Demetrius and Detra's Wedding

Here are a few more previews from Demetrius and Detra's wedding at the Great Hall in St. Paul.

Another storm...

I'm so thankful it's not global cooling. We're about to get socked again by snow. Growing up, I was always told "April showers bring May flowers." In Minnesota, perhaps it's "April snow brings May mosquitoes." The weather watch is from Thursday afternoon to Saturday morning. Yikes!

Saving Money, Saving Time

I often get asked opinions about how to save money or time with wedding photography. Let's face it: we are all on a budget. However, in 25 years or more, will you remember the extra hour of the DJ's music? Will you remember that you ate the $20 per plate food versus the $15 per plate food? Of course you don't plan to wear that dress again. The truth of the matter is, the things you will remember best about your wedding day will be the things you will continue to look at throughout your life: your wedding rings, and your pictures.

Here's how you save time:

1. Consider seeing each other before the ceremony. The moment you first see your bride/groom can be done in a scenic, private location.. giving for beautiful, romantic pictures (without your parents sobbing). All the wedding jitters will be gone. You will be able to take many of the formal shots before the ceremony (getting you to the reception faster).
   
2. Just say "no" to the receiving line. If you have 60 couples at your wedding to greet, and spend 30 seconds with each couple, it'll take you 30 minutes to do your receiving line. Opt to escort your guests out of their pews/rows. This leaves waiting guests seated comfortably, and gets people out of the ceremony site.
   
3. Cut the cake before food service begins. This will get your cake cutting pictures done before you wind down for dinner, and allows the catering staff to cut the rest of it while dinner is being eaten.
   
4. Toss the bouquet after the first dance. This keeps it so that you don't have to wait for the endless "dollar dance" before the bouquet/garter portion of the night.

But, but, but, but...."I just plan to have lots of people with cameras at the reception... so they'll get all the photos I need." I've been told this a few times by prospective couples. It's in my best interest to photograph your reception, but it's also in yours. I probably will not know anyone attending your wedding. I won't be biased towards only photographing certain people like an uncle might. I have equipment that can handle the low lighting at receptions. Those with point-and-shoot cameras typically can't handle both low light and fast action (think trying to capture a bouquet toss with a 2 second time delay). And, let's be honest: We all have pictures on our computer that we haven't printed or possibly even looked at. There is no guarantee that your friends and family will make processing their pictures of your wedding day a priority. Booking a professional photographer with a contract (and ideally a business license) guarantees that.