The Wedding Photographer

Ahhhhhh.  Okay, this post could go on for days.  Sorry in advance if that really happens.

To start - anyone who knows me knows I am OBSESSED with wedding photography.  Obsessed.  There is no better word to describe it.  I LOVE, adore, can't get enough of it.  This has been going on for many many years.....since before I met Ant.  Which is great, because it means he wasn't freaked out by my obsession - it was normal.  Anyway.....this means I have spent LOTS of time looking at wedding photographers, following blogs, doing research on prices, packages, etc. etc. etc.  I have gone through "phases" with photographers where I have had favorites.  Blogs I have followed more and less closely.  There was one particular moment I am ashamed to admit, where I was at the seafood festival in my hometown and started freaking out because I realized one of these photographers was there with her family, enjoying the food.  Yes.  That obsessed.  I started slapping Ant going "remember that blog I read ALL THE FREAKING TIME??? THAT'S HER!!!" like she was Justin Timberlake or something.

Anyway.  The benefit to this is that I learned a lot about what I like about photographers, and a LOT about what I don't like.  I became quite the snob.  I googled every version of "CT/RI/New England wedding photographer" and I would pick and choose the ones I liked enough to keep reading.  I realized it was often the subtle details, and the simple photos that stood out to me the most.  Over editing does nothing for me....overly posed shots do nothing for me.  Give me some raw simple emotion and some beautiful pictures any day!

So, when it came time for Ant and I to start looking at photographers for OUR wedding, I had a mini freakout.  How was I supposed to make a decision like this?  To me, the photographer is hands down the most important vendor of the day (no offense to our other vendors...I love you all!).  Besides the marriage itself, the photos of the day are the only thing that will truly last a lifetime.

I emailed a number of them.  A few that I knew I loved I also knew were out of my price range.  A few others I quickly learned were out of my price range.  This discouraged me, and made me hesitate to email a couple of other photographers I had been really excited to talk to.  I then started panicking about budget, and went way too far the other direction.  I reached out to people I knew I could afford, and knew I didn't necessarily want.  The worst part was that half the time, these photographers who appeared cheaper ended up being not all that cheap.  Their wedding package included 1 photographer and 6 hours and by the time you got what you REALLY wanted, you were spending over your budget all over again.  For not the person you wanted.  It was a mess.

I took a breath, stepped back, and started over.  I filled out a contact form for a photographer who's blog I'd been reading for months...and I waited for a response. The email I got back made me take an even bigger breath.  She sent me a link to a website, FULL of information for potential clients.  It includes images of their "pretty heirloom items" like your wedding album..*swoon* and also includes all of the nitty gritty.  The cost, the details. and the beauty of it all?  It's oh so fabulously simple.  The fee for the "experience" includes all of the following:

Includes 8 hours of photography by 2 photographers, a couture styled engagement shoot, a PASS gallery of your wedding + engagement, the digital download of all your low-res images, delivered in less than 4 weeks, a custom website, and an EXPERIENCE that you won't soon forget.

Again...*SWOON* what more could you ask for?  Simple, clear cut, and best of all - BEAUTIFUL.  The photos, are beautiful.  These are some of the ones that jumped out at me in the beginning, and made me continue to follow her blog.

SO anyway, long story short, we agree that it is within our budget-ish enough to set up a meeting.  We show up in Hartford at Alicia's home studio.  She has a cheese plate and water and is sweet as can be - and it really is that simple.  The only wrinkle or hesitation after our initial meeting had to do with the cost of the wedding album.  Wedding albums, if done properly, are expensive.  More expensive than naive little me could have ever imagined.  So the cost of the photography and the album fell a bit outside of our initial budget.  BUT.  I have the best fiancé ever and the most supportive parents and future in-laws ever, and we made it work.  Conversation over, photographer booked!  We will be working with Rachel from Alicia Ann Photographers (formally No Eye Has Seen Photographers) next summer, and we couldn't be more excited!

As you may know from reading about our engagement pics here or here - we didn't actually meet Rachel until the day of our engagement shoot…which I was also a little nervous about.  But there was nothing to be nervous about! Rachel is so so sweet, and was so helpful with every detail leading up to the day we took our pictures.  The photos came out AMAZING, and the process was so simple.  They were posted on the blog here - and we received a PASS gallery of all the images, so I was able to download them and use them for our engagement party just a few short weeks later!!  She has also been beyond patient... answering my random questions and rehashing timelines with me, as I start running into all the silly things you never thought you'd think about.  I legitimately can NOT wait until August, to see the beautiful moments she is going to capture for us on our wedding day.

Okay…I warned you it was going to be long!  How did you choose your photographer?  Is anyone else as in love with wedding photography as me?  Send me the links to some of your favorites - I'm always looking for beautiful new blogs to read!!

and just because I can't help myself, I'll leave you with a few more pretties to look at…