Common Practices: Engagement Session Images
We recently sat down with Cindy from Cindy & Saylor Photography and were chit-chatting about the things vendors discuss when we asked Cindy something we get asked quite frequently. We loved her answer as it really explains the photographers decision, so we wanted to share it with you. More and more, we are seeing photographer’s turn over the digital files of engagement sessions to couples after their wedding day, asking couples to order all prints to be displayed at the wedding through the photographer only. Our couples ask us why this is, as they would like to get the files early and have prints made at less expensive labs, such as Wal-Mart and CVS. Here’s what Cindy told us:
1.We want you to look your best–Generally speaking, the images provided on a CD are a proof. This means they have received some basic edits such as color correction, cropping, and a bit of a boost in brightness and contrast. It is still a great image and perfectly suitable to make a print to send to Grandma, but the image hasn’t yet reached the final vision that the photographer had in mind. Any print ordered through our studio undergoes what we call a ‘fine art edit’. Some steps included in a fine art edit are retouching, blemish removal, color and contrast boost, dodging and burning, removal of distracting elements, selective tonal color adjustments and other artistic touches. In short, every measure available to make you look your absolute best will be taken. (See her samples below)
2. We want to look our best too–Think back over all the planning and detail that went into your engagement session. You discussed with your photographer locations, wardrobe and maybe even had your makeup professionally done. All that attention to detail resulted in the perfect image to display at your wedding. You and your photographer shared a vision for how the image would turn out and together you NAILED it! Now, you take this fabulous, practically perfect in every way, image to Walgreens, CVS or (shudder) Wal-Mart to be printed. Really? Do you have the confidence that the pimply-faced high school student behind the counter is going to print your perfect image in the manner that is deserves to be printed? Not sure? We aren’t either. Photographers want you to look your best and WE want to look our best too. A photographer doesn’t want to show up at the reception and see the image we worked so hard with our client to create displayed at less than it’s best. We include a print credit in all of our packages for just for this reason. Let us do the printing, one less thing to add to your to-do list.
3. Quality, Quality, Quality–What it comes down to is quality. We, as professional photographers, use professional equipment to capture your photo, we have professional software to develop and edit the image and our computers are calibrated with our professional photo printing labs. All of this to ensure that your image will be of the highest quality available. The paper and inks used by our professional lab are archival and designed to last for decades. Higher quality ink plus higher quality photo paper equals a higher quality image every single time. After everything is said and done this image is not just to display at your wedding reception, it will become decor in your new home. A lasting visual memory of the two of you as a couple at the time of your marriage. Don’t you want an enduring piece of art that will last a lifetime? We thought so. 
Common Practices: Wedding Night Clean Up
We’re starting a new collection of posts here called “Common Practices”. Many of the wedding industry tendencies are not common knowledge, nor are they necessarily intuitive. To help all engaged couples planning a wedding, we want to give you some more information about how things are typically done, who does them and what to think about when planning your special day. To get started, we’re actually going to start at the end, the end of your big day that is.
At the end of your wedding day, when you have left to cheers from your guests and your guests have gone home, the wedding night clean up begins. Some vendors refer to this as break down, some refer to it as striking the event. Either way, it’s important to know what happens because you have items left behind that need to be taken care of. What happens and who does it can depend entirely on your venue. They set the rules on what can be stored and what needs to leave at the end of the night. Here’s a list of all the items that need to be taken care of and what typically happens.
- Wedding Gifts – Typically your venue or wedding planner will move your gifts during the event to a secure location, whether it is the venue coordinator’s office or perhaps another event space, it will be away from any wandering eyes. At the end of the event, these items will be loaded onto a cart or taken directly to the vehicle of who you designate as being responsible for these items. Usually this is a parent of the newlyweds. Make sure you tell whoever you designate ahead of time so they know to stay til the end of the night. The venue coordinator or your planner should know who this is so they make sure it all goes home with the right person, not just someone who volunteered.
photo by F8 Studio
- Personal items – This includes your toasting flutes, your cake knife and server, guest book and any decor you brought to the event. If you have any DIY projects you brought, such as a candy buffet you or your planner set up, these need to be removed. Sometimes a venue will store these items for you to be picked up the following week, but this is not normally the case. Usually they are sent home with the same person designated to take home the gifts.
