I always knew that photography was where DH and I wanted to spend money. The way I figured, a good photographer could make ever a less than ideal venue look keen. Well, luckily we were able to book my church (which is beautiful, and even has a very nice getting ready area compared to others I've seen), and had our reception at a beautiful grand country club with stunning chandeliers, wooden dance floor, and stunning cityline views. Despite the beautiful venues, the pictures are bad. Like they look lazy to me. No artistic license, no manipulation of the food or props to make it look its best. Just point and shoot.
Now I may be jumping the gun here by complaining because we have only received back our getting ready and detail pictures, but I'm extremely disappointed and I need to vent.
The day-of was extremely chaotic and we had some family drama going on that week. On top of all that, in the hours leading up to the ceremony I left part of my dress at home and was stressing out about that, and the cake decorator screwed up and was calling me. I was reeeeeally looking forward to the pictures and seeing what all I missed.
So my bridal portraits (and thank goodness I opted to have those!!) are pretty good, i'll give you that. But many of them were in black and white. I did not want tons of black and white and when I inquired as to why so many were, I was told it's because it's hard to control the lighting and subject when we aren't in a studio. I should've known it was all downhill from there--if she could not capture the pictures when she was posing me, directing me, had all my attention, a helper, her photo equipment, and the ability to turn on/off lights and move furniture.
So the detail pictures. I was very excited to see these. And then very disappointed to see them. The food photos--they are just bad. Just plain bad. I love to cook and have taken quite a few food photographs. I wouldn't put these pictures on a chinese menu! They look like vomit. And it's just plain weird/bad how she chose the angle. I get that you don't want every photo to be straight-on, but seriously do you have to photograph the crack of the table with two half-dishes of food on either side? The details of things like the rings--bad, bad, bad. A very old-lady-covered damask chair features prominently in a multitude of pictures. I think it's ugly and detracts from the wedding jewelry, rings, and even our beautiful invitations were strewn about on this old chair! There are many odd photographs. For example, crumbs left on a napkin of our cake. Or a single, undecorated votive on a table. The pictures of flowers were mostly good, but I credit that to the florist who lived up to their name. At the same time, we had lots and lots of flowers. I remember walking into the reception and nearly feeling overwhelmed by the tall large centerpieces. Yet you wouldn't get that at all from the photographs. The way the angles were shot, the tables look downright sparse!!
For the getting ready. So candid, that's cool, but really can you not shoot from an angle that does not give me a double chin!! There are literally only 2 photos of my husband getting ready (despite the fact that there was a second photographer who was devoted to them and is no amateur, I actually considering hiring her for the main job!). One is a picture of him taking a pictures (ugh) and the other is a picture of him reading the card I sent him. There aren't any pictures of my mom helping me get ready.
And these are the pictures that made the cut?!?! 12 weeks of "editing." I am supremely disappointed. It's actually making me feel sick to my stomach. A friend who got married the week before me has lovely pictures. She said something about her photographer being very "exclusive." This is my photographer's living! She's been featured in bridal magazines and we paid quite a bit of money. Why did she have to get lazy on our wedding. That day was already such a blur and now it feels like it didn't happen or like it was a big disappointment. When I know it wasn't. The pictures friends took on their iphones tell a different tale.