Vendor Reviews Round Five: Photographer & Live Musicians

Photographer: Carruthers Photography
Rating: 3.5 out of 5

This was a good lesson in you get what you pay for. Bruce was a great deal and did take some amazing shots but sadly, the ones of me were less than wonderful.

I do wish he had spent more time touching up my photos as well as given more direction to me. I know I told him we wanted natural-looking photos but really, I meant like, reality-TV natural. There’s far too many beautiful shots ruined by my armpit fat or my head being in a weird position.

I also wish Bruce had been better at communicating with us post-wedding. Pre-wedding he was great but then post wedding I kind of had to hound him to find out what was happening with our photos.

When we booked him last October, he told us they would be done in three-four weeks. This seemed really optimistic to me, especially since doing photos isn’t Bruce’s full-time job, so I wasn’t surprised he missed that deadline (it actually took about nine weeks to get them). I just wish he would have kept us in the loop on what was happening with them.

So would I recommend Bruce? Yes but only if A) you’re naturally photogenic or B)value a reasonably priced photographer who will get you some great shots more than having a photographer who’s going to give you that breathtaking shot of yourself.

The truth is, even if I did have that “breathtaking” photo of myself, it’s not like I would do anything with it besides include it in the photo book we’re making. And really, would that photo be worth $3000 or $4000? Personally, I have to say no.

I have some more thoughts on my photos but I’ll save those for another post.


Live Musicians: Vivian Victoria Ng (piano) & Renata Vidri (violin)
Rating: 2.5 out of 5

So of all my vendors these are the only ones I wouldn’t recommend. Actually, I would recommend the violinist, Renata. She wasn’t the friendliest of people but she was talented and professional.

As for Vivian, who was our primary contact, while, she can play the piano beautifully. And she did start off as being quite professional. Shawn and I went to her house where she and Renata played us some stuff including the particular song we wanted for my walk down the aisle and there was a clear contract signed.

But on the day of wedding, Vivian showed up at the venue without some key cord. We were getting ready to line-up to walk down the aisle when the minister came up to me and said the pianist was missing. She wasn’t really missing, she was running around the neighbourhood looking for a replacement cord but I guess this wasn’t clearly communicated.

She did eventually find the cord but then there were other issues and I was given the option of walking down the aisle to just the violin, which I said no to because the song I picked needed the piano.

Eventually things were worked out but the ceremony was late and I walked down the aisle in a pissy mood.

I know stuff like this does happen and I would have been more understanding about it if Vivian had at least apologized to me. Apparently she did say something to Shawn when we was over at her keyboard, trying to help figure things out, but you know what, as the bride and the person who hired you, you should talk to, or even at least email, me.

City Of Toronto & Wedding Photography Permits

Here are details you need to know if you plan on buying a photo permit from the city of Toronto.

• The permit centre photo number is: 416-392-8188
• Booking for 2011 starts on September 1, 2010
• Permits are booked on a first-come, first-served basis so book as early as possible if you're set on a certain site
• Some sites have are booked for an hour, others two hours
• While I’m sure rates for 2011 will go up, one-hour permits were going for $54 while two-hour permits were going for about $143
• The booking must be made and paid by either the bride or groom
• For indoor bookings, the photographer’s name and contact info will be needed

Bookings are done one of two ways:

1. Go in person between 8:30 am-4 pm, Monday to Friday, to the Etobicoke Civic Centre, North York Civic Centre, Scarborough Civic Centre, or Toronto City Hall, where you can pay using a major credit card, cash or certified check
2. Phone the permit office and book using a major credit card. I was told that if you’re booking over the phone, you need access to a fax machine so yeah, maybe you can do this from the office

Someone at the permit office told me to visit this site: http://weddingparks.ca for a listing of city parks but then added that the city doesn’t look after that site so the info’s not always up-to-date/accurate.

Helpful!

A Couple Upcoming Shows

Hello, I’m back from Mexico!

But I’m also super-busy and because of that, this entry is going to be super-short and is going to highlight two upcoming events:

The Cake Show
Sunday, April 25
Noon – 5:30 pm
Artscape Wychwood Barns
601 Christie Street
$10

Organized by the Bonnie Gordon School, the Cake Show is a great place to get inspiration on what your cake should look and taste like!


The Spring Wedding Show
Saturday, May 1
10 am – 4 pm
Drake Hotel, 1050 Queen Street West
$10

Organized by the Wedding Co., this event showcases 40 local artisans and wedding vendors who promise to offer “unconventional, chic or edgy” touches for your wedding. Also featured are over 20 engagement portraits taken by Toronto photographers who are competing in The Great Engagement Shoot Challenge.


We're passing on the Cake Show since we already have that sorted but maybe I'll pop by the Spring Wedding Show on May 1, it sounds like it should have some good stuff.

Photographer Hiring Tips

This article on hiring a wedding photographer comes courtesy of My DeeJay, a Baltimore/Washington, DC area, DJ company. It’s a long one but it’s packed with useful info and questions you’ll want to consider (and maybe ask).

Sadly (but not surprisingly), all the photographers featured in the article are from the Baltimore/Washington, DC area, so you can’t call any of them up for your wedding. But you can certainly use the great advice they pass on.

