Today we’d like to introduce you to Avery Burke
Avery, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I first started my career in content creation at Katalyst Public Relations, where I joined as the team’s first Social Media Manager and then later, Social Media Director. I was there for 4 years when I started to get the itch to build something on my own. Though my bread and butter is creating content, most of my responsibilities as the SMD were operations based — building the social media team, creating new business pitch decks & proposals, and being client facing. When I got the itch to go on my own, I knew this experience would help me excel building the business from the ground up and would enable me to attract and maintain my own clients.
Fast forward to this year, I started attending several beautiful weddings for one of my clients, Posie’s Floral Company. I fell in love with the content I was creating on a deeper level and I gained a true appreciation for the wedding industry. I have also ALWAYS been a big crier at weddings. I love love and I have always admired how wedding photographers & videographers get to capture the special, heartfelt moments that occur throughout a wedding day.
When I learned that wedding content creation was a newly booming space and these creators were beginning to be treated like additional vendors on a wedding media team, I knew this was something I needed to pursue. Though I do still have my pre-existing clients, I am now officially a wedding content creator. I am the busiest I have ever been but also the happiest / most fulfilled I have ever been and I truly feel like I have the best job in the world!
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It has definitely not been a smooth road! Someone recently told me that breaking into the wedding industry is like breaking into Hollywood. It’s so true. I started wedding content creation with only 2 contacts in the industry, my one client and one other wedding planner. Booking business was super slow in the beginning. I remember I launched my website and assumed brides would come rushing to my DM’s but it was crickets for weeks. I also have had to do a lot of internal belief reprogramming to affirm that I am skilled and I can be successful in this industry (shoutout The Superhuman App’s ‘Lucky Girl Affirmations’). I have a bad habit of comparing myself to others in the space — which would really put a damper on my confidence. I also struggled financially a lot in the beginning. In order to create room in my day to work on building my business, I pulled back on some of my client’s scopes of work, which in turn resulted in less monthly income. It was tough to work within a tight budget and sacrifice some fun life things since it was super important I focused on saving money while ramping up.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am a wedding content creator so I am hired to be present on a couple’s wedding day and take raw, unedited photos and videos on an iPhone. I deliver these hundreds of photos and videos the very next day so the couple can wake up and relive all of the special moments all over again. I capture everything from the bride & groom’s first look, to ceremony details, to the open dance floor action at the reception.
Within 72 hours, I will deliver a full recap video of the wedding day. After some pre-planning with my couples, I will then conceptualize a range of short-form videos that are based on a social media trend or simply highlight one aspect of the day.
I specialize in content that evokes emotion and tells the unique story of my couples. Emotional storytelling through content creation is really my biggest aim with my work. I want my couples to look back on the custom videos and feel the feelings all over again. And feel like the content is ‘so them’ in every way possible.
I am most proud of how I show up for my couples —often going above and beyond to get the shot and execute high quality content. I also make sure to be a team player, working cohesively with the photographer and videographer to make sure the media timeline is executed efficiently and respectfully.
I think what sets me apart from others is my soft little heart. It sounds weird but I really do love love so much. Pre-wedding day, I genuinely love to learn about my couples love stories and how they have gotten to this pinnacle of their relationship.
Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
I think this is only the beginning for wedding content creation! I think in 5-10 years, wedding content creators will become just as much as a staple vendor as photographers and videographers are!
I am predicting wedding content creators will join influencer culture in a way — and more brands adjacent to the wedding industry (jewelry brands, wedding fashion, other beauty brands, etc) will be interested in working with these creators to highlight their products /offerings. This will create even more of a lucrative path for content creators.
I also think wedding content creation will adopt more documentary styles. So basically, weddings will made into documentary’s, with B-roll, interviews, etc and will all be created on an iPhone.
Pricing:
- Wedding Day Content Creation: Starting at $1,000
- Wedding Weekend Content Creation: Starting at $1,300
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.absocialstudio.co/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/absocialstudio
Image Credits:
Avery Burke @absocialstudio
