The Power of Behind-the-Scenes Content for Wedding Professionals with Sheena Kalso
We all want to show off the best version of our work, but clients are craving more than just the perfect final photo. They want to see the process, the people, and the real moments that bring a wedding to life.
In this episode of Mind Your Wedding Business, Kevin sits down with Sheena Kalso, a 20+ year wedding industry veteran and the founder of Behind Your Scenes, to talk about the power of behind-the-scenes content for wedding professionals. From documenting the messy middle to capturing the magic in motion, Sheena shares why showing your work, in real time and in real ways, builds trust and connection like nothing else.
Together, they explore how BTS content can elevate your marketing, make your brand more relatable, and become one of the most valuable sales tools in your business.
Highlights:
- Why behind-the-scenes content builds more trust than a polished portfolio
- How to start capturing BTS content without feeling awkward
- The difference between social media content and legacy media
- Why “pulling back the curtain” helps clients fall in love with your process
- What to do when you're too busy to film yourself
- How to navigate working alongside photographers and videographers
- Why problem-solving moments are pure gold for content and connection
- The real reason face-forward content always performs better
- How to build your “content muscle” through low-pressure InstaStory practice
Whether you're a seasoned pro or just starting out, this episode will help you rethink how you show up online and give you the tools to turn everyday work into engaging, trust-building content.
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Transcript
All right, folks, welcome to another episode of Mind Your Wedding Business. I'm here with Sheena Kalso today, and she's from Behind Your Scenes. So Sheena, welcome to the show. I'm excited to learn a little bit about what we're going to be talking about today. But before we do, I'm to let you tell us a little bit about yourself and how we got you here today.
Sheena Kalso (:Thanks for having me, happy to be here.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, well, I'm actually a 20 plus year wedding veteran. My career started in weddings as wedding planner here in Seattle, Washington. Actually the birth of social media, which is relevant here in a second when you see where I end up. Mark Zuckerberg and I started our business at the same time. We went on different paths, but he made a little bit more money than I did. ⁓ But I was a wedding professional. And so I know this industry so well. It's close to my heart. I know what the industry.
Kevin Dennis (:There you go.
Sheena Kalso (:renders and people are doing, ⁓ I ended up deciding to, sorry, I'm suggesting my camera. Emily? Okay, I'm gonna start back. My fan's going really loud and I'm like, well, don't do that. One second. I'll start again real fast. I still want my fan to like, it was hot yesterday. Now I think it's just, know.
Kevin Dennis (:And you're good.
Is it hot? That's okay. Is it hot in Seattle today?
Sheena Kalso (:my computer being like, I'm tired. Hold on one second, sorry. That was such a stupid plan. me one second.
Kevin Dennis (:No worries.
Sheena Kalso (:Okay, there we go.
It's all smooth, until it wasn't all smooth. Alright, here we go.
Okay, I just don't want that to fall. But I don't want my computer to like overheat and then be super loud. Okay, I think we're good. Should I say her name again when we start up? Okay. This is so embarrassing.
Kevin Dennis (:Yeah, sure.
Don't be embarrassed shit happens happens to the best of us
Sheena Kalso (:Okay, there
we go. It's not moving. I just want to like now my computer slide off. Okay, there we go. All right, Emily.
ear to my heart, I started in: my planner hat in January of: Kevin Dennis (:I was gonna say
wow, that was like perfect timing. Damn. Yeah. Yes.
Sheena Kalso (:It was amazing timing. was incredible timing. ⁓
January: of us were, especially ⁓ in:but it caught the attention of shops here in Seattle who in Washington state, we were very, as I call COVID conservative in the sense that we shut down early, we shut down long storefronts could not have people in them. So one of my past clients from my wedding life has a storefront in Seattle. She jokingly said, I wish she could do my Instagram for me. She's, you know, she's in her sixties. It's not her forte. She's not super comfortable with it. And her inventory rotates weekly.
ss is every retail problem in: Kevin Dennis (:Hmm.
Sheena Kalso (:and kept your place open. We got to play with it. We got to style furniture and all these other things. Again, it felt very much like a styled shoot and a lot of that knowledge from my wedding life played into that. Word spread, fast forward three years. I ended up having clients locally and all over the country where I would do social media management for people. Again, yes, so tapping into that creative play, the sense of creating environments. It's fascinating how much of my wedding.
Kevin Dennis (:wow.
Sheena Kalso (:planning and event planning experience really crosses over into this field. You're creating experiences. Well, then I had an aha moment in 2023 of October, and it was that every single client, no matter who they were, where they were from, whatever, their number one struggle was actually having content for me to work with. Like I cannot cook if I do not have ingredients.
Kevin Dennis (:Hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Sheena Kalso (:And for
my local clients, easier, you know, an easier problem to solve. They would pay for me to show up to their business and capture content and whatnot. But for my clients everywhere else, I'd send them with marching orders and you know, either they wouldn't, they'd forget to do it or what they sent me back wasn't like very usable. And it was just kind of like, my gosh, we're not, the problem isn't like people don't like social media. I mean, that is a problem. The problem isn't the social media. It's the
It's the first step. Like we're not talking about the first step of social media, which is the content capturing. So I use the term. So today I am a business to business content capture. It's not a term that people use a lot. It's usually content creator, but I like the difference because for me, my goal is to be capturing people in their moment, in their element, documenting. I'm like a documentary film crew of sorts, documenting you.
Kevin Dennis (:Mm-hmm.
