A Note to Engaged Couples
Over the last few weeks, we have had many conversations with our family, friends, previous clients, current clients, and even potential clients about the importance of photography and choosing the best photographers for you. I kind of wish we had a recorder for all of the conversations to share them all with you… but basically, all of the conversations culminated into an aha moment for us, choosing a photographer (although many see it as overwhelming) can be incredibly exciting! ;)
This past weekend, we photographed our friends, Brendon and Karen, who we actually introduced to each other! ;) (THAT was such an incredible honor!!!… and we will definitely share more about that soon!) Anyway, we had just placed the Day of Slideshow (a slideshow on our iPad of about 40-50 pictures that we had taken earlier on in the day to give everyone a sneak peek of the photos to come!) out in the bar area and found a group of our friends gathered around watching it! One of our friends turned to us and said… “Ahh! I so wish we would have spent more on our photographers.” At that moment, of course we felt humbled that they were as excited about Karen and Brendon’s photos as we were, but deep down our hearts broke a little. We want EVERYONE to have wedding photos that they are proud of and excited to share! Unfortunately, we often hear the horror stories from others and we know that is simply not the case.
As much as I would LOVE to say that there is a “one size fits all” kind of photographer and those photographers names are Liz and Ryan ;) … that is actually not the truth! But we do feel confident that there are photographers out there for everyone and it is all about finding the best fit for you!
I think one of the biggest challenges that faces brides and grooms when they get engaged is that there are 1 million people who now have an answer to all of their questions and want to tell them what to do next in wedding planning. Instead of adding to that and making it 1 million +2 people, we thought we would share just a few of our thoughts about our process in hopes to educate people on what they could have… so that they don’t look back in a few years and think, “gosh, I wish we had better photographs to remember our day!”
1. Wedding planning should be FUN! Being engaged is one of the MOST exciting times of your life! You have made the decision to spend the rest of your lives together and now you get to plan the celebration to make it official! How exciting to know that your friends and family want to come together to celebrate YOU as a couple! Never lose focus of what this day is all about… you are getting MARRIED! This day should be exactly how YOU want it to be. The professionals that you hire (from the venue, to the photographers, to the caterers, to the band/DJ, etc.) should all be people that you know will keep this process fun because they are just as excited about meeting your needs and helping you plan the perfect wedding for YOU! (Not all weddings are the same!!! That is the exciting part!) Our advice… never lose site of what this is all about – your marriage, and find the professionals that leave you with a smile on your face knowing they are going to help you make the beginning of your marriage exactly how you dream it to be.
2. Expect greatness! This was something we learned in college by one of our AMAZING mentors, Dean Badal! ;) She always taught us to expect greatness from others. Therefore, we have it ingrained in our bodies to expect greatness from ourselves right along with expecting it from others! We are providing a service as photographers. The photographs are just one little piece of that service! You should never have a doubt that your photographers are going to take great care of you! Ryan and I were chatting about this the other day… you know those wedding magazines that always list the questions to ask your photographer. One of the questions is always, “what would you do in case of an emergency and you couldn’t make it to the wedding.” To be honest, we never know how to answer this question because it seems so obvious to us. We would do EVERY single thing that we could to make sure we are there! If the situation came up (which would likely mean a life-changing emergency comes up ;( ) we would do EVERY single thing to make sure our brides and grooms were taken care of! You should feel more confident than ever that ALL of your professionals that you hire for your day will take care of you without even asking. Trust in your professionals and ask for help when you need it. We work with our couples to come up with their wedding day timeline… because as professionals we know how much time should be allocated to get our job done to the best of our ability. No, it is not something most would think is in a wedding photographers “job description,” but it is something that helps us do our job better AND it helps our couples along the way!
