Weddingbee Blog

So where were we in my rampant rambling about our photographer? Oh right—I hadn’t even told you who we picked yet…

Just that she let our smelly guy sit on her lap while she showed us a few STUNNING weddings she’d shot recently. Maybe you recognize a few?

Hopefully you’re as excited as we are after ALL of that gorgeous. And if you haven’t already guessed, our photographer is Kirsten Ellis of Beaux Arts Photographie!

I originally fell in love with Kirsten’s work after seeing this wedding over on Once Wed. At some point I decided to start emailing some of the photographers we really liked and a) compliment their work (not hard at ALL), b) tell them a little bit about us, and c) tell them that we didn’t have the biggest budget in the world and asked them if they would be willing to lower their prices for some trade/change packages to fit our budget, etc. I figured it was worth a shot!

Small rant alert! (From an oftentimes freelance artist.) There is nothing wrong with a little negotiation or bargaining, and I am ALL ABOUT working out a deal where trade is involved to lower the cost (I also think that work trade builds relationships & community more than writing a check ever could, which is awesome), but I am sick to DEATH of hearing about the crappy economy and how all wedding vendors should lower their prices on account of it. I’ve read a few posts/comments around the web that are downright indignant about those “awful” photographers trying to take them to the cleaners “in this economy, no less” and all I have to say is STOP WHINING and start thinking of a solution that doesn’t screw your vendor. Seriously—be proactive! Running a business is expensive. Film is expensive. You get my point right? End rant.

So anyway, I knew from Kirsten’s first email that she was special. Her email actually took into account all the info I’d relayed in my email. She liked our ideas! She LOVED the idea of photographing a gay wedding! She’d even Googled/IMDB’d me and mentioned that my creative eye would make for nice details to photograph at the wedding. AND she was interested in some kind of trade, too! (In case you’re curious, I offered styling/printmaking/design & Fiancee Stripes offered some private catering & a little modeling (which I can’t wait to show you guys!). We actually emailed for quite a while bouncing ideas back and forth and finally our schedules aligned and we set a date to meet. We were pretty nervous pre-meeting (is this normal?) and we did some frantic last minute house cleaning to calm our nerves.

Luckily Kirsten was awesome! She swung by our place on her way home from a shoot and we had a glass of wine, checked out her AMAZING pics and got to know her a little bit. I really can’t emphasize enough just HOW smelly our dog was and just HOW long she held him on her lap petting him, either!

After Kirsten left we sat on our roof having another glass of wine and made our decision. It wasn’t particularly difficult. Her work was amazing and just what we were looking for—we’re obviously not into traditional photographs, nor are we into super overworked photos (I can Photoshop too, yo!) and she seemed like just the kind of person we’d want to have at our wedding, that is, someone our friends/family would actually LIKE to hang out with. And I knew F Stripes was FULLY on board when she starting worrying about whether Kirsten would be able to have enough FUN at our wedding while shooting!

How’d you find your photographer? Did it involve any super smelly dogs? Any trades?