Sheena Kalso (:in your craft so that you have ingredients to work with for your social media. And so I ended up getting rid of the whole management side of things and hyper-focused on the content capturing. today that is, and it's so exciting because people, wedding planners, it doesn't matter what business is, but I do work with wedding professionals. Being one myself, again, birth of social media happened when I was wedding planning, but my Instagram sucked when I was a wedding planner.
Because when you're on the job, you're not, what are the optics of me having my phone out? And I know it's more common now, back then it was really bad optics, but like, how do you do your job and also try to be your own content creator? It's just, when it comes down to it, you got to focus on the job. So that is the problem I solve and that is where I am today. And I, I love it because I bring 20 plus years of event planning knowledge to the event site. So I'm not just this young pup with an iPhone. I'm a
Kevin Dennis (:Yeah.
⁓ And an iPhone You got yeah, it's we were just talking about that before we get on here So, alright, so as we got through all that you kind of spilled the topic We're talking about the power of the behind-the-scenes content for wedding professionals Which is and I'll be honest with you just putting on my business hat on
Sheena Kalso (:I'm an older dog with some tricks. And an iPhone, I still bring an iPhone, two iPhones.
Kevin Dennis (:we were horrible at because once we're setting up things we never had the time to stop and get pretty photos or or not even pretty photos just cool photos and we and we would even like try to incentivize our employees like hey get like a shot of the video of the scissor lift going up or the truck backing in and we would give like lunch out or we'd buy pizza for everyone if we can make anything and we would but everyone's so like blinders on
Sheena Kalso (:You're in it.
Kevin Dennis (:Yeah, you're in it.
Sheena Kalso (:Yeah.
Kevin Dennis (:yeah, and it just, I think the habits of you're in it and you got to get it done and you're because it wasn't ingrained in us to do it. So we hired a brand manager that that's her job to do it as a company.
Sheena Kalso (:Yeah.
Yeah, it's a job
for a reason. It's like, anyway, yeah, I cut you off, but it's a job for a reason.
Kevin Dennis (:No, no, and
it's funny because that's when and that So it's been a whole year that we've had her and that's when our social media has now like even like last night I was telling you before we went on we were at an industry event ⁓ Doing some live podcasting and we were there just podcasting but people are talking about our Instagram or something they saw on our video someone wanted to buy I am like known for my socks and Lately I have been really bad at taking photos on my socks at weddings. So I've been like
Sheena Kalso (:Mm-hmm.
Kevin Dennis (:Like an idiot not so anyway, it's a whole thing. like people like last night someone walked up and handed me a pair of socks, you know, so it's like there's a lot of power in a lot of that behind the scenes stuff. So, so, all right. So as we dive in, let's one, maybe tell about the power and what you see the results, but also like how can someone just instantly just like try to get started or you know, what, where do we go?
Sheena Kalso (:Yeah, absolutely.
Yeah. Yeah, like
for themselves. So here's, this is an interesting field because, and again, I do feel like I have an amazing advantage of being somebody who has been on the wedding vendor side of things, the planner side of things. I have worked with videographers and photographers for over 20 plus years. I understand what they're looking for. I understand how to stay out of a shot. I understand all these things that are a concern, especially for your media team. And there can be, I've heard of kind of
subtle turf wars, if you will, because now you've got like a third medium, a third media pro on site. ⁓ And again, often, you know, it's a bit of the Wild West, this industry that I'm in, it is still evolving and it's bringing a lot of young creatives, but there is a dance, there is a choreography to an event and to a wedding. ⁓ so what I say and what I think is,
Kevin Dennis (:No.
Sheena Kalso (:really, really important is I don't think social, we're all sold on the importance of photography and videography. And we will use they have their place, they have their function. To me, those are legacy pieces of content. That's like, that's a long format. That's the high quality that's going on the website, that's going to be in a really cool sizzle reel that that is going to be a reel that I will post. There is a place for all of it. It's so important because it gives you that legitimacy because it's really professional and polished. It would be I think naive in the year 2025 not to
also understand that social media content is equally as important. It just has a different function. It is a marketing tool. It is a very important marketing tool because it allows you to show up on a platform that is supposed to be a little unpolished. It's supposed to be behind the scenes. People want to know how the sausage is made.
Kevin Dennis (:Mm-hmm.
Sheena Kalso (:your videography team. Well, I know that there are videographers that are really adapting and photographers that are adapting and trying to add social media content to their so it exists. There's hybrid services out there. But the ability for me to show up and know my sole job is to shoot through the lens of Instagram and not worry about any other application gives me the freedom to shoot that way and to stay on track. Also gives me the freedom to think about
You know, the unique things of like, this could make a good reel or there's an audio that we should, you know, we should do. Like the brain has to go in a bunch of different places because it is, it is marketing and I have to shoot for the now, but I also, you also are building a library of content that you can get back into just today. Somebody I shot content for eight months ago, I saw their folder pop up. They were digging in there and pulling out footage. Like it is evergreen content. It's stuff that you can use for your marketing. It's not a vanity project. And I think that is.
Kevin Dennis (:Mm-hmm.
Sheena Kalso (:what it sometimes feels like is like, this feels really vain or kind of frivolous. No, like if you're it's not. And and the the clients that you are, you know, the clients are getting younger and younger and we're only getting older. Or what is it? What does Michael McConaughey say? I get older and they say the same age. That's what it feels like with with couples. But their taste and their expectation of how you show up on on social media like they're not buying them that changes. And so ⁓
Kevin Dennis (:yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Changes.
