The Luxury of Privacy: Not Everything Has To Be Content

2 days ago
4 min read

Updated: 21 hours ago

A friend recently shared a post with me from a very well-known photographer. She was discussing the current constant need and our incessant obsession for content creation and the pressure to document every stage of the creative process. She stated the fact that she can’t imagine photographing a couple and at the same time having to think about creating content.

She’s trying to focus on her clients, capture moments, do the job she’s been hired to do, but then there’s this added pressure of having somebody filming or taking photos of her, making sure she looks right, thinking about where she’s standing, whether she’s getting enough behind the scenes footage and whether she’s creating enough content.

It got me thinking…

I’ve also noticed recently that a very high end event planner has stopped posting their weddings on Instagram altogether. Her reasoning is simply that she values her clients’ privacy. She doesn’t share their weddings.

I absolutely love this.

Will it lose her business? I doubt it very much.

Will it gain her respect from the type of client she wants to attract? Absolutely!

Couples investing in highly bespoke celebrations value exclusivity, privacy and discretion. They don’t necessarily want every detail of their wedding all over social media. They don’t need the validation and in many cases probably don’t want it. They also don’t necessarily need to see every tiny detail come together before the wedding, as long as it does on the day.

This isn’t just photographers either. It’s everybody in the wedding industry. Florists, photographers, planners, cake designers, stationers, stylists. Everyone seems to be expected to document everything they do.

As a cake designer, I don’t necessarily want to be thinking about filming myself making sugar flowers or documenting every stage of my wedding cake curation. Yes, I do it occasionally, but not very often. Honestly, I haven’t got the headspace for it.

Some people do it brilliantly and full credit to them. They do it amazingly well. And yes, people clearly enjoy seeing it because fundamentally people are nosy. They like seeing behind the scenes. They like seeing what you are up to.

But because I don’t do this, and because some other creatives don’t do this, does that make us worse at our jobs?

Definitely not.

Surely if I’m posting a photograph of the finished cake and saying, “This is what I do,” that should be enough. Why do I have to show every step that got me there?

And perhaps it’s not just about privacy for the client. Maybe it’s about privacy for the creator too.

In a world where we are encouraged to share everything, there seems to be an expectation that every refinement, every technique and every stage of the creative process should be documented, shared and given away. But perhaps some things are allowed and should remain private.

Perhaps some parts of the creative process are allowed to belong solely to the person creating them. Because let’s face it, true creativity doesn’t thrive under constant observation and pressure to perform. It requires, clarity of mind, freedom and space to develop and evolve.

The majority of the time the best work comes from being fully immersed in the process. Which for me is an essential, rather than thinking about how to package it for social media.

Maybe the reason I haven’t filmed every stage is because I’ve been concentrating on actually making the bloody cake.

I’m not thinking about the next client I might get from showing myself making it. I’m concentrating on the client who has already booked me. The one whose wedding cake I’m actually creating.

The same applies when I’m at a venue. I don’t want to be walking around filming everything. I don’t want to be worrying about where I need to stand to get a good reel or whether I’ve captured enough footage. I want to concentrate on what I’m doing.

Making sure that cake is perfect takes every ounce of my concentration, my passion and my attention.

I’m not thinking about future content. I’m thinking about delivering the best possible cake for the couple who will be cutting it in the next few hours.

I’ve always said this to marketing people. Everyone talks about content, content, content and how content sells. Maybe they’re right.

But what I really want to do is make a fabulous cake.

I want to go into a stunning venue, deliver something exquisite, intricate and beautiful, dress it properly, step back, take a breath, drop the mic and walk away. I don’t necessarily want to spend hours documenting every second of the process.

Maybe this ties into trust.

Maybe trust should be, and ties into the importance of getting to know your clients properly. Whether it’s the couple themselves, their wedding planner or production team.

The design process.

The conversations.

The reviews.

The relationships.

If a potential client wants reassurance, why can’t they read reviews from previous couples? Why can’t they learn about the design process and get to know you as a designer and person? Why can’t they see the finished work and decide whether it’s right for them?

Why do we feel the need to show absolutely everything and take time away from what we actually love doing. For me….

Creating fabulous wedding cakes.

#craftnotcontent