Bently & Wilson - Now I'm Nervous!

alicialfisher · October 2013

So at first there were great reviews on Todd, and although I'm not in love with his style, my fiance and I compromised due to his great prices. But recently it seems there's been more and more complaints and people unhappy with his work. I'm totally starting to regret our decision and don't know if we can change. The wedding isn't until May, but I already put down a deposit. Has anyone had a good experience with their BW photos recently?

Oy.

vegasgroom · October 2013

I'm personally not a fan of his photography, but I haven't seen any unusual burst of complaints about his services; where are you seeing those?

kellamity · October 2013

Todd did our wedding at the beginning of this month and I have no complaints at all. We don't have the pictures yet (should be another week or two) but so far he vastly exceeded our expectations. I chose him specifically because I like how he composes his pictures to get features of the Strip in the background.

Ultimately though I would say you should be 100% comfortable with your photography choice since you will be stuck with the pictures forever.

missmo14 · October 2013

We are booked with Todd in April. I understand your nerves - bad reviews about any of my vendors make me anxious. But im not prepared to walk away from my deposit on this one just yet.

To alleviate any concerns and just to incorporate another 'style' we are getting a day after wedding shoot at red rock, art district and fremont street with the photographer who did my boudoir shoot.

I will be keeping my eye keen on other reviews between now and then though.

alicialfisher · October 2013

VG - saw a couple sneak up recently in threads. Just one in particular that stood out saying they didn't like what they got, but it may have been more related to style and lack of direction they gave Todd than Todd himself.

Thanks Kellamity and missmo14! Appreciate your comments! I may just be having a freak out. I haven't been worried about anything at all, so maybe this is just a case of a bride over thinking

stoiic25 · October 2013

I used Todd last week and he was great, showed up on time, asked if I had any preferences for locations and just took the lead and made us feel really comfortable the whole time, and we hate pictures.

missmo14 · October 2013

@stoiic25 I met Todd on my scouting trip and he was lovely. I agree he does make you comfortable. If you dont mind posting some of your pics when you get them that would be great!

marshmallow1982 · October 2013

I have only seen one bad review on here and it was a wedding that took place a couple of years ago. I guess you need to look at examples of their work and decide for yourself. There are a lot on here and on their own website.

lanamilo · October 2013

We used him last year. It poured rain all afternoon, so we didn't get all of the pics we wanted. But that wasn't his fault. He did the best he could with the weather.

wrigleyville · October 2013

I've seen a couple of bad reviews on here, but they were from people who would have been hard to please no matter what and pretty much expected him to be psychic. If you look at his TK reviews as a whole, he has about a 99.9% positive rating.

SD210 · October 2013

I hired Todd for 8 hours for my wedding this past August. He sent us 2 disks with about 1700 pictures (with all photo rights), and about 200 prints. Overall, I was pleased with the photos and you cannot beat the price.

I was really nervous about using him because honestly, I picked him for the price and I think that there are certainly other photographers who are perhaps more "artistic" (or maybe they just have better blogs showcasing their photography). I think the key to Todd is to email him in advance and let him know the types of photos and locations you like. Send him samples of the styles you like. In my case, I told him of a couple of places around the Bellagio (based entirely on prior photos I had seen), and he hit all those spots. He also picked out a bunch of places that I would have never picked, and I really liked the photos. I think you need to set the tone with him and tell him what you want - - in my case, I told him that we were more on the "camera shy" side, so he wasn't all in our faces.

I will say this - - I thought he did an excellent job at taking photos in crowded spaces and making it look like you are the only people there. He took some nice shots in the Bellagio Conservatory and you don't see the crazy crowds of people who are always in there on a Saturday afternoon. I'll attach some of his pictures - - keep in mind, we are not supermodels, so I think he did a good job with what he had to work with, ha ha! He also got some really nice shots of our guests partying at the reception, but I don't feel comfortable posting photos of my family and friends on the internet without their permission. But there were a TON of good candid photos from the dancing portion of the evening.

jennyjuice09 · October 2013

@SD210 Thank you so much to take the time to write that review. I think your pictures are great!

I will be honest, I am a little nervous about using Todd myself because his pictures do not blow me out of the water. For a photographer to blow me out of the water, I'd probably have to pay thousands. To alleviate some of the risk I added extra photography time with our photographer at Caesars Palace. We will have about an 1.5 hours of photo time with Imagine Studios at CP and then we hired Todd for 4 hours to join us on the DDB. Our main point of taking Todd with us on the bus is to offer photographs for our guests, so they can also have a photo of themselves to commemorate the trip. Hopefully out of all that, we get some decent photos. I also plan on emailing Todd in advance and let him know the vibe I am aiming for.

alicialfisher · October 2013

Wow, ladies. Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts, reviews, experiences and even pictures. You've all helped alleviate some of my concerns and help me come to terms with my battle between price and quality.

