Weddings are seasonal events…..  there are times of the year many brides would like to have their weddings, and the inevitable jockeying for dates can oftentimes test the patience of the most laid back personalities.  The most obvious advice for brides looking at weddings in the Spring and early Fall is to start booking your top vendors as soon as you have your date nailed down.  April, May, and June are your most popular months in the Spring, and October is the most popular in the Fall.  Knowing this, you may be able to get a head start with vendors …more

I’d like to to talk a bit more about engagement sessions.  Many couples feel the engagement session is not a necessary part of planning a wedding, and is an expendable part of wedding packages when they’re on a budget.  To this point alone, I completely understand – many of us are on a budget and to find any way to save some money is like finding a bit of gold underneath a stone.  However, the engagement session is so much more than simply taking photos of you both as a couple…. it’s time spent with your photographer before the wedding …more

Holidays are a busy time of year for everyone.  They are a time for celebrating, visiting family and friends, shopping, making resolutions, and also a time for getting last minute chores completed for the year.  For many couples, it is also the only time they have days off together in order to visit with wedding photographers.  This can often present problems when trying to schedule appointments as photographers may also be busy with family obligations or traveling out of town.  I can personally testify to many couples getting angry with me for not being home when they will be in …more

One of my favorite aspects of this job is meeting new people.  I have been fortunate enough to have some wonderful clients in the past, and will be working with some equally as wonderful next year.  This business is all about people, and a wedding photographer has to be a bit of a people person to succeed.  The variety of personalities we may encounter with just one wedding can be absolutely staggering… and it’s our job to effectively communicate with each and every one equally.  We have to juggle strong-headed mothers of brides, nervous grooms, drunk groomsmen, overbearing fathers, hyperventilating …more

The wedding album is one of the last things a couple gets to enjoy from their big day.  Depending on the style you choose and the photographer in charge of producing it, the level of involvement each couple has can either be very limited, or extremely involved.  Which is better?  Well, neither really.  What it really comes down to is whether you have the time to devote to an album that requires you to pick out all the images and sit down for a creative meeting to discuss the direction you’d like the design to go in.  If you don’t …more

Most of us expect the best possible product for our hard earned money.  We put in the hours, we sacrifice our time, we sometimes start from scratch and become success stories, we take time away from those we love to make sure we can pay the bills and feed ourselves, and some of us have problems letting go of our funds unless we are certain we will get our money’s worth.  Understandable, and certainly nothing unusual in a society that puts so much stigma on the value of a dollar, and measures someone’s worth by the things they own.  I …more

Hiring or asking friends to photograph your wedding can sometimes be a calculated risk.  There are advantages to having a personal relationship with your wedding photographer, like being more comfortable around them or having confidence that they know what you like.  However, assuming the personal relationship will easily transition into a working relationship is what gets most couples in trouble. 

There is an easy comraderie that comes with friendship that usually does not exist in the workplace…. and for wedding photographers the workplace is their studio or on location site for shooting sessions.  It is not always easy for the photographer …more

Many brides are very particular about the way they look in photos.  I myself am very self conscience of any type of photo taken of me, but if I were a bride I would constantly be second guessing the poses, the lighting, my makeup, my hair, etc….  It is extremely important you communicate with your wedding photographer on the day of a shoot.  Don’t be afraid or embarrassed to tell them of certain angles you are not fond of, or if you have a blemish and would like it retouched out of every image, or if you are a bit overweight …more

Common questions:  I have listed below some of the more common questions I receive during my consultations. 

Why did you become a wedding photographer?

How long have you been a wedding photographer?

Do you have backup equipment?

Do you bring an assistant?

What if you get sick?

Do you handle stress well?

How do you dress for weddings?

Do you consider yourself a people person?  Why?

Are the images available for purchase on a CD/DVD?

Do I have full permission to make prints from these images?

How is the copyright handled with the images?

How soon after the wedding day do I receive my proofs?

How long are the proofs online?

How much are …more

Do you need to know alot about photography to hire a wedding photographer?  Not really, but any knowledge will help.  With the popularity of digital it is so easy for anyone to pick up a camera and call themselves a professional photographer.  However, that doesn’t mean they really know anything about photography…. This business is about so much more than holding a camera in front of  your face and pointing at a subject.  Yes, many of the newer cameras on the market make it much easier to take a good image, but unless the owner understands lighting and composition, that …more

Working with a wedding photographer can sometimes be a bit intimidating for those of you not comfortable in front of a camera.  I have experienced many couples that just can’t seem to relax knowing I am photographing them.  The most extreme case I’ve encountered was a bride who was paranoid during her entire bridal portrait session – she was so self conscience that she could not relax in any of her images, and it unfortunately showed in the results.  Her portraits were beautifully lit and composed, and she herself looked magnificent, but she was stiff and had tense expressions on …more

The out of town bride has unique challenges when planning a wedding.  The most obvious is her inability to schedule appointments during the work week, but another disadvantage she will often come up against is having to rely on others to screen possible vendors to meet with, or entrust them to hire whom they see fit.  I often run into this situation with brides who depend on their mothers for most of their big decisions.  Now, there is absolutely nothing wrong with mothers handling some of the planning when their daughter is only able to come into town a handful …more

How important is it to have a wedding photographer that specializes mainly in weddings?  Well, to be honest, that is totally up to you as the client.  But, I will share my view on this and you can mull it over if the situation arises for you in reality. 

There are so many facets to photography that it’s sometimes overwhelming choosing which field to specialize in.  There is newspaper/magazine photojournalism, commercial art, fine art, children, weddings, aerial work (mapping and surveying), family portraits, high school seniors, sports, underwater photography, etc….  If it can be photographed, chances are someone specializes in it.  So, …more

I know I’ve talked about this already, but I’d like to add a bit to the importance of a good relationship with your wedding photographer.  Yes, it is important for the days leading up to and including the wedding day, but it also will often extend beyond that time as well.  I have many clients that contact me years later to photograph their children and do family portraits.  The bond I’ve established with these clients provides an instant trust when working with their families later down the road.  Would you want just anyone photographing your first child?  Would it mean as …more

Wedding photographers everywhere will tell you that what we do is not easy.  In my opinion, this area of photography is one of the most difficult because we have only one chance to get a shot; most of the time we have no, or very little, control over our environment and have to improvise constantly; and have the extremely high pressure of knowing our images have so much emotional value to our clients.  So, why do we do this job?

For me, it’s all about people.  I am, by nature, not a social butterfly.  I’ve never been one to go to parties or out on …more