Sheena Kalso (:That I think is the really strategic importance of this role. And to also then be really honest with yourself and be like, I can't film while I'm on the job. Like it's just not going to happen. It's just not going to happen. ⁓ A really great example, I was in Dallas a couple months ago ⁓ doing a behind the scenes for a big wedding for some planning team. And my gosh, I was all over that city. There was multiple locations. And in one moment, the
The planner comes to see the final setup because she had teams at different locations. And the person on site misunderstood how the things were supposed to be laid out with a table layout. It was pretty crucial. was pretty crucial. The mistake was important to fix. we had, I think, last photos were supposed to happen in about 30 minutes. Guests were showing up in an hour. And every single table in this giant ballroom was off by about six feet, like every single fully set table.
Kevin Dennis (:Holy shit.
Sheena Kalso (:with the floral up above, mean, fully set for photos and everything was off by six feet. So, and the floral team left, like there was nobody there, but the few, the planners, the planner team, and then me. And I saw an opportunity. I was like, okay, I have two cameras with me. like, we're gonna film, we're gonna time lapse this because this, she's gonna pull it off because she's a professional. It's gonna happen.
Kevin Dennis (:That's a big deal.
Yeah.
Sheena Kalso (:we're going to document this like miracle that's going to go on. Also, I am going to help because the wedding planner and me can't really pull it out. I was like, I I did one point was like, I put a phone on a tripod and was helping move tables a little bit. But we filmed the whole thing we did. She did it. We did it in 25 minutes. I'm going around and capturing them fixing a major snafu. ⁓ And it's up to them how they want to use that footage. But like, how cool is that to be like, we faced a problem.
Kevin Dennis (:Yeah.
Sheena Kalso (:This is the work ethic of the team. We got it done. The client, and then I get the footage of the client walking in and being overjoyed and hugging the couple. My focus was capturing that wedding planner and that team do their job excellently. The bride and groom were just an accessory to the story that I was telling. And that is the difference. The videographer gave me maybe one of the best compliments I've ever received from a videographer. I affect the point where I...
Kevin Dennis (:Yeah, and that's where think people forget. Yeah.
Sheena Kalso (:said, I'm going to send you a Google review link and I'm going to need you to type that out, please, because that was amazing. But he basically said, he's like, I forgot you were even there. And I was like, that's amazing. Now, he forgot I was there because we weren't shooting the same thing. I'm sure that would have been a different dynamic if the couple was my client, but my client was the planning team. So I'm even getting the videographer doing work.
Kevin Dennis (:Hahaha!
⁓ wow, that's really good.
Sheena Kalso (:I'm getting the photographer doing work. I'm getting all the vendors in action. I'm trying to tell the story of like, here are how these magic makers make the magic. And then I get the reaction shots. But like, I also know I'm behind the shoulder of every single media probe because I don't want to get in their shot because that's, you their job. Like it's all that it's all these like moving parts. And it was just a really amazing experience. The wedding planner was thrilled because she's like, you documented exactly what we do. Like you showed.
the thing that we sell, it's really hard to articulate what we do all day. But like, I captured all of it. And so it's so powerful. And now they've got this massive library of footage that they can use over and over again, and then combine with future pieces of footage. So it's just a, it's so powerful. And people, again, love to see how the sausage is made. Those videos, those reels always do better.
Kevin Dennis (:Yeah.
Well, it's like you say, funny you say that because that's what we've experienced here as well. the thing I think that planner now has an amazing sales tool. You know, this video and a little thing that they can put out there to couples like they could use it in their sales funnel. They can do all kinds of stuff with it to show them in action. And there's like you said, that's priceless. Like we can't.
What we do is so we can't set up a wedding and then go pretend there's a wedding and then have so you know you so so so having someone like yourself that is focused on behind the scenes is Probably a must so now ⁓ Go ahead. Go ahead
Sheena Kalso (:Right, yeah, no.
Yeah. Cause yeah, that, yeah. I
saying, I mean, just to probably to hammer the point home, like what's also great about what I do, there is a, it is a good bang for your buck because you've got, again, the application, social media is temporary. The application isn't supposed to be the super high quality, you know, legacy lifelong heirloom film. So I can be of a easier price point to swallow for a budding vendor.
And then the videography team really can, because they're going to be focusing on the couple and telling their story of the day. I'm back filming trailers and dollies being loaded in, like very unsexy stuff that the bride and groom would not want, you know, for them. ⁓ So for me to able to capture all that and then help that couple, help that, yeah, helping that wedding team tell their story of the day in parallel with the bride and groom having their story of the day told.
Kevin Dennis (:Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Sheena Kalso (:with a videographer as they should. ⁓ It was just really cool and I think it's a really important service to consider, especially for weddings that you're like, this is a lot of work or there's a lot of moving parts. there's, yeah, I've thoughts about all that.
Kevin Dennis (:Mm-hmm.
Well, and even
like for us, something that like we used, just recently were involved in NACE here locally. And so we just applied for some NACE awards and we use the footage of all our, you know, behind the scenes footage for the NACE award because they don't, they want to see some of the end result, but then they want to see how it happened is I think more powerful than than the actual just seeing the finished product. So we used a lot of that and everything we applied for, we're a finalist. So I mean, so I was like,
Sheena Kalso (:Mm-hmm.
Right?
Absolutely.
Kevin Dennis (:So I was like, wow, that's the first time that's ever happened for us. So I don't know if it's a coincidence or, you know, with that said, so.
