"Relaxed" weddings = HUGE potential for vendor stress!

I must say the one thing that can really make me cringe and worry about an upcomming wedding project is when I hear something like, "Oh, it's going to be very relaxed." OH...NO!

I completely understand a couple's desire to have the day feel  relaxed - I do. BUT, please, if you are reading this and are planning on not really having any kind of time schedule or figuring out the events of your reception based on whatever you feel like doing in the moment, PLEASE take this information under consideration.

Even after all these years and about 200 weddings, I would estimate that 90% of any "issues" that came up - stressors or even problems we had with doing our job involve "relaxed" weddings. Probably no professional coordinator involved, bare-bones skeleton itinerary for the day (like, photos at this time, ceremony at this time, dinner at this time), and an iPod as MC of the reception. When so many people are involved in such a special occasion and when so much time and money has been invested in your beautiful day, a schedule and a plan is NECESSARY for your vendors to do their best at whatever you've hired them for and...yes, even for you to be relaxed.

I'm sure every vendor would have their own perspective on this, so how this effects what I do can be multiplied by however many vendors are involved, I'm sure. Here are some issues that have happened or so nearly happened that I still get faint thinking about it:

1) Miss the bride getting into her dress or any number of important things that can happen at that time - FOB reveal, reveal with the groom, the veil (usually the best opportunity for emotion or excitement when the bride can take a breath and feel like a bride for the first time), etc. Without a schedule keeping everyone on point and alerting your memory professionals to when these things take place, I could be with the guys or getting detail shots and not know that I'm missing anything!

2) Possible audio issues because we have to make difficult "Sophie's Choice" type decisions when something important (like the above events) is happening but we also need to prep for the ceremony.

3) Part or all of the reception events: announcement, cake cutting, toasts, dances, tosses... WOW. This really is where we run the greatest risk - for video, especially. Photog'ing is less of an issue because I have the entire duration of whatever event is happening to catch some good shots and document it - unless, of course, the bride just grabs her small group of girlfriends, walks over to the head table, counts to 3 and tosses while I'm running across the tops of tables trying to get there as my spidey senses heard "1...2...3..." from across the room. But VIDEO, on the other hand... we don't want to miss a second of any of that! We want to hear how you (assuming you don't have a professional entertainer/DJ handling the events, of course) introduce your best friend and how nervous he is when he starts his speech. Memory! We want to see you walk out to the dance floor holding your dad's hand and wiping a tear. Memory! We want to see your nervous giggles as your groom is hamming it up before he goes after the garter. MEMORY! I think you get the idea.

4) I can pretty much guarantee that I will have to bother you (and ooooohhhhhh do I hate that) many times throughout the day to either do my best to keep things moving - putting myself in the coordinator role (ooooohhhhhh do I hate that) or checking in on your best estimate of this event or that because I need to use the restroom or something (have actually had to explain to a bride right out that I HAD...TO...PEE and to please give me 5 minutes before starting the dance because - guess what! She WAS stressed out about the schedule and having to make all these decisions on the spot!).

5) OR the events come to an abrupt hault because, while you're out on the dance floor and a groomsman has started your first dance song on the iPod, the groom is MIA. Yeah, I'll edit that out of the movie, of course. It won't show up in the pictures. But...something else WILL show up in the video and pictures - and you may never actually "see" it: lack of magic. The little snafu has most likely taken any possible magic or romance out of the event, and instead of gooing at each other and being adorable, you're probably having a conversation like this: "Where the heck were you? I told you we were doing our dance right after dinner!" "But people are still eating, I thought I had time for a smoke." "Noooo...we finished eating like 10 minutes ago!" "Then why didn't we dance 10 minutes ago - I was right there with you." "I had to pee first!" Yeah, that's all GREAT for the pictures and the video, and you finish your dance all tense and the hug and kiss at the end is OBVIOUSLY obligatory only. Yuk.

Yes, we pride ourselves on shooting (whether video or photo) journalistic or documentary style. This means we're trying our BEST to just shoot this amazing event as it unfolds and not get involved in the event itself. HOWEVER, we are human. We are a team of two at best and sometimes - depending on how you've hired us - only one. (That would be me.) At times throughout the day I have to take care of human needs to keep myself going for you - like a restroom break here and there and a bite to eat during dinner. That schedule can help me plan for good opportunities to do that. That schedule can keep me on point even when your maid of honor forgets to alert me to something because, even with the best of intentions, she's not experienced at coordinating and facilitating the most important and enormous event with so many moving (simultaneously moving!) parts of your life.

