9 Questions We Are Always Asked | Ray Anthony Photography
June 16, 2020
Answers to the questions our wedding photographers are always asked
If you’re planning your upcoming wedding, we completely understand how stressful and nerve-wracking a time like this can be. While it’s a wonderful, incredibly exciting time in its best moments, at its worst the huge amounts of planning that you face can be unbelievably daunting. Plus, we know that the photography of your wedding day is one of the most significant factors that you will be considering at this stage of planning your ceremony. We know that these photographs will be treasured for a lifetime. So, this is why we want to provide answers to the questions that we most commonly receive from a couple eagerly awaiting their wedding day. With this guideline of questions and insights in advance, we hope that this can provide you with a strong sense of the dedicated service that we provide to all of our clients for your wedding photography.
1. What do you do differently?
Our aim, quite simply, is to focus on the emotions experienced in the treasured moments of a wedding day in their raw form. This means no intrusive interruptions from us. We work to provide our clients with authentic, truly sincere photographs that convey something special. In our experience, the best way to achieve this end result in our photographs is by remaining unobtrusive and blending in with the guests so that we can capture these moments exactly as they were experienced.
2. What are your photographers like as people?
We understand just how important it is to get a sense of who your photographers are as people, in order to determine whether they’ll be well suited to working with you on the day. Our team is a warm and friendly bunch, who are absolutely dedicated to their craft. We are all versatile and flexible in the services that we offer because it is absolutely imperative to us that our clients are delighted with the memories that we have captured of their wedding day. We take the time to get to know all of our clients on a personal basis, so that they feel comfortable enough to completely trust us to capture this special day perfectly.
3. Can we see your portfolios?
Of course, even though each of our associates photograph in a documentary approach, each has their own personal style. Take a careful look through the portfolios of our photographers, to see whether their style of photography appeals to you and matches your expectations. Each of our Associate Photographers brings a slight touch of their own artistry to their work. They have received training from Ray Anthony as wedding photojournalists, and at the very heart of their skills is the ability to remain attentive to every special moment as it unfolds and capture the essence of it perfectly. On our website, you can find detailed, extensive portfolios of all of our photographers.
4. Can you stage these shots for me?
This is one of the most misconceived ideas as to who we are. We’re not going to tell you where to stand or how. We’re going to capture the moments that make your wedding beautiful. For example, when Dad is crying, we’ll be there. When your grandpa is kissing the forehead of his daughter, congratulating her on being the Mother of the Bride and thinks that no one is looking, we’ll be there capturing the moment for you all to remember forever. We capture moments, not force them into creation. This is what Ray Anthony Photography has built our name on – wedding photojournalism or documentary wedding photography. That does not mean we will turn down special requests on your wedding day. For example, we are asked to stage a first look between the bride and groom, or the bride and her father, at many of our weddings.
5. Will you do family and wedding party portraits?
We expect that every wedding will have requests for formal portraits of the immediate families, grandparents and wedding party. We realize that a wedding celebration is often a gathering of family, friends and loved ones who have traveled various distances to attend your wedding. In this way, a wedding is similar to a family reunion, and who can imagine attending a family reunion without doing group portraits! We take the time before your wedding to understand what your requirements are. We ask you to fill out a list of the various combinations of groups, and we work with you to determine the best time of day to photograph them. We also ask that you would do a little homework prior to the wedding day and inform everyone in the list of the time and location of the portraits.
6. What about additional guest photos at the reception, or going table to table?
We are asked all the time during cocktail hour or the reception to do a quick group photo. It’s not a problem at all. We don’t come unglued, or rudely say “no!” Our only concern is that we cannot stop for everyone if it happens to be a very important moment for the bride and groom, like cutting the cake, or the first dance, and risk not capturing it. We simply inform the people making the request that we will need to do it as soon as the important moment is finished. Regarding photographing your guests during dinner, going table to table and asking for the group seated to organize for a portrait…to be perfectly honest, we prefer not to do it. From experience, no couple in my entire career of photographing weddings, ever purchased or used these photos in a wedding album. Secondly, from our experience, the guests usually begrudgingly oblige. If it is imperative that you require them, we require that we bring an additional associate to the reception to do them. They are time consuming and can take upwards to two hours to complete. If your lead photographer is tied up doing them, he or she will miss photographing any important moments that happen during this time.
7. Can we do fun photos around town in between the ceremony and reception?
When time permits, yes! There is so much that needs to be baked into the schedule for there to be enough time and to make it a successful venture. Making sure there is adequate time to complete formal portraits after the ceremony before leaving. Time for getting the wedding dress bustled and the wedding party loaded onto the bus or limo. While on the subject, having a party bus or limo is extremely important for this. Otherwise, time will be wasted at each location waiting for everyone to find parking and find one another. In downtown Detroit without a party bus or limo, this would be next to impossible. Other considerations, like deciding on the locations before the wedding day; getting permits, if needed, weeks before the event; having plenty of beverages and snacks on the bus to avoid a “hangry” bridal party (especially on a humid, hot summer day!). Also, consider fun locations, like a bowling alley or pub (maybe axe throwing?) for us to capture unique and spontaneous moments, rather than just having a collection of group portraits in front of landmarks around the city.
8. What time do your photographers start and what time do they end for the day?
If you’ve selected one of our packages that include “unlimited” coverage, we recommend up to three hours of coverage with the bride getting ready through midnight. We love to photograph the bride early, when her bridesmaids are just arriving and through your hair and makeup process. Photographing the groom is a little different. The guys usually are not gathering until an hour or so before heading off to the ceremony, so we recommend a starting time for our associate photographer to begin at about the same time. An hour with the groom is usually more than sufficient at capturing great getting ready photos. Again, with the “unlimited” packages, we always stay until midnight. You won’t be sorry if you love outrageous dance photos! Our experience is that your guests usually need time to warm up (or let the alcohol take affect) before the dance floor is flooded and the Congo lines begin!
9. How long until we will see our wedding photos after the wedding?
Normally, in the height of the wedding season, we need two months to turn around your photos and have them ready to be viewed on your personal online gallery. All of your images captured during your wedding will be culled to your final collection and sent off to our lab for professional color correcting before making your gallery. Your flash drive of your complete collection of high resolution digital copies will be delivered to you 60 days after your gallery is published.