Sheena Kalso (:Yeah, there is an uptick in, I was listening to a show and they were interviewing ⁓ a documentary filmmaker. And I cannot remember the stat for this anecdote, but the point of the story was there is a huge surge in interest for documentaries. Like Netflix, you pull up your Netflix and it's really pushing out docu-series or documentaries at a much higher volume. And the theory has kind of been like, you know, our taste for voyeurism.
through reality TV and then through social media and then now documentaries. We've been sold the gloss for so long that now we're like, how did that get made? You just want to know the real story behind it. And so I think that is why that kind of content performs so well is because you can find gloss and smoke and mirrors everywhere. You can find the pretty stuff. It's all over the place. But for someone to be willing to be like,
Kevin Dennis (:Mm-hmm.
Sheena Kalso (:this is how it all came together. This is us being stressed. This is us having a meet in the corner and being like looking at a map and like, like there's a little bit of drama to that and people love it. And you know, you can control the narrative with your content. You can still show the end result, but like, it's just people get hooked and then they feel like they know you and they feel familiar with you. And then they get excited about the idea of working with you because they saw how you worked on the site.
Kevin Dennis (:Yeah, that's funny you say that because I just had a couple walk up to me at one of our ⁓ open houses that we do here in our business and they're like, are you the guy that's on the podcast? And I'm like, I am. it was they like, they felt comfortable with me already before they even knew me because they've heard me on the podcast. So the same can be said for what you're saying. So all right, we talked so many questions that popped in my head since you've been talking. But so a little bit. So one of them like turf war like so going into this because
Sheena Kalso (:Yeah.
Yeah.
I know.
Yeah.
Kevin Dennis (:I've seen videographers fight with photographers and vice versa. So adding you in as the third element, how, what, like, do you have to do a lot of prep work before the wedding to get these people comfortable? Do you have to show them videos that just show that you're not there to capture, you know, the same stuff? Like, is there a process to that to make them feel more comfortable to where they'll open up and be a little bit more themselves?
Sheena Kalso (:Yeah.
Yeah, ⁓ I caught my letter of intent. ⁓ I reach out to, well, it depends on the kind of event, either the videographer and the photographer are there together or whatever, but I put them on an email and I introduce myself and I usually give them my background. Hi, I'm Sheena. This is what I was hired to come do. ⁓ Here's what I intend on filming. ⁓
Kevin Dennis (:Okay.
Sheena Kalso (:Just so you know, I'm a 20 year wedding planning veteran. So I give them some of my background, let them know like I'm totally, I understand like not being in the shot while the bride's going down the aisle. I understand, you know, all these different things. So I kind of try to put the, here's what I'm doing. Here's my background. You can be comfortable that I'm there. And then do you have any questions or concerns about what I'll be doing on site or if there's any overlap that like is a red flag to you? Let me know.
Kevin Dennis (:⁓ OK.
Sheena Kalso (:And then I also let them know at the end, by the way, I will be filming you as well. So I will have some footage of you in action on site and I will I intend on sending you a link to all of your footage so you have some stuff for your own social media. So I kind of end with a gift. And yeah, and great. mean, was in fact, actually, the videographer that had given me that very nice compliment in Dallas had said that he appreciated that email.
Kevin Dennis (:Yeah, well, no, that's good way. And how do they take it?
Sheena Kalso (:because he has worked with other people that don't make initial contact, ⁓ who he doesn't really know what he's walking into. He doesn't know, do I have to work around this person? Like all those different concerns that I think are attached with this new vendor category. ⁓ So he appreciated that clarity and he said he felt pretty good about it. And then again, when I showed up on site, the second I saw them, I go up and I shake their hand. I'm like, hi, I'm a team member.
that team member attitude versus being timid and like, I don't want to be in your way. It's like, no, hi, I'm Sheena. So excited to work. Do you have any more questions for me? I'm just going to be here. And then we all just do our job. And as he said, he forgot that I was even there, which was amazing. Best compliment I could ever receive. But that's how I would recommend for people that are trying to get into this, or if you are a professional bringing your own content creator and they don't
Kevin Dennis (:100%. Really.
Sheena Kalso (:initiate that sort of letter themselves, either ask them to or do it, I would say just to make things not awkward on the day of, do it on their behalf. Like say, this is my intention, this is what I'll be filming ⁓ X, Y, and Z. I think it's better to come from the content creator, but ⁓ if you're hiring somebody, would ask them to make, ask them to make pre-contact with your other media team vendors.
Kevin Dennis (:Yeah, and we like I said, we have the brand manager here in our office and she's been doing that and it's we've only she's only hit negativity once with one person. But yeah, but she even offers she goes I'm here focused on our company. But if I get you you're welcome to you, you know, like like like you said wrap it up with a little gift at the end and she offers a little gift and most people are like, my god, I would never like for a videographer. How often would you get someone shooting you, you know doing your work?
Sheena Kalso (:really? Okay.
Not, not, not us two. I
don't have anybody filming me. Like I need a Sheena for Sheena. That is like, I like, you know, and also I do understand there can be issues. I was talking with the planner in New York. Seems a little bit more contentious out there. And I think a lot of it has to do with like exclusivity rights and like the fear of footage leaking because we want to, you know, that kind of stuff.
Kevin Dennis (:Yeah.
⁓
Sheena Kalso (:So like luxury planners in particular, maybe there's not NDAs or that kind of stuff involved. And so I'll, I understand the scope of work and often, in fact, so far for weddings, I have never posted live, like in the moment, some of my corporate events, I post to stories in the moment and just keep like the flow going. I just film and then I deliver the assets to.
planner and then they can decide what they do with it. So I assure them of that in the email as well as like I'm not posting to social media in the moment. I'm simply just documenting and handing over the footage to the planner if you want to ask them about you know when they plan on using it that's up to them.
Kevin Dennis (:Now is everything you do video or do you take a few stills along the way as well?
