Wedding Tip Wednesday- Hiring a Professional Photographer (again)

I'm not one to beat a dead horse, but I can't say it enough...if you care about the photography for your wedding, hire a professional. I realize that not everyone cares as much about pictures as I do, but if it matters to you, don't chance it.

I was participating in a bridal show last Sunday and a woman approached my booth and was flipping through the albums. I asked if she was looking for a photographer (everyone went to every booth to get their card signed off to enter a drawing) and she hesitated and said, "kind of." She told me that she's getting married at the end of June and her fiance's family friend was hired to do the photography and that he's just getting started. The issue is that he's not returning her emails or phone calls! That's a HUGE red flag for ANY business.

Obviously, people lead busy lives and if this is a budding business he may not be able to devote all his energy to it. However, I know how brides can worry about their wedding day and how much effort and planning they put into it. That's part of why I take wedding photography (and all my photography) so seriously. I'm a full-time teacher, but I also consider photography a full-time business. I make the time to answer phone calls and emails and handle the business at night and on weekends. I also have my wife to handle much of the business side of things, order fulfillment, editing, and album design. I certainly wouldn't be able to do it all without her!!!

I gave this worried bride some advice and words of wisdom and informed her that my associate photographer, Brandon, is available that day since I will be out of town. I hope that it all works out for her, but she's in a difficult spot since her future mother in law is the one who hired this photographer. Imagine the strain it could put on their relationship if she's not happy with the photographs. It seemed like photography was pretty important to her and she was worried about what she was going to end up with...if anything!

And that's your Wedding Tip Wednesday!

Here's a photograph taken by my associate photographer, Brandon:

Wedding Tip Wednesday- Sand Ceremonies

A common wedding tradition is the lighting of the unity candle. The bride and groom take individual candles and light a candle representing their union and that candle is save for posterity. Out on the beach though, candles don't stay lit because of the wind and someone came up with the great idea to use colored sand (usually the wedding colors) to incorporate the environment and show that the two couples are united. They make a great decorative element in the home as well.

There's a trick to this sand art though. You have to take turns pouring the sand into the vessel to get the pretty stratification. If both people pour the sand at the same time, you end up with one color on one side and the other color on the other side with a little blending in the middle. It also takes a while to fill the jar, so it wouldn't hurt to start the process ahead of time and just top the sand off during the ceremony. You could also finish it off after the ceremony. I also recommend filling the bottom of the jar with sand from the beach where your ceremony is as an added memento.

Here's a very nice example of a sand ceremony jar. This particular one had a color of sand for their kids too.