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It’s no secret, I am a bride of color. And to be honest, I REALLY didn’t think my skin tone would have any effect on vendor decisions I would make…why the heck would it? Well…
I was talking to my coworker (a recent bride of color) about my hunt for a photographer, and she mentioned that when she looked for a photographer for her wedding, it was important to her to find someone whose portfolio had a wide range of skin colors. EPIPHANY. That makes perfect sense! We have all seen photographs where darker skin tones lose their definition and end up looking like dark blobs, not to mention that shadows and a dark reception venue could be a huge problem for darker skin tones. Don’t get me wrong, I think any quality photographer can take good pictures of a wide range of skin tones, but to my coworker’s point, it would be good to see that they have done it successfully before.
In my search for a photographer, I first reached out to Jenna Cole (aka Mrs. Avocado). Not only do I happen to love her photography, but she was in my price range and happened to have some photographs in her portfolio which showed off her skills with various skin tones. Like this one:
And this one:
At the time, Jenna wasn’t 100% sure where she would be living when my wedding came around. She found out just a couple of weeks later that she was going to be relocating from Dallas to Chicago. Good news for all you Chicago brides. Utter sadness for me. I asked for a couple of recommendations from Jenna, and she pointed me in the direction of Chavvon & Larissa Photography. I checked out their website and found photographs like these that made me fall in love with their photographic style:
And these that showed their experience with a variety of skin colors:
Stunning, right?!?? I was able to set up an appointment with them for my first big planning trip to Dallas with Mama Hippo. Not only is their work gorgeous, but they are an adorable husband and wife team. Mama Hippo and I met with three different photographers, and we both knew right away that Chavvon and Larissa were perfect. I am so excited to be working with them!
Were there particular things you looked for in your photographer’s portfolio? Are you in love with your photographers as much as I am?
I looked at price before I started anything. Some of the photographers I was in love with, their prices were way out of my range. But I must say that I specifically looked for Nigerian photographers. Even though my venue is not ‘Nigerian-centric’, there are various elements of the wedding that are so Nigerian that I thought would befuddle a regular photographer (they are befuddling my venue as it is). I do feel you about the skin tone issue. One of my closest friends just received her wedding photos and the guy bleached out her skin something fierce. She almost burst into tears when she saw her photos. I still haven’t made up my mind who to use though….
That was definitely something that we brought up in our meetings with photographers, especially since there needs to be a balance with an interracial couple (which we are). We love love our photographers!
You make a great point. The wedding blog industry can be quite homogenous (hello, SMP!!) so I’m glad you wrote about this bc many brides might not think about it before hiring their photographer…And I think you made a GREAT choice in your photog, love those photos!
YES!!!!!! I am so glad you brought this up cause this is a BIG issue for me. FI and I are extremely extremely dark-skinned and I fear we will look either washed out or just wont show up in pictures. We need flash, lots and lots of FLASH, lol. There are also a lot of cultural elements (Ghanaian, Nigerian, Cameroon) in the wedding and I need someone who can seriously work with extreme colors. The photography is like the only area in the wedding where I have no budget and will spend whatever it takes.
Yay! Aubergold, are you Nigerian?? I’ve only seen one other Nigerian on this site and she got married two weeks ago and is no longer here. I wish I could seriously say that I have no budget for the photography but girl, I’ve had to negotiate seriously with the photographer I want. We’ll see what happens.
Here is my dilemma. I am an overweight chick in glasses. I would love to know that a photographer knows how to shoot an overweight chick in glasses without making her look like the geeky monster who clearly just ate Manhattan. However, photographers don’t blog overweight chicks in glasses. We are a photographer’s dirty little secret. So I shopped by price. And when I got my engagement pictures back I thought they were gorgeous. However, don’t you know our photographer didn’t feel we were worthy of his blog. And I really can’t be convinced that it has nothing to do with my being overweight and wearing glasses.
Why do photographer’s portfolios seem so homogenous? Do they know how many overweight gals there are out there? Or guys? Or glasses-wearers? And to your point, different skin colors people come in? Hmph. I’m kind of sad about this right now so your post hits home with me.
Encore, that issue was discussed on the boards last week I think. Photographers use their blogs as an advertisement and they don’t put folks that don’t fit the ’size 2-whippet thin-way rich/blinged out wedding’ (no offense to anyone who fits one or all of the categories) but as someone said, it starts looking very SMP but that’s how they do it.