Sheena Kalso (:mostly do video, I do a couple stills, but I've now gotten to a point where I've figured out how to, I mean, I film in such a, I have my camera settings high enough that if it's a great shot, I'll just go and I'll screen grab the frame from a video and it's perfect for social media. So when in doubt, I'd rather film because I often get the more organic still shots by doing a screen grab.
Kevin Dennis (:Okay.
and it's good enough for social media.
And it almost it feels like today's couples are more apt and more response responsive to video themselves. So that's probably yeah.
Sheena Kalso (:Absolutely. And they're going to get these
beautiful photos from the... They want to post the photos from the photographer. And that's when they're going to look like movie stars. So I don't think they expect photos from me. And I don't... So I don't really think about it. Yeah.
Kevin Dennis (:Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
So now you you mentioned is it easy to fill fill up your phone on the day of like is it like how to OK.
Sheena Kalso (:my gosh.
Can
I tell you, I did a job a couple like a month ago and this is, I am friends with a gal who does content creation for couples. So she works directly with the couples and they hire her and she's got two phones and her whole thing was like, well, it's hot in Florida. And so if your phone overheats, I got to flip to another phone and the whole thing. And I was like, God, that's a good point. And I got me thinking, gosh, what if my phone failed on a job? That'd be really bad.
Kevin Dennis (:Mm-hmm.
Sheena Kalso (:And in fact, I had busted a lens on a phone, it was at the last, literally last minute of this conference and my phone hit a laser beam and it shattered the pixels in my lens and it created this crazy flare. So I would have been screwed if that had happened at any other point in the conference. And it was a really like, ⁓ she not like, don't be an idiot. Photographers and videographers come with backups all the time. They have multiple lenses, multiple cameras. Like, don't be a dummy.
Kevin Dennis (:Yeah.
Sheena Kalso (:So I ended up getting a second phone and then literally like three days later I went to a conference and I shoot on my, just my everyday phone. That's like my go-to. And 30 minutes into a six hour day, it said memory full. And I was like, and so the secondary camera was just set up to do a time lapse. I was just doing some time lapse stuff thinking that was fun. And I was like, well, we're not doing that anymore. So I mean, boom, no problem. Totally seamless. It all worked out fine.
But just another like, if you're hiring somebody, ask them what their backup plan is. I I had a backup plan when I was wedding planner. Why wouldn't I have a backup plan now? ⁓ So I take it pretty seriously, but yeah, can happen. Or the heating up thing. I'm gonna have an outdoor event tomorrow ⁓ and it's supposed to be pretty hot here. And I got thinking, my gosh, my phone's probably gonna get hot. So I'm probably gonna have to toggle between phones and I'm actually gonna pack ⁓ like an ice pack in my backpack.
Kevin Dennis (:Hmm.
Sheena Kalso (:and just kind of stick it in there to keep the phone cool and then flip-flop. So it's stuff like that you learn on the job that, you know, makes you better at your craft when you're out there prepared.
Kevin Dennis (:Yeah,
and you put it in a little Ziploc bag, put it on some ice and it keeps it. Yeah, but it's I saw we had a content creator here that worked for couples and that's it was a hot day and she would sandwich it in between these little ice packs and as she was switching phones and she just put it in a Ziploc bag because nothing would happen to it and keep it cool. So all right. So outside the phone's tripod tool, like do we need a lot more tools or other than someone knows?
I mean, you got to kind of know what you're doing with the iPhone. That's part of it, too. I'm sure you could probably give a class on how to get better photos out of it. Because iPhones, yeah. Do you? I love it.
Sheena Kalso (:do have a whole method. called the BYS method. I teach people how
to do it. Yes, I teach people and teams how to do it. So if you do have a staff out there, everybody's photos and content looks the same, so you could seamlessly edit it together. here's my whole, this is my background from being an event planner. The more bells and whistles, the more things I have to attach to my phone or set up, the less likely I will capture the content. I call them friction points. ⁓ I want,
I want to be able to keep eye contact with my subject and get my phone out and start filming without having to unlock the password, find the app. Every little action is a friction point and it slows you down. so for me, because I simplicity is king and simplicity is what actually allows us to kind of turn it into a mindless habit and we do it more often, I don't actually use a gimbal. I don't bring anything. I bring a tripod just in cases. I bring a light.
just in cases. I've never, I don't think I've ever used any of the things I bring. I bring stuff. bring mics. Sometimes I'll do little interviews. I bring mics, a light, a tripod, backup batteries. I absolutely use those. I have quite a few backup batteries, but my aim is to have the lowest profile possible. I don't want to stand out. I'm not standing right now. I'm a five foot nine, like redhead. It is hard to blend in sometimes.
Kevin Dennis (:I was gonna say, you probably have to have a look at one of the backup batteries.
Sheena Kalso (:So the more things I have attached or coming off of my body, the more attention. And so my aim is to be as subtle and low profile as possible. I think that also taps into my wedding planning background. Like you just, you're supposed to kind of just blend in and you just don't, know, so I think about what I wear. think about, ⁓ I think about my outfit. I think about my appearance. I just kind of want to like look like another sort of vendor that doesn't just kind of in the orbit.
And then ⁓ the method to which I hold my phone is sort of my signature move. I turn myself into a human tripod and I pin my elbows to my body. I hold my phone with two hands. I have a certain position I hold and I just do a lot of gliding with my body. I don't move my arms. I hardly move my arms actually. It's a lot of body movement because I become more stable and so everything's more fluid. ⁓ I've been watching wedding videos.
