Today’s Ask Anything post is a quick but extremely useful lesson I have learned over the years about planning, and more so, scheduling, mini-sessions!  I host a few different rounds of mini-sessions each  year, and initially it was for experience and exposure, but now, other than a very limited amount of full portrait sessions, these are really my only portrait sessions of the year- and I LOVE them because of it! While weddings and seniors are my passion, I adore shooting families and kids, and this gives me a great opportunity to do it, and keep my JGP families even while I transition into mostly weddings- which I am so grateful for!

Throughout the years, I have scheduled and arranged them many different ways, but the last 4 times I have done them, I have used the SAME scheduling plan and it has made for such smooth scheduling! Here is the key:

When you are booking your mini-sessions, have your clients tell you what times of the day they cannot make it…and create a schedule from that!

In the beginning, and most photographers I know, have people sign up for times they CAN.  And if it all works out, that is no extra work for the photographer, which is great! But for me, I would always run into clients who needed or wanted the same time slots, or times that were already full- making it really hard to schedule, or impossible to keep everyone who wanted to book.  Now, instead, I have them tell me when (during the hours I plan to photograph) they cannot attend, and then I spend about half an hour putting together a schedule that works for everyone- and since I started scheduling this way, I have never had to turn down a client (until spots are gone)!  I have found that clients are less likely to be really picky when stating what they can’t do, and it is easy enough to adjust and fit everyone in that way without having to ever contact anyone and ask if they can switch spots or turn someone away! So I know how MANY I can book, I keep my eye out on their contract forms to make sure nothing is causing MAJOR congestion, and then I set the final schedule a couple of weeks before and send it (asking them to keep those couple of hours they said they were available clear for both the main date AND the rain date until I send the schedule out)!   It has saved so many scheduling headaches, and is definitely easy for my clients as well because once their time is set, it is set, but there can still be room for everyone!

I still have just a couple mini-session spots left- email me at jill@jillgumphotography.com if you want to grab one of those final spots!

A few favorites from my last few sets 🙂