Happy Thursday everyone!!

It’s wedding booking season here in Northern California.  Andy and I have been spending our weekends at wedding shows, and our weekdays meeting with the most wonderful couples, who we’re so excited to bring into our photography family!

Lately, we noticed several of our couples shyly bring in the list of “questions to ask your wedding photographer before hiring” from The Knot, and we love it!  Hiring an artist to capture your wedding day is a HUGE deal.  Being an engaged girl myself, I know just how important this is, and I truly believe that selecting your wedding photographer is the most important choice a couple will make about their wedding day.  Because after all, In 20 years nobody will remember what you ate for dinner, or how many layers of cake you had- your photos will be with you for the rest of your life, and beyond.

So just for fun, we thought we’d go through and answer The Knot questions here on the blog for our potential couples reading pleasure.   Grab a glass of wine and stay a while.

The Knot | Questions to ask your wedding photographer before hiring

How long have you been photographers? 

Combined, we’ve been photographing weddings for over 17 years!

How would  you describe your style?

Classic, clean, and natural are probably the best words to describe our style.  You can check our our website or instagram to see some recent examples of work.  Most importantly, we want to capture real moments, and authentic connections between our couples (and their families/ friends) on wedding day.  We want our photographs to be timeless, so we stay away from heavy filters and washed out images which will date their photographs in a few years.   Our photographs are a mix of documentary photojournalism, natural-sun kissed images, artistic black and white images, and clean images using off camera flash when needed.

Will it be you photographing our wedding?

Absolutely!!  We feel that relationships are the foundation of everything we do. In order to tell your story, we need to know what (and who) is important to you.   By the time wedding day arrives, we’ve spent time together at your engagement session and pre-wedding consultation, we know who’s who in your family and what relationships are meaningful to you. We always arrive as friends, highly invested in capturing your day in an authentic way.

Do you carry back-up gear?

Yes!  We always have 2 complete sets of back up gear.  If something happens to our gear during a wedding, we don’t miss a beat.… we just grab our back up camera and keep shooting.

Did you go to school?

Yes, I received a formal education in Fine Art Film Photography and Design, and studied an additional 2 years with a private mentor.  Andy began his training me, and since has taken hundreds of hours of advanced photography and lighting courses.  Although we currently teach and mentor other photographers, we continue to advance our own education by regularly taking workshops, classes, and attending conferences with some of the worlds leading photographers.

How are our images stored and protected?

In the digital age, protecting and backing up files is extremely important.  I think just about everyone has had the experience of a device crashing, be it a phone, hard drive, or computer.  Rest assured, we take every possible measure to ensure your photos are protected and safe:

1. We use professional cameras with 2 film-card slots, which means from the moment we click the shutter, your photos are already backed-up. If one card becomes corrupt, we have an exact duplicate of your images 0n the second card.
2. We use the highest level professional film cards which have a lower possibility of failure.
3. After your event, all images are brought back to the studio, where they’re backed up an additional 2 times.
4. Once your photos are delivered, they are stored on the cloud where you can easily download and create multiple personal back-ups.

What happens if  you get sick?   

Ask us about the wedding where Andy and  I BOTH  got food poisoning at the start of wedding day  (true story).  We tag-teamed and somehow powered through.  No one even knew we were ill (which still surprises me, since we were so sick!!!)   In the case of extreme emergency or death (which would be very sad and luckily hasn’t happened), we have a network of amazing professional wedding photographer friends who would step in to assist.

How many weddings do you shoot a year? 

We average about 35 weddings per year. Don’t worry, we don’t schedule other shoots or weddings on your day.

How long after the wedding or shoot will our photos be available?

Engagement session photos are ready within 10 days, wedding photos are ready in 4-5 weeks.

Do you have an album we can look through? 

Yes… come have a glass of wine with us and peek through them.

Are you insured?

Yes. We have a business license, resale license, insurance and all other things which businesses must have to function.

How many photos will we receive?  

Most of our couples receive about 500-650 photos in their final wedding gallery. We don’t put a limit on the number of photographs you’ll get, yet we do remove any duplicate images, or photos that you won’t want to see (wierd faces, flash didn’t fire, etc.)