Kevin Dennis (:⁓ Okay.
Sheena Kalso (:for 20 years being a wedding planner. So I would like to say that I have been inspired creatively by wedding videographers and how they craft a story and the cinematography of what they do. So I pull that into some of my footage so that it also feels timeless and not janky or crooked or shaky. Yeah, that is, I know there are, I've seen people with the contraptions and the boxes and I've been so tempted to do it, but I just.
Kevin Dennis (:Yeah, it's obnoxious.
Sheena Kalso (:I it's obnoxious. I'd like people to think I'm like a really over your guest that just like really loves her phone. ⁓ And that's my method because also a lot of my subjects don't want to draw attention to themselves. Like I don't want it to be obvious that I hired someone to film me on your wedding day. Like I don't want it to be like the Sheena show. If I were the planner, it's not the Sheena show. It's the couples show. And so
Kevin Dennis (:Yeah, I agree with you.
Mm-hmm.
Okay.
Mm-hmm.
Sheena Kalso (:I take that into account and think how can I be as low profile as possible? And that's by having the just, you no gear, just my phone, ⁓ a very sleek backpack if I need to carry my batteries. Otherwise it's just me going all day long. So that's my philosophy and approach.
Kevin Dennis (:Yeah, and I think it's great. Well, and like, I'm sure you have the latest, greatest iPhones because the newest ones, the image stabilization in that is so amazing. The cameras get better. I mean, like every fall they release. I mean, and then they show you what they film like motion. People like people are making motion pictures of iPhones right now. So the fact that you should be able to get pretty decent quality footage, especially in low light and the low light feature in these things now is there's yeah, because we I was just filming.
Sheena Kalso (:Yeah.
Yeah.
Absolutely.
Incredible.
Kevin Dennis (:because you know trying to help out with social media I was filming a first dance of a couple and the videographer walked by and he goes because I got like last year got the newest iPhone in October whenever it came out and he walked by and he's like and he literally said the f-word and he goes you're getting better video footage right now than I'm getting on my like on my camera he's like you without a light without anything you know because it adjusts so much so yeah so it makes your job even that much easier to not
Sheena Kalso (:Yep. Yep. It's good.
Whoops! ⁓
Yeah. Yeah.
Kevin Dennis (:have to have all the crap.
Sheena Kalso (:It is really nice, Yeah, I just, I,
again, I bring the little flashlight and everything, but I'm like, I don't wanna be holding a light. I don't know, I just, don't wanna draw attention, because that's like my subjects, it's behind your scenes, right? So like I want to be, I really wanna truly be like behind the scenes and not draw attention to myself or my client, because they don't wanna be the center of attention.
Kevin Dennis (:Yeah.
All right. So what type of like behind the scenes content like resonates with couples you think the most if I'm a wedding approach wanting to do this? where is there the setup to tear down? Is there, you know?
Sheena Kalso (:Yeah,
people love, so you're gonna get, you're gonna do an event and you're gonna get all these gorgeous photos of your work. I love combining the setup with the final product shot. ⁓ People love to see the flowers being rolled in, the buckets, the, and there's a couple planners that I follow who do do a really good job of behind the scenes stuff on their Insta stories on the day of, which is phenomenal to me. They must have giant teams, because I'm like, how do you have time to film this?
Kevin Dennis (:Mm.
Sheena Kalso (:But watching like the unpretty stuff, people just find it so fascinating. And then it's like a magic trick. And then it's like, then boom, here's that stunning arch or that, you know, ending the story with the final product and use the photos from that photographer. Like that is really, really interesting ⁓ because it also shows again, couples can find beautiful photos ⁓ on portfolios and websites.
Kevin Dennis (:⁓ okay.
Sheena Kalso (:but ⁓ it hooks them in and makes them really bought into, I don't know, it just feels like cooler to be like, I just saw how that person made that. So that stuff really tracks well. ⁓ Time-lapse things, how, again, start to finish a time-lapse video is fascinating to watch. Bloopers are really fascinating to watch. you were to, if you're willing to be vulnerable, because again, you can control the narrative. You can end the story on a high note, but if you're willing to show a mistake,
Kevin Dennis (:Yeah, yeah.
Sheena Kalso (:Like if I were to make a reel with that footage I took from that Dallas event where the tables were all off, they did not ask me to make this reel, so I won't do it. But I would do it. I think, maybe I'll pitch into them and like, I think you should do this. I would start that reel with like a record scratch. And it was like, when you discover, oops, like that ⁓ shit moment or whatever you want to say. A guest show for an hour and everything's off by six feet and do that record scratch.
Kevin Dennis (:Mm-hmm.
Oops.
Yeah.
Sheena Kalso (:because that boom, we've got a problem. And then now I've got footage of how that problem was fixed, a time lapse footage of all these people swooping in on the ground, myself included pushing tables. These were mirror top tables, by the way. They weren't just even normal tables. It was absolutely insane. It was so insane. I can't even tell you. ⁓ But then you have that footage and then it's like you end with like
Kevin Dennis (:my God, ⁓ Jesus. That's even more impressive.
Sheena Kalso (:the glory shot, you end with the hero shot, you end with the hero shot of like, of the beautiful tables and the guests, whatever. I think that stuff is so cool and people love to see it. And it builds trust, right? It's like, A, they're human, everybody's human. They made a mistake and they fixed it. Like that's what I care about as a client. I don't care that you made a mistake. I want to know how you're going to fix that mistake when it's made to me. that's what's, yeah.
Kevin Dennis (:Yeah.
Yeah.
