I have long preached about the virtues of using email templates. Although I’d love to be able to reply to every email I get personally, when you get upwards of 200 of them a day like I do, it’s simply not practical or possible.

Email templates are a life saver. They will free you from the shackles of your inbox and enable you to reply to messages more efficiently and with less guilt. Of course not every single email you receive can be replied to with a template, but having a stock of them in your arsenal will make your email-life a whole lot easier.

To get you started I’ve compiled examples of how to reply to some of the messages that are often received by wedding industry professionals. Feel free to use these as they are, or take and edit them to suit your own needs.

Hello, I am getting married on 20th June and I’d like to hear about the packages you offer. How much do you cost?

Hi {NAME}

Thanks for your enquiry and congratulations on your engagement, exciting times! I’m currently free on the 20th and would love to be involved in your day. The venue you’ve booked is gorgeous. I’ve worked on a few weddings there in the past. You can check them out here if you like (link).

I have attached my brochure which explains all the options. My packages are pretty straight forward and prices start from X. Please let me know if you have any further questions after reviewing it.

I’m getting pretty booked up for next year now so if this is within your budget then let’s talk some more. If not then I hope it all goes well with the rest of your planning.

Hey! I’m getting married on 20th June and I’d love to hear about the packages you offer. Our budget is pretty tight and we can only allocate (something way below what you charge) but we really love your work!

(Option one) 

Hi {NAME}

Thanks for your enquiry and congratulations on your engagement, exciting times! I’m currently free on the 20th and would love to be involved in your day.

My packages start from X which unfortunately seems quite a bit above your budget. However if you’re more flexible on what you can allocate to your wedding photography/ flowers/ stationery let me know and we can see if we can make it happen!

Alternatively here are some other photographers/ florists/  stationers that might be closer to your budget (links). They’re all awesome at what they do and I recommend them wholeheartedly!

Good luck with the rest of your planning.

(Option two)

Hi {NAME}

Thanks for your enquiry and congratulations on your engagement, exciting times! I’m currently free on the 20th and would love to be involved in your day.

My packages usually start from X however as you are getting married out of season/ your wedding is local to me/ you only want me for a few hours, I would be able to come down to £X if you don’t have a Y/ you reduce Z.

Let me know if this is something you’d like to consider, if not I hope it all goes well with the rest of your planning.

I’d love to book you, but you’re too expensive. Can I have a big juicy discount for no other reason other than I asked?

Hi {NAME}

Great to hear from you again and I’m thrilled that you’re interested in booking my services. Unfortunately at the moment I’m getting pretty booked up so am unable to offer any discounts. However if you’d like to remove X from the basic package I could reduce the cost by Y.

If you’d like to go ahead with the booking let me know and I can explain the next step.

Hi there, I love what you do. Here is my life story for no other reason than I want to tell you about it.

Hi {NAME}

Thanks so much for taking the time to email me. It’s always such an honour when someone reaches out. I loved reading your story. I too struggled with {BLANK} when I started out. I overcame it by {BLANK} and I know you will too.

I’m sending back warm n fuzzies and I can’t wait to see where your journey takes you next!

Hey! I love what you do. I too want to be a wedding photographer/ planner/ blogger. Can you please tell me exactly what I need to do in order to be successful?

Hi {NAME}

Thanks for your email.  As you can probably imagine I’m a pretty busy bee and I’m not able to offer one on one business advice over email. However to get you started I’d suggest checking out these blog posts (link) on my site or subscribing to these blogs (link) that I admire. Their articles really helped me when I was in your position.

If you’re really serious about making it happen, I host my own workshop (link) where we cover {BLANK} / I attended this workshop (link) which I found incredibly helpful when I launched my business. I can’t recommend it enough.

Good luck with everything, I know you can do it!

You don’t know me, but I have this event coming up for charity. Would you like to donate your time/ products to it for free?

Hello {NAME}

Thanks so much for your message. I’m thrilled that you love what I do and honoured that you’ve reached out.

Unfortunately incredibly time-poor and simply unable to say yes to every request like this that I receive. I wish you all the luck in the world for your project / event / charity drive. It sounds like it’s going to be amazing!

I’m planning my wedding and I’m struggling with {BLANK}. I don’t have any intention of buying your product or booking your services but I thought you might be able to help me.

Hey there {NAME}

Thanks for your email. It’s always a thrill to hear from people who love what I do so much that they want to ask my advice!

(If you know the answer to their question, go ahead and answer it but if it’s more complicated…)

Unfortunately I’m not sure I’m the best person to help with your query. I’d suggest checking out these articles I’ve written / found which might shed some light. Alternatively Google was a massive help for me when planning my own wedding so I’d always recommend starting there!

Good morning. I am from Company X. We love what you do and would like to work on this project with you. We don’t have any budget to pay you but it will be great exposure for your company. We’ll mention you on our own blog and social media!

Hi {NAME}

Thanks so much for thinking of me, I’m really honoured. Unfortunately I can’t work for exposure, it doesn’t pay my mortgage after all! However I love what you do and if you’re able to allocate some budget to pay me, I’d love to discuss the options.

Thank you to Alex Franzen who wrote a similar post about this and who I shamelessly nicked the idea from.  She has a killer e-course called I ❤ Email which you should definitely check out if you want to get a handle on your own inbox!