiries from the wedding
00:26:13
Speaker
industry friends helped them with marketing. And that's how two years ago, we officially decided to ah and restarted restart scale it. So when it became visible worldwide, this is when they really start scaling it. Yeah, wow, that's amazing. All right, let's get into Hot Topic. This is a mini Hot Topic. and We have like 15 more minutes. So we have to kind of just banter, like little things not go so in depth, but um just like what's the most important, but I guess the first question is like, what are the wedding
Current Wedding Trends
00:26:50
Speaker
trends right now? We're in, it's going to be Thanksgiving when we post this, people are going to
00:26:56
Speaker
get engaged, wedding pros are going to get inquiries. If you're a wedding planner, listening, or photographer, you're going to want to know some trends just so you sound knowledgeable about the wedding industry. So so yeah, I have no idea. So I'm very curious.
00:27:13
Speaker
what's going to happen. Yeah, you can take it and start. Yeah, I can start and Alina will build on. ah We do have the biggest project, I would say, of this year. It's a 2025 Fighting Market Report, and we dedicated ah I would say four or five months total to create this kind of comprehensive guide. We talked with 600 real couples who are right now at this very moment planning their wedding 2025 and 2026. We talked with 50 top... I would say
00:27:56
Speaker
leaders of the industry, including Lori Arendt, Katy Mary, you name it. wow And also the members of our community. So all of these people, they dedicate a time and our team as well to create this deck. And if you want to, you can find it in our website. It's ah more than 100 pages long. And there are like so many trends, not only regarding the wedding experience, decor, makeup, flowers, you name it, but also It's a comprehensive guide for couples ah because we wanted to help them to prepare so for their wedding. It's some useful insights and advice as how to find your vendors and also there's a whole thing about for the vendors, for the talents.
00:28:44
Speaker
how to promote yourself based on those trends. Wow. So and it's completely free. And it's something we wanted to do to elevate the industry and we considered our mission. Can you give us can you give us just a couple of trends? Like, of course, that wasn't like the teaser. And with that, we say, okay, go and download the report and we're not going to share more. butre goingnna be We started that that is the freshest study and we're going to do the live session in a week so it's it's very fresh and we just started distribution but in one day we hit 1000 downloads oh sure because it's so much anticipated by both couples and vendors right because couples need to know what's going on and vendors.
00:29:26
Speaker
All right, we will give you five biggest trends. And then if you like them, you're totally more than welcome to ask more questions if you have time and like the people who listen. Give us two or three. Okay. Okay. The first the first and biggest one is multi-day experience and extended celebrations. Right. And I will start and then I will give Darius some time to build on.
00:29:50
Speaker
So it used to be one day wedding and we will stick to the same plan, the reception ceremony, party cake. And if you have a bigger budget, you just choose a bigger venue and you invest more money into decor and maybe invite more guests. And now it's shifting into the experience. And it's like multi-day celebration, two days, three days, or even vacation when we talk about destination weddings.
00:30:19
Speaker
Yeah. And I would say it's hard to choose, but I would say one of my favorite trends is a trend of authenticity, the trend of self-expression. Wedding industry itself is a traditional one, right? there We do have so many you rules, like the gone, the bridal gone should be white, ah the groups, you should be black. And today we see that, um I mean, it's kind of the consequence of generation, the millennials and Gen Z are getting married right now, and they are so conscious of how to express themselves in everyday life, how to showcase their personality, how to showcase the world, who they are, or who the other,
00:31:05
Speaker
who they are in terms of profession or their hobbies, et cetera. And of course, organically, it goes to weddings as well. And we see so many couples are in a beautiful or sometimes exotic attire. It could be Shakespeare theme or, I don't know, some Bohemian theme. And we're moving from those black and white, the traditional thing to yes, expressing this yourself and breaking the rules, basically. And this is one of my favorite ones to choose. ah How do you look like in the wedding day in a completely different way? No, that is expected. Yeah, I love that for my wedding. um I did like I had like Sriracha for party favors and they put like a label on it because I love hot sauce. And then I I wore like
00:31:57
Speaker
two dresses, but I put it together. So like one dress on the top, but I put like a jail and like tool skirt over it. um It looked kind of cool. So I love, I love that tip of like just being so authentically you during your wedding. And I love multi-day events cause that was my biggest regret and not having a rehearsal day dinner because the wedding day, like I felt like we don't really get to talk cause we're just so many like things going on. And I was like, the only time like my grandma,
00:32:27
Speaker
was there, so that was like my big regret, not to do like a multi-day event. Yeah, big because you have more chance to connect with everyone, rather than to push, push, push, like cruising through the stages. Yeah, that is exactly. Also like to your gown choice, it's now more fashion forward. So a lot of brides decide to choose three to four outfits.
