Weddingbee Blog

Mr. Peony and I decided very early that the one thing we wanted to splurge on was photography. We’ve both studied photography and knew that after the wedding, when our memories start to fade, we will only have the photos to remember our wedding day. (Plus we’d be able to tell our grandchildren, “Look, grandpa and grandma weren’t always so old and wrinkly - look at these photos and see how young and vibrant we once were.”)

So we began scouring the web.

Immediately, Something in Blue caught my eyes. A husband and wife photography team, they are a favorite of many brides in the New York metropolitan area for their vivid shots with gorgeous lighting. A big plus was that they’d shot at our venue in the past, so we can get an idea of how our photos would look. Take a look at some of their work:

The only caveat? They are pure photojournalists. They will not do any posed shots (and I know my parents want some posed portraits), nor will they Photoshop anything (what if I wake up with a face full of zits on my wedding day?). In addition, they are a bit on the pricey side - they quoted us $5,000 for a full day coverage which includes:

• Two photographers
• No limit to number of photos
• Printed 4″ x 6″ photographs
• Digital files, albums, and enlargements all cost extra

An engagement photo session would cost another $800, which is the most I’ve been quoted. If we decided to go with them, we would definitely need to cut back elsewhere.

Another team we found was John & Joseph Photography, two Korean brothers based in Seattle (they’re willing to travel for assignments). Their work is GORGEOUS - an impressionistic style of photojournalism. Apparently, they’ve won all sorts of awards for their work and are ranked among the top in the nation for wedding photojournalists. Check out these photos from their latest wedding:

I knew they would be expensive, but I thought to myself, “Well if everything in NY costs double the rest of the nation, maybe they won’t be too expensive since they’re based in Seattle.”

They promptly emailed me back with an extensive quote. Their packages range from $3,400 for 6 hours of coverage by one photographer and 400 photos (the cheapest)……all the way to $13,000 for 11 hours of coverage by both photographers, 900 photos, albums, the whole shabang. Engagement sessions run from $300 to $800. We would also need to pay for round-trip tickets and two nights lodging. Totally out of our budget.

Then I came across Henry Chan. Here are some photos from the first page of his blog:

Beautiful! The best part is that he’s within our budget! Henry charges $3,600 for 8 hours of work (and $300 each additional hour), with 500-700 photos, travel and assistant. We emailed back and forth a few times….then when we finally set our date, we told him.

…he’s booked on our wedding date. He’s only booked one day in April 2008, and it’s our day. What are the chances?

However, he did recommend some other photographers who are within our budget and similar to his style.

The search continued…