For the first time last Friday, I pursued finding a photographer for our wedding. Since my photography budget is on the low end of the spectrum, around $2000, I have been searching for someone with talent and style who can give us a REAL photojournalistic look on shoestring funds. Somehow I stumbled across Bella Picturesand signed up on their Website for a consultation. Their packages start right within my budget and include unlimited shots and rights to all digital negatives, which is also important to us.
I met with a fantastic consultant, Melissa, from Bella Pictures. Besides the fact that we have many things in common, she was easy to talk to and very focused on learning what the tone and feeling of our wedding will be. She even had her own wedding pictures to show off, which were taken by Bella seven years ago.
She had me look through several albums of photos and describe which ones I liked and why, and which ones I didn’t and why. She took pages of notes and described the process of how a particular photographer was chosen based on the desires of the couple. Once you put down a deposit, you meet with the photographer that has been assigned for your specific style to make sure it’s the right match and have the open option of switching if you’re not satisfied. Melissa said that she’s only ever had it happen twice out of hundreds of couples.
Bella Pictures is a nationwide company that has photographers all over the country, with a pool of them in each geographic area. The cool part is that they have each been certified by Bella Chief Photographer, Bob Davis, who recently shot Eva Longoria and Tony Parker’s wedding in France. What a claim to fame! And it shows!
Since we still have a whole year, we want to check out a few more options before setting anything in stone, but Bella is definitely a contender.
