Big News

In all the chaos of getting back from New Zealand and blogging everything else under the sun, I completely forgot to blog our big news. It was only when I was walking down the studio hallway just now that I remembered.

Most of you know that I had been preparing madly for the past few months for APPA (the Australian Professional Photography Awards). Well while we were in NZ I refreshed the AIPP members only page on my phone and for a slight confused moment had no idea what had happened, but then realised that I had in fact brought home a Silver Award in the Wedding Category! This is a huge acheivement and I am so proud! Especially since it was my first time entering APPAs and competing against the biggest names in wedding photography. This is the image I scored silver on!

Our other news is that one of our images has been selected for the front cover of Your Hunter Valley Wedding Planner. This is our second edition in a row! To say I am beyond excited would be an understatement. This is the image that has been selected.

Surprise!!!! Its actually a Wedding not a Party!!!

Lately there has been a lot of talk on Television, bridal blogs and Facebook pages suggesting to couples who are trying to save money to drop the word "wedding" from any conversation they are having with potential wedding suppliers in order to avoid the "wedding tax" as it has been nicknamed. These presenters are informing brides that you can actually save a lot of money this way, suggesting that us photographers, any many other types of wedding suppliers for that matter, are just bulking up the price because its a wedding, and of course couples will pay it.

Recently a big uproar started across Australia after Channel 7's The Morning Show aired a segment about Wedding Scams. Tom Godfrey, a spokesman from 'Choice' suggested that the best thing you can do is trick your suppliers by not letting them know it is a wedding, inevitably saving yourself a few dollars. To quote his suggestion: "… I think this is where the best man comes in, or the maid of honour. You get them to ring up and say its a private party… If the supplier turns up to your wedding and finds out, well so be it."

Now it may seem like a good idea to try this out to save yourself some money here and there, but speaking for us photographers, you would be doing yourself a huge disservice by doing this. It would not be worth the huge risk. For one, there is a huge difference in the equipment we bring to a party versus what we take to shoot a wedding. 

Take this for example, you book me to cover a few hours at a party, I would probably arrive wearing something a little more casual than my usual wedding uniform, and my gear selection would be a lot smaller. For a party I would probably arrive with one 5D Mark 3 and a 24-70mm lens, one battery, a flash and one memory card.

If you are booking me to shoot your wedding, i would be bringing a minimum of the following:

- two 5D mark3's and a backup 5d Mark2

- a 16-35 f2.8L wide angle lens for those awesome church photos and epicly wide landscape shots.

- a 24-70 f2.8L lens

- a 70-200 f2.8L lens to create all those beautiful dreamy images you have seen here on my blog.

- an external flash and triggers for getting creative outside the reception venue.

- a second shooter who also has multiple cameras and lenses.

- at least 8 memory cards (majority of which get used by the way)

- a whole stash of spare batteries for both the cameras and the flash units.

- an LED bat light for ease of focusing when shooting outside in the dark.

- a boot full of umbrellas in case the day turns a bit rainy.

- all those delicious props you see in all my images (thank you banners, parasols, picnic blankets, suitcases etc)

- liability insurance

- formal clothes

These are just to name a few of the extra things I would be bringing along to a wedding as opposed to a "party". As well as all the different equipment we would be bringing, we would have been emailing back and forth with you and will have met with you a couple of times to make sure that everything for your wedding day is able to run as smoothly as possible. I have spent many hours researching venues, locations, lighting conditions, sunset times, tide times… all to help you get the most beautiful images that are a true reflection of the beauty of your wedding day.

Having said all this, it could be possible to fool some suppliers into thinking your day is a party, but for me as a photographer, if someone was to ring and try to book a party on a Saturday in November, I would be more than likely to turn it down. Why you ask? Not because I wouldn't earn as much money, but because I'm a wedding photographer, my whole heart and soul goes into shooting weddings and I would want that day to be available should a couple wish to book me to share their big day with them.