Because we're all not perfect. Shit happens
and we, you know, and it's how we, and how do you react, I think is another good way. Yeah.
Sheena Kalso (:Exactly. So how do you solve a problem? Yeah, how do you react? And they were calm under
pressure. So to me, like that is also the power of just having somebody filming, you know, Oh, you drop a vase and it just shatters that that got caught on camera. I'd start a video with that and then reel it back and be like how the load and happen and then be like, this is how we fixed it. People want to know. There's a lot of there's a I have heard from many industry. I don't know what the title is.
trend, I don't know what the time is, but people saying that there is an all time low in trust in wedding vendors in right now. People are feeling they're getting scammed. They feel like there's smoke and mirrors and getting hoodwinked. The Reddit boards are all lit up with conversations. So what better way to instill trust and that you're not a BSer if you show how you handle mistakes. Like here's the flaws, here's how we handled it. And this is how kickass that event was when it was all over with. Like that to me is like,
Kevin Dennis (:Mm-hmm.
Sheena Kalso (:That is such a trust-building piece of marketing material.
Kevin Dennis (:Well, and
it's impressive that you didn't let it just go. Like she could have said, right, we're just going to roll with it and be, it was a mistake. yeah, but the fact that they, nope, we're going to double down and we're going to make this right, I think says a lot to the ethics of that planner. You know, like it's, no.
Sheena Kalso (:Right.
Yeah.
Well, I was
able to then get her, mean, getting the power of like her being my subject. I'm filming the planner. I'm seeing her face. She's doing this whole thing. And I even said off camera, I was like, what's wrong? And she, and cause I just tell, she was like trying to be poised, but she just like, there's that the wheels turning and she's like, it's off by six feet. And we, but so I'm capturing her reaction and then I get her pointing to people. Like the real, I like, I love this real. It's like her directing traffic and people picking up chairs.
Kevin Dennis (:Mm-hmm.
Sheena Kalso (:And so I'm capturing all of this, her directing and orchestrating the fix. And then we get to show the reveal. Like if I weren't there, none of that, not even, would say it wouldn't have gotten captured. It would have been captured. It's been a story that you'd have as an inside story amongst your team, but like, my gosh, the power of showing that to your potential client and seeing how your future planner is working under pressure and like directing and capturing a room and commanding attention. I was like, I got all of that.
Kevin Dennis (:chaos. Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Sheena Kalso (:And so they have footage of that. It's so cool.
Kevin Dennis (:Do you find like a lot of wedding vendors, especially ones like myself that have been in this industry for too long, ⁓ feel that they're nervous to pull back the curtain or they're nervous to be vulnerable or unpolished to put that out there? Okay.
Sheena Kalso (:Yeah, yeah.
It's a millennial and older problem. Like it is a big time. It's a millennial and Gen X problem for sure. People are like, well, I guess older. I'm an elder millennial. I straddle the line. I'm feet in both worlds. Here's my theory. Social media was invented on us. It was experimented on us.
Kevin Dennis (:Older. Yeah.
Okay.
Mm-hmm.
Sheena Kalso (:Some people were in high school, some people were in their mid to late 20s, but like we were all at the start of our careers or the next chapter of our lives when social media started. And then it just, we were the guinea pigs for the next 25 years or however long it's been around. And we've seen all the iterations and we got when it was like, now it's for business. And this is the polished look and this is the curated feeds and the colors matching and you're controlling the narrative.
what we were probably where we were our brains latched onto the most. And that was what we were believed to be the right way. And it was for a season of time, but the pendulum has swung back a younger generation is coming up. Thanks to TikTok, like they don't like the Polish stuff. It's, it's, they think it's a sales pitch and it's really hard for us who learned this one way to try to unlearn it. And then also
People really feel like, I'm too old or no one's that's human camera or I'm not camera ready. They don't care. like nobody genuinely cares anymore. But we used to think we used to care. People don't care anymore, especially the people that you're trying to target as your client base. ⁓ They just don't. And so we have to kind of get over ourselves and be OK with being a little bit raw.
Kevin Dennis (:Well, that's and someone that's old it will I'll be honest with you. That's what I struggled with when I first started down this journey, but now it's the point where just shoot it and I'm not part of me like I'm not even might not even watch it, but I know that it's getting positive reaction from every because I have like like I said last night multiple people talked about this one reel that we just put out, know, and it basically making fun of me and like
Looking at it. I'm like, I'm a little chunky. I don't you know, like I like I pick myself apart people are loving it So there's you know, see yeah, so you got a
Sheena Kalso (:Yeah, they love it. Absolutely,
it's absolutely. I think it's kind of rip the bandaid off. Also think about, here's my exercise. When I'm starting to feel self-conscious, I think about the people I love to follow and I absorb their stuff or that I admire. I'm like, they just post all the time or they're always doing a talking head reel. Like I don't actually post as much as I wish I did. Cause I also, I'm not immune to this. I get in my own head space. But then the people that I enjoy following,
I don't for once think about their hair, their clothes, if they're wearing makeup or not. I don't care if they're in their bedroom. I don't care if they're in their car. I'm just captivated by either what they're doing or what they're saying, and that's what I'm there for. So why would it be different for me? It's not different for me. Nobody is examining me or my environment as much as I think that they are, because I'm not doing to anybody else.
Kevin Dennis (:Hmm.
Sheena Kalso (:Yeah, when you're needing inspiration, just think about the people you love to follow and hyperanalyze what they're posting and be like, it's actually pretty unpolished. It's like a one take wonder and they're just posting it. I think it's a, it just takes practice. It's a muscle. We have to unlearn some stuff.
