My fiancé and I were looking for "not just another wedding photographer" to capture our big day…read more Being a photojournalist, Paul specializes in a behind the scenes approach to photography, capturing rare moments and the energy of the room. This is what we wanted: candid moments of our friends and family on our special day. We also wanted traditional wedding photos, and asked Paul to enlist the help of a fellow photographer to capture more of the standard "wedding" photos like portraits, family photos, and the romantic, cute bride and groom photos that every couple wants.
Working with Paul and his colleague was amazing leading up to the big day. He was super flexible with our schedule, offered to meet in person if we had any questions, and confirmed our special requests for us. He was fully informed of the must-have shots we discussed (especially the guests reaction to our kiss and walk back up the aisle as husband and wife), and told us not to sweat the small stuff like the photos of the day-of jewelry, dress hanging in the window, veil photo with couple kissing underneath, bridal party shoes, etc. You know, all the standard stuff. He'd take care of it. What a relief! He even agreed to have our photos to us within a week, despite his crazy busy schedule. Trust me with I say, a welcome partnership considering that not all vendors are as accommodating and easy to work with.
On the wedding day Paul and his colleague show up, everything is fantastic. He's early, he's dressed well, and he immediately gets to work snapping photos of the venue, the wedding party, and the décor - such a great thing to do before guests arrive. He and the second photographer were in and out of the bridal suite throughout the afternoon, seeming to capture those special moments prior to the ceremony. They stayed out of the way of the staff, but were all around us snapping photo after photo.
Following the ceremony, Paul seemed stressed about the position of, and rapidly setting sun. It felt like he rushed us through our wedding portraits with family and the wedding party, almost yelling at people to get in position so he could capture the moment while our second photographer held up a light screen...I know lighting is important, but the second photographer lost out on the opportunity to capture different angles, make suggestions for other positions, and also didn't have the opportunity to capture our guests at cocktail hour. We literally stood in one position and everyone rotated around us. Same looks on our faces, same backdrop, zero variety. Not very spectacular.
He then had us walk further down the beach to capture the couple shots. We thought we had taken several different positioned photos (kissing, holding hands, walking together with him holding my dress off the sand - close ups too, not just far away shots), but we would come to find out that most photos were captured in a single, or two positions. Not exactly creative or romantic.
Okay, so overall the wedding day went off without a major hitch, and we left the venue feeling really good about our choice in photographers. I mean, come on! His photos are unreal. We were looking forward to seeing how the photos of the sparkler send off turned out, one of our favorite moments of the night.
Fast forward to when we get our photos back from both Paul and our second photographer. We love the photos that were captured and appreciate the fact that the turnaround was so quick. We loved the photos of the reception, guests dancing, hitting golf balls into the water, swinging on the rope swing. The "action shots" were amazing. The garter and bouquet toss pictures were hilarious, just loved them. With that said, a lot of the couple's photos and candid moments between bride and groom did not meet our expectations based on the work we saw in his portfolio. There were so many beautiful places that could have provided variety both indoors and outdoors, and moments that we wish we had memories of, but neither Paul or his colleague captured them for us.
I would recommend Paul as a photographer, for sure, but note to future clients: be very assertive and prescriptive and exact about what you are looking for, or risk missing out on those key moments that are so important to you and your spouse.