I'm Ready For My Close Up - Our Second Photographer Option

After our meeting with our first photographer, I was really looking forward to having our meeting with our second photographer. From all the glowing review from Mima Kettle and FSIL Grand, I knew I'd enjoy that meeting as well.

Image: Bella Pictures

They opted to do a conference call meeting with Mr. Kettle and I because our schedules are horrendous and that's the only way we'd be able to meet within a couple weeks. Mr. Kettle and I were at Mima and Poppa Kettle's house when the call came in. The woman we spoke to was friendly and excited about our wedding. She was excited to show us the options for what they could do for us. And they were having a 40% of sale. Winning!

Mr. Kettle really took the lead for this photographer, which made me very happy. After being so satisfied after our first interview, my excitement for these second photographers was surface level at best, so he provided the buoy of excitement.

Image: Buoy by blog.SILive.com

She gave us her spiel and it all sounded pretty lovely. They were able to provide the same services as the other people we met with. They knew our budget and said they could make it fit. Things were a la carte, but with that 40% off, I was hopeful that something could be worked out.

Then... well... I went from hopeful to just plain disheartened y'all. She added up what we wanted and it came to a ridiculously high number. First, imagine you're in Chicago at Chicago prices. Then read through what all we wanted and see what number you guess in your head. I want to read this in the comments section people.

1. Photography for the whole day at one location, including getting-ready-shots. Basically 9.5 hrs.
2. Videography also for the whole day.
3. A portrait setup for the reception.
4. A wedding album for us, including copyrights to all photos available as a disc.
5. A wedding video, plus all the unedited footage on separate DVDs.

Her price? $1000? Nope. $2000? Keep going. $3000, not there yet. $4000? Take out the album and the rights to the photos and the unedited footage of the wedding, and we came in just under $4000. That's including the the 40% discount.

After regaining consciousness, I asked Mr. Kettle to put her on hold. I then asked him to see what our budget we told her ($2500) could get us. She ran through the numbers again and told us we could get a photographer and videographer for the reception, pictures of our wedding party during the cocktail hour (not before like I'd much prefer), and the main highlights of the reception (i.e., the first 2 hrs). We still would have to order everything else a la carte.

I was just... I still can't find words for how I felt in that moment. Those exorbitant prices were why I gave up on photographers originally and began to get stalked by them on my e-mail and voicemail. So we could shell over $2500 (before taxes and tip and travel charges) and get our photos and videos taken. We just wouldn't be able to get any record of it without shelling over almost that much again. That's right, if we got everything we were being offered by the first place.

I was suddenly glad the meeting wasn't face-to-face because I know I have no poker face, and I would've given her one of these:

Personal photo: thinly veiled displeasure face

Mr. Kettle heard the rest of her options. She asked us if there was any wiggle room in our budget, and he said maybe. She said she would get with her boss and see what they could do for us.

I didn't know how they could get the price down any further on top of already having the sale for 40% off. After having seen their pictures, I knew we'd get a great photographer, if it was in our budget.

Want to see some photos of their lovely work?

All pictures via Bella Pictures

In the next post, I'll tell you who we chose.