GETTING THE THUMBS UP FROM THE BRIDE
I really thought that I was going to have a major challenge with this couple. When the bride (a dentist) first contacted me a year and a half ago, we exchanged emails every day for about 2 weeks and then as a result of not being able to make a decision, I ended up having a conference call with the bride and her mother, talking for an hour and a half - again without any kind of commitment. She asked if I would hold the date temporarily (which I did for one week) while she tried to tie down the ceremony location and a few other things. I contacted her one week later to find out that she could not make up her mind and so I should go ahead and book the date to someone else.
A few months later I get an email from her hoping that the date wasn't booked yet - which it happened not to be. I proceeded with my standard steps of sending her the PDF wedding agreemet for her to fill in, sign and send back to me with 1/2 the total amount to reserve the date for her. That process took several weeks as she was undecided about a few issues. Finally I recieved it in the mail and booked her date for her. A few months later I receive an email stating that she had been talking to a police officer friend and he recommended that she have a new contract made because she should have signed it in person and he knew of many couples getting ripped off by photographers. Of course that was absultely absurd at this point in time and I informed her that it made no sense to do such a thing after the fact (she also lived in Montreal some 10 hours away making it almost impossible to accomplish).
I heard nothing more until a few months before the wedding when she emailed me the agenda for the day plus a long list of family groupings (which she was aware when we booked was not the way I typically worked - with a list - or having long portrait sessions). Then 1 week before the wedding I get an email stating:
QUOTE
Also, I remember you saying that you don't like to modify pictures a long
time ago... but I had to go for semi-emergency surgery today on my neck and
I really have no idea how bad it's going to look - I'll have an incision
above my collarbone that probably won't be completely healed by next week
and I was wondering if it would be possible to adjust this for the pictures
that we'd choose to be in our album?
What craziness this has been the past few days! But all is okay now, except
for this big bandage! I just kinda wanted some reassurance that the
pictures won't be ruined.
While I didn't promise any retouching, I reassured her that I would do my best to be aware of the issue when taking the pictures and when processing wedding album images.
Well I was quite surprised to find that the scar and invisible bandaid were barely noticable. Upon arriving I immediately got her mind off her insecurity with the problem. While we were shooting through the day she was constantly wanting to get to the next location way ahead of time and had a hard time concentrating on the pictures at hand - - - her mind was on her guests and her being with them and not disappointing them by being late or not a good host.
Half way through the day while shooting in on them from across the street, I got this spontaneous THUMBS UP to make me aware that the day was going wonderfully for them. Just as I was finshing my coverage and grabbing a few shots of the couple relaxing before being introduced for the meal, the bride confided in me that she was so pleased with the way the day went and that from the start I was able to make her feel relaxed and comfortable - - - then I received a wonderful thanks from both of them. Looking at all of the 2200 shots I ended up getting, the day was a tremendous success from my standpoint. Because of the issues along the way, I ended up being as nervous and paranoid as the bride was I think - - - but together we made everything perfect.
END OF THE STORY
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