00:32:51
Speaker
Yeah. For the wedding day. And also grooms, they may be not three to four, but at least one change during the day because they don't want to be a way to stay away when the like the bride is changing. So they say, all right, I want to keep busy. I also want to change ah who ah pencil the or the shorts or something. I love that.
Increasing Visibility for Wedding Pros
00:33:11
Speaker
All right. Let's um go hop into how to elevate visibility as a wedding pro. of What is your best tip and trick?
00:33:22
Speaker
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00:33:47
Speaker
I remember being at barbecues with my laptop because I had to get out of shoot and and that was so stressful, so not fun. And the best part about after shoot compared to their competition is that it's a monthly minimal cost, not cost per image because I am a true overshooter. I could shoot like, I don't know, 3000 photos in an engagement shoot, which is not good. But anyways, using my code in the show notes to get a 30 day trial and 20% off You're going to get in the software and just go crazy with it. And AfterShoot edits 2.0 just released, and they have a lot of new features that you are going to love. AfterShoot, I can't thank you enough for giving me back my time to focus on this podcast. Oh, yeah, back to the podcast. I will start. there route It's not like the one tip. It's always you remember and Carissa, you always bring it up that it's multiple efforts.
00:34:41
Speaker
when you cover your social media presence and you run your Instagram mostly, some of you you do TikTok and pretty much build your brand. That is your digital footprint and also like some PR, if some other media outlets or other professionals feature you. It's a networking and connections with ah not only with planners for the rest of the market, with pretty much everyone, even photographers work and have a developed friendship with photographers.
00:35:11
Speaker
So it's like three pillars, I believe. What else? um Yeah, networking, PR, social media, and your personal brand. And I would say that is the biggest. Pretty much you have to be visible everywhere.
00:35:32
Speaker
visible everywhere. I mean, there I would say it could depend on your personality, of course, because like there are more, it could be like more extroverted people and they're, of course, naturally best at networking and more introverted people, and but they could work on their portfolio and we talk a lot about it, how to shape your portfolio, how to showcase it, but you should be mindful I would say first and foremost about your strengths and your weaknesses.
00:36:02
Speaker
And ah it's really important and we've done it a lot, like a lot of exercises because we also have our mentors, our coaches, you name it. yeah It helped us to shape our personalities and our ah brand identity, right? So we have so many beautiful competitors, carrots and cakes, Al Mepriti, you name it, we all different. and yeah ah It's not a matter for us, oh no, you should send all the older weddings to on to us. like you should like every man like Every talent should be featured in our community. No, it's not about that. it
00:36:41
Speaker
how mindful you are about who you are as a personal brand and like what kind of clients do you want to attract and how do you showcase it in your portfolio? what do Are you good at networking or you are better in telling the stories about your couples or you are the best and recording yourself in your room and giving advices or you are an easygoing person who makes jokes. Understanding who you are will help you to focus on specific things in your promotion. The the same goes about us. We used to
00:37:17
Speaker
Like Alina mentioned, we questioned ourselves a lot like ah regarding building our business in the United States. But it turns out so many people love that we have European background. It shows, it reflects in our identity, it reflects in terms of what kind of content do we pick. It reflects on relationship we do have.
