Once again we had a great bridal show. Remember that if you book your wedding within two weeks of the show, you’ll receive a complimentary $200 wedding print credit! As always, this offer applies to everybody regardless if you were at the show or not.
The winner of the matted frame for a 16×20 print worth $200 is Susan McNabb! Susan, please contact the studio within a week in order to claim your prize.
As I mentioned the other day, I helped another studio on Saturday. I photographed Sarah and Steve’s wedding for them. There complete wedding day was at the Doubletree Hotel Alsip. This is the second time I’ve been there this season. Once again I had the pleasure of working with Noelle, from the Doubletree. She also got me some of their chocolate chip cookies. Yum.
There were a couple of things which made Sarah and Steve’s wedding, uniquely theirs. First, they met at a racetrack, so the wedding was race themed. Rather than table numbers, they used track names. The head table was named after the racetrack where they met. Another difference at this wedding was that Sarah made the floral arrangements with faux flowers. Didn’t she do a great job!
This weekend is one of the very rare weekends when I have two weddings. The first I’m shooting for my self. Tomorrow, I will be helping another studio since they were short a photographer or two and I was available. Normally I would not have done this but Roxanne and Mike had booked me until 10:00 and Saturday’s wedding did not start until 4:00 so I knew I had enough time between events.
Roxanne and Mike’s wedding was held at the Old Barn. This actually has a special meaning for me as well. When I was looking for a new job within EDS, I had just accepted the position here in Chicago. I delayed my departure in order to have dinner with the team at, you guessed it, the Old Barn. It has been years since I’ve been there but the place looks exactly the same.
I’ve got to rest as I’ve got a busy day on Saturday.
Did you know that finding just the right photographer can be a two way process? Some studios don’t care about a good client fit. They are either large studios with a sales staff and sales quotas or a hungry photographer who will take any booking they can get. This is a disservice to not only themselves but, the clients as well.
You should use the four “P”s of photography: Personality, Photography Style, Package and Price to select your wedding photographer. As you are interviewing the photographer, a professional photographer may also decide if you are the right client fit for them. Personality, Photography Style and Price are looked at in this decision process.
Price
The easiest fit test is Price. If you can only afford $1800 for a complete photography package and the photographer’s packages start at $3600, then you are both wasting your time by continuing discussions. However, a $500-$1000 difference might be surmountable. It all depends on how much each side is willing to bend.
Photographic Style
One factor which sets each photographer apart from another, is their own unique style. Some photographers may have a similar style but there are subtle differences. Other photographers have drastically different styles. The main wedding photography styles today are Traditional, Photojournalism, Artistic and Reportage. I recently referred a potential client to another photographer because the client wanted very Traditional photography. As a photographer who specializes in a blend of Traditional (to make the parents happy), PJ with a dash of Artistic thrown in, I knew this client would be paying a lot of extra money to hire me to photograph their wedding in a purely traditional style. After politely explaining this to the potential client, I referred them to another photographer who’s style more closely fits what the client desires.
Personality
Finally, some photographers see if their personalities mesh with yours. This is the most intangible of factors which a photographer may use to determine if they want to accept you as a client. Some photographers call this their gut feeling or intuition concerning a client. Photographers are human too, we try to work with everybody but, every so often there is somebody who makes us uncomfortable for one reason or another. Most of the time, the clients feel the tension too and book a different studio. Sometimes, despite the tension, the client wants to book the photographer. When that happens, the photographer may decide to be unavailable. In this case, it is much better to continue looking for a photographer who is as excited to work with you are you are to hire them.
Finding the right photographer is not an easy task. From our perspective finding new clients is not easy either. A professional photographer wants you to have a great wedding day so they can capture all of those magical moments which make your wedding day special. It takes just the right match between photographer and client to make sure you will receive the wedding photography you expect and deserve.
Yesterday, I was at the Hyatt Regency bridal show. As always, it was great fun to meet and greet all of you who are currently planning your weddings. As promised, I’m announcing the winner of today’s drawing for a complimentary engagement session. And the winner is….. Jennifer Vogler who is getting married on July 5, 2008! Congratulation Jennifer. Please contact me to arrange your engagement session.
It was a crazy day! But at the end of it April and Tristan were married! April was very late getting started this morning, so we did not get a lot of the usual getting ready photos. Then when we arrived at the ceremony/reception site, more disorganization followed. Despite all of the chaos, love reigned supreme.
I’m am just too tired to post any more about this wedding. I really worked my butt off today to catch up and make sure all of the required images were captured!
Saturday was Patricia and John’s wedding. Being a Greek Orthodox wedding, it was a little different than I’m used to. Despite the rainy weather, it was a great day. There are just so many great moments from the wedding that the only way you will be able to see them all, is to visit their on-line gallery.
We had originally planned to visit a park for some bridal party photos. But when the rains came, we went to plan B, the Schaumburg Renaissance. I had been waiting for an opportunity to photograph at this great one of a kind location. Now I had my chance.
If it is going to rain, then what a great spot. There will be even more photos available in Patricia and John’s on-line gallery.
Jennifer Morelli is the winner of our European Crystal Bridal show drawing. We had a lot of fun meeting all next year’s brides who have just started planning for their special day!
Yesterday was Emily and Andrew’s wedding day. It was a small wedding. It was so small that I’ve actually had some bridal parties with more people than everybody in attendance at Emily and Andrew’s wedding. Despite the small size, about 30 people, it was one of the most romantic weddings I’ve seen. To me what mad the gathering special were the people. We got to know everybody there and everybody was special to the bridal couple.
I think this is just about everybody except me and Cory.
The reception was at Andrew’s Mother’s house. Here is the dining room all set for dinner.
We did get away to a little park for a couple of minutes.
Another great wedding, this time for Allison and Brian. The weather cooperated and we had one of those great days. Cory, the summer intern I hired from Bradley, joined me at the wedding. I surprised her by letting her shoot some photos at the reception with a backup camera. Cory was surprised at how difficult it is to take photos in a dark reception hall. I think it gave her a new appreciation for what I do. I’m too tired to post any more, so good night!
