4 Mistakes to Avoid When You Receive Your Photo Gallery

It’s the day you’ve been waiting for: nope, not Photo Day. Photo Delivery Day. It’s the culmination of all your work, your prep, your planning. You got that one photo the day after our session as a sneak peek, but you’ve been waiting for nearly two weeks for the rest of them. Your butterflies are at an all-time high as you open an email that presents a link to your slideshow and instructions on how to watch and select your collection.

How can you make the most of this gallery delivery? How can you avoid the four most common mistakes that happen when you get your email? How can you make sure your investment was worth it and your project gets done?

Mistake Number 1: You watch the slideshow by yourself.

You might think this isn’t a bad thing. I want you to watch the slideshow, after all. I mean, on my end, after delivery, I’m sitting at my computer obsessively refreshing to see if you’ve opened the email yet. But that’s my hang up. Not yours. I actually want you to wait. Don’t click the slideshow on your phone while you’re in line at the store, don’t try to slyly watch it on mute during a work meeting.

My email to you recommends that you watch the slideshow together as a family for a couple of reasons. First, watching it with half of your attention won’t give you the impact you want it to have. And second, if you watch it alone without the rest of your family, you’ve cheated everyone else of the joy of seeing it together for the first time. It’s like watching that episode of the show you and your partner are waiting for, ahead of time, and then trying to muster up the same energy for when you ultimately have to watch it again. Your reactions aren’t genuine, you might watch your family instead of the show, waiting for their reaction to see if it matches. And if it doesn’t match, you might wonder what’s wrong with your reaction, or theirs.

But you’ve unfairly seen this before and had time to process it. No no, my dear. Be patient, wait and watch it together. Pass the tissues. Laugh at that moment you remember. Marvel at the photographer’s ability to get amazing photos when the kids started off so shy. Just wait a beat and enjoy it together.

Mistake Number 2: You postpone making a decision, leading to no decision.

You watched the slideshow together, as a family, and then as soon as it was over, it was time to put the kids to bed, and in the hustle and the bustle of baths, brushed teeth, and nighttime meltdowns (just me?) you forget about it by the time you come back to your computer. If you even come back that night. And then before you know it, the 24 hours to make the decision has passed, and the gallery has closed, and now you have to make a decision having only watched the slideshow once.

Or, you hem and haw on your decision. Do we need/want all of the photos? Do we only need 30 (30 feels like a lot but looks like a little)? Can we get by with 15? Did we like all 50-60 of them? What would we do with 50-60 photos? Hem/haw/indecision.

Either way, nothing happens, and the photographer checks back in on you, but you’re a little embarrassed that your 24 hours passed without a decision, so you say everything’s good and you wait. And you forget about them a little more each day, until you no longer consider finishing your project to be a priority. And the photos languish, and you’re out a session fee and a whole lot of work, without any photos to show for it. The way to combat this one? Buy the smallest collection. Yep, that 15 photos collection. Choosing that collection allows you to access your gallery and to start marking the photos you love. And if you mark 30 must-have images instead of 15, you can easily upgrade to a higher collection, knowing that you’re not buying photos you only kinda like.

Mistake Number 3: You download the photos with no goal in mind.

The mistake you make here isn’t that you don’t make a decision, it’s that you’re rushing to be done, with no particular end goal except to download the photos to your hard drive, brush your hands off and consider it done. You mime shooting a basketball into a metaphorical hoop and yell “KOBE!” and imagine it going in, as you close the folder with your downloaded images and your photos wave goodbye.

Yes, I’m a little dramatic. But that’s what I imagine when you make a decision without a plan for what to do with your photos. If you know that you want a big image for a gallery wall you’re building, you can download and print with that in mind. If you have no idea, other than you know you want pictures, you’ll let the photos languish on your hard drive for months or years, only checking on them every once in a while when you stumble on them, searching for a file.

Instead, use the time between your session and the gallery delivery to look through the inspiration email I send you, with ideas on how to use your photos. Then go ahead and mark your calendar with reminders to follow through with specific tasks related to getting your photos printed, so you can mark your project off when it’s actually done and you have photos in your hand or on your wall, not just on your computer.

Mistake Number 4: You don’t spend the print credit.

The print credit I include in each collection isn’t just incentive to spend in my print store. I mean, yes, I want you to spend it. But you can spend the exact amount of the print credit, or less, and not actually spend any of your own money in the store, and I’ll still be happy.

I include print credit in your collection to help you get the photos off your computer (see Mistake Number Three) and into your home. I want you to see the photos we made together. I want you to enjoy them. That is the whole point.

While Mistake Number Three is about a lack of planning, Mistake Number Four is about a lack of action and follow through. I know you want to see the photos we made, too. I know they matter to you (why else would you go through all of this?), and you just need a nudge to help you get it completed. The print credit is my gift to you, to help you finish what you started.

So, spend your collection print credit during the 30 days your gallery is open. You can get prints or a calendar to fill the $100 that comes with Collection A, a matted and framed print and some loose prints for the $250 that comes with Collection B, a whole album plus prints with the $500 from Collection C. The credit is there for the using. If you need help choosing, I’m available for questions. I’ve also put together Starter Kits that group products together in the store at a slight discount so you can get a gallery wall started, if that’s your thing.

These mistakes don’t mean your project is a failure, if you make them. It just means you need help to get back on track, and I’m here for that, too. Which mistake do you think you’re most likely to make? How can you plan ahead to make sure you don’t make that mistake next time? Maybe you should download the project checklist I made for your family photo and newborn photo projects, so you can make sure you have all the steps down.