Here are some answers to Frequently Asked Questions…
Q: What form of payments do you accept?
A: I highly prefer Cash, Check, or even Venmo. If you use these forms of payment, there is no additional fee added on to the bottom line. I also accept Credit Cards, Bank Transfers, or Debit Card payments through HoneyBook but I charge the 3% they charge me. This must be established before the contract is signed to adjust the price with the additional 3%. If you accidentally pay with HoneyBook after the contract was signed, I can just send an invoice for the additional 3%.
Q: How long have you been doing photography?
A: I photographed my first wedding for my friend in 2009. I did photography for years on the side while I worked as a preschool teacher and nanny. 6 years ago I photographed my brother’s wedding and fell in love with it all over again. I decided to go all in, invest in gear, and be a photographer full time. It was years of paying my dues, working for very little money to build up my portfolio and perfect my craft. I am finally seeing the fruits of my labor!
Q: How long will it take for you to deliver our photos?
A: During my slower season I estimate 9-12 weeks and during the busy season I estimate 12-14 weeks. With that being said, you will have access to your gallery shortly after your wedding and will have a sneak peek of your photos very soon. As I work on your photos, I will add them to your gallery for you to download; so don’t worry, you don’t have to wait the full estimated time to see all your photos. To be honest, I typically beat my delivery estimate; however, a big part of my job is setting expectations so I make sure to give myself a cushion so as not to break a promise. May and June are especially busy, as are October- early January. Just know that I am working my hardest to get your images to you as fast as I can. Sometimes you might get a sneak and then wait a bit while I finish a previous clients’ full gallery.
Q: How do you deliver photos?
A: I give a USB and an Online Gallery with most of my packages.
Q: Do you deliver High Quality digital images?
A: ABSOLUTELY! I would never want to deliver an image that wasn’t High Quality and worthy of printing on a canvas!
Q: Can I post your photos on social media and add a filter? Should I tag you?
A: I love that you are so excited to share your photos! I get butterflies every time I see someone’s Instagram or Facebook profile photo was changed to a photo I took. It makes me so proud! If you don’t add a filter or alter the image, I would LOVE for you to tag me!!! In fact, I highly encourage it! I know that filters are super fun, heck, I use them on my personal account all the time. I would never ask you to not add a filter to your wedding image, even if I cringe a tiny bit inside to see the photo changed. But, at the end of the day, they are your images, for your personal use, to do with as you please. I just ask that if you do add a filter to an image I edited, that you please not tag me in it. I want my potential clients to see my work that best represents my style. A style that I have worked so hard to accomplish. Unfortunately, if they see a photo with a green or yellow filter, I could potentially lose business based on that image.
Q: Do you offer Prints, Canvases, or Photo Albums?
A: Yes I do. Some of my packages come with goodies like this or I can add them to any package. Just ask for a quote on what you would like and I will send it over.
Q: How many images do you deliver?
A: I don’t limit the number of wedding images I deliver to clients but instead edit and deliver all the usable images that aren’t blurry, people blinking, duplicates, etc. It will depend on how many hours of coverage and how many photographers are in your package, but I deliver anywhere from 550-1200 images for a wedding.
Q: Do I get the printing rights to my images?
A: YES! Print the images for personal use to your heart’s content. All the images on your USB and Gallery are yours to print.
Q: Will I own the copyright? And what is the different between copyright and printing rights?
A: I maintain the printing rights to all images unless the copyright is purchased by the client. The copyright basically means that I own the images and am free to use them for our advertising, including, but not limited to, social media, website design, and publications. If you wish to deliver the images to a wedding publication of some kind, you must have my consent, but you may use the images for your personal use. If you wish to keep the images private, you must purchase the copyright from us to offset the loss of income I will suffer from lack of advertising. After all, you wouldn’t have hired me if you hadn’t seen any of my work, would you?
Q: Why can’t I get the RAW unedited images from my session/event?
