Q: I want to book you ... what do I do now?A: I book on a first come, first served basis and have booked up to 8 weddings in one week, so if you're truly interested, please don't put off this next step. Simply email me that you want to book me and give me your mailing address so I can put an agreement in the mail for you. Your date will be permanently held as soon as I get the agreement back with the $500 deposit.
Q: How quickly will I hear back from you about your availability for my wedding date?A: I check my email many times a day, and my spam filter as well, and I respond right away to ALL queries, whether I'm available or not. I'm beginning to realize that my responses sometimes end up in your spam folders, so I'm now asking couples to include their phone numbers as well as their wedding date in their intial query so if I don't hear back from them after the intial contact, I can at least verbally confirm that I do have that date open (or not). If you've contacted me and you don't hear back from me, check your spam filters, it's gotta be in there!
Q: When is the balance due?A: The remainder of the balance is due your wedding day. I accept cash or checks and am happy to let you know the balance in advance so you can fill out the check ahead of time. I absolutley can't stand having to pull the bride or groom aside at the end of the night for a final payment. Besides, the bride and groom shouldn't have to be dealing with money on their wedding night.
Q: How far do you travel?A: I try to stick to a 100 mile radius from the greater Detroit area, or a two hour driving time. The first 50 miles I drive are included in my fees, but anything over that and up to 100 miles is $50. I start your 8 hours once I arrive! Occasionally I'll get couples who absolutely know they want me and they're further away, in which case I'll see what I can do.
Q: Do you give any kinds of discounts?A: Nope! I don't ask what you do for a living, what your budget is, or how much you value photography. You are all equally important and you will all receive 100% of my best effort and you are ALL paying the same rate regardless if your wedding is out of season, are planning a Friday or Sunday wedding, only have 10 people at your wedding, are in the military, on a tight budget (aren't we all?), share my birthday (Feb.11th), are a natural redhead or are rich and famous! If it makes you feel any better, you're all getting an incredible bargain.... I charge half what my fellow photojournalists charge because frankly, I think they're being greedy!
Q: Do you shoot digital wedding photos?A: Yes, I do! I've been thrilled with the results and the flexibility it provides my clients afterwards. The quality is great and it allows me to shoot more accurately as I go along. A definite win/win on both sides!
Q: Do you have liabilty insurance? (if anything would happen to the camera, pictures, etc?) A:
This question has started to pop up in the last couple of years and if you do find any photogs who HAVE this type of insurance, I'd love to know where the heck they've found it! I did call my agent who kept asking questions I couldn't answer like, "what do you want to insure yourself against and for who? I don't get it?". So, my insurance policy is quite simple. My husband is my back up in case I'm completely desimated. He's been used once in 500 weddings and he's a photo editor at the Detroit Free Press. I also carry a camera back up and a back up back up. I guess the best part of the policy is that out of over 500 weddings I've never gotten ANY negative feedback EVER! This is coming from a woman who always holds her breath whenever she tells people she shoots weddings for a living because there is ALWAYS a long stream of horror stories that will be following as soon as she says the words "wedding photographer"! I don't know if it's just en vogue to hate wedding photographers or if there are just a massive amount of boobs in the business, but Lordy, oh Lordy... the stories I've heard! My brides and grooms and their parents and their wedding parties and their guests and their caterers LOVE me and that's the policy that's most important to me!
Q: Any recommendations about film processing?A: Yes, all your images are put onto CDs because most photo processing places can only read up to 1 gigabyte of information at a time and I usually shoot around 2.5 gigabytes. That amount fits onto 1 DVD, but needs 3 or 4 CDs to fit them all. Take it to any place you're familiar to get your 4x6s. Check a small batch first for color shifts and if you like the results, have them print a whole bunch. Have your enlargements done at a custom lab if you're not thrilled with the results from your local processor. I have many clients who swear by Target, Walmart, Meijers and Costco! Price is not always the best way to select quality! My favorite online printers are MPix and Shutterfly. Steer clear of Snapfish... my brides have been experiencing major color shifts from them.
Q: We're looking for a mixture of B&W and color.A: No problem, but I'll let you in on a little secret. Almost all of my weddings are shot in color. B&W printing is a dying art form and the feedback I've gotten from my couples is that it is both expensive and it takes forever to get their prints back. I don't shoot both because invariably the thing you wanted in color will be in black and white and vice versa. For couples who want both, I shoot in color and then suggest they have any photos they want in B&W printed on B&W paper at a custom lab. It saves time and money and it's flawless. Many kiosks and printing places online will also convert the images to B&W with great results.