00:37:42
Speaker
Because the wedding industry, it's all about destinations and so many people want to work in Italy and France, right? We didn't know that in the beginning. It was a journey to find find out what are our strengths and where can we stand out and differentiate ourselves. So I would say it's a journey to and understand who you are and how others perceive you. That was a great answer. I guess really fast, Alina, what does web vibes look like today and what are your differentiators from other blogs?
Fashion-Forward Wedding Blog
00:38:13
Speaker
Oh, we have the ready answer to that. So first of all, we are fashion forward yeah platform. definitely And yeah, we blend art, weddings, digital trends into the web vibes aesthetics.
00:38:29
Speaker
yeah Also, we take a pride of our audience, which is also well-traveled, well-educated, smart, elegant, sophisticated people who love to be on top of trends, but at the same time genuine emotions and cherish it. So we're all about telling the stories in a beautiful way. However, it starts with people.
00:38:49
Speaker
not the picture-perfect fashion-forward images. Also, a big amount of our job and focus is helping wedding professionals to grow themselves. That's why on the back end of our business, we have a lot of live sessions, webinars, and overall like marketing tools we share in the power of wedding talents to shine and to be seen and the work we do with them to showcase their portfolio in the most appealing way, likeable and sellable. It's a big part of their success and growth with us. So on the storefront, we are changing and transforming the wedding industry. That is why we talk about wedding trends. And it's a conversation. We're not only pushing some agenda because we want couples to follow us. It's a conversation what couples want and what we can showcase them as everyone pretty much
00:39:41
Speaker
will get inspiration enough inspiration for self-expression. Because every if every blog featured in the same weddings, it's hard to talk about self-expression. So our job is to understand and showcase different styles and concepts as couples can get expired inspired and understand better what do they want and how they can.
00:40:01
Speaker
express that. That is on the storefront. And on the back end, it's a big amount of work and tools to help when professionals elevate their business. And pretty much at the end of the day, they said to grow the industry and elevate the industry from a cookie cutter wedding to something that you really consider more like art yeah and experience.
Getting Featured on Platforms
00:40:23
Speaker
Wow. Well said. You have the most beautiful website and most beautiful vlogs with the top weddings in the world and the most beautiful newsletter. So everyone hop on your newsletter. One last question because I know you have to catch a flight Daria for Leela's housewarming party in Manhattan beach. That's right. yeah So, um so amazing.
00:40:46
Speaker
What tips can you give the audience to get featured on your blog that maybe wedding pro right now is listening that's maybe like not obvious like obviously pretty work and pretty um a good wedding with a lot of details and vendors but um yeah in your in your words yeah such a such a good question and like we get that a lot and understandably so as i mentioned first of all know your audience know your like
00:41:18
Speaker
who are the clients you store, ah so identify the media outlet. You want to be featured in Vogue, in VED vibes, maybe in your local magazine, right? ah you should you should have You should understand your goals. Second, of I would say it's, a once again, human connections.
00:41:39
Speaker
ah Understanding who are the people behind this brand will help you most likely to be noticed and just knowing the names and it's not that difficult actually these days to find the names behind the the brand and um whenever you do the customized Personal approach and sent an email and he said hello that vibes team. Maybe Daria and Alina Maybe you even opened about us page and found the names of our content team, right and ah Telling us in one sentence in two sentences. Why you think this wedding could be the product the perfect fit Wow the the third point I would say to ah Get us a hook to catch us on a hook
00:42:28
Speaker
in terms of like we receive so many inquiries every day right and once again all the weddings are beautiful but we don't know the whole story and how it works today and we all live in an era of digital marketing it comes like first and foremost it's we're we're looking for the We're looking for the meat, I would say. We're looking for not only the beautiful pictures, but something besides those pictures. We're looking for these authentic moments. So once again, in one or two simple sentences, tell us the story about this wedding. What happened?
