Photography was something we knew we want but also something that after an initial internet search proved to be a bit more tricky than we thought. There were tons of photographers out there to choose from but they all offered way more than we wanted and were willing to pay for. It seemed insane to pay more for photography than anything else we'd be spending and we certainly don't need a full-day or 10 hours of photography. We are really just interested in a few hours for the ceremony and some family/couple portraits and we wanted the images so that we could print albums and the such.
After lots of digging around I just wasn't coming up with anything and so I turned to the wedding forums for help. The best recommendation I got was to check craigslist which I would never have thought of. After a short time browsing the events section, I had come up with a list of around 5-6 photographers that seemed like they'd be able to provide what we wanted and for a decent price. After looking through their sites with Tim and checking their availability, we narrowed it down to 3.
I arranged phone calls with each of them and I was rather nervous about the whole process. I had never tried to hire a photographer before it and trying to do it over the phone (both Tim and I hate talking on phones) just added to the weirdness. The first woman we contacted was extremely friendly and out-going. And we went away with all of our questions answered and really great feeling about it. But being the first person we've called, of course we wanted to see what the others were going to be like.
Tim ended up having to talk to the 2nd photographer on his own and the conversation didn't really leave him feeling like he wanted to work with the guy. First when Tim called him at the arranged time, it went to voice mail and the guy didn't call him back for 40 minutes. Then it really seemed like this guy really did it all on the side and seemed to care more about being able to get back to spending time with his family than capturing our big day. We liked his photos the most but after the call we decided to not even bother pursuing this option.
The last woman was also super nice and we really liked her photographs but we just didn't get the same sort of feel from her as we did the first one. She was rather quiet and soft spoken and while we at first liked her pictures a bit more, we really liked the first photographer's vibe more. Tim had already sort of decided in his mind that he wanted to go with the first photographer and I was leaning that way too but decided that since the bridal forums were such a help I'd ask if anyone had any opinions on both of them. I didn't get any response about the first photographer but a few people had mentioned meeting with the second and while they loved her work and her, they felt she was a bit too soft-spoken/shy and worried she wouldn't be able to handle wrangling and working with these brides large,loud, energetic family. While we don't want any one who is going to be pushy we do need someone who is comfortable getting people in order as we will sort of be on small deadline to get these poses done.
So we decided to go with the first photographer Sonia Maria Photography and since her smallest package is 5 hours, I'll be able to have her around to get some getting ready shots as well. We just got her contract and it will be heading off in the mail on Tuesday. :)
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