More Toronto Wedding Photographers

As you probably already know, we’re on the hunt for a photographer (though I think we’ve found one!). Below is a quick look at the few more of the photographers we were considering but didn’t go with, usually because they were already booked or are out of our price range.

And speaking of price range, here’s a guide to how much these guys charge:
NA = didn’t get price
+ = under $1,500
++ = $1,500-$2,000
+++ = over $2,000

Note: I’m just commenting on the starting price, which is usually for a pretty basic package. If you want two photographers and full-day coverage, you can generally expect to pay at least $2,500 and usually more.

AMG Photography: Run by a friendly guy named Tony. +

B&N Photography: Gorgeous work but a bit pricy for our cheap-selves. +++

Calculated Style Photography: Aron is an award-winning winning photographer out of Milton. ++

Impact Photography: Liz only shoots films but the equally talented Tenzin does digital. +

Michael T Photography: We would have loved to of worked with this skilled guy but he was already booked. NA

Sam Obeid: Another amazing photographer who was already booked. He referred me to some of his equally amazing peers. NA

Shawn McPherson: Would be perfect for any one having a bit of an “off-beat” wedding. ++

Hey Photographers, Read This!

So it’s official, we’ve lost our photographer because we were to slow to sign the contract. Lesson learned. Now I’m on the hunt for a new photographer and after looking at at least two dozen websites, I have some web-related advice for wedding photographers:

1. You will be judged on the look of your site so make sure it reflects your particular aesthetic. While it might not be a fair assumption, it’s easy to assume that an ugly site means ugly photos.
2. At the same time, make sure your site is user-friendly. Flash can be fun but it can also turn a site in a confusing mess that will just turn potential customers off.
3. Have obvious, always present navigation.
4. Avoid pop-ups. Yeah, you can include a note about turning pop-up blockers off but many people won’t.
5. Include a “best of” gallery. Showcasing individual albums is great but a “best of” gallery lets you show off your best work and keeps potential customers from crossing you off their list just because they didn’t like a particular wedding album.
6. Include thumbnails. This lets the customer get a quick sense of your work and lets them select what photos they want to check out closer.
7. Make sure your gallery includes “back” and “forward” controls so that the customer can check out the photos at their own pace.
8. Have a calendar! Showing when you are and aren’t available saves both you and the customer time.
9. And finally, give at least a sense of your prices. I realize that many photographers adjust their prices based on the date, the location, etc. but if you know that you won’t work for under $2000, put that prices start at $2000.

Are you still looking for your photographer? Then check out this site: www.photographypros.com It has hundreds of listings for all types of photographers, divided by type and region. While it doesn’t list everyone, it’s certainly a good starting point.

A List Of Possible Photographers

So far I’ve received some amazing photographer recommendations and I figured that I should share them with you:

Rannie – my friend Bev recommended this guy. He’s not a full-time wedding photographer but then we’re not really interested in someone who just does weddings.

Mondo – another Bev recommendation and another not-just-weddings photographer. I love some of these shots.

Jill Promoli – my old classmate Heather told me to check out this woman’s work and I’m glad I did. Like Mondo, she does some really eye-catching shots.

Wandering Eye – Erin, one of my readers, booked this guy. She thinks he might be offering more than we need (his packages include prints) but he takes some great photos and is easy to work with so maybe look him up if you’re looking for more elaborate packages.

In Bloom – Another recommendation from Erin. This woman offers her services a la carte and charges a fairly reasonable $235 an hour for a high season wedding (and yes, you get a high-res DVD of all the shots).

Boston Images – Now these guys are full-time wedding photographers but their work is anything but “traditional”. I hear though that they’re a bit on the higher price end.

If you have any more photographer suggests, please feel free to leave a comment of email me at wedtoblog@gmail.com.

We Need A Photographer

We’re now ten months away from Shawn and mine’s wedding date. According to various wedding planning sites, we should book our photographer in the next couple of months. So, anyone know a Toronto-based photographer who’s experienced at shooting weddings, is good with people who hate having their photos taken (and are completely unphotogenic), is fairly affordable and who takes eye-catching and unique shots?

I must admit I am not a photography person. I like my artwork to be something that I could never imagine and most photography can’t be classified as that. But I understand that photography is a necessary part of any wedding and while I don’t think Shawn and I are really looking forward to the photo portion of the day, we do want to have great photos that we can flip through years from now.

At the same time, we’re not up to blowing $5,000 on a photography package. We want someone who will come in, take our pictures, maybe touch up a few of the better ones and then give us a CD. I know you can get all sorts of fancy photo packages but really, there’s nothing common sense about spending $500 (or higher) on some glittering album that you’ll look at twice and will then be chewed on by the dog.

We’ll likely print off a few favourites for our own homemade album, stick a bunch on Facebook and use one particularly flattering one on our postcard-style thank you cards. Maybe Shawn will have a photo in his office and Christmas 2010 will likely see various relatives getting framed photos as Christmas gifts. But that’ll be about it for our photos. So maybe we don’t want a photographer whose bread and butter is weddings. We want someone who won’t push those fancy packages on us and who will take amazing photos regardless of my statements on $500 wedding photo albums.

If you’ve got any names, please leave them in the comments section or email them to me at wedtoblog@gmail.com

Thanks!