A: Just as you wouldn’t ask a baker to give you the flour and the sugar for your cake, you wouldn’t ask a painter for the paint and the canvas instead of a finished painting. Half of my creative process is editing your photos. You pay me for the final product, your edited photos. The photos you see on my website and social media have been carefully selected and edited to represent my company and brand. Giving you an unedited image would be much like commissioning a painter to paint your portrait and him handing you the paint brush, a mirror, a canvas, some paint, and saying, “Here you do the rest.”
Q: Do you edit or retouch delivered photos?
A: I would never deliver an un-edited photo to a client. That is half of my creative process. I do a tiny bit of retouching, if necessary, to my discretion, but limit it to the couple’s photos and basic stuff like the occasional teeth whitening etc. If you have special requests on retouching, please ask before we sign the contract. Sometimes I will make a special exception; but for the most part, if you ask after the wedding, I charge a retouching fee since retouching can add hours on to my editing time and sometimes even double my time.
Q: Why do you charge hundreds of dollars an hour?
A: I know when people hear 8 hours of coverage, they think that doesn’t seem like a lot of time, after all, that is just an average workday for most. However, that is a small fraction of the time we are actually working. Not to mention, for an 8 hour package, we typically have 2 photographers so that is 16 hours between the two of us. On top of all the hours we spend emailing clients, meeting with clients, working on timelines and questionnaires, we also spend many MANY hours culling and editing your photos behind the scenes. We love just about every part of our job (other than bookkeeping and collecting money, ugh) but no one said it didn’t take a lot of work.
Q: Do you and Andy have a different style?
A: I honestly forget who took some of our older photos because we both have a very similar photography style. However, I am sure there are slight differences in our approach. I feel that our slight difference in style helps provide a well balanced blend of variety in the poses and composition of our photographs. You can see for yourself when going through our galleries, Andy always photographs the guys and I photograph the girls.
Q: What if I hire you and a year later your editing style changes?
A: We have worked years on perfecting our style and we have always been drawn to bright, crisp, colorful, clean images that aren’t too dark or too bright. We know that dark and moody is a very popular style, but it is not for us. So rest assured that our style won’t change. Overtime we will simply become more and more experienced at our craft, as all photographers do, but our love for bright colorful images isn’t going anywhere.
Q: Do you help with Timeline planning?
A: All of our 8-10 hour packages come with Timeline Consulting. We will send a questionnaire a month or so before the wedding to get details from you and create a timeline based on your answers and send it over for approval. Our 6 hour package does not include Timeline Consulting.
Q: Okay! I am ready to book. What is the next step?
A: In order to book with us, we need a few details from you to move forward: 1. We need to know which package you would like to book. 2. We need to know how you would like to pay so we can set it up. 3. We need to know how you would like your payment plan set up. 4. We need all the details such as ceremony and reception venue and your wedding date. As soon as we have all of that information, we will create a Proposal of Services, a Contract, and a Payment Plan and send it to you through HoneyBook for you to approve and electronically sign. Then, we require a 40% non-refundable deposit to secure your date. Now you are all set and we will send over our Initial Questionnaire to get to know you better.
Q: Do you require a deposit to book and is it refundable if I decide to cancel my wedding?
A: Yes, we require a 40% deposit and it is non-refundable. When we book your date, we are agreeing that we will not avail ourselves to any other commercial opportunities on your date, and as such, if you cancel the wedding we will lose out on potential income. The deposit is really a way for both of us to agree that we will hold up to our end of the bargain. We agree to keep that day for you and only you, and you agree to pay us for holding that date for you.
Q: I signed the contract but HoneyBook is prompting me to pay. I want to pay by check to avoid the 3% fee, what do I do?
A: They can be a tad pushy, I know. But don’t worry! After you have signed the contract, just ignore the payment portion and send us the check in the mail. You are good to go.
Q: Can I customize a package if I want more or less coverage?
A: Absolutely. We are happy to add or take hours away or tweak it in anyway you would like. We love engagement sessions because we get a chance to get to know you before the big day and you get a chance to feel comfortable in front of the camera. It also helps tell a more complete story of your journey and it creates lovely photos for your Save The Date, Invitation, or Guest Book. Because of this, our engagement sessions are complimentary to our clients. We will give a slight discount if you don’t want it but we highly suggest you keep it!
