Photos you should ask to see before booking your wedding

     When it comes to weddings you want to know your photographer is the best at what they do. When you sit down and meet with them, you see all the previously perfectly posed photos that could soon be of you and your spouse to be.

Discovering Grand Dad’s Dog Tags

     Though, what is it a photographer didn’t show you during the meeting and maybe something you should ask them to show you? Here’s what it is, during the meeting they rarely ever show you the party photos, the cake cutting(maybe), and the candid’s that comprise around 60 to 70 percent of the what is photographed on you and your loved one’s wedding day.

     Now, you may be asking yourself, Tim, seriously, why are you telling us to ask photographers to show us another person’s wedding candid’s?

    Here’s the reasoning behind it. Posed photos are great, they sell really well as images that will adorn your walls for a very long time to come. As time has passed, from the wedding day to the first showing, I find loved ones spend more time looking at the candid’s and remembering those once in a life time moments with friends and family that aren’t staged and try to figure out how to work them into albums and as small mementos.

     I will admit, at first, if a potential client came to me and said those posed photos are nice but show me some candid’s. I would have probably freaked out in the beginning or even recently because I would be worried about what they are looking for in those. Now, I understand they want to be able to see if us as their photographer can capture those special intimate moments with friends and family that weren’t stages and happened by chance. Those moments that come and go as quickly as the wedding day does.

Blink first you lose.

     This may not be something that you would of thought to ask of your photographer but I encourage you too. As a client I would want to know if they possibly got the shot of the bride and brother noticing that grand dads dog tags were on memorial display which were just added by the husband mere moments before they walked in the room. Or that bride and her best friend were having a stair down right before they busted out so weird hillbilly dance on the back of an old farm delivery truck while laughing uncontrollably. Those are the memories you also want to know your photographer can capture and save for a lifetime.

Family moments

     With the two short scenarios from above think back to a close friends or family members wedding that you attended and then later were at their house and ended up looking through their album or box of wedding photos. Chances are you looked at the posed photos but you held on looking at that candid moment photo or page just a little bit longer and relived it and just maybe busted out laughing or started to tear up.

     Posed and candid photos have the power to relieve special moments in your lifetime make sure you have a photographer that can do both.

The wedding of Jess and Derek Dutkiewicz

Weddings, are something special for everyone involved, there is always a lot of stress building up to the big moment where they say “I do” and then are presented for the first time because there is always so much in motion. From there it’s quick do the posed photos and then onto the party where the stress of the day hopefully fades away into the happiness of the night.

Over the weekend we had the privilege of being the photographer at our good friend Jessica and Derek’s wedding. It was the first wedding for the season for us over at Vagabond Photography and to see the happiness and joy in their eyes it made the day truly memorable.  

Going back over the day in my mind two moments really stand out. The first was the ring ceremony. It is my guess from a little bit of stress and nerves it made it hard to slip the rings on and Father Danczyk knew just the joke to make bringing some light and laughter to a special(if not somewhat stressful) moment. The joke was along the lines of good things take time and sometimes it’s not always easy, I believe.

The second stand out moment came during the reception. The best man Tony Z. and a good friend of ours gave one the most memorable speeches I have heard in a lifetime of attending weddings as a guest or photographing them. It was a mix of a lifetime of memories that Tony and Derek have shared thrown in with some classic Jonny Carson style one-liners.
(when they first met) Tony: Hey Derek wanna help shovel driveways for 5 bucks a driveway?
                                   Derek: Hell Yeah.
(over a summer)         Tony: Hey Derek wanna go fishing?
                                   Derek: Hell Yeah.
(repeat over multiple life time events and always with laughter with the response “HELL YEAH”)
(Oct 1, 2015)                Tony: Hey Derek wanna going to Canada deer hunting?
                                   Derek: I can’t I’m with Jess now.
(Oct 2, 2015)                Tony: Time to find a new hunting buddy.
                                    Derek: Laughing the hardest I’ve ever seen him laugh. Needless to say,  
                                               Jess laughed, but not at hard.

In those moments there is the joy and a little frustration. Not just between the bride and the groom at the altar of love where the rings are being a little fussy. Also between two good friends, who in that moment knew how to throw that one little jab at his friend to make the night more memorable for themselves and to everyone in attendance. As a photographer getting that special candid moment can sometimes mean more them than a posed photograph with the entire wedding party, because looking at the candid many years later can bring back a flood of emotions and you’ll start laughing all over again.

At Vagabond photography our goal is to be able to tell the story of your special day whether that be in a slideshow, an album or in the select photos you choose to hang on your walls. Moments like the two listed above make the love of our work so much more fulfilling and easier.

Jess and Derek, its was such a privilege to be a part of your wedding and I wish you both nothing but the happiest of days and I cannot wait to see your smiling faces again.

Now here’s a sneak peek from Jess and Derek’s wedding day.

Watching friends get married

Over the weekend we had a fun weekend off to go and watch out good friend Joe get married to the love of his life Kelsey.

Normally I spend my time photographing a wide range of events from weddings, to senior and family portraits and corporate events. It was interesting because I really haven’t sat through a wedding in the last five to six years, normally as a photographer I listen for que’s and start to compose my photograph of what is about to happen. So, it was fun to sit in the passenger seat for once and just let it all happen around me.

Joe and Kelsey could not have asked for a better May day, the weather was great for us at the wedding in Wisconsin Dells, during the month of May it can be a guessing game of whether the weather will be warm or cold, rain, snow or shine (FUN FACT, Wi has had snow every month of the year but July).  Thankfully we ended up with a warm sunny day and a church with A/C. 

While sitting there watching the other photographers and I started to wonder is there thought process the same as mine? Is the lead photographer hoping the secondary got the shot of the other side of the church, are they hoping they won’t have to change batteries mid run? Then I chuckled to myself and thought yeah, they’re thinking the exact same thing I would be thinking if I was shooting right now.

As the night progressed it was great to be able meet up and chat with friends and acquaintances I had not seen in a few year and also meet some complete strangers and make some new friends.

So it got me thinking fellow photographers, if anyone is willing to share, are you able to sit back and enjoy a wedding that you are attending and not photographing or do you find yourself thinking I wonder what’s going through that photographers head?

Today I marry my best friend: The Morgan's April 2017

Yesterday at Vagabond Photography, I had the privilege of being able to show a recent bride and her mother the photos from her and her husbands big day.  I never get over be able to watch the joy come over a husband and wife's face when being presented with they photos for the first time. In this case it was the bride and the mother but it was still fun none the less.

One of the things we enjoy covering at Vagabond Photography is military weddings and this young couple made for such an enjoyable day.

Nici and Jack we wish you both all the best in life.

Fair winds and following seas.