My highest recommendation is, of course, to do whatever you have to do to hire a professional coordinator for even basic "day of" assistance. If that just cannot happen, my 2nd highest recommendation is to have a professional DJ who has experience facilitating receptions at least. If you are proceeding without those professionals in place, I hope you will consider toiling NOW over a reasonable plan and schedule for your day including target times for all the events that you want in your photos and video. We memory professionals are happy to help you think of all those events ahead of time! Appoint someone responsible (preferably NOT a member of the wedding party, but someone who is willing to be with you all day) to keep an eye on that schedule and ANNOINT THEM WITH AUTHORITY even among the wedding party at the rehearsal so everyone knows how important that person is to YOU.

You can relax at your wedding - you can! But it's going to take some work and preparation ahead of time to do so. If your stomach is sick at the thought of all this, honestly you might be happier having a destination wedding at a resort that will handle everything for you. I say that with complete empathy. Knowing what I know, I think that would be my preference if I was doing it all over again! :)

Happy planning!!

Sticker shock over digital photography prices?

WOW, this blog from a professional digital photographer in Dallas is soooo helpful if you have sticker shock or just don't quite understand the difference of digital files and edited prints and where the pricing comes from, etc. This field is so vast, I know. So many options...so many PHOTOGRAPHERS.

I would like to highlight a difference in my service, since you'll read about these issues in this blog. For pricing comparison, my 4x6, for example, is priced at $5.99. I usually recommend to my clients that they just print 4x6's and 5x7's from a less expensive source - since they'll have the digital files. In a small print, I feel you just don't see the difference in quality to justify the additional cost in the professional print. That being said, I'm happy for this blog to help give me credibility when I tell people that my print rates are VERY competitive. My 8x10's are $20, and I've seen 8x10's priced from $30 - $50. This blog will help explain the value associated with these prices.

Regarding digital files. I also include digital files on disc for all my wedding clients, and it includes up to 100 (yeah, 100!) edited files. I want my clients to be able to have nice smaller prints or make their own photobook on Shutterfly if that's what they want. I realize that book, for example, will also showcase my work to their friends and family, so, yes...I take the time to edit 100 files. This is NOT reflected in my pricing, but one day it will be.

So, please take the time to read this linked blog. You will be more educated and you'll be able to have a better perspective on the value you receive from your photographer. (Hopefully, that's me!)

http://www.stacyreeves.com/editing-digital-negatives-2/

photo assignment - Coffee

Brian has come up with a little plan for me to get behind my camera more often for fun and creative development. Also it's good blogging material, and he's ALWAYS after me to blog more. He's going to give me a photo assignment - weekly, maybe. Feels like pressure to me! I'm such a horrible critic of myself. I get all tied up in knots thinking things like, "is this creative enough?" "Is this the best thing I could do?" BUT, I also am VERY driven to meet any challenge and deliver on any assignment. So, here's my first submission. I don't know if time will allow any others, so this might be it. With Valentine's Day coming up, I put a little (yeah, probably obvious and cheesy, but if you can't be cheesy for V-Day, when can you?) twist on it.

Love triangle...

I just can't choose which I love more - editing video or editing photos. I've been straddling the fence this week with projects of each type to get to and get delivered, and I really don't feel a pull one way or the other. With photos, I really enjoy imagining how my clients will use the photos...I get such satisfaction when I find the MONEY shots - different than video because it's just a shutter click in time, and I can see where I have captured someone's beauty, their personality, or maybe I even feel like I can see a bit of their spirit in their eyes. So, yeah, I can relate just a LITTLE to those psychos who plaster their walls with photos of their obsession. LOL When I edit photos, I get to listen to Pandora, and the production flows a lot quicker which means I get the satisfaction of a job well done quicker.... All good, right?

With video, I still get to imagine my clients enjoying the work, but it's actually a little easier. I can be pretty confident people will be glued to the flat-screen, but maybe it will be a dinner party with friends...maybe with the parents (mom with a tissue, of course), or maybe a quiet romantic night for two and a bottle of wine. Fast forward 10 years, and maybe the kids are cracking up at dad's hairdo or some dorky thing he said to mom during the ceremony to get her to crack up. What's not to love about all that!? I feel like I get to be a little more artistic in production, which is so much fun for me. I love video so much because yes, a photo can catch a moment of a teary-eyed hug, but only video also catches the crack in the groom's voice as he tells his mom how much he loves her. Oooohhh, that melts me.

I just don't know how I could enjoy what I do any more, and I'm so thankful I don't have to choose! I am so blessed by God's provision and my family's support to be able to do what I love. I sit here typing this, thinking of clients of the past who we've shared such precious, funny, and even deliciously awkward moments with and clients of the future whose stories are yet to be told. I'm so excited that photography will actually allow me to share more with the families who enjoy my work and use me over and over again - like for baby's first year or for senior portraits and then, YEARS LATER, I get to capture the wedding memories.... I'm such a sap. I think that's a good quality for what I do, though, so I ain't apologizing. ;)