Congratulations on your engagement!! One of the next steps you’re going to want to take is securing your venue, and hiring your wedding photographer. Good wedding photographers book out fast, sometimes well over a year in advance. We’ve booked out as far as 2 years twice and more than a few times we’ve been booked prior to the venue. So.. you’re ready to look for that person that is going to spend all day with you, capture beautiful images and preserve those precious memories. You are going to find a wide range of options. From people just starting out to those of us that do this full-time and make our living from it. You will find price ranges from $250 all the way up above $15000. Yes.. you read that correctly. Here’s where some education needs to happen. I don’t say that flippantly but matter of fact. There is a lot that goes into photographing your wedding day. There is the initial consult. There is communications and sometimes meetings with other vendors. There is the creation of a photography timeline for your day, creation of your formal structure. Placing who your second shooter may be. Meeting with your second shooter to go over and map out your day. Then there’s the day itself. We may spend upwards of 8 -10 hours with you. Travel. After your wedding day is a whole other process. There is uploading and backing up the images. Cutting the shots down to only the best we can give you, which in itself can take 3-4 days. Then the first of the processing. Then the fine tuning of the images all of which takes time. We easily spend upwards of 60 hours of work on each wedding AFTER the wedding day. Then there’s album or book creation. Printing and pick up or delivery scheduling. There is a lot that goes into it.
Lets break some of this down. Lets start with pricing. You will find some that begin their pricing at $250 and then you have us.. We begin at $3300. Why the difference? There is a lot that goes into pricing. Aside from the above mentioned time spent on your wedding we also have licensing ( yes, we are licensed in the state of Florida. Find us on www.sunbiz.org) We take what we do seriously and we want all facets of our business to show that. If the photographer you’re looking into isnt licensed it should put up a big red flag. If there aren’t concerned enough to take their business seriously how can you be sure they’d take your wedding seriously. I’ve heard numerous stories of brides that were heart-broken on their wedding day because their photographer never showed up. We are also insured. We also have gear upkeep and replacement. Professional affiliations. It adds up. Then there’s the quality of the work. We are good at what we do. We have spent hours perfecting our craft. There is a marked difference between someone starting out and what we provide. I’ve had a bride say to me that they’d rather pay a student who gets 20 or 30 good shots instead of paying my price for many more. Why? Isnt your wedding day worth it? The memories you have from that day will be encased by the images you get back. Wouldnt you want as many great images as you can have? Do they spend the time perfecting your images after the wedding day? Do they make sure that you are the primary focus of your images? We do!! We take our time making sure your images are the best they can possibly be before they leave my office!
There are other marked differences in what we do as well. We formulate a plan to photograph your day. If we need to visit your venue we do. It helps keep your day efficient and running smoothly. I’ve been to weddings where it was time for the formal and the photographer has no idea where to shoot, or even whom to shoot. Wastes precious time and makes you late. We formulate a formals structure with you to keep things running smoothly. Then we bring that plan with us to the wedding day so we can get the formals done efficiently and structured. Then we can get to the meat and potatoes of the formal time. Which is our couple. We aim to spend 20/30 minutes with you so we can do multiple looks, poses, locations and more with you. Ive been to weddings where the photographer literally has less than 5 minutes with the couple. Look at me.. Look at each other.. Kiss.. Lets go to your reception.. NO!!! You deserve more.
Lets talk about the work itself. You will find good, you will find average and you will find the other.. the not so good. I’ve spent years honing my craft. Learning techniques and methods to get your images to look amazing. I have an AS degree in photography. Yes..I went to school for this. If i could describe my style id say its clean, classic and romantic with a mix of traditional and photo story telling. We try not to follow the fads of the day. A few years back the thing was to have a yellowish-green tint to the photos. Then it was super bright and airy. Currently its dark and gloomy. On your wedding day?!?! Really?!?! This should be the happiest day of your life!! We want you too look on your images 20 years from now and smile.. not think to yourself..man.. what were we thinking.. I love rich colors. Elaborate backgrounds. I love the romance between my couples that tells a story. You deserve stunning wedding photos from someone who does this as a career. Not a fly by night hobbyist. You deserve it.
I could talk on this for hours. Here’s the thing. There is a difference between a high-end resteraunt and McDonald’s. Yes they both serve food… but one of those will leave you not feeling well and unsatisfied.. wishing you had the other. Your wedding day deserves greatness. Your memories deserve care. Your images deserve to be looked at and smiled on 20 years from now. You’re worth it.. and so are we.
Comments