What are you paying for?

I'm sure you've discovered this by now: weddings are expensive. Ok, my marketing department would correct me by saying "weddings are a large investment." And they're right, but it boils down to the fact that you are shelling out your money to various people, and in return, you expect them to shine on your wedding day. Caterers, florists, bands, chefs, coordinators, celebrants, photographers...we all have an important part.

You expect your photographers to shine on your wedding day. Not a best effort, not a college try. You expect us to perform. In addition to our artistic abilities, this is what you are paying for. You may have been initially attracted by our style, but you are hiring us because of our professionalism.

So what's our value? (i.e. why do we ask the prices we do?)

• Our business is insured. We hire and retain a professional staff. Our business practices are open and transparent. We use plain-English contracts. You know what you are getting and we know what we have to deliver. Attention to detail and custom tailored service are our hallmarks. When you hire us, you know exactly who will be shooting your wedding.
  
• Long before your wedding day, we are doing "R&D" with the latest camera gear, computers, software, and techniques to ensure you have the newest, proven equipment. Gone are the days when a photographer could invest in a Hasselblad that would last 30 years. Digital camera bodies have lifecycles similar to computers. And the software to manage these cameras and their images gets updated weekly. We stay on top of all of this for you. Everything has been carefully maintained and tuned.
• We maintain and upgrade our production processes. Websites, ordering software, lab relationships, shipping, receiving - everything that goes into producing the end products, whether online or physical, must be maintained.
  
• We check in with you several times in the weeks leading up to your wedding to ensure that there are no surprises and that you are comfortable.
• The night before, we are charging batteries, cleaning lenses, checking equipment, reviewing logistics, printing mapquests, loading film, checking the weather, loading camera bags. Then we double check everything.
• We leave very early for your wedding. Trains, road construction, accidents -- you never know. We'd rather be early.
  
• 2 or 3 photographers come to your wedding carrying 5 or 6 cameras. We have extra film, batteries, memory cards, flashes, and lenses. We have backups for our backups. (In fact, when we press the shutter on our main cameras, the image gets written to two different memory cards simultaneously to minimize risk of data corruption.) We do all of this while maintaining a professional demeanor and low profile.
• We take well over 1000 shots during your wedding and we are prepared to do this inside or out, in any lighting or weather conditions, while working with the other professionals you hired.
• We post-process and deliver about 300 of the best shots - all fully corrected and ready for print. You and your guests have access to a beautiful online slide show and proof gallery. You receive a digital proof album and real 24 karat gold archival DVDs containing your image files. We don't hold you hostage - you can purchase prints and albums from us or create your own. We deliver all of this within 3 weeks.
  
• If you do order an album from us, it is archival grade. Real leather bindings. Quality matte-boards and papers. All images are spray coated and mounted. It's built for future generations.
  
• We maintain your images on our computers for at least a year, and of course we have backups of our backups for a lot longer than that!

If you've made it this far, I'm assuming you are out shopping for a photographer. We are certainly sensitive to the economy and are willing to work with you to meet your price point, but we hope this blog helps you understand what goes into your wedding photographs behind the scenes. Thank you for taking the time to read my thoughts and best wishes on your upcoming wedding.