Go with the flow

We’re in the midst of hurricane season and even though it’s sunny where I live today, I remember there was weekend after weekend when it rained and I happened to be booked
to shoot a wedding every one of those weekends. There were expensive locations – vineyards, mansions in Newport, Rhode Island, mountain resorts, botanical gardens, you name it. I always felt bad for the families that had paid so much money for these great locations.

So what do you do when it’s pouring out and you still want great pictures but you can't use the ocean or the beautiful park you had your heart set on?

Here are some tips:

Have a back up plan for pictures when planning the wedding. Pick an indoor spot that can workas a backup in case it’s not only rainy, but too windy or hot. Surely there’s something at the church , synagogue or reception hall that can quickly be used as a great backdrop - you can
even use a few of the flower arrangements to add some color.

Indoor/outdoor shots. If the venue has double doors, at least for a couple of photos, stand inside the doorway and get the rainy background in some of the shots. And obviously you can get some great pictures in front of or alongside some pretty windows.

Go with the flow. There’s nothing you can do about the weather so make the weather a part of the story. If it’s raining, pull out a couple of umbrellas and have the photographer get a few romantic pictures of you under the umbrellas walking down a path arm in arm.

If the day before the wedding the weather report predicts lots of rain, have someone run out and buy some fun props for everyone- lots of colorful umbrellas, rain hats and even flip flops so people can wear them if they go outside in the rain!

One of my favorite brides was going to have an outdoor wedding. The rain was torrential so tents were put up. The floor of the main tent got soaked. By the end of the wedding her white shoes looked like they were brown. They were totally encased in mud. What did the bride do? She laughed and encased them in a plexiglass box to remindherself that nothing could spoil her happiness. And of course, I got some great shots of her shoes!

Wedding Photography Costs Increase

A recent survey by The Conde Nast Bridal Group shows that the average amount spent on weddings has increased to $27,852. This is almost a 100% increase since 1990 when the average cost was $15, 208.

Of the top growth categories, the cost of photography and video jumped the highest percentage – 178%. In 1999, the cost of photography/video averaged $1263. In 2006 it was $3509.

But the statistics don’t explain why and I thought it would be appropriate to address this- I can only speak about wedding photography, and not video.

1. Digital costs and equipment
As studio and photojournalistic wedding photographers have changed from film to digital photography their costs have skyrocketed. Digital equipment is very expensive, plus any photographer worth two cents carries a lot of back up equipment. Depending on the size of the wedding, they also bring assistants and second shooters if necessary.

2. Time
In the old days, a photographer shooting film would have a professional lab process the film and then deliver the images to the photographer who would sort and edit them.
This was tedious work but relatively easy.

Now, with digital photography, photographers do the work the labs used to do- they process the images on their computer, they edit and color correct them and then in some cases post them on a website.

This can take a day or two since most photographers take a lot of images when shooting digital. So time has to be factored into the photographer’s costs.

3. Experience
Never discount the cost of experience. As the market shifts so more and more amateurs pick up a digital camera and profess being wedding photographers, there are more avery inexpensive photographers out there who offer to shoot your wedding and then just give you the images on
a cd without editing them, correcting them or giving you high resolution images. Then you’re stuck making all the reprints whose price you didn’t factor into the cost of your wedding either.

An experienced photographer will give you a fair package that doesn’t contain hidden costs. You will be assured that the images will be technically proficient but also, and just as important, have a viewpoint or artistic sensibility that puts them above the amateur photographer.

In the end, you only have your memories and your pictures so if you’re going to spend extra money, do it with a high-end professional wedding photographer like those on www.TheWeddingPicture.biz!