Do you shoot digital or film?

 Although I was trained in fine art film (and still have a love affair with it), all our weddings are shot digitally.

Are our photos edited and color balanced? 

Yes all of your photos go through a professional developing and editing process.  All photos that are added to an album go through a secondary fine retouching process in photoshop.   The way we shoot naturally brightens the skin and reduces blemishes/wrinkles so normally very little “retouching” is needed.

Will we get digital files? 

YES!  All of our collections include a complete gallery of edited full resolution digital files with reprinting rights so you can print and share to your hearts content.  Your digital files are uploaded into a professional online gallery where you can instantly download and share them!

Can we get the raw images?

That would be like asking your caterer to deliver just the ingredients instead of making up their delicious entrees.  Our couples hire us to give them beautiful finished images, which is what we deliver. So, no we never deliver raw/undeveloped images.

What’s your favorite part of wedding day?  

I have three favorite times: As the bride is getting ready, just before the ceremony; as she’s walking down the isle, and the moment as our couple walks down the isle together after tying the knot!  Those are magical moments… Andy and I  always get watery-eyed. here’s a few of those moments:

 

How do you handle family photos?

Family photos is a very important part of the wedding day, since for many families it’s rare to have everyone together.  We work hard to ensure we get the needed family photos, and that we do it in an efficient and quick way (normally about 15 minutes).   About a month before wedding day, we’ll sit down and go over your family in depth and create a family photo list together.  We like to do this with our couples because it helps us understand the dynamics of their family and is easier for  to organize than just “getting a list of family names.”

Working with our couples in this way helps family photos go smoothly and quickly after the ceremony, reduces the chance of missing “groupings”, and ensures we don’t ask for uncomfortable photos (ex: asking for remarried parents to take a photo together, etc)

Do you offer full day coverage?

We’ve seen many photographers offering “full day coverage” yet after photographing hundreds of events, we’ve found that most of our couples need around 5-9 hours of wedding day coverage.  We typically start about 2 hours before the ceremony, just as the bride is finishing  her hair and make-up, so we can get those beautiful primping shots like these:

How do you dress on wedding day?

We dress to fit in with your event.  Some of our couples have black tie weddings, and some have casual country weddings…We’ll come dressed to fit in.

How do we book you?

A signed contract and retainer is required to reserve your date!

What’s the payment policy?

We  require a retainer and signed contract to hold  your date, with two additional payments (3 months before wedding, and 3 weeks before wedding.)  Many of our couples need different payment plans, and we’re happy to create these for you- just ask. With the exception of tips  (which we greatly appreciate), we never accept payments on wedding day because we want you to experience your day, not worry about paying bills.

Do you bring lighting?

Yes.  We carry professional off-camera lighting  and canon flashes to all weddings.  That’s how we create images like this: 

Will there be additional fees for travel and lodging?

There are no travel fees for weddings in Sacramento, North Lake Tahoe, and Nevada County.  If you’re having a destination wedding anywhere in the world, our travel rates are amazing  (because we LOVE to travel), just give us a ring to chat!

What’s your cancellation policy?  

We have the pleasure of photograohing AMAZING couples… Couples who end up becoming part of our photography family and long term friends and clients.  We want to see  your wedding unfold perfectly, so please don’t cancel your wedding!!    Because we reserve your date for YOU, and typically turn down 2-4 weddings on any selected date. We do not offer refunds if your wedding is cancelled (which is standard policy in our industry.)

Do you offer albums?

Yes, you can add on a beautiful custom wedding album to any collection.

What paper do you for prints an albums?

All our albums and prints are professional archival paper. Which means it’s acid free and will last for generations.

What gear do you use?

We use top of the line professional canon equipment:  5D mark iv and mark iii cameras, canon 600EX flashes, and a collection of professional lenses including: 70-200 L2.8 IS, 85mm 1.2/L,  50mm 1.2/L, 24-70 2.8/L,  35mm 1.4 art lens, off camera triggers/ lightstands/ beauty dishes/gels/etc.

 

We hope this helps! 
All the best!

Melanie + Andy