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You may recall my previous dilemma with choosing a photographer, having to pick between the budget-busting professional or the extremely promising photography student. Taking suggestions made in the comments to heart, we scheduled a meeting at a local coffee shop with Keli Art Photography.
Keli arrived with her fiance, Che, who is a graphic designer and the second shooter at Keli Art Photography. They make a super cute couple, were both extremely nice, and patiently answered my million questions and concerns in a friendly manner. We had lots of things in common seeing as we are all around the same age and they are getting married in a couple of months, too. After spending almost two hours chatting about the wedding, traveling, and food, I think it’s safe to say we had great chemistry with them. When I mentioned wanting to take our engagement pictures on our college campus (a nod to where we met and fell in love), Che lit up with a huge smile, saying he’d been itching to take pictures in a library, an idea that was definitely on my wish list. It appears it was meant to be!
Their happy energy, receptiveness to new ideas, and the great chemistry we shared made me certain we made the perfect choice by signing the contract on the spot. We didn’t book them just because they were affordable (though it certainly played a part) but because they take gorgeous pictures and we just clicked with them as a couple. I have a really good gut feeling about working with them. I’m glad to cross off one more thing on my checklist, but I’m especially relieved to finally have someone to capture memories of our special day in pictures I love like these:
You have been warned: this is a pic-heavy post…
Pretty pictures…we want ‘em. We also want a photographer who will be OK with non-pro paparazzi (i.e., my family and various other wedding guests) and who will play well with other vendors. (I talk a little more about our vendor requirements here if you want to read all of the randomness.)
You see, my dad doesn’t just like playing with motion pictures—he also likes photographs, as do my sister and a few other guests. These people will most assuredly have cameras on them at the wedding, and they will probably try and sneak shots alongside the pro. AND we want them to do their thing, because that is a good time for them. We absopositively do not want a photographer who is snippy and tells people to go away, or worse yet points at people and says “you here,” “you move.” So impersonal. Oh, there was a laundry list of wants, likes, and “oh no they didn’t”s to consider. The list included things like we get the rights to our own pictures, maybe they set up a faux-to booth, they are fun, they like people, etc. So we looked and looked.
There was something really surprising to us that we didn’t anticipate at all: at least half of the photographers in the Kansas City area mentioned G-d on their website. Some of them are fantastic photographers, but we didn’t want to risk it because our photographer is going to be interacting with all of our guests and spending a fair amount of time with us. After creating spreadsheets and showing websites to our nearest and dearest, we reached out to three photographers who had pictures that captured emotion and were modern.
Image from Melissa Lin Ellis on Facebook / Photo by Melissa Lin Ellis / Wedding: Nikki & Tobias
Quite a while ago, I posted about how we fell into a free photography contract with an acquaintance of mine who offered it up. Many of you expressed concerns, and at the time I had faith it would work out; it had to work out because we had no other option. I should have listened to you, hive! About six weeks before our wedding, I opened my Gmail to find an email from said photographer. My heart sunk. He was writing to tell me that his photography was going in a different direction and he “no longer needed wedding photography for his portfolio.” Six weeks before we needed him; six weeks in which everything else was coming together and many months too late to start a new photography budget. I was a mixture of emotions, from being completely pissed off to the feeling of total betrayal. We emailed back and forth, and it came to him agreeing that he would honor his contract and shoot our wedding “if that’s what it came to.” Long story short, I was getting the many hints that our photographer just didn’t want to be there for our wedding.
One night I had one of those wedding nightmares that so many Bees have written about. My nightmare? That this photographer just didn’t show up. I mean why would he? He had no vested interest in our day, no deposit to return, no money to collect. I laid in bed thinking how awful that would be and my mind drifted to a different thought. What if he did show up but was just so-so in his efforts? Which situation would be the worst?
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I trust my photographer to get all the major “must-have” wedding pictures for me—the bride getting ready, the bride and groom saying their vows, the best man’s speech, etc. I also trust that she’ll be good at getting everyone in natural looking poses. She did a great job at alleviating my anxiety and awkwardness during the engagement session by giving us poses to try and tweaking them when we looked awkward. This is essential in a photographer, because sometimes you think you look great/cute/hilarious/adorable in a photo, but really you just look strange.
Personal pic
When we posed for this, I thought it looked cute. But seeing the picture, I am confused at the angles. What, exactly, is going on here?
Featured on Weddingbee
All-Inclusion Invitation Suites
“Make an elegant invitation statement without the fuss. Stylish invitation sets with matching envelopes, reception and response cards included.”
Our photographer search left me a little stressed out. In fact, I took a week long break from the vendor search because I just couldn’t handle it. Fiancee Eagle and I really wanted to choose a photographer that “got us” as a couple, someone who supported marriage equality… someone whose work was phenomenal. I honestly thought we would have to settle, because we were setting the bar too high.
And then I remembered something… something so big, that I couldn’t believe I forgot it. I already knew the perfect photographer. I had spent hours poring over her blog when I was doing my Bachelor’s Degree, because she was one of my classmates! It takes serious talent to be a scientist AND a photographer. And serious talent she has.
Image via Brittany Esther Photography
Photography is pretty dang important at a wedding. When we first started talking about our wedding, we knew that the two things we were willing to spend “big” on were the venue and the photographer. I was absolutely horrified when my mother suggested that we just let the guests take photos, and ask my aunt (who did photos at my mom’s 1984 wedding) to take our “formals.” Not happening! She is a great hobby photographer, but she’s my aunt (and Godparent). She’s a guest at the wedding. She shouldn’t have to be working.
