Weddingbee

Addendum - One thing I forgot to mention: I did my own make up for the engagement session.

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A lot of you have asked for more information regarding the photography and itinerary so here goes:

Wedding Group One

Package Details:

• Main photographer, second photographer;
• Videographer;
• 10 hours with minimum of 600 proofs;
• Separate casual, studio and outdoor session;
• 1 SOHO album with leather cover - 100 images;
• 1 Fine art album with leather cover and name printing - 100 images;
• 2 parent SOHO albums with leather cover;
• Premium edit DVD with leather case and 2 jewel cases;
• Unedited raw footgage;
• High resolution proofs;
• 2 20×30 display enlargements; and
• $250 worth of enlargements.

Our photographer was Sean.

We started the day at the salon where I got my hair done and Mr. Spider got his nails done. Since I posted about my first hair trial, I’ve had a change of heart. Frankly, I thought Gary was charging too much. I think he played on my fit of nostalgia and tried to gouge me. Seriously, the $300 travel fee was just too much, so I am going with my regular hairstylist instead.

Steve owns the salon Headquarters down on Lafayette and White and has been doing my hair for some years now. My mom has close up pictures of the ‘do on her camera, but I was very happy with what Steve did. After reviewing the pictures though, I think I’m going to ask him to let my bangs out a little more and soften up the look a little. The best part? He only charged me $45 for the trial. I’m not even going to tell you how much Gary charged me last time.

Our first stop was Pier 17 at the South Street Seaport. My parents came with us and my poor dad stayed in the car almost the entire day while my mom played assistant to the photographer’s assistant. The moment we stepped out of the car, the staring and crowding began. I felt like a movie star, people stopped, wished us well, took pictures with their cameras and cell phones and some followed us smiling like happy parents.

Sean was amazing, taking up positions over rails and flat on the ground just to get the perfect shot. He showed us this shot on his camera right after he took it and indeed, it is our favorite from the entire day.

After almost 2 hours of shooting, we went up to Central Park where you can park next to the Boathouse for free after 3pm. We took pictures at a couple of different locations before we headed back to the Boathouse to change. Instead of using the bathrooms there, we just changed in the car. My parents stood watch for us while we shimmied into our casual clothes.

In hindsight, I should have put more effort into choosing our casual clothes because we literally just grabbed whatever was clean that morning without much thought for color or fit. Instead of jeans and a tank top, I should have donned a casual dress. I did however, grab this new jacket I bought from Pearl River for $50.

After another two hours of shooting at Central Park, we changed back into our formal attire and headed to Times Square. It was about 6pm when we got there and the streets were crowded not so much with tourists, but with people rushing home from work. Barely anyone batted an eyelash at us or even had the decency to walk around the photographer. We got a few scattered well wishers but were ignored for the most part. I was pretty exhausted by this point, and starving since we hadn’t eaten a thing since breakfast.

After we wrapped at Times Square, we headed back to Wedding Group One in Flushing where we took a few more shots indoors. When it was all said and done, more than 9 hours had elapsed. I can’t even imagine how tired Sean must have been. I didn’t think to research the right amounts beforehand but I tipped him $50 and his assistant $30. I hope that was enough. They were both really grateful and wonderful to work with.

We need to choose two photos for our 20″x30″ enlargements and they said it would take about 2 weeks, but we got 20 proofs after a little over a week. We’re still debating which two to enlarge. I have also asked for 5 more because I wasn’t too thrilled with the way I looked in most of them. I think Mr. Spider looks so handsome, but in some of the closer shots I look like I’m about to sneeze. No joke.

And a final word about the dress. The dress was considerably tighter than before alterations. The seamstress let it out some so I could walk around in it, and I think it changed the silhouette a bit. Despite the slight change though, I absolutely loved the dress, especially the sweep and the bow in the back. I’m still debating whether or not to wear it on my wedding day as a second gown.

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