Here's the honest answer... This question is a photographer's most disliked question. I can tell you what you get but would it mean anything? I offer 4 different albums. Without seeing them it's hard to tell you what you would be receiving. This question is not how you should be shopping for a photographer. Too many photographers offer too many different things to let price be your only shopping factor
Our minimum amount of time is four hours. More hours can always be added at an additional cost.
To hold your date we require a third down non-refundable retainer fee. This puts you on our calendar and solidifies our services. The balance is due 10 days before the wedding.
This really depends on how long you have us there and what is going on. The average for 8 hours of coverage is around 650.
I can't emphasize enough, the sooner the better. We book fast! We are almost booked out for 2011 and have several bookings for 2012 already.
Yes, you receive a proof CD. This makes it easy to view your images on your PC and choose the images for your album.
We don't force you into a package that includes a specific album. We often get new albums and therefore you are not "stuck" with a certain album. Our albums range from press printed coffee table books to handcrafted leather bound albums.
We have photographed weddings all over New York state and beyond. If your location is under an hour drive from our Fairport location then there is no travel cost associated with your package. Additional travel costs are calculated based on the logistics of your wedding's location.
Excellent question! My first back up is my husband of course. But, as in the case of my daughter coming 10 days early and we are both unavailable, we do have backup. I personally am close friends with over 60 local photographers through The Greater Rochester Professional Photographers. This is a local organization of professionals. Every one of them owns their own business. There is always someone available to step in if needed. Usually a moments notice if needed.
We believe in blending in with the furniture so to speak. All members of your photography team will be dressed in dark colors (yes, even on 90 degree days!) with suit jackets (ok, those sometimes come off on 90 degree days!). Just don't look at our shoes, there usually comfortable and pretty ugly.
We do have a lovely pre bridal session where you are photographed in your gown a couple of weeks before the wedding. This is a wonderful way to share this time with someone special, like mom or your maid of honor. It is also a great way to make sure your gown is fitted correctly and that all elements work the way they should. I have often had brides change something after doing this. There are of course many images of the bride photographed on the wedding day as well.
With our experience we have photographed in most of the popular places in Rochester and the surrounding areas. If we aren't, we may choose to do a sight inspection before your wedding day.
It will be approximately four weeks for your images to be ready. Some studios take a much shorter time. We choose to take our time making sure your images are beautiful. You will also receive the DVD with your high resolution images at the same time your receive your proofs. It is also our belief that the bride and groom should be the first people to see their images.
We do minor retouching on the images before you see them for color and effects. Other things (stray hairs, closed eyes, etc.) will be retouched when the images are chosen for your album or purchase. On your DVD these images will be unretouched as you receive that shortly after the wedding day.
Nope. We highly recommend SE Video.
Yes. I feel an assistant is vital in you receiving the images you expect for your day. If I don't have an assistant I have to worry about lenses and cards as well as making you look perfect.
You receive around 600 images from your wedding day. It's very difficult to choose every image that should appear in your book and make it flow like a story. What we ask you to do is choose 25 of the images you can't live without. From there we build your wedding story around those. We want to make sure your album is artistic and full of your personality. We give you an album sample that you can of course make any changes you would like to. After the first set of changes there is an additional charge.
In my opinion this is one of the most important questions you can ask. We are a small family run studio. You hire me, you get me. The team at your wedding will consist of myself, my husband and an assistant. Having three people frees myself and my husband up to REALLY be your photographers instead of one of us running around as an assistant. Due to this fact we book VERY quickly. If you think it's too early, your probably wrong.
You have a copyright release that comes along with your DVD. This means you are able to create whatever prints you wish to, where you wish to. We highly recommend Rochester Photographic for a more professional look to your images. We strongly suggest that if you plan on having a larger art piece to hang in your home that you do return to us to have that done.
Between myself, Karen and Hai we have over a decade of experience photographing weddings.
We have plenty of albums for you to look through at our studio.
Throughout our albums we have various special effected images. If you don't see something you've seen somewhere else, just ask.
We have quite a bit of experience in this area. Being a wedding photographer means being able to photograph in dark churches, using no additional light, from 200 feet down a narrow aisle. Not a problem at all. We respect your officiant's rules to not use any flash or additional lighting during your ceremony and we bring our own lighting to your reception. You'll never see a black background behind any of our images.
We do most of our specialty work after your wedding day. This lets us give each image the attention it deserves.
Oh my yes! We carry 4 cameras on us at all times. We also carry backups of flashes, cords, and other hardware.
Before we leave your wedding your images are already in two places. The cards we photographed on and our laptop. As soon as we arrive at home, dvd's are burned. From there the images are edited. The final edits are burned to dvd then transferred to a hard drive for storage. They are also on my computer's main hard drive until your album is finished. Then they are burned to dvd on last time and archived.
Whew! Not to mention, you get a copy of the dvd too! Once your album is delivered, we retain your images as long as we can. Due to space limitations however, there is not a guarantee on how long that is.
It depends on the album you choose. Our quickest album takes about 8 weeks. Our longest album can take up to a year to receive. This is after you have made the final approval of the album sample.
The sooner the better. After 6 months there is an archival fee. There are certain times of the year we do not work on albums due to high volume (the holidays).
We do have a strict policy when it come to cancellations. We reserve dates up to 2 years in advance. Due to this, your retainer is non-refundable. No part of the fee is refundable after the wedding has occured.