Planning your dream wedding is exciting, but there's one decision that's crucial: choosing the right photographer. You might think it's just about taking pictures on the big day, but there's a whole lot more to it than that. Let’s delve deeper in what you’re actually paying for. I’m Dale Wedding Photographer at Nichols Weddings, please allow me to show exactly where your investment goes.
Unveiling the True Investment: The Reality Behind Wedding Photography Packages
A wedding package can sometimes mislead couples about the true scope of a photographer's role. Many people don't realise that a photographer's job extends far beyond the hours spent capturing moments on the wedding day. Before and after the main event, there's a wealth of behind-the-scenes work that often goes unnoticed.
Consider a standard 10-hour package, for instance. While it may seem like a comprehensive coverage of your wedding day, it only accounts for the shooting time. Prior to the wedding, your photographer is diligently working to understand your vision, connect with you as a couple, and ensure they can meet your expectations. This involves extensive communication and planning to ensure every detail is captured flawlessly.
In the days leading up to the wedding, the photographer might also invest time in scouting the venue, familiarising themselves with the layout, and identifying the best locations for capturing stunning shots. This proactive approach minimises any potential hiccups on the day itself, ensuring a seamless and stress-free experience for the couple.
However, the wedding day is just the beginning of the photographer's journey. Once the festivities are over, our work continues behind the scenes as we meticulously curate and edit the images to perfection
Picking the Best Shots: Selecting with Care
Before you see any photos, there's a meticulous process called culling. It's like handpicking the cream of the crop. Every shot is scrutinised to ensure it captures the feeling of your day and vision we're working towards. We're not just talking about avoiding those awkward family portraits where eyes are closed or Uncle Jim is caught mid-swig chatting up the bridesmaids – this can take many hours especially on a busy long wedding, but is one of the most important parts to getting the absolute best gallery.
Making Pictures Perfect: Editing with a Passion
After the culling process, there's editing. This isn't just about fixing a few things – it's about making every picture shine. From adjusting colours to touching up details, each photo gets special treatment.
Because at Nichols Weddings choose to only shoot a select amount of weddings per year we’re able to put 100% into our editing and do things most wedding photographers can't. We go in and remove any unwanted pimples, blemishes. Smooth out any skin which could be affected by the light, we colour correct the images, and give them a finished colour grading just like in your favourite hollywood movies. Some images may call for more editing than others, removing distractions in backgrounds, and even adding visual effects to make the pictures come to life.
Both of these steps are crucial to getting an album that wows and stands out. There are some cheaper photographers who will likely just add a lightroom preset with the same settings they put on all their weddings to all your photos and call it ‘job done’. I’ve even seen people using A.I to cull the images. Can you imagine not knowing if your images have been selected from the heart and by a skilled professional but by a computer. Here we pride ourselves on individuality. It’s never a copy & paste from wedding to wedding. (Slide the image below to see an example of a before & after editing.)
Next up, Turning Memories into Keepsakes: Getting Them Ready to Print
Once the editing is done, it's time to get your pictures ready to print. Whether it's making a beautiful album or getting prints for your walls, it's all about making your memories last. This all takes a lot of time too, working together to choose the absolute best 20-60 images is harder than it sounds. Also each image needs re-editing yet again to work correctly with the high quality printers. (A step often put aside by photographers) It’s not a simple ‘Vistaprint’ click and print, to get a real good print we have to work closely with our printers.
Handcrafted Quality: No Shortcuts Here
In a world where everything's automated, we do things the good old fashioned way (The right way). Every photo is edited by a human, no automatic edits by some A.I program or a preset they downloaded from the web to copy & paste on all images at once. It's about giving your memories the personal touch they deserve. Every image is different, each space has a unique lighting, a unique colour, and therefore needs unique attention to detail. These things all require a lot of time and skill to pull off, which is why many photographers avoid it.
More Than Just Hours: Investing in Memories
As you consider booking a wedding photographer you can now recognise that more hours means more photos, and more photos means much more work and preparation.
Photographers prices can vary, some are based on their experience, some are based on the experience you will have. It's usually easy to tell who is charging by the hour for the sake of it, and who really knows what value and care they are giving a client.
Thank you for reading my blog, I wish you the best on your wedding planning.
If you’d like to find out more about my process or are considering hiring me as your wedding photographer and storyteller, just click here.
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