Wedding Blog

I’m sure a lot of you remember this post. You know, the one where I said I wasn’t having a pro-photographer? It just wasn’t fitting into our rough budget. Especially with the new financial concerns we’re dealing with as of late.

That said, a few weeks ago I contacted Shawna Noel — a local/regional professional photographer — to ask her about my idea for an after-wedding photo shoot. It would essentially be an “engagement session”, but done in our wedding attire after our wedding date. We wanted to do this in lieu of day-of photography because it would save us a lot of money while still giving us some great shots for framing. Shawna hadn’t had a request for something like that before, so I explained to her my reasoning behind it: our 20 minute courthouse wedding doesn’t warrant hours of coverage or hundreds of photos (for thousands of dollars).

Not only did she completely agree with me, but she loved the idea of the after shoot. We chatted about that a lot, and she then also asked me when our wedding is. I told her the date (which is a weekday) and the next thing I knew, she was offering to shoot it! Even though their weekends are booked with weddings, she thought it would be really fun for her and her associate, Kory, to come take photos at our courthouse ceremony. They haven’t done one before, and they’re excited to take on a new challenge. And since we’re not asking them to shoot a reception or any other traditional wedding day events, we won’t have to pay the traditional wedding price, either. She and I were able to work out an extremely reasonable price for her services. Since I saved so much money on accessories and my dress, these photography services actually fit within our budget!

With Shawna and Kory at our ceremony, we won’t have to worry about the after-shoot; we KNOW we’ll get some great “action shots” on the day of.

Here’s some of Shawna’s work… all of these photos below are credited to Shawna Noel Photography.

She has a blog too - check it out for more tasty photo goodness. We’re so thrilled that Shawna and Kory will (probably*) be capturing out ceremony! (*I say “probably” because we haven’t worked out a contract or any logistics; she penciled us in to their calendar, and I’ve been too busy with house and school stuff to follow up with her. I need to do that soon! Along with about a thousand other things!)

If you’re having an event that’s not traditional, don’t automatically assume (like I did) that traditional services (and their prices) will apply to you. Some vendors might be willing to work with you; it costs nothing to pick up the phone (or write an email) and ask about your options!

Have you been able to score any unexpectedly sweet deals with vendors?