2017 Ayres Photography Client Gift Boxes

Filed in mentoring, planning, weddings shot by Ayres Photography on August 04, 2017 at

Last year, after much thought, consideration and months of careful planning, we were finally ready to send out our very first round of client gift boxes. This project is something that we had been thinking about for quite a long time and it felt amazing to see it all come together! Showing our brides and grooms just how much they mean to us is of the utmost importance. After all, where would we be without them?! We were SO excited to send each 2016 couple a beautiful box jam packed with gifts from a handful of our favorite Buffalo makers. Click here to see last year’s surprises! Thankfully this labor of love turned out to be quite a success! We couldn’t wait to start planning out what we were going to send this season!

This year, as we started selecting some new surprises to fill the boxes with, we began to realize that we were gravitating towards items that make us feel all sorts of warm and fuzzy inside. From tasty treats to relaxing scents, this year’s boxes were filled with things that we could totally picture our couples enjoying together on a slow, cozy Sunday morning. And, so evolved our theme for this year, “A Cozy Sunday Morning.” Taking the time to relax and soak it all in with the one you love, especially during the often hectic time of wedding planning, is definitely something that we find to be super important! In most cases you only get married once, and there are so many things that need to be done during that time. All of a sudden you blink and it’s your wedding day and you wonder what the heck happened to the year?! We wanted this year’s gift to be something that would encourage our couples to make sure they take some time out of their busy schedule and really reflect on the many reasons why they’ve decided to share their lives together. And so…. *drumroll* ….here are the contents of The Ayres Photography 2017 Client Gift Boxes:

When they open the box, the first thing our clients see is a declaration of truth, “You’re the best!”, because they are! These amazing couples sought us out to document one of the most important days of their lives! They trust us to capture their wedding day in a way that truly reflects them as individuals and as a couple. They value our advice and our expertise and they are confident in our skills as professionals. They saw past our photographs straight into our hearts and they feel the passion we have for our craft. Now, if that isn’t the best then I don’t know what is!

On top of the crinkle paper there’s a simple card that says, “Thank you so much for choosing us! We’re so excited to work with you!” The back of the card (not pictured) says “These are a few of our favorite things,” and gives a list of each item enclosed along with the names of the makers and their IG handles so that our couples know right where they can go to get more of these amazing goods!

These are the gifts (and amazing makers) that we chose to include in our 2017 gift boxes:

1. Linwood Candle Co. – We used Linwood Candle Co in our boxes last year and it was such a huge hit with our clients that we couldn’t help but include them again! Their Sweet Grapefruit Soy Candle is one of the greatest things I’ve ever smelled; I don’t know how she does it!! They’re made with soy wax, essential oils and cotton wicks, so they’re safe for the environment and they fill your home with the most incredible scent imaginable. We definitely get tons of great feedback every time we send these candles out. They are seriously the best.

2. Butter Block – Last year we sent out Colleen’s amazing homemade Oreos and after those bites of heaven we knew we definitely wanted to include a Butter Block offering again this year. We decided to switch it up and went with her homemade Pop Tarts and let me just tell you, it was really hard not to eat them all ourselves! If you’re a sucker for light and flaky, super buttery, melt in your mouth pastries filled with decadent fillings and topped with delicious glazes then you will not be disappointed with these. In fact, they’re so popular that they often completely sell out!! Follow Butter Block on Instagram to see where their next pop up shop will be so you can grab your own! Don’t sleep on these, folks. These are the real deal. You’ll never buy Kellogg’s again.

3. TeaLeafs – This shop was new for us this year and we’re really happy that we decided to include them! Sydney, the shop owner, is such a wonderful woman and her passion and sense of community mirror all of our own values in business. Her delicious tea bags filled our boxes with a wonderful warm and cozy scent of roasted almonds and cinnamon- perfect for cozying up on the couch!

4. Sweet Fields – We couldn’t send out lovely teas without including it’s partner in crime – honey!! We knew we wanted someone local who could provide us with the best raw honey possible. This beekeeping family of Sweet Fields has been working with honeybees for over 30 years and their farm is right here in Erie County. They sell it at the Hamburg and Lancaster Farmer’s Markets, so go check ’em out and tell them we sent you!

5. Zandra – We included Zandra’s incredible all natural Big Balms in our boxes last year and we knew we needed to include them again. Not only are her skin care products natural and amazing for your skin, but this girl is just that – a girl! A teenage girl with an insane talent for making wonderful skin care at an affordable price. Oh, and she’s a Buffalo native of course. We can’t figure out what is sweeter, her products or her personality. Let’s just call it a tie. :)

6. Rust Belt Love – We’ve worked with Alyson on a number of different projects in the past, including our 2016 gift boxes. I may be slightly biased because I love her so much as a person, but I really think she’s the best of the best in our city. If you want your invitations designed by someone who has Buffalove coming out of her eyeballs, then Aly is 100% your girl. She’s a genius. This year we chose to include her beautiful note cards showcasing drawings of different Buffalo landmarks such as the Grain Silos, Hotel at the Lafayette, the Peace Bridge and a whole bunch of other incredible and historical Buffalo buildings that are near and dear to our hearts.

7. Love By Bean – Have you ever heard of a seed bomb?? Well, you have now! Eileen’s Organic Pollinator Wildflower Seed Bombs are the perfect thing to bring beautiful flowers to any yard! Each seed bomb is made with post-consumer paper and hand-selected, high-quality, organic, non-GMO seeds. You can pretty much toss them out your car window and they’ll grow colorful and amazing flowers just about anywhere! You don’t even need to bury them! Perfect for anyone, whether you have a green thumb or not.

