Twenty hours of editing.
The delivery email in five minutes.
You spent 20 hours on this gallery. By the time it's ready, you're three events ahead. The delivery email that should feel warm and specific ends up being a template the couple can tell is a template. This recipe: Claude writes the gallery delivery email and the 2-week download reminder in five minutes, using a few bullet points from your day.
The delivery email problem.
The gallery is the product. The delivery email is the moment the couple opens it for the first time. If the email reads like a template, the whole experience starts on a flat note. They've been waiting weeks. The first line they read should feel like it came from someone who was there with them.
The problem: by the time you finish editing, the wedding you just finished is the one you shot six weeks ago. You remember it, but the specific details (the thing the bride said at the altar, the moment the rain started, what the dance floor looked like at 10pm) are fading. You default to a template because re-creating that specificity from memory takes time you don't have.
The fix is capturing three bullet points on the day itself, before you leave the venue. With those bullets, Claude can write a delivery email that reads like you remembered. Without them, the output will be as generic as the template you're already sending.
The recipe. Notes from the day, emails in five minutes.
When the gallery is ready, open Claude and paste the prompt below with the couple's names, the wedding date, the venue, the gallery link, the download deadline, and three moments from the day. Claude returns two emails: the gallery delivery and the 2-week download reminder. Read both, fix a line if needed, send the delivery now and schedule the reminder for two weeks out.
The two-week reminder is the one photographers almost always forget to send. By the time you remember it, it's been five weeks and the couple has lost track of the download link. Claude writes it in the same pass as the delivery email. Schedule it now. Gmail, Outlook, or a simple calendar reminder with "send gallery reminder to [names]" all work.
What to keep in your post-wedding notes.
Three bullet points from the day are enough. You don't need a journal entry. The goal is to capture one or two moments that were specific to this couple, before the details blend with the five other weddings you'll shoot this month.
Where to keep them: your phone's Notes app, a voice memo on the drive home, a line in your Google Sheet. Wherever your notes for this couple already live. The format doesn't matter. Three lines matter.
- "Her dad teared up during the first look before she said a word"
- "Ceremony was outdoors but it poured rain at 4pm, everyone moved under the tent, couple laughed the whole time"
- "Dance floor was full from the first song to midnight"
- "Groom wrote his vows on a napkin and read them from the napkin"
- "The flower girl fell asleep on the ring bearer before cocktail hour ended"
One or two of these in the prompt and the delivery email won't sound like a template.
The prompt. Fill the brackets, get two emails.
Open Claude, paste this prompt, fill in the couple's details and your three notes from the day. Claude returns both emails. You send the delivery now and schedule the reminder.
I'm a wedding photographer. Write me two emails: a gallery delivery email and a 2-week download reminder.
Couple: [names]
Wedding date: [date]
Venue: [venue]
Gallery link: [URL]
Download deadline: [date, typically 90 days from delivery]
Three things I remember from the day:
- [moment 1, e.g., "her dad teared up during the first look"]
- [moment 2, e.g., "the ceremony was in the barn but it poured rain and everyone laughed"]
- [moment 3, e.g., "the dance floor was packed until 11pm"]
My name: [your first name]
My voice: [warm and personal / conversational / your description]
Gallery delivery email:
- Subject line that mentions their names, not "Your gallery is ready"
- Open with a specific line about something from the day
- Give them the gallery link and download deadline clearly
- One line about what they'll find in the gallery (image count if you know it)
- Sign off with your name
2-week download reminder:
- Short (3-4 sentences)
- Friendly, not urgent
- Remind them of the deadline without making it feel like a bill
- Sign off with your name
Rules for both:
- No em-dashes
- No "magical," "beautiful," "amazing," "unforgettable"
- No exclamation points
- Write it the way you'd say it to a friendCopy it, paste it, fill the brackets. The prompt is yours.
Honest tradeoffs.
This only works if you keep some notes from the day.
If you deliver galleries with zero couple-specific memory, the output won't be specific either. Three bullet points from the day is the minimum. Claude amplifies what you give it. If you give it nothing, it gives you a warm but generic email that sounds like every other gallery delivery email.
You still need to schedule the reminder manually.
Claude writes the reminder email. You schedule it. Drop an event in Google Calendar two weeks from today, title it "Send gallery reminder to [names]," paste the draft in the notes field. When the calendar fires, copy and send. Takes 30 seconds now to save you from forgetting it entirely.
Read the draft before you send.
Claude doesn't know your exact gallery link, your exact image count, or the specific way you phrase your download instructions. Fill those in before sending. The draft gives you the words. The facts are yours to verify.
Book a Scrappy Hour.
60 minutes on Google Meet. Bring your real packages and one real inquiry. We set up the workflow on your Claude account live. First one's free if you've never worked with me. $150 after that. No subscription.
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