So here's a glimpse of my crazy-ass
spreadsheet:
For like 4 months I was photography crazy. I scrolled through site after site of local photographers. After a few weeks of this I swear I was seeing wedding photos in my sleep.
I collected quotes from as many photographers as I could. Some provided pricing on their sites, some did not. Some emailed me promptly, some told me to go away and come back next year. Since I had started with such a huge list I'd say I easily crossed off the first 15 or so for various reasons (over budget, don't want to book with us yet, don't like their style, just plain old never responded to me, etc.).
When I had narrowed it down to about 7 photographers that's where the real fun started. I began comparing their packages and what they offered with what Mr. Coyote and I wanted for our wedding day. Did they include engagement photos? How many hours do they typically book for? Is there a second shooter or do they work solo? What do they offer us in terms of prints, albums, digital copies of the photos?
There were so many questions to ask and yes, I put them all into that rockin' spreadsheet of mine.
We eventually somehow narrowed it down to three photographers and totally pulled a Goldilocks.
The first photographer we met with was actually a teacher at my middle school and knows my dad quite well. (Oh what's that? I didn't mention I come from a teeny tiny Upstate New York town where everyone is either related and/or knows each other? Yep, it's true. I graduated with about 60 kids in my class. Woo small town charm!)
Although I think he is incredibly talented his style was a bit too… romantic for me and he was at the top of our budget.
The second photographer we met with was super awesome. I really enjoyed her work and she seemed to offer everything we wanted. She worked closely with her husband who was a videographer and sometimes her second shooter.
But the last photographers we met with. Well, they were just right. Seriously, these guys just have it all. They were right in our budget and they had an easy to understand package. Some of the other guys just made it way too complicated. Well what if we want this, but not this? And how much to add this?
Not these guys. They basically let you build your own package from the bottom up. Their flexibility definitely won me over.
And they were so nice! It's strange -- so many people told me that we would just click when we met the right vendor and I didn't believe them until I met our photographers. It's hard to describe, but I felt really comfortable and at ease with them.
I still took some time to mull it over, but in the end we decided that Paul and Brenda were the right fit for us.
Was your photographer a perfect fit for you?
PS. Sorry for the lack of pictures in this post, but I promise you are going to be inundated with them in the next couple posts!!
[Personal Pic]
I know it's hard to see, but I scribbled in some ridiculous notes in some of these cells. Can you find our photographer? The only note I wrote next to their name was "I like these". Nice.
For like 4 months I was photography crazy. I scrolled through site after site of local photographers. After a few weeks of this I swear I was seeing wedding photos in my sleep.
I collected quotes from as many photographers as I could. Some provided pricing on their sites, some did not. Some emailed me promptly, some told me to go away and come back next year. Since I had started with such a huge list I'd say I easily crossed off the first 15 or so for various reasons (over budget, don't want to book with us yet, don't like their style, just plain old never responded to me, etc.).
When I had narrowed it down to about 7 photographers that's where the real fun started. I began comparing their packages and what they offered with what Mr. Coyote and I wanted for our wedding day. Did they include engagement photos? How many hours do they typically book for? Is there a second shooter or do they work solo? What do they offer us in terms of prints, albums, digital copies of the photos?
There were so many questions to ask and yes, I put them all into that rockin' spreadsheet of mine.
We eventually somehow narrowed it down to three photographers and totally pulled a Goldilocks.
The first photographer we met with was actually a teacher at my middle school and knows my dad quite well. (Oh what's that? I didn't mention I come from a teeny tiny Upstate New York town where everyone is either related and/or knows each other? Yep, it's true. I graduated with about 60 kids in my class. Woo small town charm!)
Although I think he is incredibly talented his style was a bit too… romantic for me and he was at the top of our budget.
The second photographer we met with was super awesome. I really enjoyed her work and she seemed to offer everything we wanted. She worked closely with her husband who was a videographer and sometimes her second shooter.
But the last photographers we met with. Well, they were just right. Seriously, these guys just have it all. They were right in our budget and they had an easy to understand package. Some of the other guys just made it way too complicated. Well what if we want this, but not this? And how much to add this?
Not these guys. They basically let you build your own package from the bottom up. Their flexibility definitely won me over.
And they were so nice! It's strange -- so many people told me that we would just click when we met the right vendor and I didn't believe them until I met our photographers. It's hard to describe, but I felt really comfortable and at ease with them.
I still took some time to mull it over, but in the end we decided that Paul and Brenda were the right fit for us.
Was your photographer a perfect fit for you?
PS. Sorry for the lack of pictures in this post, but I promise you are going to be inundated with them in the next couple posts!!
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