Engagement Pictures Take 2

So ecstatic about the pictures we took on Monday! 

We decided to take the pictures at UCR's Botanic Gardens because we hadn't been able to take them there the first time we went, and because that's where our "first date" was. 

We ended up being a little early, so I dropped Eddie off at the Gardens to scout out some picture taking places.  I went to meet Allan and the team at the Starbucks by campus.  When Allan arrived, he started telling me about the kind of pictures and poses he was going for this time: something softer and quieter.  Perfect!  After a stop for coffee (the guys were coming off two weddings over the weekend, one of which was Tony's cousin!)

Headed to the Gardens and started taking pictures.  Two other team members (Christian and Matt) joined Allan Jay and Tony.  Matt became the DJ playing various mood music.  :)  Because we weren't doing a lot with the lighting, keeping it mostly with natural lighting, it was a little disconcerting to have four cameras pointed at us at various times.  But the guys were fun and there was a lot of chatter back and forth which helped me feel more comfortable. 

Over all, a very enjoyable couple hours and I think it shows in the gorgeous pictures Allan Jay posted.

So here are some from Triversity Wedding Photography's blog.

On the Nature of Blogs, Wedding Photography, Customer Service, and the Bomb Dot Com

(Another draft of a blog that never got posted) from May 12

OMG.  Yesterday night I had a "blogs-are-public-forums-and-you-never-know-who-might-stumble-across-your-blog-and-read-things-about-themselves" moment. 

So around 9 o'clock, I get a phone call from a number that I didn't recognize.  And imagine my surprise when it was Allan Jay, our wedding photographer.  We're not really scheduled for anything else between now and the wedding, so his call seemed to come out of the blue.  He had happened to stumble across my blog when Googling Triversity Wedding Photography (his company).  So he called after reading the blog entries about the engagement photos and our reactions.  He was concerned that we were not satisfied with the engagement pictures.  He was also very positive about criticism, as he viewed it as a way to improve and grow because few people often give him feedback like that.

To be completely honest, I could not, for the life of me, remember what exactly I had posted in the blog, and I wasn't really sure that I even really had offered any CONSTRUCTIVE criticism in the post.  I know how we felt about the pictures being more dramatic and not very natural to our usual selves, but I thought of it more as a practice for the wedding, giving us a better idea of what we wanted in our pictures and knowing more what was his style.  But I did post some of the pictures that we felt were NOT the style we were going for.  Can we say awkward?...the captions were meant jokingly, but could totally be read rather as insulting (just thinking if I were the photog, I would be sensitive about my work!)...

After my initial mortification, this is was actually an encouraging encounter with thoughtful customer service.  Allan truly cares that his brides (and grooms, but we all know who's opinions are REALLY more important ;) ) are happy with the work and pictures and the whole experience with the TWP team.  He was very open and wanted to dialogue about what we wanted in our pictures (while I was still trying to get my metaphorical foot (in the form of typed words) out of my mouth).  He even offered to retake the engagement pictures.  Even if we were too busy before the actual wedding, he wanted to take them after the wedding when we're freer.  I'm going to be messaging him with more specific details of the style/sentiment/etc. of the photos.

So to anyone else Googling Triversity Wedding Photography, Allan and his team are fully committed to you and making your wedding photography experience everything that you want it to be.  They are the bomb dot com ;)

Photography Information

So, Eddie's mom works with this photographer's wife, and she offered to pay for the photographer and videographer as well.

After talking with the photographer (after a 1.5 hour conversation!), here are the details that I got:

$2000 which includes the engagement session and wedding day.  There are private passworded galleries with all the pictures, a public gallery for the guests, and discs of pictures (probably 3-4K) with a folder of 100-150 touched up pix.  There is no album for the cost, but that can be talked about after the wedding.  Apparently the albums start at $1000, and so most brides save up to get that done afterwards?...

One week before the wedding, they will go to check out the church and reception venue.
The day of the wedding, their official start time is 11, but they will probably be out and about a little earlier.
They'll stay through the end of the reception, there is no set time frame they'll be shooting.

And pictures will be done within 3-4 weeks. 

On second thought...

It's okay. I'm good with whatever photog and pictures. Any memories will be good memories. :)

Photog

http://www.triversityweddings.com/

http://blog.triversityweddings.com/

Feeling a little iffy about the photographer...I don't really like the contrast he uses in his pictures. It's too...intense. I prefer something...softer?