@Encore: I feel you! And I’m so sorry that the photographer made you feel unattractive or inadequate in some way by choosing not to put your gorgeous photos on his blog.
I wear glasses too, but the blogs and portfolios are all telling me that I need to a) have perfect vision (hah!), b) wear contacts (not an option, my eyes are mad sensitive), or c) embark on our photoshoot/wedding half-blind. Oh, or d) if you want to wear glasses, they have to be artsy and not have lenses in them - hence bringing us back to options a to c. Ugh!
@Drums: There is actually a coating you can get on your lenses that will hinder reflections in photos. I can’t for the life of me remember what it’s called, but I have it on my glasses and it makes a world of difference. Unfortunately, I also have transition lenses (which is different from the coating) so any outside pictures of me look like I’m wearing sunglasses and I can’t do a thing about it.
It’s awesome that you found a photographer that would work for you! Our photographer is a friendor which gives me lots of peace of mind.
hooray! that’s a great consideration that i hadn’t thought of–your photographer looks amazing!
@Encore: Some of my friends have the same problem with transition lenses; most of them end up tearing their glasses off just for the photos. I will see if google can figure out what that non-reflective coating is; thank you! I’ve never heard of such a thing 
Smart! My photographer also works with a diverse set of people, which might be because she herself is African, but either way it was a great plus in my book. It was important to me that she made everyone look good, especially since while we may not be black, brown or yellow, a good portion of our friends and family are.
@encore: go check out a blog discussion over at Los Angeles Love: http://www.alosangeleslove.com/2010/08/what-to-look-for-in-photographer.html?spref=tw.
Miss Hippo, we did the same thing. I am very light and my FI is very dark, so we were concerned with finding a photographer that could represent us both well. Well, with lots of searching we found a great one and just did our engagement photos, which turned out great! We are ethnically diverse and I am not a Barbie and our pics were posted on our photog’s blog almost immediately. Good ones are out there, but it’s sad in this day in age that we need to search for photographers that show diversity.
@bRooklynRocks: hey Girl!!! My parents are Ghanaian, FI’s mom is from Cameroon and his dad is from Nigeria. You know everyone will be seriously decked out in traditional wear and I need someone who wont be overwhelmed by that. There is a photographer in the DC area who does mostly Nigerians weddings (Tunji Surami, I think) that I might contact but I also need someone who is also good with details, emotions, etc. It’s definitely difficult.
Great post, that is something that I never thought about. It looks like the husband and wife team you booked will do a great job. @Aubergold: and @bRooklynRocks: Good luck to you both.
the comments actually brought to my attention the whole glasses issue. i had been thinking about getting contacts (or at least exploring the possibility) since you just never see brides in glasses.
but now i have to think about my transition lenses! thank you hive, for bringing a whole new issue to my attention!
What really drew me to my photographer was his style and diversity of couple’s he shoots. What I didn’t want was the same old posey-posey photographers that wash the photos out, either before or after editing. Soft and natural is what I was looking for.
I wanted Mrs. Avo too, she did a playdate session for me a while back and I soooo wanted her for my wedding. Too bad she’s moving to Chicago 
@Aubergold: @bRooklynRocks: I am a Nigerian bride too, also half of an interracial couple so we pretty much had the exact same concerns. In the end I am having a London based photog do it. He s Nigerian, but also extremely contemporary, so I’m excited. His name is Jide Alakija.
PS. Yay for Nigerian brides on weddingbee!
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Mrs. Hippo, New York City/Dallas, TX Age and Occupation: 34, Event Planner for a Non-Profit Fiance's Age and Occupation: 35, Finance IT Engagement Date: August 8, 2009 Wedding Date: March 2011 Venue: Samuel Lynne Galleries and Marc Events About Me: I’m a thirty-something bride living in New York City and planning a modern-ish wedding in Dallas, Texas. I love trashy reality television (Jersey Shore, anyone?), online shopping, Sunday brunch, Central Park, and random celebrity spottings on the streets of Manhattan. While I love NYC, I miss good Tex-Mex, my college friends, central A/C, and being in close proximity to a Target. I’m thrilled to finally be planning an event that’s not work-related and to be marrying my best friend in what I hope will be a unique and personal ceremony followed by a reception with plenty of good food, good drinks, and dancing (regardless if it’s good or not).
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