The Reason I became a St Louis wedding Photographer

Every wedding photographer has a reason to do what they do. Regardless of what the masses might think, our job is not easy, but we love it. 

So what is my reason, my why so to speak?

Over a decade ago now my wife and I got married, we were both young and in love and had been together for some time before we tied the knot and decided to start planning our wedding.  

With most wedding planning there is a dress, venue, wedding photographer, flowers, cake, food, music, and for some alcoholic beverages. 

Being the male I did not have to do much just show up right, at the time that is what I thought and was the norm I did not want to get in the way of my wife’s dream wedding, and being that we were not rich by any means I wanted her to be able to spend our budget on what she thought was “worth it”. 

She got her dress off the rack and looked absolutely amazing (back to that later)! 

The venue was easy. We are from a small town so there was little to choose from so she got some recommendations from some friends. We booked a venue and it was affordable and nice. That was for the reception as for the ceremony it was at a small park in the town we grew up in and is the first place we met. Tale as old as time, right? 

Skipping the photographer for now (wait for it)! Haha

The flowers were affordable, I can’t even remember who did them but they were nice and again affordable for our budget. 

For the cake, we had two, this was around the time the groom’s cake started to catch some traction. It was a three-tier cake and a one-tier groom’s cake both were amazing and looked and tasted great. 

My mom helped with food and as for music that is about as touchy as the photographer so I will not speak to that. 

Now for the pay off! 

Let’s start with the photographer. We did not pay much which might be part of the problem. You get what you pay for. But what we were promised was not at all fulfilled. We did not get any of our ceremony because he was late. 

Remember I told you about my wife’s dress…ya she looked amazing, so here is a small side story. 

My wife walked toward me and when she arrived at the “altar” in front of our friends and family I was speechless… really I was speechless. 

The officiant asked me to repeat after him and I could not get the words out. I was stunned by beauty. Haha I still wish to this day I would have gotten an image of that moment, that memory now lives on as long as I can remember, my children can’t see what my face looked like and I would love to be able to show them that. 

Hence the importance of a photographer and the roots as to why I became one. I don’t want my couple to have those missed moments. 

Back to the photographer.

We got little to no coverage, first because he showed up late and second because our venue was thirty minutes away he didn’t fill up to driving that far so he could not make it. What could we do? We couldn’t pull him by the hand and say, no you have to come. 

It was both parties’ fault, us for not hiring a professional and trying to get more than what we paid for, and his because he accepted the job knowing what was in store.

When we got back from our honeymoon and contacted our photographer he said he would meet us but it was on his terms,which was an hour from us (remember when he said 30 minutes was an Inconvenience for him ?). He gave us a CD and sent us on our way. That is it no thank you for your business or anything like that, just handed us a CD and bounced. I am not sure about you but most the computers you buy these day don’t even have a cd reader, so it does little to no good now. I have moved them to digital files so we have them, but there was no offer for an album or in any way to remember our day, just a flat grey cd. 

Overall this is my why.

I want my couples to have coverage, I work with their budgets by setting up payment plans so they don’t feel like they are breaking themselves. I am open to all communication so anytime my couples have a question I am available to them. Lastly I get all of the details needed to help plan your wedding day. If your venue is miles from your ceremony site I will be sure to make it. 

In closing I want your wedding photography experience to be amazing because ours was most certainly not the best. My job is to bring you the best wedding photography experience which includes your images, service, and amazing products. That is why with most of my packages I offer an album, and I also offer digital files and an array of ways to print your images. Like a canvas, art, and even wood and metal. I want my couples to have options to fit their homes and display their amazing wedding day. Why? Because I was not given those options and would have loved to have them.