Kevin Dennis (:You really do. Yeah. And you got to be not afraid to be vulnerable. I think that's what it all comes down to. So it's kind of crazy. yeah, like it is what it is and just move forward and just be like, even like on the podcast, I can't stand when I hear her editing. I'm like, God, I can't stand to hear my voice. You know, I'm like, even like last night we were driving home and she like was trying to tell us that and she was like playing one of the I'm like, I don't want to hear the intro of the podcast. No.
Sheena Kalso (:Yeah.
Yeah.
Can't hear it, can't hear it. ⁓
Kevin Dennis (:But yeah, but my daughter loves it. kids, know, people tell me all the time that they listen to it. So that's all that matters. So anyway.
Sheena Kalso (:Yep, yep.
I think a really good challenge. So something that your listeners could do if they're feeling like, just need to get used to this. I need to like build this muscle. A great stepping stone is getting really good with InstaStory because it is what? Like a 24 hour lifespan, it goes away. It's already, people already expect it to be like kind of a nothing burger. Like it's just, you know, like I post a picture of my coffee cup.
Kevin Dennis (:Hmm.
Sheena Kalso (:Nobody cares. But it's a great place to practice repetition and to practice talking on camera because it doesn't live on the grid forever. There's not that pressure. I actually have something called ⁓ InstaStory Nudges and I do a daily ⁓ prompt to get people to practice this because I want people to feel better and more comfortable to start to talk to the camera and have their face on camera. And InstaStory feels less scary to do that on.
So ⁓ my subscriber, Instagram subscribers get a daily prompt from me. I also tell them what their example is. Like, hey, here's your prompt for the day. Here's how I'm going to do it. And then I end up doing it so they can see how I did it. ⁓ But if you did something like that, whether you do it like that through me or you make your own list, you set an alarm on your phone just to remind you, start with Insta stories and build that muscle of just being like, I'm just going to talk on camera and I'm not going to overthink it and I'm going let it go.
And then what you'll discover has happened to me today. My prompt, ⁓ I was like, actually, that could be a good reel. And I was like, screw it. I'll just film it as a reel. And I filmed it like it was a necessary, but I posted it as a reel. It's content on my grid. Reels always perform better than anything else. So that is the kind of thing you want to build up to. But if that is your sticking point, like you face on camera and you're just like, nobody wants to see my face. It's not true. I promise you it's not true, actually.
You will also notice that anything you post with your face on it will outperform anything else you post. mean, things with a human face always perform better. Things with the business owner's face outshine, like outshine the other content, like exponentially.
Kevin Dennis (:Well, and it's funny,
I had someone on recently that just said to your fact is that if you, people relate more to a face than they do to a logo. And so that's why so many people now are doing, one content creators, but also influencers. That's why it's becoming such a big thing. Cause people would rather see people using the product than the actual logo of the brand itself.
Sheena Kalso (:Yeah. Yeah.
Absolutely. Yeah. So yeah, build that muscle. Start with Insta Stories. Also Insta Stories, will discover that people sleep on Insta Stories. They're actually a really powerful way to create engagement because it's pushing stuff to your existing followership who are already fans of you. So you often get more ⁓ likes and comments and engagement, which is ⁓ really great. It's like really great for your algorithm. It's like a little vitamin. Like treat Insta Story like your daily vitamin.
Don't sleep on it, it's important.
Kevin Dennis (:I love that. That's a good little nugget. All right. You actually answered my last question that I was going to ask you is like, how do we start? I'm ⁓ yeah. So you you were phenomenal. We've actually hit our time limit. So, Sheena, thank you so much. No, you've done a great job. It was just like I could I think we could talk for another 45 minutes and get more even more into it. So but
Sheena Kalso (:Incredible.
Good.
Kevin Dennis (:How can people find you, get in contact with you?
Sheena Kalso (:Yeah. Yeah. So I'm on Instagram, as you'd expect. It's behind your scenes dot co. That's also my website. Although if you go to my website and we check it out, it's great. It's actually over a big overhaul because over the last year, a lot more services and things have popped up. But what I really would love to send people to is I talked about how I can teach people how to take better content. I can do it in 90 minutes or less and your stuff will instantly look better. It'll look uniform.
Kevin Dennis (:Hahaha! ⁓
Sheena Kalso (:I can teach teams, it can do it virtually, I can do it in person. If you go to BehindYourScenes.co backslash BYS dash method. So the BYS method is what I teach. And ⁓ that just kind of gives you a little snapshot into sort of how I teach people how to do this ⁓ and not teaching other content creators. I'm teaching business owners. I'm teaching real estate agents. I'm teaching... ⁓
Kevin Dennis (:Mm-hmm.
Sheena Kalso (:Wedding planning teams, like if you've got somebody on your team that you want to have come and do this role for you at your events, have them do the BIS method because then everything they take will be usable quality footage that you can use over and over again. ⁓ So yeah, I'm really excited about the BIS method. travel to do it. I do pop-ups. So I come to different cities. I'll be in Chicago and I'll be in Dallas and I'll be in San Francisco. So pop up all over the country. I'd love to come to your city.
Kevin Dennis (:Love it.
All right. Love it. And we'll have all her information in our show notes. So Sheena, thank you so much for being here. You were a fabulous guest and very informative. ⁓ I'm not afraid to be shot. So I think if I can do it, anybody can do it. So that's all I have to say. I enjoyed it. Thank you, folks. And we'll see you next time on another episode of Mind Your Wedding Business. We'll see you soon.
Sheena Kalso (:Absolutely. Thank you so much. It was really, really fun chatting with you.
