wedding photography
 

Give me some time to find this one in Cleveland. He is excellent. You will understand when you see his site.

My photographer:

www.hyonsmithphotography.com

Here was our "must have" photo
:-)
https://www.buddybartels.com/client/...s/IMG_7237.jpg

I just wish we'd been able to stand higher up on the steps so the other half of our guests would have been in the shot.

I absolutely love photographers who have the talent of capturing really great candid shots. I think the posed shots can be nice too, but I prefer them to look as though the camera isn't there.

One of my friends hired a great photographer and there was some mix up with scheduling and she ended up with this awful guy. He had no idea how to deal with lighting (especially since it was outdoors!) and most of the photos ended up with severe shadows across everyone's faces. It was just terrible, I felt so bad for her. If I get married that is definitely the one thing I'm not going to scrimp on, especially after seeing her try to desperately make an album out of the 5 good shots and a bunch of shadowed shots.

This is coming from my photo training and my just married bridal self.

Talk to your photographer, show them examples of what sorts of pictures you like (like the cool group shot above, or if you want the dramatic "demure bride" pictures). But understand that each photographer has their own style, and it isn't really on to ask them to reproduce another photographer's shot. Generally, they'll use it as inspiration and take your advice, because hey! you're the client. It's all about striking a balance between your needs and wants and the abilities of the photographer. If it's possible, try to schedule some sort of "tweener" session with them...not your engagement photos, but maybe just some couple shots, before going whole hog on a contract for a wedding. They might be brilliant in the portfolio, but you may find that their personality just doesn't jive with yours and all your pictures end up looking like you were eating sour apples. It is all about the balance.

On the shots...my favorite shots of the whole wedding are of the Chicken Dance and the hokey pokey (it's Pittsburgh, it ain't a wedding without without a chicken dance). The kids are happy and smiling, we all look silly, we're all holding hands, and it's a mix of everyone...family, friends, young, old. So throwing in a goofy song can yield a brilliant picture opportunity.

We asked our photographer for a lot of journalistic shots, but we also requested some traditional formal portraits at the church to satisfy the parents/grands.

I absolutely love Tracy Turpen but she's WAY out of our price range.

www.tracyturpen.com


So, we've gone with a fairly new guy, Phillip Faulkner out of Athens, GA.

www.dawgprints.net

Our package is about $1k, unlimited amount of time on the day of, online proofs with a CD of them also, and a free engagement session. We were obviously thrilled :) My dad will be doing the videography since he's been a TV engineer for longer than I can remember so I think we'll have the day covered.

Our photographer has since gone out of the wedding biz and been a total flake getting us our digital images & album. UGH

here are some people I coulda, shoulda, woulda hired...

Kenny Pang lots of NYC Knot brides love him

Jim Kocis

Jennifer Davis

Sandra O'Claire we went and met her, didn't go with her, wish we did.

Megan Dey a friend of ours who works out of CT

and since I love love love these, 2 videographers....

Well Spun Weddings

Film Jones click on film2, then the clip that has the flower girls with candles (diane & neal's ceremony)...my favorite!! The story the priest tells is a beautiful greek myth. It makes me cry!!

Red Heart Photography (Hawaii) -- she's updating her portfolio at the moment, but her blog's up and running so you can see her work.

I've loved her work since I saw this wedding.

We absolutely loved our photographer. We're still waiting on final images since he does everything himself and after being with us for 13+ hours I know there are thousands of pictures.

Brad Howe

Here are some shots from our wedding on his blog: Blog. We're the first couple listed. And it started raining halfway through the ceremony, so I'm hoping he got some awesome rain shots.

I just looked at the pictures on his blog from your wedding. I am so jealous! (Yes I had a good photographer, but she wasn't as great as I thought she would be.) Your pictures are gorgeous.

My wedding photographer was FANTASTIC here in NE Ohio.

His website is www.paulfloydphotography.com

I would recommend him to anyone! He has a blog online that he uses as a way to show off his work as well as showcase the couples he has taken pictures of. He also posts his schedule so people can look to see if he is available before contacting him.