And that completes our 2017 Ayres Photography Client Gift Boxes! Tune in to see what we come up with for next season! We believe so strongly in things that are handmade with love in small batches, and there is no shortage of products that fit this description in our beautiful city. We already have so many great ideas!! If you have a locally made product in mind that you think we should check out, let us know in the comments!

client gift boxes

Filed in for photogs, mentoring shot by Ayres Photography on September 01, 2016 at

It has been about two years since we made the decision to kick paid advertising to the curb, and direct the majority of our advertising budget back into our clients, and it was the best decision we’ve ever made for our business. This won’t work for every small business, but it works for us because we realized that we’re much more interested in attracting the right clients for us instead of a large volume of clients who are not a good fit for us. Paid advertising does cast a much wider net, but investing in the clients who love us for us has proven to be a much wiser business investment. Working with the right people who truly value what we have to offer brings us so much joy, so we also look at it as an investment in our own long term happiness and overall well being. That may not seem like it has anything to do with “business,” but for us, loving what we do is a priority, and working with the right people is a huge part of that.

We experimented with all different kinds of client gifts, but this year we finally settled on a gift that makes us feel really good to give and that our clients really seem to LOVE, so we’re definitely sticking with it!  We wanted to give our couples something that would be useful, practical, delicious, and a little bit fun, while promoting locally made products that we actually love and use.  By incorporating products that WE love, we’re sharing a little bit more about who we are and what we value, which reinforces our brand identity.  Also, we’re all about fostering long term relationships with our couples, and who doesn’t love getting presents in the mail?! :) We have had several people contact us after seeing someone post a photo of their gift box on social media, and they always turn out to be people who are the perfect fit for our style and overall philosophy. If you’re attracting clients who are a great match for you, then there’s a good chance that their friends will be a great match for you, too!

The first thing you see when you open the box is the sticker on the inside lid that says “you’re the best!” On top of the crinkle paper, is a card with our logo that says “Thank you so much for choosing us! We’re so excited to work with you!” The back of the card (not pictured) says “these are a few of our favorite things,” and gives a list of all the different companies and their Instagram handles. We used the branding elements we received from our designer, Braizen, to create both the card and the sticker.

It was really tough to choose the contents for the gift box, because we love so very many local artists and makers, but once we realized that we could change up the contents of the box every year, it became much easier to choose. ;)

From left to right (clockwise), these are the gifts we incorporated into our 2016 gift box and a little bit about why we chose each one:

1. Linwood Candle Co – I first discovered Linwood Candle Co at the Jack Craft Fair in 2015, and I fell in love with the high quality of their product as well as the simplistic packaging and branding. They are made with soy wax, essential oils, and cotton wicks, so I feel good about burning them. The Sweet Grapefruit scent is my favorite, so that’s what we chose for the boxes. Linwood Candle Co is a 10 out of 10 in my book, and definitely worth checking out!!

2. East Aurora Cookie – We first met Jennifer of East Aurora at a corporate party we were shooting a couple of years ago. She was seated at a table and people were coming up to her and showing her pictures on their phones of everything and anything, and right then and there, she would paint the photo…ON A COOKIE…and hand it over. It was one of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen in life!!!  I, of course, pulled up a photo of my dog and she did an amazing job painting her portrait, so I instantly became a life long fan and cheerleader for her talents. We ordered cookies from her for our daughter’s first birthday party, and they were so incredible, you guys. SO INCREDIBLE. (You can see them on her Instagram feed.) I knew that we wanted her to be a part of the gift box because I wanted to sing her praises from the mountaintops. When we came up with the idea to have her paint a portrait of our couples’ faces on a cookie, we knew we had struck gold. We got such great feedback on the face cookies, and will keep them as a staple in our gift box for as long as we can!

3. Rust Belt Love – I’ve always been a fan of Alyson’s designs (especially her pen and ink art), so when we decided to include stationary in the gift box, she was the first person I thought of. I love sending and receiving cards in the mail. I like to have them on hand to write a quick note or a thank you and send it off to a friend!

4. Elle Pea Tee – I’m all about things that are natural and made with the purest ingredients possible, and this line of products delivers everything I’m looking for. Her lip scrub in Cherry Berry is the best thing out there for dry lips!

5. Zandra – I can’t remember where I first came across this young lady and her incredible skin care products, but I’m so glad I did. Her lip balms are my favorite! They make great holiday gifts for my family and friends, and I always have one tucked into my purse and one in my diaper bag. Their large size makes them easy to find!  They were an obvious choice for our gift box.

6. Butter Block – Everything Colleen makes is pure magic, and I love her business philosophy. Above all, I am obsessed with her pop tarts, but I was afraid they would break in the mail, so we opted for homemade oreos instead, which are equally delicious and nostalgic. We got lots of great feedback on these!! If you have never had a Butter Block pop tart, you need to try them…you just NEED to.

7. Public – This coffee company has quickly become a beloved Buffalo staple. We are big fans of the Kold Brew!!  And, now that The Grange Community Kitchen is a five minute walk from my house, I can have a Kold Brew anytime I want one!

And, that’s a wrap for the 2016 Ayres Photography Client Gift Boxes!!  We’re already working on the 2017 gift box, which will feature some of our new favorite artists and makers.  We’re pretty excited about it!!  So, for us, the decision to use our advertising budget to invest in our clients and share all of these wonderful, locally made products with them was definitely the right one. We do still use Facebook sponsored posts sometimes as a form of getting our work out into the world, so that’s technically paid advertising, but we don’t advertise on any other sites. This method may not work for everyone, but our goal is to fill our calendar with couples who value the same things that we do (family, friends, togetherness, sentimentality, kindness, generosity, and love), and gift giving plays a role in helping us achieve that goal. :)