Both Fiancee Eagle and I were firmly set on hiring a professional photographer who had a good track record (and pretty photos!), who also was supportive of same-sex marriage. We looked on the So You’re EnGAYged preferred vendor list for photographers, but we couldn’t really a find a photographer in Alberta or even Vancouver, that we loved. Everyone on their list had technically “good photography” and was obviously fine with gay weddings… but none of their work really stood out as something we were willing to shell out thousands of dollars on.
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Create the honeymoon of your dreams.
It’s really amazing how much there is to do once you have a wedding date…and a deadline!
Once we chose our venue and hashed out our budget, I knew that I wanted to get on choosing a photographer first. Photography is super important to me because I really feel like it helps memories last. I also have a late family member who took amazing photographs as I was growing up, and as a result so many moments of my childhood were captured on film. I knew I wanted our photographer to be something special.
At the same time, Mr. Woodpecker and I did not want to spend our life savings on a photographer, or on anything for the wedding for that matter. We both want this to be a celebration, but we don’t want to go overboard. Unfortunately, research had told me that most photographers in Connecticut would cost twice what we wanted to spend. I didn’t want to give up on our search, however, so immediately when I started finding out prices, I made it my job to scour the internet and wedding boards for a budget-friendly photographer who still took beautiful pictures, was not intrusive, and would still capture “those moments.” I found about two who fit our budget and were not already booked for our date (many were!!), and we met with the one I liked best.
Eric won me over before I had met him by his photographs alone. I love detail, and he had the attention for it. Plus, I pretty much fell in love with this rainy-wedding photo shoot. Gorgeous!
Not about Bossyboots! I am dramatic, but not that dramatic.
My fiance and I have been wedding planning for about a year now. In Wedding World, there is a major emphasis on making choices based on how your photos will look. “If you do XX, it’ll look great in photos.” “Choose XX color, it’ll look great in photos.” “That just won’t photograph well; don’t do it.”
Mmmmm, ok? 
Bossyboots works in lighting, I work in media—we care about what things look like. We have educated opinions. However… making choices about an incredibly important day based on what looks good in photos feels no bueno to me. Many of our wedding choices WILL look great in photos, but I don’t want to make a wedding choice purely because it’ll photograph well. For example, I already tried a makeup look that was geared towards photos, and it made me feel like a cakeface. This look suits me much better.
For a long time, I definitely was in the “do-things-for-photos” camp. Well, (Bossyboots, cover your ears) I was wrong. This is our wedding. We love each other—that’s what this is about.
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Very Highly Recommended
These vendors went above and beyond anything we would have expected.
Fine Invitations (Paper goods)- Including invitation package, programs and our place cards. We were so happy with all of our paper goods and they were incredibly flexible. We may have procrastinated a little with our program and in the end they stayed back and Mr. Teaspoon collected them the evening before the wedding.
On January 1st at four in the afternoon, Mr. R and I went to back to the spot where we got married exactly one year earlier. With Jessica, our wedding photographer, in tow, we set up a little picnic in front of our tree, cut into the top of our wedding cake, and got a few fabulous One Year Later photos:
This is me, nixing the cake smash.
So here’s a glimpse of my crazy-ass spreadsheet:
I know it’s hard to see, but I scribbled in some ridiculous notes in some of these cells. Can you find our photographer? The only note I wrote next to their name was “I like these.” Nice.
IIIIIIIIIIII feel like a newbooooooorrrrrn…
Ahem, sorry. Does anyone else start randomly singing this song when talking about photography? Just me? OK then…
Aside from finding a venue, finding a photographer was high up on our list of things to do right after our engagement. Even though we were still over a year and a half out, that wasn’t stopping me from contacting photographers for availability and pricing.
Now I know I’ve mentioned before about being a semi-long-distance bride. My hometown is three hours away from where we’re currently living, so vendor shopping can be tough. Add in the fact that NONE of our friends are married yet and you’ve got yourself a couple of clueless Coyotes.
Image via IMDB
I started the photographer hunt by searching through wedding reviews on good ole Wedding Wire
Once upon a time, in pre-engagement land, I fell in love with a photographer, Gio Camacho at Enjoi Photo. (His work, not him.) He has an incredible eye for capturing those wedding “moments,” those facial expression that give meaning to such a special day, making me long for some of his pictures of my very own. He just so happens to be married to one of my close friends, so I often get to salivate over pictures like this:
Bossyboots and I have been invited to ten weddings in twelve months, including our own. That’s right—ten in twelve months. Here’s the proof!
I never attempted to write about our photographer before. As a blogger, I digest thousands of photos each evening, as I flip through the posts from my favorite blogs. With my feet in two blogging worlds, wedding and design, I’m keeping track of hundreds of feeds with my blog reader. I love photography. Photography is so important to me that I felt like a post about it deserved a lot of my time. Having taken a few days off around the holidays, I now feel as though I can write about this aspect of our wedding.
From Elisa B Photography’s Facebook page / Photo by Elisa Bricker of Elisa B Photography
You’d think that someone who loves photography would have launched an exhaustive search of portfolios, interviewed a dozen photographers, and created an elaborate assessment tool before picking a vendor. I like to say that I made up my mind in a pizza parlor…but it’s not entirely true.
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