Side note: HUGE thanks to our friend and AMAZING photographer too, Natalie Franke for capturing us behind the scenes this weekend! She was there as our 3rd photographer and go to girl in case I wasn’t strong enough post-surgery to make it through the wedding. However, I am happy to report- I not only made it through the wedding, but I woke up the next day feeling better than ever! God is good! ;)
3. Choosing your wedding photographers should not be viewed as just a business transaction. Capturing you as a couple is so much more than just taking a picture. We do everything that we can to try to get to know our couples before we even pick up our camera (that is why we start off our consultations by sharing some of our favorite treats and schedule fun date nights with our couples). We always joke that it is not typically normal for our couples to be used to having two strangers following them with a camera for a day. I think we all can agree that would be totally awkward. (And believe me, it would be just as awkward for us!). We are photographers, not because we like to take pictures- of course we do, but we are photographers because we like to capture the moment. We LOVE this life that we all live in and we want to document it. We appreciate every moment and know that in years to come there will be generations of families that will relive the memories of their loved ones through the photographs that we have the honor to take. Seriously, that brings tears to my eyes just thinking about that! We are so blessed to be able to do what we do and be surrounded by love as we do it!
4. Prioritize your Budget. It is likely that you want your wedding day to be PERFECT. You will do everything that you can to make sure that day is PERFECT for you, your family and your friends. Every detail is thought about over and over again. It is easy to get caught up in a budget and planning and pleasing all of your family and friends along the way. Focus on what is important to you and make a budget that reflects that. Of course, as photographers who value photography and have photographed over 85 weddings since 2009, we believe everyone should make photography a priority in their budgets. Whether the overall budget is $5000 or $200,000 it is so incredibly important that your wedding day is documented. It is the only thing (besides your rings & video of course) that will be able to bring you back to the emotions of your wedding day. Forget about the percentages of your budget that all of the wedding magazines, your family and friends are telling you that you should spend on specific pieces of your day. Find what is important to you as a couple and do what YOU want. As we said before, it is so easy for people to tell you what you should do… but honestly, our best advice is to do what you want to do. Follow your heart and you will find what is best. (This advice stems much deeper than just the budget topic! ;) ). But seriously, if everyone is so focused on making this day perfect, I sure hope that you have the memories to remind yourselves of that perfect day in the future! It is not always about the details… it is about the emotions that make the day so meaningful.
5. From Photographers to Family. After our engagement session last night, I posted an Instagram that said… “Our goal is always to fill our couple’s hearts with love- however somehow they always find a way to fill our hearts with even more!” At the end of the day, we want to leave our couples feeling more in love than ever before. We want to capture their love in a way that they can look back on in years ahead and always remember those tingles in their toes! We know that not everyone who is looking for a wedding photographer is looking for someone who is going to leave a lasting impact on their hearts, but we want people to seek that! It is certainly our goal to make that impact on every single couple we come in contact with! It is our dream that we can touch people’s hearts in a special way… beginning as photographers and moving forward as family!
I had to include this picture because it is prime example of “beginning as photographers and moving forward as family!” We spent this Saturday hanging out with Kait and Adam (the ones playing skee ball above who were married in May) and their family at the MD vs WV game this weekend! I believe my words just before the picture was taken.. “Let’s take a family picture.” ;) We believe with our whole hearts that all of our brides and grooms and their families become one big extended Liz and Ryan family! And for that we could not be more grateful!!! Huge thanks to Kait, Adam, Rick, Kath, Marianne and the whole crew for showing us how to tailgate on Saturday in and out of the rain!… ohh and introducing us to the Terps world! That shirt I am wearing is actually Kait’s, but after the fun we had on Saturday we might just have to invest in some MD gear and hang out with them more often! (on off Saturdays of course!)
We could not be more excited or blessed to know that we have the opportunity to touch the lives of others in the work that we do. God has given us these talents and it is an honor to be able to share them.
Please, when you are looking for a photographer, think about these things above so that in future years you are not looking back wishing you had done something different! AND, if you know someone who would appreciate hearing these thoughts (or maybe you just want them to hear this perspective!) (engaged friends, family, parents, etc.)- please pass it along to them too! Everyone should have an AMAZING experience… at least we think so anyways! ;)