Worth a Thousand Words (part one)

Picking a photographer was one of the first things we crossed off on our to-do list, but accomplishing it meant dealing with my first wedding headache.

Because of Kenny’s crazy military schedule, we figured out that between our engagement and wedding he would only be in town three times: once in April for work, once in July for 40 hours for my brothers wedding, and for two weeks over Christmas and New Years (although if the deployment happens he won’t be coming home). And if we wanted to take engagement photos, they would have to be taken in April, which was less than two months after getting engaged. Time was not on our side.

I don’t know if it’s because I work in the media world and look at beautiful photos in magazines all day long, or I spent most of time drooling over amazing weddings captured in pictures, but Kenny and I knew we wanted someone fantastic shooting our wedding.

Since I work for a local city magazine, I had an “eye up” on finding photogs around the city. I quickly started stalking their Web sites and getting in touch with different companies/people to compare prices and packages. And after I went through all the photographers I knew and had heard of, I started digging a little deeper to find those who were a little more under the radar.

Once I had a list of vendors I wanted to meet with, I started setting up appointments and having conversations via email so they could show me their goods.

With one company I sort of felt like talking to them was like buying a car. They were all about sealing the deal and working on the details later. They had all the great gimmicks: book today and receive $blank off your package, or get an engagement session at no extra charge. Needless to say, I didn’t want to feel like I was part of a herd when it came to my photos, so I nixed them right away.

For our first official vendor meeting, my mom, dad, and I met with Dry Heat Photography – a husband and wife team I knew through the magazine. I loved them, my parents loved them, and Kenny said he’d love whoever I wanted to pick. I loved their photos (and I still stalk their blog) and knew they had a fantastic reputation around town. But something in me was telling me to hold out and keep searching just a little longer.

Back on the photography prowl, my mom and I met with one guy whose work was great, but we didn’t “click;” I never had an overly excited feeling about having him follow me around all day. Another potential photographer stood me up and never got back in touch about a following up, and another handful of people were busy when we needed to do our engagement shoot.*

I also fell in love with a couple photographers online, but when they sent me their prices I quickly broke up with the idea of having them be part or our wedding, but put them on the “Wish” list, aka our if-we-win-the-lottery list. With the clock ticking away I started feeling discouraged…

stay tuned for part 2!

*if you’re interested in knowing who any of our potential photogs were, I still have their info and would be happy to pass it along to you.