Photography
I had a bit of a hard time picking a photographer. I thought I could save a bit of money by hiring an outside vendor. At this point, a few of the photographers that were popular on the DIS were booked. But, they were nice enough to send me the names of a few other photographers they knew in the area. And so, I called each of those photographers, got more names, and so on. I whittled it down to 2 photographers. My parents and I (again, the hubby was in school) took a quick day trip up to Disney to meet with them.
The first guy was really nice. His website was impressive, but small. We met in Downtown Disney (he didnt have meeting space close enough) with him and his wife. Turns out, they were recently married at WDW themselves! So, of course, that gave me a great feeling. His wife assisted him as his second photographer. Their prices were very reasonable, but they didnt have much to show us. But, I was really comfortable with them.
The second photographer was definitely a pro. We went and met him at his offices, where he had tons and tons of samples of his work. He was more expensive-pretty much the same as Disney charges. His work was just as lovely, but not necessarily better. But, there was one thing that I noticed: he was really pushy. Every time I opened my mouth, hed tell me what I like best
um, didnt we just meet?!?! I could not imagine having to spend a whole day with this guy!
Needless to say, I went with the first guy.
Christopher Patrick Photography did a fantastic job. I mean really, really great. I would recommend him, hands down, for anything at all. He and his wife were so sweet and gracious. They were with us the whole entire day. I never felt as if they were intruding on us or anything. They understood when/where they were needed, and when they should excuse themselves.
By having the two of them, both sides of the wedding party were able to be photographed the whole time. We have over 1,500 pictures from our wedding, with full rights at no additional cost. After the wedding, our pics were available almost immediately on their website, and proofs were sent to us shortly. DH and I took quite awhile trying to pick out our pictures for our album. We kept increasing the number of pics to be included!
The end result is breathtaking. Everyone who sees our album looks through it at least twice. Even people (read: guys) who normally wouldnt care at all about my wedding album cant help but compliment its stunning design. After the wedding, I found the Mrs. on the DIS boards. Ill give you a hint: she works at Disney as her regular day job. But, I wont give her away in case shes trying to be incognito! If you need a photographer, give them a chance. Youll be glad you did.
Video
A few things to say about the videographer: We went with Disney on this one. They have the special cameras in the WP and all, so they did their thing. I was disappointed with the outcome. First of all, I had the videographer skip us getting ready so that wed have the whole entire reception on film. Well, I guess he was tired or something, because he left early. Yup, our last song (which is special to us) is missing. Great. Also, we have the Arabic portion of the reception on film, but the Italian part is also missing. I guess thats when he took his break. Needless to say, that went over well with one side of the family.
The other thing was the band. Our videographer actually came up to us and thanked us for letting him be there to see our band. Apparently, he has been a fan for some time. Great! Yea, except that our wedding video looks more like a music video for our band. Seriously. There would be about 2 minutes of us/guests for every 10 of the band. At one point, the video is of band members, who arent even playing!!!! I understand that they were good and all. And Im happy that the band was captured on film, but come on!! Id like a little of us, please! Since they could not find the last dance, the video just ends abruptly. The last scene is of the dance floor, where DH and I are not even dancing together. Oh, and a music speaker is between the camera and the dance floor. I cried when I saw the video, it was that bad.
So, I called the video people and expressed my frustration with the video. I told them that they were going to re-do it, or I was going to lose it. Luckily, they re-did it, for free. But, it took another 2 months. And of course the missing footage was never found. The end result was nice; they did a good job on the montage and everything. I just wish they would have had our last dance. The reception portion was not worth the money, but the ceremony part was. The built in cameras allowed them to zoom into our faces. You can see the little looks we steal at each other the whole time. Its sweet.