To be honest, when we first started looking for a photographer, I wasn’t that concerned with what photographer we chose. I was willing to shop prices and find a bargain. After a little soul searching, I figured out that it is something that’s worth spending more money on – actually, close to twice my initial budget.
What sealed the deal for me was my dad.
My parents are paying for the majority of the wedding. They’ve been very generous with their contribution and have consistently set the first priority to be making me feel less anxious about this, which is a difficult thing to do when your daughter is a first time bride who has daily struggles with GAD and panic disorder, in addition to a tendency to be a perfectionist.
Throughout my life, my dad has always been the guy in the front row with the video camera. This is quite literal in the case of any theatrical production with which I’ve been involved, but also figurative in that he wants to show his support and give me all he can. On our last vacation, he took close to 1,000 photos over the course of the week. He even brought his then-brand-new DSLR to Jim’s family’s Fourth of July this past year, taking some terrific shots of Jim’s nephew and prompting quite a few of the extended family and friends to ask, “Who is that guy with the camera?” He often boasts about the photos he took at a family wedding he attended recently, with good reason, of course. He does take great photos – which are often nested in piles and piles of photos that he often spends hours sifting through.
It became apparent to me that photography, while I find it to simply be nice, is really important to my dad. It’s so important that he’ll sacrifice his own enjoyment at most events in order to make sure it is captured and preserved in the way that he thinks it must be. When I remembered something he had told me back in high school for a musical I was in, mentioning that he wanted to get a chance to just enjoy the play rather than being responsible for making sure the camera followed the actors, there was no way that I could omit a videographer, or even skimp on photography. More than anything, my dad deserves to enjoy himself at my wedding. Is that worth a set amount of dollars? Yes.
That’s not to say that my dad will not take any pictures at my wedding. I am sure that he will; he does enjoy to do so. However, now I can say to him, “Dad, you can put the camera down. Someone else will do it for you.”
Thus, we have signed on with George Street Photo. Our photography package includes a primary and secondary photographer as well as a videographer. Jim and I are both excited about the primary photographer we have chosen, Sarah A, as we had a chance to see her tremendous work.
I am also developing a website that will help all guests of the wedding contribute to the gallery of wedding photos in a multitude of easy ways (not just by uploading individual photos, but also by providing links to albums, by using tags on social media, by emailing photos as attachments, etc.), both on computers and on mobile devices. The combined gallery will then be immediately visible to all guests and protected by a password.
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