If you're lucky to own the sort of venue that people flock to for weddings, then it's worth taking a bit of time to check out all the best places and helping your photographers get the best out of the day.

You see, one of the biggest problems for wedding photographers is timing.

They have a few hours to get everything right.

The wedding party turns up, go through a series of procedures such as meeting the guests, walking around the gardens, that sort of thing, all while the stressed out photographer attempts to herd them together to get some decent photos.

This can be a traumatic experience for all involved, especially the one with the camera who is currently being ignored.

So how can you help them to get the best?

Well, one hotel I had the pleasure of working with recently had a fantastic idea, you see, they'd already scoped the place out and were totally prepared for photographers.

For a start off, they invite photographers to visit the premises well before the wedding so they can get used to the area and take some trial shots, but, knowing their premises, they provided a folder with a map and example shots.

Not only that, they had a calendar which explained the best time to take the shots as well as location.

Evening wedding? No problem, head over to the path near the woods and take a shot across the lake sometime between 6 and 7. You'll have the sun in the perfect position to light up the couple.

Is it raining? Again, no problem. Use the orangery and position near the archway - you can get shots that include foliage and some of the beauty of the garden, all in the dry.

The folder of advice really was comprehensive and chock full of creative ideas.

How does this help my hotel?

Marketing is everyone's job, and you can make it a lot easier if you employ other people - such as photographers.

Every part of the wedding preparation is likely to involve recommendations, and if you have been accommodating and helpful to photographers in the past, then when they are asked for their opinion, they're likely to recommend places that are easy to work with.

Also, everyone wants their life to be easy, and any sensible photographer will work at places they know.

But there's also a side benefit.

You need photos for your brochures and website. After helping the photographer so much, a quick email to ask them if they'd mind providing a few images for publicity is likely to go down well.

This mutual promotion can only help to provide more marketing opportunities for both you and the photographer.