Photographer...Check!

We now have a photographer!! As of yesterday evening Paul Saunders (the gentlemen listed in the blog below) is booked for our October wedding and Shawn and I are so very excited! He has done over 2,000 weddings and has been in the business for 23 years. He is very reasonable with absolutely no hidden fee's the price that he gives you is it (tax included). He is extremely flexible with his packages. You can swap and trade just about anything so that you only get what you need. 

He was very energetic and had so many ideas for pictures to take at the wedding. He wanted to know all the details...what kind of flowers we were thinking about, what color bridesmaids dresses I wanted, the size of the families etc. He also told us that his job is to tell a story with our wedding photos. He doesn't like a lot of posed pictures he prefers to get more candids then anything to really capture the moment. One of the things I loved the most was that he said in all his years of shooting wedding he has never missed the brides mother, grooms mother, and grooms reaction as the bride come down the isle. (If you couldn't already tell he completely had me sold by this point!).

So we decided to go with his gold package. That package includes unlimited coverage from the brides home (in this case it will be the hotel), through church ceremony, family formals, and loads of reception pictures. 800+ color preview shots in a storybook style personalized library hard cover wedding proof books (that we keep!!) 24, 8x10 wedding album enlargements, and/or up to 48 5x7's and/or 96 prints matted to an upscale florentina leather wedding album. 2 florentina leather parent albums each with 24 matted 4x5 custom enlargements, 2 8x10 custom-framed enlargements, 8 8x10's and/or 2 16x20's or 4 11x14's, 18 5x7 enlargements, 60 thank you cards or 120 loose pictures, and JPEG's of all of the package selections. So as you can see his package comes with everything we could possibly need and then some!

However Shawn and I have also decided that (as another option for this package) to trade in our traditional wedding Album and upgrade to the designer flush-mounted coffee-table style album which blew us away! Its very unique and offers more room for pictures than the traditional album. This picture is a

n example of what a page in one of these albums can look like, and the cover.

Paul had also mentioned to us that if we want any specific pictures to be taken that we don't want to worry about having to remember on the day of our wedding, to just write them down and he will make sure that the pictures are taken (parents ideas too). He also had mentioned to us that he will get everyone that comes to the wedding in at least 1 picture. Which to me was huge! 50 years down the line I want to look back on my pictures and remember exactly who was there. Paul also mentioned that he is very respectful when it comes to taking his pictures (especially in the church...more brownie points :) ) He said that he stands in the back of the church and can still get beautiful close up shots.. and by looking at his albums you would have never known he was actually that far back. He said most of the night you wont even know that he is there. He doesn't use any harsh flashes that will be distracting either.

He also gave us a cd to look over for ideas that includes 700+ wedding

photos. Needless to say I'm going to be spending a great deal of my time today looking them over!

Over all Paul wants Shawn and I to just enjoy our wedding day stress free, and I couldn't ask for more. I would highly recommend him to anyone getting married and in need of a photographer!

This is my absoulte favortie picture out of his album's..and it was taken in the rain!!

P.s. Let me just also include that I highly recommend to anyone getting married (and planning their weddingthemselves) to get the Modern Bride survival guide! It is the most amazing book. Practically every question I have had this far I've been able to figure out with it. It gives so many helpful tips and tons of checklist to keep you organized! It also has good questions to ask you vender's when your looking to hire and even ideas for hairstyles on the day of wedding. It has everything!!

Thanks for reading!

Only 360 day's until the wedding!