MetaChat - This wedding is useless without pictures!

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27 February 2007

This wedding is useless without pictures! →[More:] Kyleg & I are finally ready to book the wedding ceremony & reception location today. We wanted it in June, and had to book it for the 28th versus the 14th (only two Saturdays available), as his sister (a bridesmaid) is planning to go abroad to England for a semester and won't return until the 17th of June. I called the location and the 28th is booked, and now he wants to move along to the month of July. I'm hesitant because while we're having an early evening outdoor ceremony, I feel like it'll be hot and gross and uncomfortable. I'd prefer to wait until September but he thinks "The sooner the better." He offers to call his sister to see if she'd be interested in coming back early, and I figure, "Hey, wait. Let me call the photographer and see if he's available the 14th of June anway. If he isn't, why bring this up to his sister?" (The first vendor we'd found was the photographer and we loved his pictures and knew we wanted to have him for our wedding. Additionally, he was very affordable.) So, I make the call. And guess what? He's no longer shooting weddings. No longer shooting weddings! What the hell?! His website is still loaded with information regarding wedding photography. So, okay: I know it's not the end of the world, not even close. I mean, shoot, I'm still going to end up married. It's just frustrating to think you have something nailed down only to end up at square one!

sigh. xanax please.

post by: viachicago at: 16:44 | 8 comments

But if you've already engaged the photographer, don't you have a contract or something with him? I'm confused.

posted by gaspode 27 February | 16:47

Well we'd found him, but not booked him, because until recently we hadn't come up with a solid date. It was down to two locations until just this afternoon, and when we crunched numbers we decided on This One. I'm sorry. This is likely incoherent because I am a little nutty right now. Woooo!

posted by viachicago 27 February | 16:55

hee. Yeah, wedding planning can drive you nuts if you let it.

IT'S JUST A WEDDING, NOT A MARRIAGE.

(you will say to yourself quite a bit)

posted by gaspode 27 February | 17:03

You have every right to be a bit upset. It sucks when you get a plan in your head and somehow a wrench gets thrown in.
What's the hurry? September can be a lovely month to be married in. Even late August, for that matter. Take a deep breath, you'll be fine. Who knows, perhaps the second photographer will even do a better job. And maybe the next venue will be even better.

posted by redvixen 27 February | 19:00

Speaking as someone who's worked a number of weddings before: wedding photos are hardly what make or break a wedding. In my experience, there's been an inverse relationship between how finicky a couple is about their wedding photos and how happy they will ultimately be about the entire wedding experience (beyond just the photos). In-jokes aside, a wedding isn't useless without photos. And some of the most fondly-remembered weddings I've participated in had maybe just an uncle snapping away with his point-and-shoot, whereas I've seen brides stress so much about how they turn out in their fancy-schmancy professional photos that it put a huge damper on the occasion (and ultimately soured their expressions).

Photographers, caterers, bridesmaids -- at the end of the day, stuff like these are all merely sideshows. All of it.

posted by DaShiv 27 February | 20:17

At the end of the day, the photos are supposed to be something to help you remember what the day was like. They are not supposed to be be the purpose of the day, but lots of people are so focussed on making sure the photos are perfect, they forget to enjoy themselves. If you have a good time, the photos will remind you of that. If not, it won't matter how good the photos are, they will still remind you of a bad day.

I jsut realised that I attend way more funerals than weddings these days. I am getting old :-(

posted by dg 27 February | 20:30

Oh, guys, no no. The title of the post was completely jokey and meant to be meta-silly! Like I said: I'm still going to end up married. That's what counts. I mean, even if we get a photographer who cancels at the last minute, we'll still end up with great pictures. The only reason it was a huge deal then is because it was compounding the already existing problem of the ceremony/reception site not having the date we wanted. Things just seemed like they were snowballing. But, thanks for the advice, guys.

posted by viachicago 27 February | 21:33

You could follow our lead and have more cameras at your wedding than guests.

If you're doing this up in Chicago, may I suggest James Warden of Five Lake Arts? He's a fabulous guy but for some reason his most impressive images don't seem to be on his website.

Good luck!

posted by Cinnamon 27 February | 23:01

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