Engagement, take 2

I've been holding out on you.

But only for a week, so it's ok.

See, my good bloggy friend Anni was in town last weekend and was looking to do a photo shoot with someone to help build her photography portfolio. I? Was more than happy to oblige. Was there ever a better excuse to get a second engagement shoot done?! I think not.

We agreed to meet up last Saturday morning bright and early (cough:after a late night out:cough) at our local farmer's market to do a sort of "real life" shoot.. a light year different from our original one. Anni really wanted to catch the early morning sunlight, but it turned out to be a pretty dull and rainy day. No matter! This girl is amazing at what she does and the vibrant colors at the farmer's market totally offset the dreary day. It also helped make myself and Mr. Foxy more comfortable getting our pictures taken (ok who am I kidding, just Foxy. I'm a photo hussy.) since we already "knew" Anni. I'm telling you, it makes a difference!

So.. enough jibber jabber. Here are some of my favorite shots!

Ok. I may have a lot of favorites. But Anni is just that amazing! She took my hungover arse and Foxy's sleepy butt and somehow made us look cute and adorable and in love (well we ARE in love). Point is, I'm super excited to have this set of pictures in addition to the other ones!

Thanks Anni! (And btw, anyone in the Chicago area looking for a great photog.. Anni's your girl!)

Exclamation! (aka photographer reveal)

So I ever-so-meanly left you with a bit of cliffhanger on my photographer search. Won't do it again, promise! At least not this time.


So you all should know by now that Weddingbee is a great resource for finding vendors; they have a specific vendor section, but I actually like searching through the boards to see who recommends certain vendors, and what their relatively uncensored opinions are.

My key word search was along the lines of "inexpensive DC/MD/VA photographer". Of course, I could have written my own post and asked the boards myself, but why not use the resources that were already there first?

I found several threads where upwards of 20 people left helpful suggestions of photographers in the area, but I learned one key thing: "inexpensive" and "cheap" are relative terms. What is low cost for one person may not necessarily be low cost for another. As I mentioned, some photogs go up to $6000+ for a few hours of service, so some people may think that $3500 for a full day is a good deal. And it very well could be for some folks.

However, we are working with a $2000 budget at the absolute most. It used to be even less than that when I was hell bent on having a videographer. Since we nixed that idea, we expanded the photography budget a bit.

News flash: you can't really get a good, photojournalist photographer, with assistant/second shooter, for all day coverage in the DMV area for under $2000. It's virtually impossible.

Unlike Mr. Lolcat's mission, which is actually impossible.

I say virtually because.. well.. we of course found someone. I don't even remember how exactly I stumbled upon Exclamation Imagery, but I did. I heard good things and that they had "reasonable" pricing, so I emailed to find out price points, packages, etc.

A few days later, I get a call from Laura, the lead photographer. We talked about mine and Scot's wedding, what we were looking for, and what she had to offer. I heard her say something along the lines of "packages around $1700" and immediately asked her to email me a copy of as much information as possible.

We met with her the following week, and I have to tell you, I have no freaking idea how she can only charge what she does for full day coverage, two photographers, retouched images, and a photo album. She could (and should) seriously be charging way more - the photog gods must have been looking down on me when I found her.

Want proof? Check out some of her work:

All photos and more can be found on their Facebook page. Can you tell I love the faded look?!

The best part is that Laura, the lead photographer and one of the ones that will be at our wedding, is seriously the coolest person ever. She's fun, spunky, personable... and short. So she told us that she'll bring one of her tallest assistants (think 6'+) to shoot with her, so they get all sorts of different and fun angles. I literally cracked up when she told us that, but it's something I never would have thought of, and am so glad that she did! She also waived the travel fee (she's based out of Virginia and we're getting married in NE Maryland) since we booked quickly, and so far in advance.

Bonus: She just won one of the 2011 Brides Choice Awards on WeddingWire!

So all in all.. we're getting two amazing photographers for an entire day for under $2000. It's a steal, if you ask me. And I couldn't be more excited!!

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.