After a good evening of blog reading last night, I kept thinking about this particular post from Grace Ormonde’s blog. “Don’t overlook the details” inspired me to look back at some of my favorite detail images from this past year. I agree that details can certainly tell specific parts of the wedding story and these images can also reflect the personality, character and style of an individual wedding.  Brides and grooms spend hours choosing the jewelery, the dress, the invititations, etc. and as wedding photographers we feel that these parts of the day should get their due attention in the wedding coverage.

This image below is a very standard and simple ring shot taken on a window sill at The Langham Hotel in Boston, MA. This is one of my favorite ring shots of the year, not because it is overly dramatic or stylized, but because it is simple, clean and elegant; and undoubtedly a reflection of the style and taste of the bride and groom. There are probably a few different ring shots from this year that would gain more attention but this is my favorite. That’s the beauty of photography; the subjective, instinctual and visceral feeling that comes over us when we fall in love with pictures.

-RP

This is one of our favorites of the 2009 wedding photography season. Thank you K + J!!!
To see more from this wedding check out their full blog post.

Lowell, MA - As we’ve been planning our own wedding, we have been thinking a lot about how couples choose their wedding vendors. There are a ton of options out there for every category of wedding professional, so it is easy for people to become overwhelmed. With this blog post, and some others that we’ve planned for the coming weeks, we will hopefully assist some folks out there who are having a hard time deciding on the right people to bring to their wedding day.

• Recommendations: Probably the first place to start your search would be contacting friends and relatives who’ve recently got married and ask them who they used and how they feel about recommendations. Check out a friend’s wedding album and see if the photographer’s style fits your expectations. Plus, you can get a lot more out of this than just a photography referral because if the photographer was a true wedding shooter you’ll be able to see the flowers, decorations, cakes, and venues in the album as well.

• Reviews: Use wedding planning sites like Wedding Wire, Wedding Mapper, or Project Wedding to find reviews on vendors that are of interest to you. The downside to this is that there are so many wedding professionals on these sites that it can contribute to the problem. However, if you have a specific list of vendors you are already interested in, you should ask them if they participate actively on these planning sites and check out their reviews.

• Budget: The wedding budget can be an important tool when choosing wedding pros. Lets face it, we all want the best of the best, but if they are nowhere near your budget it would be wise to scratch them off the list right away. If not, lingering hope that you win Powerball will soon turn to disappointment when you just can’t budget for it. However, if there’s only a few dollars difference between the price and your budget, you should ask about payment options. We’ve just begun using payment installations to help our clients plan effectively, without losing sight of the money. Wedding pros are people too, so if you have a specific request don’t hesitate to ask. Some people will be more responsive than others, but don’t take it personally if they decline.

• Experience: To know that your DJ has been a wedding pro for a decade or more will put your mind at ease that the “Chicken Dance” will not be played when you specifically put it on the “Do Not Play” list.  Professionalism is a key attribute in experienced wedding vendors. Although, for the better wedding professionals out there, experience may influence their starting price and their availability.

• Contract: Before you decide who you are going to work with, check out their contract. This can give you a distinct impression of how your business transaction will be handled.

• Personality: This is hands down your most important quality when dealing with your Photographer, DJ/Emcee, and your Wedding Coordinator. These are the folks that you will spend the most time with and really get to know (and hopefully like). As an example, your photographer will be following you all day so you should be sure their professionalism and personality match your expectations. If your personality clashes with your photographer you are going to look annoyed in all of your images, which is not a good look for you. A wedding photographer should be friendly, confident, able to give direction when needed and unobtrusive when direction is not needed.  Your wedding vendors are there to work with you to make sure your day goes the way you want, so make sure those people have a personality that makes them easy to be around. We all vibe with like minded people, so go out there and find them.

We’d love to hear from brides/grooms and wedding pros who can add to this list of helpful tips on finding the perfect match for your wedding needs. Thanks!

Two years ago we had the best time working our booth at this very same show, so we decided to return. The fast pace and excitement of a packed trade show can really get your adrenaline up; and we have the opportunity to meet new couples and talk to them about their wedding photography expectations. The only down side is there just isn’t enough one on one time with the guests (it’s kind of like speed dating), but we always try to stay in touch for the first couple weeks after the show to answer any questions they may have. Hopefully this year we get a booth located conveniently near a bakery display, as their give-aways are so tasty, and it keeps people returning to our booth {grin}.

Here are the details:

The Original Wedding Expo
January 23 & 24, 2010
11 am to 3:30 pm

Best Western Royal Plaza Trade Center
181 Boston Post Road West
Marlborough, MA 01752-1883
Phone: 888-774-3976
www.rplazahotels.com

Brides: Have you had a good experience at this or any other bridal show in the New England area? If so, we’d love to hear your thoughts (please comment below); and it would be highly beneficial to other brides looking for wedding professionals as well.

Grooms: There is no NFL games on Saturday the 23rd, but the 24th is Conference Championships, so…. see you on Saturday I guess, or I’ll see you checking your phone for updates on Sunday.

Photographers / Wedding Professionals: Will you be attending the Original Wedding Expo in Marlborough, MA on January 23-24th? If so we’d love to connect with you before the show.

We shall leave you this a picture of a yummy cake to further emphasize that you get FREE CAKE at this or any other bridal show. And if you’re trying to stay away from the cake, there will be tons of other great stuff for you too.

Boston, MA – This October wedding was a small and intimate affair. Held on the Odyssey cruise ship in Boston Harbor, guests enjoyed the beautiful Autumn weather during the ceremony and also got a chance to witness a beautiful sunset as we cruised around the harbor. Kim and Sean were great, we couldn’t have asked for a more laid-back and fun bride and groom. More photos from there Rock the Dress Session coming soon!

Andover, MA - Here’s one of our children’s portrait sessions from this past summer. We had photographed Jackson about a year before this particular session so it was great to see how much he had grown. This was definitely a high energy day as any child between 1 and 3 turns a portrait session into a track meet, but we wouldn’t have it any other way because it really fits our style of photography. For example, in order to get things going we had him just play with his favorite truck and the big red wagon. After all we have to make the session enjoyable for younger kids, so this usually means toys and lots of snack breaks.

The day was a bit cloudy and we did get some rain at the end of the shoot, but we pushed through it. Our sessions usually last between one and half to two hours, so by the time the rain really started to come down we had already got a ton of great stuff. With children’s portraits on location, we will encounter rain and uncooperative weather, but you just have to work with it when you live in New England.