You send about seven emails on repeat, and rewriting them costs an hour a week. The version you write tired at 11pm is also worse than the one you would write with ten minutes and no client waiting.

Below are all seven, written out, each with a subject line and a send time. Put your own voice through them once and save them. The last section covers the part no template fixes: getting the gallery email into the inbox at all.

1. The enquiry reply

Send it within a few hours. Speed matters more than polish here.

Hi Alex,

Thanks for getting in touch, and congratulations. I have 14 June free at the moment.

A full day of coverage is $2,400, which includes eight hours, an online gallery within four weeks, and full printing rights. Most couples add a second photographer for $500.

Would a quick call this week suit? I am free Wednesday afternoon or Thursday morning, and it is the fastest way to work out whether I am the right fit.

Mattia

The work is done by a confirmed date, a real price, and two specific call times rather than "let me know when suits". Vague availability produces vague replies, which is most of why enquiries go cold.

Subject: Re: their subject line, in the same thread as their message.

When they go quiet

A stalled enquiry is usually a busy client, not a no. Follow up on day three, send one last note on day ten, then stop.

Hi Alex,

Just checking this reached you. 14 June is still free, and I am happy to hold it until Friday while you decide.

Mattia

The day ten version closes the loop: "I will assume the date is sorted and release it. If anything changes, reply to this and I will check." A clear ending gets more replies than a third nudge.

2. The booking confirmation

Sent the moment the contract is signed and the deposit clears. Its job is to set the timeline.

Hi Alex,

You are booked. 14 June is now held for you and off my calendar for anyone else.

Here is what happens next:

  • Six weeks before, I send a questionnaire about the day and the family groups
  • Two weeks before, we confirm the timeline and locations
  • The week of, I check in about the weather plan
  • Within 48 hours after, you get a preview set
  • Within four weeks, your full gallery arrives

Your signed contract and receipt are linked below. Anything at all, just reply to this.

Subject: You are booked for 14 June

That list answers "what happens now?" before they ask it, which is why the same structure opens a good welcome guide.

3. The pre-session email

One week out. Logistics only, short enough to read on a phone in a car park.

An inbox being checked on a phone at a desk

Hi Alex,

Looking forward to Saturday. The details in one place:

When: 4:30pm, Saturday 14 June Where: Main gate of Hyde Park, map pin here Parking: on Bathurst Street, roughly $4 for two hours Bring: a jumper, snacks for the little ones, a hairbrush My number: 07700 900123, call or text if anything changes

If it is raining hard at 2pm I will call you and we will move to our backup date. Light rain we shoot regardless, and it usually looks great.

Subject: Saturday at 4:30pm: where, when, what to bring

Repeat your phone number even though it is in your signature. People screenshot this email.

4. The delivery email

The one that decides whether anything gets bought afterwards. Send it on a weekday evening, when they have time to sit with it, not at 9am on a Monday.

Hi Alex,

Your gallery is ready. 62 images, and I am really happy with how the light came out at the end.

View it here: [link] PIN: 4417

Everything downloads in full resolution, and prints start at $28 if you would like anything on a wall. The gallery stays online until 30 September, so please download the files before then and keep a copy somewhere safe.

If you would like to share it with family, let me know and I will send a separate guest PIN so they can browse without touching your selections.

Subject: Your photos from Saturday are ready

Give the image count, one thing you liked, the expiry date, and a line that says buying is possible. Galleries that never mention prints do not sell them, which is the argument for treating delivery as a sales moment. The guest PIN line saves the client forwarding files to eleven relatives; cut it if your gallery has no separate view-only access.

5. The review request

Sent three to seven days after delivery, while they are still showing people.

Hi Alex,

Hope you have been enjoying the photos. If you have a spare two minutes, would you mind leaving a short review here? [link]

It genuinely makes a difference to a small business like mine, and one or two sentences is plenty.

If anything was not right, tell me instead and I will fix it.

Subject: A small favour, if you have two minutes

The last line gives an unhappy client a private route, so you hear about a problem before it appears in public.

Two weeks before the gallery closes. It prevents the most common support message photographers get.

Hi Alex,

A quick reminder that your gallery closes on 30 September, two weeks from today. If you have not downloaded the full resolution files yet, now is the moment: [link], PIN 4417.

After that I keep the originals for a year, so nothing is lost, but re-opening a gallery is a manual job so it is easier to grab them now.

Subject: Your gallery closes on 30 September

Only promise the archive period you actually keep to, and make it match whatever your stated retention policy is.

7. The polite no

For dates you cannot take, budgets that do not work, and jobs outside what you do.

Hi Alex,

Thank you for thinking of me. I am already booked on 14 June, so I cannot take this one.

Two photographers I would happily recommend for this kind of work are Jo Reed and Sam Patel. Both are excellent and I am glad to introduce you.

If your plans change, do come back to me.

Subject: Re: their subject line, same thread as the enquiry.

Recommending someone costs you nothing and is the most reliable way to receive referrals back, which is how a referral loop actually forms.

"I never got the link" is a message every photographer has read. Four fixes cover most of it.

  • Send from your own domain, set up properly. Since 2024, Gmail and Yahoo expect every sender to pass SPF or DKIM, and a domain with neither gets filtered hard. Your email host has a help page listing the DNS records to add. Add a basic DMARC record while you are in there.
  • One link, written out plainly. Five links, a link shortener, or button text that hides a different address all look like phishing to a filter.
  • No large attachments. A 20MB PDF of the contract or a zip of previews is a spam signal and fills their inbox. Link to it.
  • Get into their contacts early. Ask the client to reply to the booking confirmation, even with a one word "thanks". Once they have replied to you, later mail from that address is far more likely to land in the inbox.

Then say it in the pre-session email: "your gallery will come from hello@yourdomain.com, so look out for that address". A client who knows the sender checks spam before messaging you.

Make them templates, properly

Keep them where you write email: Gmail templates, Apple Mail snippets or a text expander. Opening another app is enough friction to stop you using them. Use placeholders you will notice, [NAME] and [DATE] in capitals, so a send with the brackets still in is nearly impossible.

Personalise the first line every time. One genuine sentence about their venue, their dog or something they said on the call turns a form letter back into an email. The rest can stay identical forever.

Some of these can stop being your job. With booking through Xposure, the confirmation with links to the signed contract and invoice goes out when the deposit clears, and a balance reminder follows a week before the session if anything is still owed. That leaves you the emails that need your voice: the enquiry reply and the delivery.