The wedding climate has certainly taken a turn in the last decade…I remember weddings I attended 15 years ago and on reflection it’s hard to even tell which one was which…the cookie cutter wedding standard was strong back then. A white-ish dress dictated by what the boutiques carried at the time, flowers dictated by what the florist said was in season at the time, those ubiquitous teal-chiffon dresses, “in sickness and in health” standard vows, the right speeches by the right people in the right order at the sit down dinner reception.
Now there’s nothing wrong with any of these things, but when I went to plan my own wedding 9 years ago I was faced with a problem…I didn’t want any of these things, but it was really hard to get anything else. Buying online was still young, vendors offered unyielding package deals and charged a fortune if they were prepared to change anything. So I battled the system and found what I wanted anyway, including a lot of DIY. But getting out of the square was like pushing a hippo up a staircase – it could be done but it left you wondering why you were attempting it in the first place.
Fast-forward 10 years and not only do most people plan their weddings online but also buy most things online. We don’t call vendors any more, we check out their website and fill in their contact form and wait to see if they’ll get back to us. We dress our bridesmaids in different colours and styles, we write our own vows, we have casual garden receptions with little to no speeches and have our honeymoons later in the year when we’ve gotten over the cost of the wedding. “Off-beat” weddings are now totally normal, we show off our tattoos instead of covering them, we have more and more blended families to negotiate and no one RSVP’s until the last possible second except Grandma. Via text.
I love the way the wedding culture has changed. I love watching it evolve as more people realise that they can have a wedding that suits them instead of what’s expected. If you’re a dancer, you can dance. If you hate dancing, you can have lawn games instead. If you want everyone to take photos you can download an app where your guests can upload them all, if you want an “unplugged” wedding you can ask your guests to put their phones and cameras away for half an hour. If you want to serve alcohol you can, if you’re not a big drinker you don’t. You might want cheese boards and share plates and don’t have to have alternating steak and chicken dishes for 100 people.
In the same way you can have a professional photographer like me who doesn’t charge $3k+ for the day. When I chose to specialize in wedding photography I decided I wanted to break the mold a bit, and try and meet the demand for a flexible and affordable, but experienced photographer at a mid range cost. Some people want a few hours, some people want the whole day. Some people want to elope, some people have 150 guests. But everyone wants quality and affordability and that’s what I’m aiming to provide. I love what I do. I love meeting couples and becoming a part of telling their unique love story.
So when people (often) ask me why I’m so cheap I just tell them...I don’t want beautiful, quality wedding photos to be out of reach for couples like you. Because you shouldn’t have to choose between quality or missing out on those memories when it comes to capturing your special day.