I have been doing wedding photography since right after I got married in 1994. We booked a photographer my wife knew, someone she went to high school with. We booked one year before the wedding. One month before the wedding, she called us to let us know that someone walked into her studio, and paid her a huge amount of money to book a wedding for the same time and date as ours. So she took the wedding, and told us that she would have an associate of hers do our wedding. We didn't know she had an associate, so we decided to get our money back and look elsewhere. We booked one of the bigger names in wedding photography in the New Orleans area (we lived there at the time) to handle our wedding. He did our wedding, and took over an hour at the reception to take photos. Once we got our photos back, we were disappointed. One of his lights wasn't working during the group shots, we had lots of photos of the bridal party with members so dark you couldn't see them. We were upset, and out just over $1,800 on top of it. Then the photographer "let us" pick the first 100 proofs for our album, everything else was an extra $2.00 per photo. These weren't reprints, these were the photos we paid him to take. Then he wanted to charge $100 for a proof book that was in our contract. I have been a photographer since 7th grade, so we told him no and I got one myself. It was after this experience that I decided as much as I was scared of doing weddings, I could certainly do better than what was done to us. About that time a friend came to my wife about her sisters wedding. She didn't have a lot of money, and needed a photographer, and asked if I would do it if they paid for film and developing. I was scared, but thought that I needed to at least try it, so I did it. After that wedding, she referred me to other friends of hers, and my wedding photography business took off. I don't do this for a living, I have a full time job, wife, and two kids. Without advertising, I was doing an average of 7 weddings and a high school class reunion just about each year from 1995 until our lives took an unexpected turn thanks to Hurricane Katrina. We were fortunate not to have lost our house, but I lost my job. I got a transfer to Boston, where my family and I stayed for a year and a half before I was able to switch departments within my company and move south. This is when we came to Cypress, TX just outside of Houston. A dear friend of ours moved to Cypress after their house got flooded in Katrina, and pretty much made it easy for us as far as setting up schools, looking for places to live, etc. I shot their wedding in 2002, you can see their photo on the front page.
Now that we are settled again, I am ready to get back to doing what I love, which is wedding photography. I do things different than most. First, I am not a full time wedding photographer, so I don't charge what the full time wedding photographers do. I don't have the studio to pay for, I don't have the associated utility cost, rent, etc. Second, I believe in being reasonable, and giving my customers what they need without being ridiculous. Weddings cost a lot of money. I know, I got married. You can certainly spend a fortune on a photographer, and if you like the style of a certain photographer, I would be the first to encourage you to go with someone who's style you like. Hopefully, you will only get married once, and the photos from your wedding will be with you a lifetime. You should get what you want. My typical customer is someone who needs a photographer, and can't spend thousands of dollars on photos. I don't play the game of shooting a bunch of photos, "giving" you the first 100 or so, then charging for the others. I prefer to keep it simple. I spend a MAXIMUM of 30 minutes at the start of the reception taking photos, usually less (my record is 72 photos in 22 minutes). Does this mean I am there 30 minutes and leave? No, of course not. It means that I will try hard to get the vast majority of photos done as quickly as possible, allowing you time to enjoy the reception to your wedding. I will be there for the duration of the reception to cover the other things like the bouquet toss, first dance, cutting of the cake, etc. Now that the digital age has hit the wedding business, I shoot all of my photos with a professional digital camera. No restrictions on shots, I can shoot whatever and how much is needed to cover you wedding. And I will know I have the shot as soon as it is taken. You can see it yourself during the wedding if you like!! These photos are your photos, you should have them all. So I put them on a CD, and give you the CD. You are then free to email, print, copy and distribute the photos as you please. I don't provide prints, so I don't charge you for them. You have the freedom to get your photos printed anywhere you choose, and print as many as you like, all without having to worry about how much you are being overcharged for prints. My cost is for my time and the CD of your photos. If you need albums for your photos, I can help you with that as well.
I have my own style of photography, but I don't force it on anyone. As you browse through the samples on this web-site, you will see the fun loving, not so serious photos I like to take. These are in addition to the traditional photos, so it is strictly an option if you want to take some of these. Please look at the photos on this site, and feel free to contact me with any questions. I will do everything I can to make at least the photography portion of your wedding as stress free as possible.