Wedding Season 2007

Well wow, the wedding season for 2007 is almost complete. We have two more booked weddings for this year and will probably have another two that book with small notice. This will finish us out at over 30 for the year.

We have made many changes in our business through this year. The biggest being the addition of videography services. We have a very dedicated crew who is doing top notch work and getting better and better every shoot. I am still personally handling all post production on the photography as well as the videography.

So like David Letterman, here is our two top 10 lists from 2007:


Things that I pray I get to do again:
1) Listen to the private comments of brides and grooms after they walk down the isle together as man and wife. What gems!!! My favorite from a groom, "I am marrying perfection today."
2) Watch little girls in their dresses twirl around under the trees in the evening light, dreaming of their wedding day.
3) Catch just the right moment in mid-air and groom and best man jump and slap a high five.
4) Capture a bride's first tear as it first begins to threaten it's escape and then as it wells up and overflows down her cheek.
5) Watch, learn and embrace a new ethnic custom in a wedding. In 2006 we did a Hindu wedding and this year we did a traditional African wedding.
6) That moment when my husband (videographer) and myself (photographer) will lock eyes across a crowded congregation at the phrase "til death do you part". Some people renew their vows once or twice after being married, we do it almost every weekend.
7) Hear the squeal of enjoyment from the bride and the happy tears that follow when she see's her wedding photos for the first time.
8) Talk a little child into smiling for the camera when he/she would rather be playing.
9) Capture that perfect moment when the father hands his daughter off to her groom.
10) and yes, I saved the best for last. That beautiful moment when I have heard back from the bride and groom, how much THEY LOVED THEIR PHOTOS!!!!

Things to never do again:
1) believe a groom when he says he will mail the check right after the wedding.
2) do a wedding without a completed contract and questionnaire.
3) stay at a wedding even though being harrassed and tortured.
4) Use stick on disk labels on DVD's.
5) Shoot without an assistant....or 3. :-)
6) Accept payment via postal money order for a wedding in Hawaii and be expected to return the change. - Common Fraud.
7) Overpromise and Underdeliver.
8) Use directions to a wedding provided by a venue - GPS Rules.
9) Allow only 30 minutes to find parking in Seattle. - Now we allow at least an hour.
10) Let a guest at a wedding hold, inspect, shoot with my camera.

So yes, we learned a lot this year, and more that I don't think would be appropriate to put up here. But catch me at our holiday party with some wine in me and I will tell you all some great stories.