So what happened? I keep finding myself on rolls lately with Google searches or reading the boards on WeddingBee. During one of these rolls, I was Googling for photographers local to Roanoke. I skipped past the typical companies that pop up and are high-priced (they start at $4k!) and soon stumbled upon an experience photojournalist who had relocated to Roanoke with his wife. He freelances on projects and appears to be building a wedding portfolio on the side. After looking through the two weddings he had on his site, I knew I had to contact him and find out his pricing. Imagine my surprise when he writes back that with a second shooter, a disk of edited images with printing rights, 4x6 print proofs, online hosting, and 6 hours of shooting it'll only cost us $1,500!!! My jaw hit the floor. I will do my damnedest to make room for such a deal in our budget (it may already fit in our budget, but more on that later). This sounded like too good of a deal, so I inquired to some of the other photography companies I had come across just to get actual numbers from them. The lowest I got back was $3,500 and that didn't include half of what this guy was offering. Stoked that I had found our photographer, I jumped on and emailed him straight away. Wouldn't you know it, we had an entire email conversation over a couple of hours last night. Talk about your quick responses!
As if all of this wasn't enough, he takes payments in three installments - 1/3 to book, 1/3 before or day of event, and 1/3 when he delivers the photos. Score! We were also able to set up a meeting with him during our crazy wedding planning weekend. He chose Mill Mountain Coffee as the meeting place (talking affordable photography while drinking delicious chai...uh, yes please!) and even though he's bringing the contract with him, he's giving us all the time we need to look it over and get our deposit in. He wants to use the meeting simply to get to know us and what our plans are for our wedding. Pinch me, I'm dreaming! I'm really hoping we all get along at the meeting, because that's the only bump I could see in this road right now. How amazing is it to go from looking at possibly nixing photography to possibly finding the photographer that fits our style and budget?
We've also had another awesome realization this week. There is the possibility of our invitations w/envelopes and RSVP cards costing us less than $80 (not including stamps)! CRAZY!
So here's where we stand:
Food - Plan A: Catering, seeming like less of an option, but still holding out for another go-round to see what they come up with at a lower price point now that they know the style of food we like. Plan B: local restaurants that cater, seeming more and more like a great option but will need to take into consideration hiring our own staff and getting event liquor license (started pricing and isn't too bad). Plan C: DIY, holding off on exploring this option until after the meetings.
Venue - Hoping to nail down a meeting with our long favorite option that has been under renovation. Just learned that the carpet is going to be purple (tell me it isn't beckoning me) and am really excited to see mock-ups of the interior and talk price. With any luck, we'll be able to lock it down!
Photography - pending any road bumps in the meeting, we may have our photographer!
Cake - Meetings scheduled with three bakers. I've been drooling since we picked out the cake and icing combinations we wanted to try.
Flowers - haven't started looking and am still considering going without. It seems so pointless to buy flowers that I will only hold while walking up and down the aisle as well as in photos. We'll see. I can be convinced either way at this point.
DJ - browsed briefly but haven't really started looking yet.
Invitations - pending picking a layout, finalizing wording, and locking down a venue, they're mostly done...so not really.
Dress - bought and at the shop!
We are so excited that after mid-month, we should have most of the wedding stuff locked down!
And here it is, your moment of zen:
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| My recently acquired Harley from Arkham Asylum (does a little dance) |
personally (and this has been confirmed by other bloggers and such), i think getting along with your photographer is more important than any other vendor. they're there from start to finish, during some of your really private moments, and you don't want someone who you don't just click with. i hope this guy works out for you. we were SO happy with ours and i know that made all the difference.
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