"She worked for ILM? She's in!" Or how we got the bestest photographer. EVER.

You've read about my non-compromising view on wedding photography. Are you ready to know how we picked the one responsible for capturing the special moments on film officially?! Good- here it comes!

My photography evolution was a little painful, but completely worth it. When Mr. Yankee and I originally got engaged, I had a set person in mind to be my photographer. I had worked with her before on personal portraits and remembered her professionalism, upbeat attitude and work ethic. To me, she was a no brainer; and then I started looking at her wedding photography. A word to all photo vendors out there- please make sure you put your absolute best work out there for the public to view. Because when I looked over the wedding photos she had on her website I was disappointed. Was this what I was to expect when it came time for my wedding?! I shuddered at the thought, threw out the idea of her being our photographer and started from scratch.

After weeks of website stalking, blog reading and packing my favorites folder to capacity, I had narrowed down my choices in photographers. I had what I called the "holy trinity" of potential wedding day Ansel Adams' on my list and made the appropriate connections. Of the three that I sent out, I got two responses. The first to respond was Dorothy; and there was ultimate clickage (yeah, I just made up a word- sue me). Not only was she super friendly talking to me while I was my way home from work, but she was engaging, sweet and had great antecdotes to get my mind thinking of this whole party called "wedding." I know that there are hundreds of talented photographers out there that could do an amazing job, but I firmly believe that you have to 'click' with your photographer (no pun intended). We set a time for a follow up call and I excitedly went to Mr. Y to tell him all about this fabulous woman.

As soon as I got home I reached for my lap top, clicked on the favorites folder marked 'photo love' and showed Mr. Yankee Dorothy's websited. "Wouldn't she be the absolute bestest photographer in the world? Look at her use of light. The soft focus of each moment. Swoon!" But Mr. Y was even tempered and very PC about the whole thing; as long as it made me happy. You see, Mr. Yankee and I differ on the view of photography. Every website I went to was different and new. I would show him web page after web page asking for his opinion. His response? "They all look the same. It's just photography." Yeah, I know- "HUH?!" But forgive him- he is but a boy! Mr. Yankee didn't even fully engage in the conversation until I mentioned Dorothy's previous place of employment- Industrial Light & Magic.


"ILM? She worked for ILM?"
"Yes."
"If she can get me a job at ILM, she's hired."
"She doesn't work there anymore, honey."
"Dammit."

Mr. Y has a thing for George Lucas and was super excited to potentially be working with him by proxy. I was just excited that he was paying attention to details! And so we set off on our meeting with Dorothy- at a local Starbucks- to discuss details and prices.

And it only got better once we had our first meeting! Professional, communicative, refreshing, humble and overall awesome are just a few of the adjectives I would use to describe the utter greatness that is Dorothy Hatchel. As soon as we left our meeting, I told Mr. Y that we absolutely, positively had to go with her. She just *got* me. And even more important- she was willing to work with me and my budget. She provided alternatives instead of just saying no and when I shared an idea I was having, she embraced it. I just cannot say enough positive things about her. Oh- and her photography abilities?! Just absolutely PHENOMENAL!!! I'll let her work speak for itself....

*all photos courtesy of Dorothy Hatchel Photography*

Oh, photography! How I love thee..

courtesy of theknot.com

Wedding planning is all about compromising and our wedding planning has been no different. I’ve compromised on venue, guest count and budget. The only thing I was not willing to compromise on was our wedding photographer. I allotted for a larger budget for wedding photography because I knew that I wanted the memories. And not just the memories taken from Aunt Sue’s digital camera (that she still hasn’t completely figured out how to use); but the “ohmygosh that was so cute” memories. After the food has been ingested, the cake served and the dances danced, pictures are what will remain to remind us of our first day as a married couple and I wanted to make sure they looked flawless.

So I started my search on photography early. It was actually the second vendor we booked. You would not believe how many talented photographers we have in our great metropolis of Northern California! And I made sure I took in as many different sites and photographers names as I could. I posted facebook status messages looking for recommendations, I asked people at work- everything I could think of to make sure that when I sat down with a photographer that I was prepared to tell him or her what I wanted and did not want. I did not want to rely solely on what the knot suggested I ask a potential photographer.

I know there are adjectives that go with photography (photojournalistic for example), but I will not be bogged down to mere words. Because photography isn’t about words; it’s about capturing the little moments. I wanted to relive my wedding when I looked at my photos. I wanted every photo to tell a story; to have a history. I did not know what style of photography I liked. I just knew there were some photographers whose work made me want to cry and those that were beautiful, but weren’t me.

And so I bookmarked the photographers’ sites that made me tear up and started going through what seemed like the longest lasting task of finding “the one” that I cared about most. Not the dress, but photographer.

What was your one sticking point while wedding planning? Are you a compromising bride? Or a fight for what you want planner?

Inspiration Boards... Photography Edition

So as much as I would absolutely love to be photoshop, flash or even power point savy- it just wasn't in my wedding planning cards. After clicking through all of these blogs for inspiration and noticing that the thing to do was to create "boards" I got both extremely excited and a teeny bit sad. There are two reasons for this:

1. You mean people know how to put pictures together, in a cohesive manner that doesn't look all sorts of 2nd grader collage-like? Pressure!

2. I have to actually decide what my "vision" is for the wedding? Isn't the "theme" of the wedding our love?

And number 2 is where I really started to hyperventalate and get nervous. I mentioned in earlier posts that I am not the bride to end all brides. So not only was I responsible for planning this picturesque wedding, but now I had to come up with a theme? Color palette? And put it in an INSPIRATION BOARD?!?!

help?

I took a step back and decided I would break down all of these little wedding quirks and make them work for me. I have no set vision of our wedding. I'm kind of going with the flow and letting the wedding evolve on its own. But I knew there were certain things that were very important to me and I knew I could probably gather a "so-so" inspiration board to get my point across. And that is where Wedding Wire came in. I tried using the sites that specialize in inspiration boards only, but I found them to be too confusing and frustrating. But Wedding Wire was a one stop shop. I could create my inspiration board and save it right there! Score! I will speak more to Wedding Wires glorious ways in future posts, but first I give you my inspiration board: photography edition!



All photos courtesy of Wedding Wire