The Portland Metro Photographic News

Is your "Special Day" on the horizon?  Portland metro area businesses specializing in wedding services contribute years of experience to share their advice and tips to make your special day memorable and less hectic.

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©Kathryn Elsesser

Destination Weddings are growing in popularity. Each year, more couples choose to have destination weddings for a number of different reasons. According to Theknot.com, 1 in 5 couples planned an out of town wedding in 2008. Today most people do not necessarily live in the town or the city they grew up in, or even the town where they attended college or got their first job. And it is likely that their siblings and close friends live in various locations throughout the world as well. As a consequence, when a couple decides to marry, many of their guests will be traveling some distance to attend the wedding anyway, so why not make the wedding into an exciting vacation for themselves as well as their guests?

For many, money is the critical factor in planning their wedding. Considering the current economy, many are looking for an alternative to a big, expensive affair. Because fewer guests will attend, the cost of a destination wedding may be surprisingly less expensive. The guest list can be smaller without resulting in strife amongst family and friends. And not all destination weddings are necessarily in exotic locations such as Fiji, the Caribbean and Mexico.

©Kathryn Elsesser

Destination Weddings can also be less stressful, and there is the additional fun factor as well. There is the opportunity to explore a beautiful, new location with close friends and family, resulting in quality time spent with guests in a relaxed environment as opposed to interacting briefly with guests at a big reception. In addition, everyone can participate together in memorable adventures. Often, a less formal reception is held a month or so later than the wedding, to provide an opportunity to celebrate the marriage with a larger group of family and friends.

©Kathryn Elsesser

Destination Weddings are really an exciting way to celebrate a marriage, and all the more reason that the photography should be a priority. It is highly recommended that a photographer be hired for their style and personality instead of settling for a local photographer out of convenience. If an album is to be part of your package, communicating long distance may become complicated.

Except for providing transportation and accommodation, the cost for the photographer may be competitive with the locally available ones. Before hiring your photographer, you should find out if they are comfortable traveling with their expensive equipment as well as traveling in a foreign or unknown country where their expensive cameras and lenses may be at risk.  Ideally, the photographer should arrive the day before the wedding to avoid potential drama if the flight is delayed, and stay for 3 nights to fully document the whole experience of the Destination Wedding.  This ensures adequate time for the photographer to backup images on external hard drives and burn multiple discs of all the images before the memory cards go through airport scanners.

If you are in the planning stages of your wedding, the Destination Wedding has become a popular option worth exploring.  It might just be the memorable wedding alternative you’ve been looking for.

Kathryn Elsesser is a wedding, portrait and fine art family photographer based in the Portland Metro Area. She is also available to shoot Destination Weddings. Please visit her website. http://www.kathrynelsesserphotography.com/

Note from the Editor:  Kathryn Elsesser is graciously bringing her knowledge and experience as one of Portland's premier wedding photographers to PMPN.  Kathryn will contribute articles that are designed to take the uncertainty out of planning the photography that will capture forever the wedding moments that families treasure for generations.

©Kathryn Elsesser

One of the most important and perhaps daunting decisions you will make when planning your wedding is choosing a photographer. While today many are using price as the determining factor, it might be one they regret later. When you are celebrating your 25th wedding anniversary, and are reliving your memories through your album, you will want to remember how special that day was, and not be reminded that your wedding pictures do not convey the emotion and beauty of your wedding. You are not just buying a service, you are investing in memories, and you are the one who has to decide how much your memories are worth.

So how do you go about choosing a photographer?

1.  The first step would be to ask family and friends for recommendations. If they are happy with their wedding images, they will be more than happy to share the name of their photographer with you.

2.  Put together a list of photographers you may be interested in based on referrals, bridal shows and on-line wedding directories such as Bravo Weddings. Then visit the photographers’ websites. But when looking at their on-line galleries, be careful about being overly impressed with the design of their website. Today, anyone can purchase a fancy flash website template. It is the photographer's images that you are reviewing not the website itself.  Does their style resonate with you?  Is there consistency in the quality of images?

At this time, choose a few photographers whom you are interested in contacting either by phone or email. When you contact them to make an appointment, check for availability, their style of photography and get a general idea on pricing. If they are way beyond your budget, don’t waste your time or the photographers'.  On the other hand, if the price seems too low, for example all day coverage and an album for under a $1000, you might end up with a series of snapshots.

3.  Schedule an appointment.  When you do schedule an appointment, it is preferable for both the bride and groom to be present for the interview. And if parents are paying, they might want to join you as well. This is when you view the photographer’s albums, and ask a lot of questions. There should also be some overlap between the images you saw on-line and those featured in their albums. Some photographers are taking images from other photographers’ websites and claiming them as their own.

4.  Be clear as to what kind of final images you want in your album. Do you want romantic and intimate images, black and white photojournalistic coverage, or traditional poses?  Coverage may be impacted by whether or not the photographer is required to spend a considerable amount of time taking posed images of the bride with every relative, or if there is a delay because the hairdresser took too long.  Are you planning to have all your couple shots taken after the ceremony? Is there a back up plan if your wedding is outdoors and it rains?  
To get answers to these questions, bring a list of written questions with you:

• How will the final images be presented: as proofs, on-line viewing, contact sheets, projection, or wedding album only?
• What is your Photography Style?  Some photographers specialize in photojournalism, traditional or illustrative.
• How much for enlargements?  
• How much do you charge for (extra) copies?
• What is your payment Policy?  
• What is your cancellation policy?
• What type of wedding day coverage do you provide?
• Who is actually photographing the wedding?  Will they be bringing an assistant?
• What if the photographer falls sick?
• What Post-Processing (the computer imaging work that is done on your wedding pictures after they are taken) is involved? Are the images corrected, cropped and enhanced? Or are they presented straight out of the camera?
• Can you provide me with a list of references?  Get the list and contact each reference!

5.  Narrow your list to 1 or 2 photographers you might want to ask if you can view all the images from one wedding. This gives you insight as to how the photographer addresses different settings and lighting conditions. Their on-line galleries generally feature their favorite and best work.  

6.  It is important not to discount personality. The photographer will play a big part in the most important day of your life.

7.  Then if you are happy with their work, and they are within your budget, get that contract signed and retainer paid as soon as possible, since many photographers are booked over a year in advance.

Remember:  You are about to spend a significant amount of money to capture your wedding memories.  It is well worth the time to be cautious and thorough in your research.  You’ll be glad you did when you and your grandchildren are reliving your big day.

Learn more about Kathryn Elsesser Photography -- wedding, portrait and fine art family portraits.