Thanks thanks thanks! This is seriously the best board on TK!

alicialfisher · October 2013

SD210 - great pics and great advice. I have some ideas for photos I'd like to get and have seen a few of his photo styles i really like. Guess I just need to be vocal, which won't be an issue. I'm so grateful for your candid review...

And oh my goodness - y'all look gorgeous!

kellamity · October 2013

SD210 - Great photos, thanks so much for sharing! I absolutely love your dress!

We did the same thing as you did, we emailed Todd a list of shots we wanted and some details on the types of photography we like - he pretty much had the whole list memorized! He kept pulling it out during the day and checking to make sure he was getting everything.

Of my friends who have gotten married, the ones who give their photographer a list tend to be happier with their photos than those who don't - it's probably a good idea for everyone to give their photographer some specific requests before their wedding.

chrisniecy · October 2013

Hey . Could u guys give me an example of the list of shots that u asked for.

kellamity · October 2013

I listed all of the people I wanted shots with and which combinations of shots I wanted. For example I wanted a picture of us with only his siblings, a picture of us with both sets of parents, a picture of me with the bridesmaids etc - pretty standard stuff but I wanted to make sure i got pictures with all the important people and pictures that I can send out as gifts or thank-you cards.

The more unusual requests I had included pictures of each set of parents on their own; pictures of each of the bridal party members with their significant others; etc. I also said I wanted a shot of our rings on a deck of cards, pictures of my shoes, the bridesmaids dresses all lined up etc - so that rather than making him go around and just take pictures of all the random objects I got some specific shots that were important to me.

Then I also listed the styles that I liked and didn't like - for example I said I wanted more candid shots and I like shots that show people laughing and having a good time. I also said that I didn't want a ton of shots of us kissing since we're not PDA people at all, and I also said that I didn't want any "modelling" style shots where the bride is in these weird poses or doing strange stuff that isn't really wedding-related.

If you are having a hard time with the photo list my advice is to ask your friends who have gotten married and find out what pictures they are happy they got and which ones they hate, as well as which pictures they didn't get that they wish they had. I also went through my married friends' facebook wedding pictures and got a very good idea of what styles I didn't want. Also Pinterest or even just googling "wedding picture inspiration" can give you some ideas too.

SD210 · October 2013

Aww... shucks! Thanks for the compliments! You guys brightened my day!

@chrisniecy, I didn't give Todd a list of shots, but rather locations based on other photos of wedding from the Bellagio (which is where I was married). I was fortunate that a former Knottie bride Elaw12 got married at the Bellagio and she posted a link to a blog with some of the pictures that Todd took with them around the Bellagio. We didn't do a tour, so we just wanted our photos around the Bellagio (which turned out to be a smart idea in the 100+ degree August heat).

To Todd's credit, he definitely memorized (or wrote down) all of the locations, as he took us to all of them (I was so nervous/excited, I couldn't even remember where I had wanted to go!) Ask Todd (in advance) if he has recommendations for the hotels you are going to for photography locations. Also, some of the places we were unsure about turned out to be the best photographs, so definitely just go with it.

As for family photos, I did not give Todd any instructions as to which pictures to take. He got ever combination possible. We did, however, set up a schedule for the family photos. Both me and my husband's parents are divorced, so we staggered it so that we first did family pictures with H's mother's side, then they left and we did pictures with my family (who can all be in the same room together fine), then H's father's side. We scheduled it this way because initally, we thought it would be awkward for H's mother, father and stepmother to all be in the same area waiting around during family photos as our wedding was the first time they had been in the same room as each other since the Regan administration. Turns out, everyone got along fine and acted like adults, but the "staggered" schedule totally helped us to move things along faster, with less of that "oh wait, who is next" chaos that you often see during family pictures. It made things much faster, which I appreciated.

Todd did a great job of taking tons of family photos, and he very diplomatically made sure he got pictures of "just family" as well as "family with their signifcant others", etc. So for example, some family pics have my brother's girlfriend in them, others do not (because if they break up, I might not want her picture in my wedding pics 30 years from now, ya know?) I did not have to instruct Todd to to any of this, he instructed everyone in and out of the pictures in prompt fashion. I was very pleased with the family "formal" shots.

chrisniecy · October 2013

Awesome glad to hear that. Thanks for the advice

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