“Pictures may be worth a thousand words, however, the plethora of memories one photo can invoke is tenfold. That is why when it came time for us to choose our photographer, the task was both daunting, and at times, almost overwhelming.
We went through your standard methods of gathering a list of photographers – from wedding websites, Facebook groups, bridal shows, friend recommendations, you name it. My list for photographers was probably close to 100, and that is no stretch of the truth. It was a long and meticulous process to vet through the list, and we decided the easiest way to do this was to focus what was most important to us – the pictures. I won’t lie, at this point in the game; Paul was not even on our radar yet.
We narrowed down our list of potential photographers to about a dozen or so. It was hard, there were some really, really talented photographers on our list. But there were a few things that bothered us. Most of the photographers were only offering a limited number of photos, and none of them were offering physical photos, only digital copies. Again, photography is a passion of mine, so physical pictures were a must. Yes, some did offer them as add-ons, but with the packages they offered, it would almost double the costs. And let’s not include engagement photos, some charged ceremony separately, or only offered “X” amount of hours on the day of, additional hours would cost extra. This was mind-blowing!
By some random chance, I got a text message from Paul. We must have crossed paths at a bridal show a few weeks earlier, and to be honest, I didn’t remember him. It was your typical “It was nice to meet you at the bridal show” text, along with a link to his website and his current bridal show promo. I don’t recall the exact wording of the text, but something about it made me think, “What is looking at one more photographer going to hurt?” and let me tell you, it was the best blind leap of faith I made. I clicked the link to his website.
The first thing that caught my attention was the color – vibrant shades of red, blue, yellow... you name it, and it just leapt off the screen at you. The images were sharp, beautiful… breathtaking. Images of couples celebrating one of the happiest days of their lives filled the screen. I showed them to my fiancé and we both agreed we needed to reach out to Paul. I sent a text back, and within minutes, we were on the phone.
I cannot put my finger on what it was about Paul that first made me realize that he was definitely the person I wanted taking our wedding photos. From the first conversation, it was like talking to an old friend. You could hear the passion Paul has for photography when he spoke and it was almost contagious. We talked back and forth about what we were looking for in a wedding photographer and what services he offered, but what sealed the deal was when he talked about his wedding package and he mentioned that not only would we get copies of all the digital files in both high and low resolution, but 200 physical photographs would be included as well. Engagement photos could be added for a small extra fee, and rehearsal photos were included. After having seen what other photographers were charging for these same services, we were almost afraid to ask the cost… but we did, and it was a fraction of what others were offering. Now I know some people say, “You get what you pay for,” and while there may be some proof of that, I will say, we got way more than that from Paul.”
