Regular readers of this site know that I love to talk about all the weddings I photograph. I have a REALLY cool job and get to see some pretty amazing things – and work with even more amazing people – so it’s only natural that I want to share my experiences. The photographs that you see on this site represent the first half of the wedding photography experience. Today I’m going to talk about the other half – all the stuff that happens after the wedding. I’ll get to that in a second, but first I want to talk about Kate + Mike.

Kate + Mike got married in May at the Drexelbrook. When I got to the hotel to photograph them getting ready, it was pouring. They had originally planned an outside ceremony and sadly it looked like it would have to be moved indoors. That’s always a risk when you have something planned outside, and even though they didn’t let it bother them I could tell that they were both a little disappointed.

About 45 minutes before the ceremony started the skies cleared and it became a beautiful spring day. The venue went into overdrive and got everything set up and dried just in time, and Kate + Mike got their outdoor ceremony.

The rest of the day was equally great. Touché did a great job keeping the party going (the killer lady gaga medley helped) and the crowd took full advantage of their talent.

Anyway, back to the second half of the photography experience…

My goal with my clients is twofold – to create great photographs that truly tell the story of their day, and to make the entire experience – from booking to album delivery – as easy and stress free as possible. Everyone has stories about someone they know that had a horrible wedding photography experience, and I’m determined to make my client’s experience as good as possible. Weddings are historic events, and need to be treated with the appropriate respect.

Here’s how Kate + Mike’s post-wedding experience went…

They went to Italy for two weeks. While they were enjoying themselves (and a seemingly inordinate amount of pizza) I was working hard on their images. I sorted, edited, and did their preliminary album layout. They live in Chicago, and only had a day when they were in Philadelphia between their honeymoon and going back to the windy city, so I needed to make sure everything was ready for their return.

A note about albums – I predesign the album, ignoring the page count and choosing the photos that I feel tell the story in the best way. My clients then have the option of purchasing the extra pages, cutting them, rearranging, etc. I’ve found (and my clients would agree) that this method is far superior to leaving it up to them to choose all the images. To be honest, unless you are used to looking through hundreds of images and choosing the ones that tell a story, it’s an overwhelming task. This is where the talent and experience of a pro comes into play. There’s far more to a wedding than showing up with a fancy camera.

When they got back they came to my studio and saw their images for the first time in their preliminary album layout. They were quite happy to say the least, and after a little time cutting and rearranging the layout, they landed up ordering a beautiful 72 page 12×12 album with a metal cover. By the time they got home, their web gallery was online and their photos were on Facebook.

I sent the album out for production and somehow the stars aligned and it was completed in record time. It’s normally about 6 weeks for production but they got theirs back in 2. I have no idea how it happened so quickly but I won’t complain. After checking the quality and snapping a few quick pics I shipped it out to them.

The end result of all this was that they had their completed album in their hands one month and one day after their wedding.

The point of all this is that your wedding photography is a big deal, and your relationship with your photographer is the only relationship with a wedding professional that continues long after the wedding. You need to choose someone you can trust, who’s work you love, and who you get along with. This isn’t an area I would suggest cutting corners in because as cliched as it is, you really do get what you pay for.

You can see some of favorite shots below, along with some really quick photos of their finished album (the album shots were done with my cell phone so please forgive the poor quality). And of course you can check out the slideshow here…

fancy pretty packaging

Metal cover. It looks killer in person

Detail of the cover

Where the leather meets the metal. Perfectly done

All of my albums only have a small crease. It allows for a lot more creative possibilities when you can design full spread.

Crease detail

Accent leather detail

Back of the album

When you look past the elegant dresses, fancy flowers, food, details, seating charts, song choices, and drama, a wedding is nothing more than a ceremony affirming two people’s love for each other and desire to spend the rest of their lives together. A wedding doesn’t require anything more than two people in love, some of the people closest to them, and someone that can legally perform the ceremony (and a good photographer to capture it for posterity.

Sheryl + Steve understand this and their wedding was a beautifully intimate affair. They had at the historic Powell House in center city on stunning spring day. They were surrounded by their closest family and friends, had one of their friends perform the ceremony, and focused on the love that they palpably share.

They also had some pretty awesome pink shoes.

Check out the slideshow here…

It’s always interesting to me to see the venues that my clients choose for their big days. Sometimes they choose based on need (the ability to hold 500 people let’s say), sometimes it’s on location, and sometimes it’s on price. However, sometimes a venue just so perfectly suits a couple that you couldn’t imagine them having it at any other place.

This was the case for Sarah + Jason’s wedding at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.

Sarah + Jason are both PhD candidates in Penn’s classical studies department, so I’m really not kidding when I say the Penn Museum was the perfect venue.

They were surrounded by antiquity during the intimate ceremony in the lower Egyptian gallery, and continued the festivities in the upper Egyptian gallery and rotunda.

In honor of their backgrounds and the general feel of the day, I decided to make their slideshow exclusively black & white. Some of my favorites are below, and you can check out the slideshow here..

The 2010 season has officially begun, and I cant think of a better way to start it off than the wedding of Courtney + Justin.

To say their day was fun would be an understatement. Penn’s Peak was the perfect venue to host the festivities – festivities that included American and Syrian traditions and music and dancing (and some crowd surfing).

Rather than showing individual images from the wedding I’ve decided to post the album layout. Those of you that know me know that the album is the most important thing for me. It’s the heirloom – the thing that lasts generations, the thing that keeps the memory of the day going long after it’s over.

Below are a few spreads from the album, and you can see the whole design on the slideshow by clicking here…