The great photographer search..

We've all been there. You eagerly start looking around the interwebs, searching for a photographer who has a style you love, in your area, to capture one of the most special days of your life. A wedding is great in the moment and in memory, but it's even better in pictures because you can almost relive it over and over and over. You can catch the little details that you forgot about or were too busy to notice. You can see everyone's smiles and the look of absolute joy in your face as you exchange your vows. A good photographer is essential.

Snap.

So you find one, or two, or ten that you really like, and email them to find out about their packages and pricing. You don't want anything fancy, just full day coverage with a disc of hi-res, edited photos.. the album can come later. You're on a budget.

Then you get the responses, with prices at $5000 for 7 hours. $3300 for six hours. $6500 for full day, an extra $500 for an additional photographer.

Well hey, if you had that money, you'd spend it in a heartbeat.

But you don't. I don't. Damn.

Now that you sort-of understand what I've been going through for the past 9 months (with all vendors, not just photogs), I wanted to share a bit more of my journey in searching for a photographer.. especially since we just found (and booked) one!!

We got our engagement pictures taken by the talented Brooke Bready; I purchased a Groupon a while back for a one hour session with her, and figured an e-pic shoot would be the perfect opportunity to use it (never mind the fact that we weren't technically engaged yet when I bought it). The pictures came out great and she was a blast to work with, but in the end, I think her style is a bit too "portrait" compared to what Scot and I are looking for. As you may know, "photojournalism" is a hot word going around in the wedding photography world lately, and it's exactly what Scot and I are looking for. We most likely will not have a videographer due to budget restrictions, so a photog (preferably two) who can capture as many moments as humanly possible, especially the candid ones, and tell a story with them, is extremely essential.

As I was searching for other photographers, I fell in love with a slew of them. The above scenario happened, where they were all WAY out of our price range. The ones that were in our price range were very hard to find and when I did find them, I was hardly a fan of their photo style. It just wasn't what I was envisioning for our wedding.

So. I decided to scope out the Weddingbee boards one day (shocker), to see what other MD/DC brides had found in terms of good, affordable (aka up to $2000) photographers. Enter the bestthingtohappeninmylife as far as wedding planning had been going thus far.

To be continued!
What? I can't give it all up on the first date post.