- Food & Drink – If your wedding is at a full service venue (meaning a venue that also supplies catering and staff), they will most likely pack a box of food for the newlyweds to take with them. All other food is thrown out due to sitting out for so long (especially on a buffet). It is an insurance requirement at most venues that they are not allowed to send “left overs” home with anyone. If someone were to take the food home and not properly store it, resulting in food poisoning, the venue does not want to be responsible. If you are working with a caterer, they may have their own policies. Make sure you ask about this when hiring them. If you brought in your own alcohol, you will need to take home what is left over. This can be quite a bit, so make sure that whoever you designate to stay and take this home at the end of the night has a large vehicle, just in case. Typically, your caterer and/or planner will not transport left over alcohol.
- Cake – Your venue or caterer will box up your left over cake to take home, but most of the time they do not provide the boxes for this. Make sure you bakery will leave boxes, and if not, bring some of your own. Also, check with you bakery to see if any equipment, such as a stand, needs to be returned. Some planners will return cake stands for you, but again, check with them and see who needs to be responsible for this.
photo by Bella Pop Photography
- Floral decor / centerpieces – Most florists are charging you just a rental on their vases and other decor (such as candles, etc.). This means that at the end of the night, all the containers your beautiful floral are in must be returned to the florist. Typically, the florist will make arrangements with the venue to pick up these items the next day, but more and more venues are requiring the florist to pick up items that night. You must find out what your venue requires and communicate this to the florist as they will not call and check this for you all the time. You also might see an extra fee from the florist because of this, so double-check with them! As for the floral itself, you paid for this and can take whatever you would like home, but without the container. Some clients choose to pay for the containers for part of the centerpieces so they can take them home as they are. Some make arrangements to return the vases to the florist themselves at a later time, and others will just leave the floral behind. (Always ask your florist when receiving proposals if the containers/vases are included as a rental or purchase.) If the florist included the containers in your contract, you can give centerpieces away to your guests. Just remember, if a guests is from out of town, they probably cannot transport the item home, especially if they are traveling by air.
- Linens, Rentals and other Decor – Most rental companies prefer to pick up their rental items the Monday following your event. If they are required to pick up that night, you will more than likely be charged an additional fee, so check with your venue! The staff at your venue, if full service, will pack away all the rentals and linens for the rental company to pick up. However, if you are not at a full service venue, your caterer may help with only the items they handled, such as glassware, dishes, and flatware. With any rental items, designate someone responsible for checking the items for damage and counting. You will be charged for damaged items or missing items, so you always want to make sure someone is checking to make sure it is all there and not misplaced.
- Trash – Most venues handle all waste disposal. However, while unusual, some venues do not have dumpsters and require all waste to be removed at the end of the night by either the caterer or yourself. Venues will be up front about this need, so make sure you address it with them and your caterer. Caterers sometimes charge an extra fee for this. There are waste disposal companies that can be hired to bring containers to your event and take care of them throughout the night. Some even recycle all the waste, so it’s a great way to be green! They are usually inexpensive, so compare them to what your caterer charges.
- Other break down - All other vendors will need to break down their equipment and take it with them that evening. For example, a DJ or band will not leave their equipment over night. However, if you rented a stage or lighting, this will be broken down based on the rental companies needs. Any other entertainment, such as a photo booth or cigar roller, will also break down that evening and remove everything from the venue.
Your wedding planner should stay until the end of your event and follow up with all the vendors to make sure this break down happens according to your plan. They typically help with making sure all of your items (as listed above) are sent home with the right person, the rentals are all accounted for and packed away for pick up, the florist picks up all their containers (and none were taken home by a guest who didn’t know any better), and to check if there are and damages you will be responsible for. This all factors into that “peace of mind” when hiring a planner to help with your wedding day, whether full service or as a day of wedding planner. We hope this helps you to understand what to plan for at the end of your wedding night!