q&a
What should I expect on my wedding day?
You should expect to have a fun day without a lot of pressure from us. We will discuss your schedule and your priorities in advance. So on your wedding day, expect us to show up early, to work around you discreetly throughout the day, to rarely give you direction except during portraiture, to be prepared for anything, and to be open to all your ideas. In other words, we will be there to document, not to participate. Because we don't work with restrictive time limits, we will never tell you that it's time to cut the cake, or go ahead and do the first dance so that we can go home. So relax and enjoy!
How much time should I schedule for portraits?
To answer this question, you first need to consider your priorities for your wedding day. Are the candid moments the most important? Beautiful bridal portraiture? Romantic couples portraiture? Lots of formals with family? When you figure this out, you'll know better how much of your day to schedule for portraits.
We typically spend at least one hour shooting portraits of the bride and groom and another thirty minutes or so with the wedding party. In our experience, family formals always take longer than you expect. Depending on the size of your family and how important these photos are to you, it can take between thirty minutes and two hours. Because of this, it is always best to be prepared. Try to schedule a realistic amount of time for formal portraits. Make a list of the group shots you want ahead of time. Pick a reliable member of the wedding party to help us get everyone organized and ready for their shots. Encourage that person to help us quickly move through the list.
And as the bride and groom, if you decide that portraiture is a priority for your wedding day, be prepared to spend up to three hours posing for photos. It can be hard work, but it will go more smoothly if everyone is prepared.
How many pictures will you shoot on my wedding day?
Depending on your coverage choice, we shoot somewhere between 1,000 and 3,000 images during the day. This might sound like a lot, but we never know what will happen next, so we continuously document moments big and small. However, you'll find that many of the pictures are repetitive. We shoot a lot so that, in the course of one scene, there will be a picture in which everyone's eyes are open and the bride and groom look their best.
When will I get to see my photos?
We always try to have the photos edited, toned and posted to a private, online gallery in time for the couple's one-month anniversary. The gallery will stay active for three months after it is launched, and the photos in it are print-ready and available for high-resolution download.
How does the editing process work?
Because we've worked on deadline for daily newspapers for years, we are skilled editors. The photos in your gallery represent both the most emotional, artistic, and technically strong of all the images we took on your wedding day. These images receive meticulous attention in the toning and color-correcting process, and are the images that we will choose from in designing your wedding book if you choose to order one. However, we understand that you might want to see the rest of the photos, so we burn the balance of the images onto a disc that you can view, tone, and print yourself.
How can I get prints of my photos?
We are photographers, first and foremost. We can and do fulfill print orders through a professional lab, but we also feel you hired us for our creative eye, technical ability and experience behind the camera. We want you to have choices when it comes to reprints. We want you to use your photos. We want you to put them up all over your house, and we want you to do it your way. So we give all of our brides and grooms high-resolution image files so that you can get prints made anywhere you want whenever you want. Just upload your files to popular online print shops or take your disc to your favorite photo lab.
With that said, if you are more comfortable ordering prints through us, we are more than happy to help. Our prices are reasonable, and we order Kodak Endura prints through a custom professional lab.
How big is your coverage area?
Our local coverage area is a 150-mile radius from our home in Midtown Mobile. It includes New Orleans in Louisiana, Jackson, Hattiesburg, Gulfport, Biloxi and Meridian in Mississippi, Montgomery, Mobile, Selma, Jackson, Dothan, Monroeville, Atmore, Brewton and Enterprise in Alabama, Pensacola, Panama City, Destin, Seaside and Rosemary Beach in Florida. For areas outside of this area, we charge a modest travel fee.