He was literally like family by the end of our wedding day. He got along well with all of our guests and he and my friend's husband were even sharing lens with each other!!

Absolute best wedding photographer i've ever seen. she was named as one of the top 10 in the world..

Jessica Claire:

http://www.jessicaclaire.net/

edit: I see someone already mentioned her, but she is worth mentioning again :)

I love my wedding photographer! He was amazing! He also took my engagement pictures.

http://www.trandolphphoto.com/

Totally 80s baby shower ---- AWESOME!!!

Wow, her stuff is beautiful! And luckily she lives in Southern California!!! If I get married she is so who I'd use.

King & Spivey Artography Atlanta, GA

He did my wedding and I was SO pleased with the results. And just because it's so fun, here is a great moment he captured at my wedding. My left dress strap had popped off and the looks on everyone's faces are priceless!

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g3...dar/15-177.jpg

I really enjoy looking at Bobbie and Mike's wedding/engagement/portrait pictures.

You know who else I love? The Image Is Found

Well, I like the crescent moon!

http://photos-a.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-...976_106178.jpg

http://Onesixphotography.com
in Georgia.

This is my favorite of my friend's daughter, looking out the doors of our church. She recently graduated from UGA, she and her sister were in a sorority there.

By the way, there are some great "Trash the Dress" pics on the website.

Along the theme of wedding photography, and to avoid a new thread, for those of you that are married (or been involved in a wedding where they did this) I have a question. At your wedding did you go to a location for photos between the ceremony and reception? My fiance would like some photos at the beach (I know, so cliche! haha) but I don't know if it's weird since we are likely doing the ceremony and reception at the same place - which is an old estate about 2 miles from the beach. I think we can do it if we go during the cocktail hour but I don't want to disappear for over an hour. Any thoughts or advice?

Yikes, an hour away is a bit ridiculous. I think realistically it would be like 45 minutes to an hour for the photos including travel time to and from the beach. I just don't want people "cocktailing" for a really long period of time (like 2.5 hours) and come back to a drunk group of people. That would be a bad move. Granted the location we're likely doing it at only allows beer and wine, but people can still drink a lot in 2 hours.

What about doing photos before the ceremony? I know it's becoming more common but all the superstitions, etc about not seeing each other beforehand still stick in my head.

That would be hilarious if someone did say that.

I've heard of a lot of people doing them before as well. Several of my friends have done it and it's nice because they can actually come to the cocktail hour and see people rather than being MIA for an hour. I think it would be nice to calm our nerves if we did see each other beforehand. That's a good point on the hair and makeup freshness. Hmmm....maybe we'll do that.

A long gap between the ceremony and the reception also makes for less people usually at the ceremony. That's what happened this weekend. There were 3 times as many people at the reception because there was a three hour gap until the cocktail hour started.

We did photos at the Boston Commons between the ceremony and the reception. We got married right down the road (Trinity Church in Copley Square), so it was a quick limo ride. This was during the cocktail hour, and it worked out well timing-wise; we did the photos, got back into the cars, and arrived at the reception just as cocktail hour was ending and people were taking their seats.

To be honest, I think most people expect the bride and groom (as well as the parents and wedding party) to "disappear" during the cocktail hour, because that's when most people do their pictures. At least, that's been my experience with my own wedding and the weddings I've attended (and I've attended a bunch of the past few years for college friends and family).

Despite our liberal leanings, husband and I were very traditional about our wedding. We didn't want to see each other before the wedding. The photographer spent the morning with me and the girls at my parent's house, and then left to meet up with the boys at the church in advance of the ladies. We also had a late mass, at 3:15, and Saturday afternoon mass began at 5:30 (and its an old parish, people get there EARLY). So we had a game plan for our "formal" shots...we did the whole thing very quickly. As we were doing the pictures, parishioners were coming in. We got lots of hugs and waves from the old people who've known husband since he was wee (he was an altar boy up through high school). We scheduled the cocktail hour for 5pm, and it was about 15/20 minutes away from the church. It all worked out perfectly. It's possible, but it requires a bit of planning.