101 Reasons to Hire a Professional Photographer #2

So I was talking the other day to the owner of the lab that does my processing. Very cool guy who has been in the business a long time. He said there's a lot of people having a friend or family member take their wedding photographs and it's causing so many problems!!  Of course I was curious about what he meant, and here's what I learned from him.

The pictures, for the most part... suck.

Sorry, don't mean to offend, but they do. Now keep in mind this is him telling me what he is seeing come through the lab.  If you're really lucky, you can see the person's face in the shot, but most of the time they are blown out or underexposed and everyone has red eye.  Everyone. Wow. Just what you want for the wedding you just spent thousands of dollars on to be perfect.

So then they blame him. Seriously!!  It's all his fault, the processing was bad.  Can you believe that?  Then they want him to 'fix' them all. It's impossible. A bad picture is a bad picture, it can't be fixed.

Now comes the perhaps the worst part of all.  Your relationship with that person will never be the same. Whether a friend or a family member, it has forever been changed.

So is it worth it?  When you're wondering why it's expensive to hire a professional photographer, keep in mind what I've written here.

I'll be writing more on how to save some money on your wedding in the coming weeks.  Real information, not the blah, blah, blah you are reading in magazines and on the internet now. 

Thanks for 'listening'....

Val

We're alive! I swear!

Yep we're here, alive and kickin' but as you can imagine with wedding season in full swing we are really busy concentrating on client images and haven't had much time to blog. Bad, bad, bad!!

Anyway just sitting here cranking through images like crazy and thought I'd share one I really like. It's from Crystal and Scott's wedding back in June. Isn't it cool?? A little secret sauce has been applied of course ;)

Hope everyone's enjoying their summer! Talk to ya soon!

-Bruce

101 Reasons to Hire a Professional Photographer

Reason #1

A picture is worth 1000 words.  Too bad she won't even have that. :)

Suggestions Welcome!

Hey there!  Our website needs a little upgrade so I'm kicking around some ideas and would love to hear what you think!  So let me know what you like, love, hate, want...whatever... creative ideas are most welcome!  Send me an email at valeen@thesweetestdays.com and tell me your thoughts.  Thanks!!

~ Valeen

Happy 4th of July!

Hey there!  Just in case you're wondering if we've been on vacation or something because there hasn't been any blog posts lately... nothing could be further from the truth!  We have been super busy shooting so many fun and beautiful weddings, we just haven't had much chance to post anything!  We have one tomorrow too, which should be so cool being the 4th of July and all, we're looking forward to it! 

Anyhow, we'll try to catch up shortly and in the meantime, check out the awesome wedding slide show that we just posted for Becky & Gil on the homepage at www.thesweetestdays.com. 

Happy 4th to everyone, enjoy the day and have fun!

Valeen

Yummy!

Sometimes we have a protein bar in the car on the way to the wedding, and sometimes... well... let's just say it doesn't get much better than this!  Yes, it was as delicious as it looks... I have to say that the Seamen's Inne in Mystic knows how to do a lobster bake!   Thanks to Becky and Gilbert for being so thoughtful. :) 

Not your average wedding photographer!

Although Bruce broke the cardinal rule about photographing the photographer... here's a shot of yours truly at work before Alise and Jim's wedding. :) 

For many years, before I decided to take my wedding photography business full time, I was a professional bridal seamstress, working at some of the best shops in CT.  So whenever I see one of those little hook & eye things not done on a dress, I'm there to take care of it! Old habits die hard. 

But really, it's about the details and making sure everyone is taken care of on the wedding day so things go smoothly. From helping dress the bride to pinning boutonnieres, we're there to help, in addition to capturing some simply awesome images of the day. :)  So I'm proud of the fact that we are not your average wedding photographers!  (And never will be!)

Saturday's Wedding!

Darcy and James got married Saturday! :) They are just the best couple and I enjoyed being there at the wedding so much. Actually, I should say this was more than just a wedding of two people, it was four! Elizabeth and AJ are great kids and you can see that this was such a special day for them too. I wanted to make sure I got a sneak peek up for them before school got out and they leave on their honeymoon. Enjoy!

Hey... guys... guys?? Did you see that's the Amistad? Oh, never mind. :)

Thanks for letting me be a part of your day and making me feel like a friend. All the best to you always and see you soon!

~Valeen

Something new!

I just posted a new slide show on the website for Mary and Marty, check it out when you get a chance! :)

Just for fun!

Bruce and I shoot a lot of weddings together and it's always a blast!  And sometimes...actually a lot of times... when I'm going through the photographs from the wedding... I see that we get the same shots and sometimes... like with these... I just start laughing!