Simple Wedding Photography – New Service

Getting married consists of two people who want to spend the rest of their lives together and the officiant to make it happen. Simple as that. The big, fluffy dress isn’t necessary, flowers are optional and even a party with food and a fancy cake aren’t necessary to get married.

Not if you’re in love.

But photos of that moment in your life ARE a necessity, whether it’s just you, your loved one and a judge or it’s you, the love of your life and 150 of your closet friends. Photos are the only things that will last in the years to come. They will be your only tangible memory of the most important moment of your life.

Even when I got married 27 years ago, wedding photography was expensive. I designed my own invitations, we got married outside in regular clothes, I made my own bouquet and decorated the Scout House myself.

I chose my photographer from an ad in the back of the local paper. We paid $200 and we got EXACTLY what we paid for. I hired that man without references, without seeing any of his previous work. I did not one iota of research. He fit my budget, so he got the job.

All these years later I look at the photos that are left and I cry.

Pathetic, right? Yeah, I know.

So … our baby girl is getting married in May of 2015. Like her mother, she is somewhat, shall we say, “frugal”

She is designing most of the wedding decorations. She chose a stunning, but fairly inexpensive dress; while her bouquet will cost a pretty penny (she IS the bride after all)the majority of the floral decorations will be gorgeous, but fairly inexpensive (she gets her creative flair from her mama). I am designing the invitations 🙂

But her photographer? We’ve hired a photographer that travels the country taking wedding photos. This woman doesn’t just take photos, she creates stunning photographic masterpieces … and we are paying $3000 for her to come to Wisconsin and document our daughter’s big day. Because two days after the wedding, the cake will be gone, the bouquets will be a crumpled messes, the pig will be crackling skin and picked over bones – but I know that in about six weeks we’ll be able to download about 800 stunning images from that day that my daughter will have to cherish for the rest of her life.

I understand and appreciate the importance of professional wedding photography. I believe an experienced and talented wedding photographer is worth their weight in gold. But I also understand being so broke that we couldn’t pay attention, I remember the sighs of frustration by today’s brides-to-be and the broken-hearted realization that the photos from her wedding will be taken mostly by her drunken friends with those cheap throw away cameras that her mom placed on every table. Bet she can’t wait to see what kind of pictures got taken when she develops the cameras that she actually gets back (about half of those go MIA, you know).

Not if I can help it.

I believe EVERY bride deserves beautiful photos of her wedding day despite a small budget and that no matter what she tells her friends, her family and even herself, I KNOW she wants gorgeous professional photos of the day she’s been dreaming about for her entire life.

When I decided to get into photography professionally, I was totally adamant that I would NOT be shooting weddings, in any way, shape or form; my daughter had just stood up for two lovely weddings and when I saw the work involved I knew it was not for me.

I do not have that kind of ambition or patience.

But I’d actually already shot a wedding. I’d gotten on a ferry on the hottest day in August, crossed Lake Michigan, sat in a sweltering vehicle for another two hours and photographed the wedding of the the children of two of my dearest friends. With my ‘baby” camera (Canon T21) and the only lens I owned at the time: my “nifty fifty”.

The photos turned out surprisingly GOOD.

But that was a one-off. Not something I’d planned on doing again.

Earlier this year a dear friend invited me to HER wedding, then tentatively asked if I’d be interested in taking a few photos. My first response was a resounding no. Weddings are too important and I didn’t have the experience and I didn’t want to take the chance of ruining the memories of her special day. I couldn’t bear the thought of putting her through what I’d gone through with my own wedding photography. But she asked me again. They were only having a small courthouse ceremony and a casual party in a local park.

And I said yes. Because EVERYONE deserves decent photos of their wedding. I realize now that I should been a bit more firm with my friend and her groom so that we could’ve gotten some more creative “wedding-y” photos, but the truth is, she got nice photos, at a reasonable price and memories that will last a lifetime.

So with the memories of my own cheap wedding photos and the belief that EVERY bride should have beautiful memories of the most important day of her life and am now offering my “Simplicity Wedding Package”.

If you have a small budget and you’re planning an intimate, not-over-the-top wedding, I am your girl.

Check out the details here or email me and we’ll work something out!