I personally think the advice that has been spreading frequently lately, that I have even seen first hand with some people suggesting to a few of my beautiful brides that they "trick their suppliers", is not going to work to well at all. Why pay the money to bring in a professional if they are not going to be physically or mentally prepared for the tasks at hand. They are caught off guard and may not be able to produce the images that you so hoped for, because they have not had the preparation time, the meetings getting to know you and of course, the appropriate equipment for the job.

This blog post isn't designed to be about why we charge what we do or anything of that nature. I just want people to think seriously about the whole "tricking your suppliers" thing. Yeah you might save yourself a few dollars here and there, but you would be greatly diservicing yourself as I'm sure you want to receive quality images right? As all my lovely couples will know, I try to spend as much time developing a close relationship and a good rapport with my couples before their wedding. I want my images to be able to reflect them and their love, as every couple is different and has their own unique story.

Just a little something to think about with all this talk of how to save money on your big day. Do you really want to end up with images that are not as you hoped, or a cake that is just not as grand, or flowers that are so-so just to save yourself a few dollars that you will potentially end up regretting? Please feel free to share and let me know your thoughts on the matter!  

Motorbikes, Old Shanghai and Firetrucks

It has been a very busy few weeks since coming back from our holiday to New Zealand. We had an absolutely fantastic trip away, but we are now back into the swing of things here at CCP. The first thing  I did when I got home was to work on a few little images from our trip. While on this trip I put into action Stage One of my ongoing personal photography project. My project is called "Married around the world" and is basically a self portrait of my husband and I dressed up in wedding attire (not necessarily the ones we got married in) in a different icon location, in a different country each year for our wedding anniversary! So obviously the first one was shot in Matamata (or 'The Shire') in New Zealand. Here is the result of part one and a landscape image that I fell over and nearly broke my leg trying to take haha.

Our first wedding up after our holiday was the very fun wedding day of Natalie and Scott. It was also Merindah's first official wedding as part of the CCP team! Welcome Merindah! Nat and Scott held their wedding at the beautiful St John's Church in Wollombi. After the ceremony we had a blast going to all kinds of crazy locations for photos. I always get so excited when my couples are keen for crazy locations! First stop was the very old Wollombi Cemetery. Scott and Nat are big fans of the beautiful wrought iron designs, so it was very fitting to incorporate some of this into their photos. After we finished at the cemetery we made our way to a lovely little bridge where we did photos with a motor bike and the cars. From there, Nat and Scott jumped in my car and we went a bit more off road, leaving Merindah with an awesome fun bridal party doing human pyramids, mooning cows and standing up on motorbikes. We were a bit more tame and went for a trek down a beautiful dirt road where we found a delightful little cave and a whole lot of cows.  After we picked the rowdy bridal party back up again, we made our way to the craziest of awesome photography locations! A Timber Mill! Was very cool to get some really unique images for the coolest couple ever. And it was difficult to resist the urge to jump in the huge piles of red saw dust. After we finished there, we made our way back to Scott and Nat's brand new house for a laid back party with their friends and family. Delicious food was eaten, and I even did some ballet on the dance floor with the kids! Nat even got out her skates! We had an absolute blast and are so glad they had us be part of their day. Thank you so much Nat and Scott!

The next day I was up and at it again to spend the day doing an engagement session with Adele and Ross. Adele and Ross will be married next year in Singapore, so travel to the Hunter Valley to have some old world country style images shot for their engagement. They had the idea of an Old Shanghai themed photoshoot, so once all dressed up, we made our way out to the stunning Wallalong House where we spent the afternoon in the most incredibly beautiful rooms creating dramatic images! The resident dog Chopper also made a nice guest appearance in some photos in the Cellar! What an amazing and creativity inspiring house!

This weekend just gone we had the very hot and sweaty wedding of Larissa and Mitch. Saturday was insanely hot and sticky for an early October day, but the gorgeous couple didn't let it stop them from smiling and having an amazing day! Their ceremony was held at Pokolbin Hall, as was their reception... and lets just say everyone was enjoying the air-conditioning! For their photos I took them to a few little places around Pokolbin and even stopped a fire truck that was coming back to the base for a quick little photo. I had a blast with these guys! Thank you again for being so completely cruisy and fun to work with!