Going through this crazy process of planning your own wedding I'm starting to realize just how insane this whole process can be. It's so much work even when you have friends and family willing to help. Of course being a photographer picking my photographer for my own wedding was kind of a key element. I'm pretty sure 100% of you know that I've hired Justin & Mary but do you know why? Once I had sent them a contract and deposit they gave Silas and I a little gift of a box of chocolates and a card that says: "like his hand in yours, like your favorite pair of jeans- isn't it great to find the perfect fit". Maybe you think that it is silly to consider finding a wedding photographer as finding the perfect fit but it's not. There are a million reasons why you might choose to hire a photographer. Maybe they offer this beautiful leather wedding album that you just can't live without. Maybe they can offer you a package with all the goodies you have to have and still fit into your budget. Maybe they just take really pretty photos. All of these are totally valid reasons and hopefully all of them excite you. Just don't underestimate the importance of actually liking the person you hire- feeling at ease with them, laughing with them and feeling like this is someone you are excited to see on your wedding day and spend 8+ hours with on one of the most important days of your life.
My fellow photographer Miss Shannon Grant has a fantastic section on her blog talking about "How to choose the best wedding photographer for you" I stumbled upon this yesterday and was blown away by how simply she puts all this info. She makes it clear that the connection she has with her clients is important and then puts herself out there so that maybe something she's said will connect and resinate with that potential client and bring them together. She even puts a bulleted list of things that she loves and opens it up for brides to contact her with their own bulleted list of things they love. Shannon puts her personality on her blog so that brides who see this and connect with it will contact her and brides who don't can move on and find someone else.
My goal with my blog and my about me pages on my website are to put myself out there- to give all of you a glimpse into who I am and what I'm like and hopefully something will click and you'll see that we have a few things in common. Be it our mutual love for our dogs and that we spoil like they are our children, or that we both love wine. Maybe you love to ski and love the Red Sox almost as much as I do. Or you too use google as a spell checker and can't imagine your life without your iphone. These are all pretty basic every day life, possibly even boring, facts about me but if we share even these silly little things in common thats a place to start. It's a conversation starter and trust me once you get me started I really don't shut up :)
My clients are my friends. I want to be so excited that I am full on giddy when I walk in to your room on the morning of your wedding. Having that friendship is such a key to creating the images that we both love. Making sure that you hire a photographer that you click with is just as important if not more so (maybe I'm a little bias) then making sure your flowers are the kind you wanted, the DJ plays the music you picked out and that your dress fits you perfectly. Your photographer is with you all day long. They are a person you are going to see and talk to and be around most of your wedding day- make sure they are someone you like. Maybe this sounds silly, of course you want to hire someone you like- but I'm talking about not someone you just get along with and takes pretty photos but someone you look forward to seeing, someone you want to talk to about your wedding day, someone you want to give a big hug to at the end of the day and of course someone who is also going to provide you with beautiful authentic images of your love.
I've been so fortunate to have the most amazing clients. I have past clients who I talk to on a very regular basis years after their wedding. These couples are still my friends two and three years after they have tied the knot. I have couples that call me when they are in town celebrating their anniversary or couples that are in town for their wedding tasting to want to meet up for a drink and say hi. These are couples that may have hired me to photograph their wedding but our friendship is so much more then that now. Last year one of my couples said to me at the end of our first meeting that they felt like if they were not hiring me to shoot their wedding they would want to invite me to their wedding because we just clicked and I was already their friend. Now that's a perfect fit.
Justin & Mary are my perfect fit. They are my friends, my mentors and my photographers. We love spending time together be it: grabbing a bite to eat when they are in town or making a trip to CT to hang out with them while running a camera for their live chat and get covered in some serious golden retriever dog hair, spending time with them is something I always look forward too.
My goal is for my clients to feel about me the way I feel about them. I know that on my wedding day I not only have three people (Can't forget the lovely Julia because she is the third leg of their tripod and also an awesome friend of mine) that I trust explicitly to capture my wedding day but I also have three of my friends there with me and being surrounded by friends is defiantly one of the things I'm looking forward to most about my wedding day.
Be it me or someone else that you hire to photograph your wedding or even your family- make sure you are a good fit for one another. Make sure you are as excited about them as they are about you. This is a two way street- the goal is to be friends not just a photographer and client and that is important enough to me to make it or break it.
Are you curious to know more about me? Check out my about me section on my website as well as the abbreviated version here on the blog- also poke around here there are lots of posts about me and my life that will help you get to know me. If you want to know more please feel free to shoot me an email [spring.smith@me.com] and ask anything!!!!
XOXO Spring