Q: I'd like to post my photos online. Which service do you prefer?A: New services are added all the time. Snapfish, Shutterfly and Mpix are favorites, but there are plenty others to choose from. Try to find companies that don't charge you for storage and let you keep your albums up for a good long time before they expire. Posting online saves you oodles of time and money in the long run and keeps friends and family out of your hair!
Q: Are you the one who is going to be shooting my wedding?A: Yes, you are hiring me and only me. Some studios have a stable of photographers they use. I don't have an assistant because I'm quite capable of doing the job myself and I'm not interested in teaching someone the ropes while I'm working for YOU! Q: If for some reason you're sick on my wedding day, do you have a back up plan?A: Yes, my husband, Rodney Curtis, is my back up. He's currently a photo editor at the Detroit Free Press. When I worked at the Associated Press, we job shared for 3 years. Our boss, apparently feeling we were interchangeable, would say, "I need a Curtis today for such and such an assignment." After more than 550 weddings, he's only been needed once. That couple was so happy, they started recommending him to all their friends! He's the closest thing to me you'll find. His site is www.rodneycurtis.com Q: You're already booked. We're looking for a good photojournalist. Do you have anybody else you can recommend?A:Yes! If you're looking for beautiful hand printed B&Ws and albums put together for you, check out Lindawan.com. If you're looking for a digital format from a wonderfully mellow and talented Ann Arborite, check out elliphoto.com. My husband, and back up, Rodney Curtis is also available to shoot digitally. So if it's me you're smitten with me, he's the next closest thing. Please email him at Curtisf8@aol.com to check his availability. Q: Do you have any other "vendors" (new, icky buzz word!) you can recommend?A: Yes! I'm always trying to keep tabs on the other helpers and when couples are especially pleased, I like to post their names and contact info. Click here to see my list of preferred helpers and sites. Q: What kind of cameras do you shoot with?A: I'm very well endowed, at least in the Nikon department! I'm shooting with two D200s and use two D70s's for backup. Q: Why do you give couples full image rights with all your high resolution digital files?A: They're worth a fortune to you (in memories and in savings) and for me they're only helpful for building a portfolio and for scrutinizing my work. Sometimes, it's just nice to see how I did! Most studios make at least 2/3rds of their money after they've shot your wedding on prints. Q: If we need you for overtime, what will that cost?A: You have me for 8 hours, and that is almost always plenty of time. In the unlikely event that you'd need me for longer, I don't need any notice, just let me know. I don't charge time and a half, I just tack on another hour which works out to $250/hr. Q: I'm not sure I want to deal with handling all the reprints for everybody.A: My couples have gotten very smart and started posting their images on websites like Shutterfly or MPix. Stay away from Snapfish for now... their quality has tumbled considerably and their prints don't resemble my images at all!. Family members can view a digital album and order their own prints. It's a win/win deal and it's very cost effective.
Q: Do you know anyone who puts together nice albums?A: If you're looking for someone to design an album for you in a variety of styles, check out Story Book Pages . Many couples are taking on this part of the process themselves. Check out shutterfly.com, mypublisher.com or Mpix.com for great do-it-yourself albums. If you're sure there is NO WAY you'd tackle that part, I can do that for $1000, which gets you a coffee table style book and two identical versions for your parents. You can do this yourself for much cheaper, it's just that some couples simply do not have the time, and well, I do! If you're in the mood to do it yourself, check out my wedding albums resource page .
Q: We have lots of photo geek friends and family members who will want to shoot during the day. Do you allow that?A: Of course! The more, the merrier. They're called free back-up! I'm used to shooting with a whole press corp vying for something unique and better than everybody else. Besides, it's nice to have back up! And don't forget, I'm not making any money on reprints.
Q: If we cancel our wedding, do we get our deposit back?A: Only if and when someone else books your date will I refund your $500 deposit. If I can't book the date, then you lose the deposit. Many couples don't realize that I get dozens of requests for their date after I book them, so I've reserved the whole day for the couple and don't keep others waiting in the wings!
Q: Everyone else offers lots of packages... why don't you?A: I suppose I could make things really confusing if I wanted to, but I think all my couples appreciate me keeping things simple. You're paying me a lot of money to shoot your wedding. Most studios make 2/3rds of their money from weddings on prints and reprints. I don't need to sell you anything, so I don't!
Copyright © 2008 Marci Curtis