What you need to know about wedding content creators, featuring Zoey Patack of Dash Media Design

As I said in my blog about navigating social media at your wedding, we are at the peak of social media’s popularity and importance. Curating your online presence is more crucial than ever before, as it allows you to share your chosen moments with however many people you wish, and lets you outline who you are online. Your profile is an extension of yourself and your personal brand, and your wedding day is a golden opportunity to create content consistent with your image.

That’s where content creators, like Zoey Patack of Dash Media Design, come in.

Content creation is a relatively new profession, one that many couples might not know much about or even be aware of. According to Zoey, a wedding content creator works with the couple to help them “capture all the special moments of a wedding…the big and small moments, the behind the scenes, the candid emotions, all the little-but-important details that couples work on planning for their big day.”

Armed with a phone camera, social media and advertising experience, and ideas for all the latest trends, Zoey said she helps couples remain present on their wedding day without missing out on specially-made social media posts. The result is “shareable, consumable content” that “showcases all the best moments of the day.”

She also provided some insight on what the process of working with a couple looks like for someone in her business.

Fittingly, Zoey says a lot of her clients find her through social media or word of mouth. She maintains pages for her business, Dash Media Design, which she was inspired to begin after she created content for her own wedding.

After that, she said she meets with the couple to get a feel for what they’re looking for and create a plan informed by her own creative vision.

“[The couple’s goals] drive our content plan and what it’s going to look like,” Zoey said.

In her work, Zoey isn’t afraid to be adventurous. Not only is she willing to travel for your big day, she’s also able to cater to a social media following of any size, from a private account to a massive platform.

“There’s two ends of the spectrum,” Zoey said. “Someone with a social media following, or someone who’s super into social media…they might want certain trends or for the content to be really driven with social media in mind. Someone else [might] want me there just to capture things, just for the memories…a fly on the wall approach.”

Wedding content creators can customize your experience based on the plan you put in place. And since things don’t go exactly to plan sometimes (for better or for worse), they’re always prepared for a bit of spontaneity.

Additionally, Zoey says she sometimes works with the other vendors at each wedding she attends, not only to make sure that everyone can do their jobs effectively, but to collaborate.

“Leading up to the wedding, if a couple has a specific content request, and wants to get specific things out of their content creation, I work with the planner and the photo-video team to collaborate on the timeline or be aware [of the existing one],” Zoey said.

For Zoey, the standard wedding day is “a little bit of everything,” and a lot of running around to capture both the planned and unplanned moments.

Sound interesting? I am certainly intrigued. But you may be wondering — what is the breakdown of the service?

In Zoey’s field, packages may vary, but her standard package is eight hours — which usually  starts at about $1,600, and may vary “based on coverage time, content deliverables, and travel.”

This package sets her up to arrive at the end of hair and makeup and to stay for a good part of the reception.

After she captures all of her content, she sends couples the raw footage, and then gets to work composing the perfect social media posts.

As a wedding content creator, Zoey specializes in short-form videos, which can range anywhere from a few seconds to a minute and a half. Not only are these clips — which can include vows, speeches, and even humorous moments — ultra-consumable, they’re the perfect way for couples to revisit their wedding day. I think of it as a video album.

In her editing process, she starts by combing through her clips and selecting her favorites. Then she sets them to music or compiles them together, and then delivers the finished product to the couple.

For Zoey and others like her, she thinks the service is “a nice complement” to the standard photographer and videographer, as it allows couples to have their day captured from “a different vantage point.”

“You’re getting [content] quickly and you don’t need to pick up your phone that day,” Zoey said.  “Your friends and family don’t need to pick up their phones that day. Everyone can be present.”

When it comes to her top priority, Zoey and creators like her are just like any of us wedding professionals: her top priority is you, your spouse, and what you want for your day.

“I want people to understand that you don’t need to have a social media following to benefit from having a content creator,” Zoey said.

There are some circumstances in which a wedding content creator might not be right for you, which is why this is something you must weigh, like all of your wedding plans. But now that you know what they do, you can decide whether hiring one is right for you. A wedding content creator’s services are vastly customizable, which is part of why Zoey sees her industry growing. Personally, I couldn’t agree more.