Q: What comes with your complimentary engagement session?
A: We give a full engagement session with 2-3 hours of coverage in the Folsom/Sacramento area. We will deliver the best images which can vary depending on the variety in the location and the client’s willingness to try different poses. Typically an engagement session will come with 35-65 edited images. We will deliver your High Resolution images via a private online gallery.
Q: Will you travel for our wedding?
A: HECK YES! Andy and I love new adventures and traveling! We do charge a travel fee but we try to keep it minimal to cover our cost for lodging and other travel expenses.
Q: What is this HoneyBook website you use? Is it safe?
A: Honeybook is how we keep all of our clients’ information organized from contracts to payments. Yes it is completely safe! They use a company called Stripe to process payments and it is protected and secure. You can research the company and see for yourself to be sure. (Honestly, we prefer check or Venmo so you don’t have to pay on HoneyBook. If you do wish to pay on Honeybook, we just charge the 3% fee they charge us.)
Q: Do you help us move the day along and coordinate?
A: This is tricky. The best person for this job is a wedding planner; but we know not every budget can accommodate this. By design we do sort of help to move the day along since we know the timeline and what comes next. We talk with the videographer, DJ, Caterer, etc to make sure we are all on the same page as well. We also will make some announcements to guests, if you request, for things such as to let them know that they are done with family photos and can enjoy the cocktail hour. However, much of our day is to be spent by your side or in the thick of it to capture important moments so we can’t be in other places ensuring that the day runs as planned. We can give you lots of recommendations for a day of coordinator and many venues already have someone to facilitate this role.
Q: We have heard of photographers that only take a journalistic or lifestyle approach and we have seen some photographers that give a lot of direction and seem to run the day. Which are you?
A: We fall somewhere in between the two and believe most photographers actually do as well. We aren’t there to run the show and we aren’t there to simply be a fly on the wall. (During the ceremony, however, we are as much a fly on the wall as possible.) We document the events of the day. We facilitate candid moments, as well as help direct you into poses that capture the real raw intimacy between the two of you. Yes, candid photos can be some of our favorites, but it takes at least 10 candid shots to get 1 good one because people tend to blink, make exaggerated facial expressions, someone turns their head, or people might even take a bite of food right before a photo. We are sure to photograph with a balanced blend of both posed and candid photos.
Q: What tips can you offer me during my planning process? Help! I have never done this before!
A: Don’t worry, we have done this a lot! You might say we are pros, in fact. 😉 We have lots of tips and advice so feel free to ask anything but here are a few on the top of our list:
1. DO A FIRST LOOK! Unless you are completely set on tradition, we HIGHLY suggest a first look. It saves time after the ceremony and it gives you an intimate moment without the presence of a whole audience. Every wedding that we have photographed with a first look ran much smoother than those without.
2. Plan your ceremony around sunset! Make sure you have lots of daylight for photos but also plan the ceremony at a time where you will have nice shade. No one looks cute squinting into direct sunlight and partial shade can create harsh colors and blown out details.
3. Shade is your friend! I know everyone sees bright colorful photos and thinks that they must have a lot of sunlight on the subject, but usually they are in shade which provides even color throughout the photo. So during the engagement session, the ceremony, the wedding, keep an eye out for nice shady areas.
4. Create a family shot list. This is the craziest time of day so having a comprehensive family shot list that goes in sequential order really helps make this a smooth and easy process.
5. Tell your family when and where they will be required for photographs. You don’t want to wait for Uncle Joe to go get a drink and you don’t want to wait for Aunt Sally to come back from the bathroom. If you tell them in advance and have the officiant announce before and after the ceremony, this part of the day will go by much more smoothly. Trust me! People get impatient when they feel they are being held up because someone is not ready for a photograph.
6. Have someone standing by to help us facilitate family photos. I go through the list and often with big groups I like to get the next group ready for their photo. However, I don’t know who Grandpa Jack is so it really helps to have someone I can turn to for help. Everyone has that assertive friend or family member, they are the perfect fit for this task!
If you think of any other questions we didn’t address here, feel free to email us day or night! We are here to guide you through the process.