00:43:05
Speaker
Maybe the dog, I don't know, ran out in a ceremony and ruined the decor, but it was funny. Or, I don't know, maybe it was a beautiful tear-jorking moment between, like I don't know... the parents and or something else maybe it was unusual choose choice of color just tell us something that will catch our attention and because we receive i don't know even how many maybe like 15 choirs per day right yeah you will give us a glimpse if you will give us like the small taste the small bite we will most likely will dive into this
00:43:45
Speaker
story and as we we have to tell the story in the most uh catching attention way right as a media outlet but you have to give us something yes so that's why and we know for so many talents it's really difficult to sit down and to write a story it's not like their everyday job but just i don't know just to attach the reel the link to your reel that you posted to showcase the teaser of this wedding. It will give us the understanding. So these are my three points. Alina, if you want to add something. i am Sorry, i I can listen to you all day, Daria, but I'm going to ask Alina the last question. um gone Speak to wedding pros.
00:44:31
Speaker
the hearts of them in a heartfelt way, just if they're struggling to book weddings or struggling to find who they are or just struggling to make it in this industry, but they want it so bad and they feel like they're doing everything. What would you tell them today what to do to just get get out there and make their dreams come true like you guys did? Wedding Pros, I have a new and exciting opportunity for you to make passive income with digital products and courses and affiliate marketing.
00:45:02
Speaker
The space is booming right now and you have to take a look. Sky is truly the limit in the digital space and you can just stop trading your time for money and scale your business. And life just got a lot easier. Get your weekends back and come at me at Carissa Woo, the word info, and I'll send you a free sneak peek guide on how to make passive income. And if you're ready to start making money from home while being there for the moments that matter, I can't wait to connect.
00:45:34
Speaker
I believe it's first keep pushing. This is what we do. And this is what brought us here. And everyone who keep pushing, they eventually get some results. And second, choose your tribe, choose your community. Because it's very an industry where everyone almost works in the bubble of themselves. It's hard and it feels overwhelming. And yeah, you can connect with people with your Instagram and then some events.
00:46:03
Speaker
or even online events and it doesn't require even investments besides time, right? And yeah, stick to the right group, yeah share with them, exchange information and eventually you will get there. Because if you tried everything and nothing and works, I don't believe it. In most cases you haven't tried, maybe you believed and you thought that you've tried, but did it really like came to life?
00:46:28
Speaker
Did it really been reflected in instagram on Instagram or website or have you really sent out then Instagram DMs that you want to connect with person? In many cases you didn't. so But you have to have a courage and maybe some energy to do that, to step into these new you know activities and for that you need your tribe, your people ah very well and support.
00:46:54
Speaker
Oh, I love that. And then I guess, I'm sad i actually to end this conversation, but I want to be respectful to you, not missing your
Community and Overcoming Challenges
00:47:02
Speaker
flight. But where can everyone find you and anything you want to promote to the wedding professionals listening today?
00:47:10
Speaker
So I believe that I don't think that we want to promote, but we want to again help wedding professionals to grow. And the Christmas season is coming, in the Thanksgiving season is coming. So it's going to be proposals and make sure that you are on top of everything. Make sure that you looked into this trend report. It's not only the great summary of the trends, but it's also very inspirational.
00:47:34
Speaker
pictures that we put together, which is very trendy. And you can even put together some inspirational boards for your brides. And we already know that some wedding professionals use it this way. So I would just encourage you to go on our website and upload this deck. And yeah, if you're interested, you're totally welcome to join our live sessions. And yeah, I think how you can grow your business with us. It's free.
00:48:01
Speaker
Yes, wedvibes.media is a website. And Instagram is wed underscore vibes. Yes, that's it. That's it. Yeah. Cool. And any last words, Daria, just to wrap it all up.
00:48:20
Speaker
Yeah, well, yeah, just to second to Aline and keep pushing, believe in yourself and believe that your talent matters to your clients. You will find your tribe. Yeah. And we believe in you. So thank you, Karissa. Thank you for having us this Friday morning, I would say. California morning. Yeah, that was fun. Thank you. And the listeners. We're all girl bosses. So thank you for being on the with such an honor.
00:48:51
Speaker
Thanks for joining me this week on Get a Heck Yes with Carissa Wu. Make sure to follow, subscribe, leave a review, or tell a friend about the show. Take a screenshot and post to IG. Tag me. Also, don't forget to download my free guide on how to become a lead generating machine. See you next time, wedding pros!