Thank you for supporting me for the last 14 years it’s flown by. As time goes by I want to stay focused and in an artistic mindset. That being said, I have decided to narrow my sites to a limited number of weddings as well as senior photo sessions for the future. I’ve had great times with families and making lasting fun portraits, but I want to focus more on what I love and that’s the chaos of a fun wedding day and the joys of a senior with their whole life ahead of them in celebration on what they have done so far.
Coronavirus and Wedding Photographer tips during this time
Client wedding photographer Tips during this chaotic Coronavirus time
If you’re going to reschedule or if you think you might have to, start asking the questions NOW to your vendors. See when they are available, when the venue is available. If you’re waiting till the last second when they announce the venue can’t do it, your dates are going to be very limited. Ask them now, be ahead of the game and get the next best date for the venue and vendors you wanted all along. Right now because of the virus wedding postponements from april-may, i’m booking back to back Friday Saturday weddings in the fall, it’s already happening, if you think you can wait you may be let down.
If the photog is booked on your backup date, don’t panic. Ask them for their suggestions of friends that have a similar style. PS there’s secret\closed pro photog facebook groups for your local areas and states that could yield very good photographers in your budget if you had your photographer post in the group for you. I do it for clients when im already booked and it saves them a ton of time looking around. Often pregnant, or sick\injured photographers will post as well for available photographers when they’re in a pinch and it works. It’s a great support system but you may not be allowed in the group, so just ask your photographer to post locally for you.
There are more days of the week than Saturdays, and knowing this can save you a ton of money. Saturday you wanted booked? What about Friday? What about Sunday? If it’s a holiday weekend sometimes Sunday is the new Saturday. I offer discounts on non saturdays. Something to think about. Ive had pretty weddings on weekdays before in the afternoon, not all weddings need to dance till 11pm, so you can use that to your advantage.
Come the Summer and Fall, the photographers are likely going to go back to having full schedules and having the “power” back so to speak where their prices go back up to what their market and egos tell them they should be….but….right now, you the client, have more leverage than ever. People fully invested are looking for ways to make ends meet and are likely in a mode where they are needing deposits for the future to pay bills. I would guess that there will be no better time for discounts and deals than the next 4-6 weeks (or however long we are quarantined)
If you’re having to book someone new do your homework. Read reviews, look at their full wedding album galleries so you’re not duped by thinking a few killer shots on their portfolio is their “all the time” quality. Make sure you read the fine print and you’re not paying a ton later just to get your images in a medium you want.
Take a deep Breath, focus, and remember why you are getting married. Don’t lose track of what’s actually important in life.
Below is my most recent wedding, Matt and Mary. They pushed up their wedding, changed venues and had an immediate family only wedding to beat the quarantine (it was actually mandated while I was shooting the wedding so that’s how close they cut it). They knew what was important and put aside the spectacle of the wedding they had in their mind to focus on what was most important in their lives. Congrats Matt and Mary!
Mary and Matt, my first altered plan wedding from the coronavirus, but a beautiful day none the less
Wonder who’s going to win this battle (ps it was cold)
Make time for photos
In a perfect world I would have an hour to do formals with the Bride and Groom and a half an hour with the wedding party (and 30 minutes for family photos) but seldom do we get that even if its scheduled). ..but if it’s scheduled why wasnt there that much time? Any delay, every delay, will eat into the photo time to keep the reception\food starting on time. What was an hour and a half between the wedding and the reception can get cut in half if your receiving line of hugging 200 people takes a half an hour, then the limo stops for drinks. These are your memories and your photos to help you remember for a lifetime, so do your best in planning (or have a wedding planner), or even just ask me during the consultation and I can go over a few points you might not have thought of when making your timeline. Though, dont stress, Ive hammered out formals and wedding party photos before in 20 minutes because that’s all we had. Is it ideal? of course not, this is literally my favorite most creative part of the wedding day and while it does break my heart sometimes to see them rushed (even skipped) from wedding day chaos, I just want you to be prepared so you can avoid those pitfalls so we can take the time to shoot something like you see below. Just you two, having a fun moment without the fear of father time.
Busy Bee and Thanks to you guys
2019 has been busy. Thank you everyone that has chosen me to capture your memories. Every weekend during wedding season seems to be booked all the way up till early December, so how’s that work? How do you not fall behind? My goal to stay sane is to keep up with my wedding editing and have them done week to week. That means editing a full wedding in a week, 400-600 photos…so if im watching youtube or netflix its mostly listening since there’s only so many hours in a day. Great thing is, editing them is like reliving the day and the moments (those father\daughter dances get me every time). So even though im stuck behind a computer every night till long past midnight, it’s just part of the job and im grateful to do something I love.
Chelsie and Steven sharing a cute moment after their wedding at a beautiful winery near Upper Sandusky Ohio
Why I shoot weddings
No learning photographer wakes up one day and says "im going to shoot weddings". We are usually suckered into shooting one to a friend after saying no enough times and the other person being incredibly persistent and maybe even throwing a small bit of money their way.
Many photographers run from weddings, they want no part of it. Creatively you cannot mess up. There are no re-do's. Its a long rough schedule of being on your feet. Things go wrong, things break, and its like being a restaurant manager when a school bus arrives right before you close...but....I like them, ok, I love them. People at the top of their happiness, chaos, and cake! I've served my time learning my settings where im not fumbling around, maybe that's why I am fine with the chaos of wedding days. The inclement weather, the schedule changes, the drama, I embrace it.
I can see true love in effect. The father daughter dance will usually pull at my heart since i have a young daughter. I literally leave nothing on the table on the wedding day and my feet tell me that that night when I get home. I know I love it, otherwise I wouldn't be excited to do them. Each wedding is always so different. Did I mention the cake?
Welcome! 1st blog post
in general
An easy way for you to see my daily photo adventures is to post it on my blog. Amazing weddings to vacation landscapes, I will be posting them here.
Fun things, crazy things. Example of said crazy things, when Josh crawls like a cat across the floor to take off the garter. Shot at the manor house in Wildwood metropark. Beautiful venue though this room for dancing is quite intimate in size, we were all friends when this one was over.
