FAQ
Frequently
Asked
Questions
Here’s a list of common questions that should help give you a better idea of how I work and what to expect along the way.
Before
For sure! If you can, I’d love to meet for a coffee or cocktail. You’re going to be with your photographer for a lot of time during your wedding so it makes a ton of sense to make sure we all vibe. With that said, more than half of my couples aren’t local, so I’m happy to meet via FaceTime or Skype. Or in person if you’re in or will be visiting Albany, NY. Whatever is best for you!
An engagement or couples session is also a great way to meet, as it would also allow you to learn the process of being photographed together which gives you an in person demo of what to expect on your wedding day!
To make the date yours and yours only, a signed contract and ~33% retainer payment are required. The remaining balance is due 60 days before your wedding.
Yes! All the images are edited for color, contrast, white balance, cropping, etc. to the same extent and style you see on my website.
There’s a lot of variables to factor in, but in general you will get roughly 100 edited photos per hour of coverage.
Hard no! Anticipating and capturing all the big and small moments that happen naturally during your wedding day is my main thing. Working from a list causes me to miss all the actual moments that are occurring during your day.
If there’s a family heirloom, or something not obvious that I may want to know about, feel free to let me know. But a big list with every shot that I should be taking throughout the day does way more harm than good. That’s the literal definition of micromanagement (sorry, but it’s true!) and will make your photos not as good as they could be otherwise.
If providing your photographer a list of photos to follow all day is important to you, sadly, I am not a good fit for your wedding day.
Of course! Get in touch and I’d love to send you a few full galleries to show you what you can expect after your wedding.
Nope. Packages can not be split up over X days as this would require additional retainers to retain the other dates. Time on the day is consecutive, once I start, my time has begun.
$1.25/mile/round trip from 12203 if I’m driving.
NYC and Jersey City incur a flat $500 travel fee.
Long Island and Finger Lakes incur a flat $600 travel fee.
Planes and trains or anything more elaborate is on a case-by-case basis. Get in touch for a quote!
Tax. But other than that, there’s no surprises after the wedding.
Of course.
Yes. I have more film cameras than I’d like to admit. I’m happy to chat about shooting film at your wedding or engagement shoot!
It goes without saying, but I feel like I have to mention it: film inherently riskier to shoot on film due to the cameras being older, film having to get sent out to be developed, and not being able to see the results right away to know if something is wrong. But if you’re after than with the unpredictable nature of film, I’d love to make it happen!
Nope, sorry! My list of recommended vendors is something you get right when you book me. So if you’re looking for video, I’m happy to share recommendations once we’re official.
If one of my set packages isn’t exactly what you’re looking for, I’m happy to put together something that’s a better fit for your day.
For weddings May – November, on Fridays, Saturdays, or Sundays, my base package is the minimum I offer for weddings, cost and coverage wise.
I totally understand doing the research to make sure you find the perfect photographer for your day takes some time.
However, I book weddings strictly on a first-come, first-served basis to be fair to everyone.
Offering the right of first refusal can be unfair because it delays bookings for other couples, creates inconsistencies in policy, complicates scheduling, and can just feel yucky. A first-come, first-served policy ensures fairness and simplicity for everyone.
To make sure you lock me in for your date, book as soon as you can!
I don’t. The pricing of my packages is how it is so I can have a sustainable business. It would be unfair to all the other couples who paid my standard rates to give discounts.
During
Of course. Your family would hate me if I didn’t! While they’re not the most fun or creative photos we’ll take, they are a super important part of the day. We’ll work together beforehand to make sure we have a nice short list for me to go off of to make things easy.
Embrace it! None of us can change the weather.
What we can do though is take photos inside, keep an eye on the weather to head outside if it ever lets up, pop outside with some umbrellas, or say fuck it and go do some portraits in the rain!
I’m the exact same way so I have lots of tips and tricks. The main trick to getting natural portraits is to encourage natural interaction, which I’m a pro at.
I shoot most of my weddings solo, and I am super confident in my work as a solo shooter.
A second photographer can be added to any package that does not include one. I generally recommend a second if your wedding is 140 guests or more, has a complicated getting ready situation, or you just really want one. I require a second photographer for weddings near or above the 180 guest mark.
I try to keep this to an absolute minimum to stay as nimble as possible, and to avoid the paralysis of unlimited possibilities that a bag of 20 lenses brings.
My gear right now is two Sony A7IV and one 24mm, 35mm, 50mm, and 85mm lens. I’ve got two flashes as well.
After
You will receive your fully edited photo set about 4 weeks after your wedding. Before then, I’ll send over a ~100 image preview of your whole day start to finish to help tide you over (and give you some great photos to share right away!)
This is the most important question that many couples don’t ask, and I’ve seen absolute horror stories online about couples who have not gotten their photos 6+ months after their weddings. Scary stuff!
Your online gallery has a built in store which makes its super easy to buy loose prints, ready to hang framed prints, cards, and much more.
Yes! It’s a shame for your photos to only live on a hard drive or website. Having a beautifully printed and well crafted album that you can show off for generations is completely worth it.
Your album is designed by me, in a modern, clean way which matches the photos. No weird borders or backgrounds. Just you two, on your day, front and center. You’ll get a proof of your album with or shortly after you get your photos, and you can request changes to the proof until your album is perfect.
Learn more on my albums page.
Yup! I’m a giant nerd and I’ve thought through this system extensively.
Everything is backed up the night of your wedding across 3 drives, in two locations. Same happens with your edited files. I keep everything for at least a year.
I strongly recommend making a few copies of your wedding photos once you receive your gallery. Dropbox, Google Photos, and an external hard drive is a great start!
For the nerds or curious: Your wedding gets shot simultaneously to 2 cards in my camera. One of those stays in my car until your wedding is edited and delivered so if my house burns down, I still have your photos. The other one is imported to my working drive which is then copied nightly to my Synology via ChronoSync. Edited files follow the same flow, exported to the JBOD and copied to the Synology. Final JPEGs are backed up to the cloud, twice.
Your photos are delivered via online gallery, and you are able to download them all straight from there. The files you download there are full resolution and are not watermarked or degraded in any way.
This gallery is online for a year after you receive the photos, and you can pay to keep this gallery online. Totally optional, but a nice way to have access to and a cloud backup of your photos.
I am obligated to keep your photos available to you for one year after your wedding. After this, it’s solely up to you to keep your photos safe for the long term. If you’d like some help with this, you can read my guide here: How to back up your wedding photos. Paying to keep your gallery online is an extremely easy way to keep a copy in the cloud and always have access to your photos.
That said, I do try to keep every photo I take for as long as possible, so if something happens and you lose every copy of your photos that you have, and I happen to still have a copy of your photos, I do offer an option of last resort to get you your photos for a fee. More on that here.
