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My job is to capture the emotion and joy of your wedding day, not to direct it for you. You have worked hard to plan the perfect wedding -- it's my goal to let you enjoy it while I capture the event as it unfolds, with as little interference as possible. I give direction during the family groupings, but I work to keep them as short as possible (less than half an hour if we plan properly and get the logistics right).
Time: I have only sold unlimited coverage for the last dozen years, because I felt that there were uncountable opportunities that presented themselves at weddings, and I didn't want to miss a one. My approach was to be there before the bride, and not leave until the bride left. Doing this has resulted in quite a few additional images that I produce at the reception.
But in all that time I can't think of a single image that came from the extended time that qualifies as "exceptional." I've been charging nearly twice as much money for the extended coverage for over a decade, and over dozens of weddings I can't think of a single image that's really impressed me. Once the bride and groom start partying with friends and family the pictures become less flattering, and in hindsight I can say that "complete coverage" is an easy place to economize.
With that in mind, we've all spent the last couple of years tightening our belts, and I don't believe it's appropriate to offer all-day coverage for most weddings any more. Looking at the timeline from a photographic perspective, I believe the typical wedding day offer a few solid photo opportunities, and a few that can be missed:
Photos Delivered: I tend to shoot over 1,000 images per wedding, and of those an average of 450 make it to the bride and groom. The rest are either unflattering, duplicates of another (better) shot, or are tehnically imperfect. Photos are delivered at full resolution and the bride and groom are licensed to use them for all reasonable purposes.
Image Quality: you have probably noticed that I show black and white images for the most part. This is because I tend to "see" in black and white, and most of the film I've shot in my life was black and white as well. We're now in the digital age and all images are captured in color, so the black and white work you see represents additional effort on my part. For this reason, and in order to try and keep costs under control, not all packages include black and white conversions.
Even in the lowest priced packages and images will be subjected to "gross" adjustments for white balance and exposure so they will print well and should also serve as a good source image for future work should you choose to have any done.
Please note that I give highest quality JPEG images at full (or cropped, depending on the image) resolution. I do not give out my raw files.
Timeline: My standard turnaround time is about 4 days. If you are scheduling a wedding near finals (remember I am finishing a graduate degree and teaching right now) then I will let you know in advance that the turnaround time will be longer than normal.
Other issues: please see the page titled wedding policies for more information. If you have a question that is not answered here, please feel free to call or e-mail.