Trashing the dress

An email I sent to some wedding prospects - Guide to choosing your photographer

I paid to list my services with a web company specializing in weddings, every so often I receive inquiries regarding wedding photography and many start with, 'We are on a tight budget' on many occasion I have dropped price to help people out only to find on their day they have booked the largest venue you can imagine, have stilt walkers, magicians, sweetie trollies, £20K worth of fireworks, 15 bridesmaids, free bar all night and catering for 300 people! you can imagine how this makes me feel if I have offered them a genuine discount to help out as their budget is so tight.

The latest set of leads I received was today and I thought you know what a little information goes a long way so I thought I would share my reply on here.

Hi there

I expect everyone is emailing you offering amazing deals and you are overcome by choice so I thought I would email you with a guide so when you have looked at everyone if you have any doubt you can then come back to me for a quote if you need to, however I am not a photographer to play bidding games with other ‘photographers’ I am not the cheapest but I know I am not the most expensive as well, but I am full time and very professional and I am told fun and friendly as well, so here goes, a list of things you must consider when booking your photographer, I hope it helps you.

• Most photographers have packages, gold, silver etc each package offers a guide to what they will do on the day and after the wedding in the way of products and services, please be sure to read into the ‘package’ as often wording like whole day photography may be followed by 8 hours, so sometimes it’s not always as clear as you may think

• Includes a CD of images after the wedding, (sometimes followed by up to 400 images) when I shoot a wedding my average gallery is around 1200 for a full day if you have contracted for 400 images then the additional images will cost you more, when I burn 1200 images to data DVD’s that hold 4.7GB of information I can only get 400 images on a disc full size so it’s usually several DVD’s not one so are the images you receive full size at around 10meg per file average or have they been re sized to a smaller file size that will only print to 6x4 for example?

• Two photographers on the day, this is often a hook to catch you, I work with many people who are interested in photography but they have normal weekday jobs, therefore they are ‘other occupations’ that have an interest in photography or a partner, I offer other professional photographers who I have trained to look out for what I look out for but there is obviously an additional charge unless you specifically want a student

• I have heard horror stories that some photographers wont shoot cutting the cake because it was not in your package, make sure you know what they are happy to shoot on the day, it should be everything that happens and everyone that’s there

• If your booking is for a set number of hours and your day over runs so the first dance is late or there are surprise fireworks, is it going to cost you extra for the photographer to stay?

• My package includes a book, please be sure you know what type of book you are getting, personally I think the most important thing is the have the day covered properly and the data then if it takes 6 months to choose your favorite photos and go back for a book surely you will get a better book? And you won’t have to fork out money when you have everything else to pay for

These are just a few highlights you should consider when choosing your photographer, you have probably heard it many times but after the day when the dress is in the cupboard, the cake has been eaten, and everything else is over, the photographs are what you have left to look back on, well that and your own memory and until we can plug out heads into a USB port to look at memories on a big screen TV the only physical way of remembering the day and sharing it is with your photos, with this in mind, the budget for your photography should reflect this, if you pay peanuts you get ...well empty shells all over the place!

I hope this is of some help, whatever you do have a great day

Regards

Matt

Please excuse the auto spelling check included in the text

Baby - New born - Family photo shoots Tonbridge - Bromley - Sevenoaks - Westerham - Kent

Eadie's First Photo shoot

This was a great day, one of my brides came back to me after nearly three years and asked if I do #baby portraits ... yes I do and how nice to hear from you as well.

this was after hearing from another client she had taken up one of those rip off shoots where you pay £25 for three shoots but the photos cost fortunes, this particular client had one 6x8 and one 16x12 and paid £180 for them she asked if she could purchase the full resolution data and they said yes £700! so watch out those of you looking to save money up front it may cost you in the end!

this shoot was my current special offer of £35 for the baby shoot and the prices are on the gallery for prints and I think they are very reasonable for professional photos (not someone with a camera)

anyway

if your interested get in touch

cheers for reading

Matt

Wedding photography for mature clients

http://jalbum.net/a/1461486
Simon and Sharon

Perhaps you are getting marred? Perhaps it's not your first time, you still want the memories of this special day but not all the huge involvement that you had first time around, this is more about your two than the day, much more intimate a smaller scale with real friends and family, and much more fun, lets face it as you get older (I like to say more mature) you don't really worry as much about what people think, if they don't like it then are they real friends.

so why not have a photographer who understands all of this with a great nature and friendly approach that will work with your day and not cost the earth.

Packages are available for these clients from as little as £550, considering the average wedding package these days topples over the £1500 mark then that's an amazing offer

Why not contact me to find out more and oh, before you book me you get the chance to met and have a shoot with me to see what all the fuss is about

thanks for reading

Matt

Who to use for your Baby portraits? shoots from as little as.... free, contact me for more information - Baby photoshoots

Ok One of my brides contacted me over the Christmas period and informed me they have a baby, I shot over and took some wonderful pictures at home for the couple and they were really happy, so I want to offer this to all those who have just had a baby, the shoot can be at home or the studio but at home its comfortable and all Baby's toys are there as well I believe it's less distressing for the Baby.
Your shoot could be free! depending on where you are in the UK, and after you can purchase your photos or digital images and to give you an idea this client purchased all the 229 images in her gallery for just £230! copyright free

If you don't have that budget don't panic you can just purchase prints from just £5!

so contact me on 07930 041105 or email matt@mattjamesphotography.co.uk to book your shoot but hurry as limited spaces are available in January and February

Cooling Castle Barn wedding gallery

http://dubjubbley.jalbum.net/Laura and Brad/index.html

this is a full wedding gallery from a wedding I shot at Cooling Castle Barn
shot by me matt james photography couples looking to get married there can contact me for a free pre wedding shoot a sort of try before you buy
you can email me direct or contact 07939 041105

Photo Booth hire - photography studio hire - photography lessons - models wanted TFCD

Ok, If anyone finds this blog the picture is nothing to do with this edition, its just a nice beach in Jamaica where I shot a recient wedding, this blog is about-Photo Booth hire - photography studio hire - photography lessons - models wanted TFCD

Photo booth hire in Kent - ok I have built my own booth and purchased software to run the booth and it works a dream, now I am on version 3 of my booth and it rocks, with a pentium 15 computer runing the system and top end Sony dye sub printer - it comes with a dress up box as well with funny hats and glasses etc

if you want the booth experience but have limited room the the booth frame (this sits on a desktop) will work just as well

Photography studio hire - I have a studio in Tonbridge and lots of my owrk is out and about, so if there are budding photographers out there who want to use a studio the I can arrange reasonable rates for you contact me on 07939 041105

Photography lessons - lots of people have nice cameras now, I see it at weddings, but what I also see is the camera set on auto (the green button) no way are you getting the best from your camera so why not book some lessons mthi smay be cheaper than you think and could make a great present

Models wanted in Sevenoaks and Kent and surrounding areas such as Bromley, Westerham, Tunbridge Wells, Tonbridge and anywhere in Kent, if you have transport then you can even be from London, why do I need TFCD models and how will TFCD benefit you, Well I am putting on an exhibion next year and need to create some art to show off and sell and unfortunatly a drive of mine with some important shots on died and I need to start again, I especially need Japanese, Chinese or Asian models but all are welcome, at the time it is specifically ladies I am, looking for but if the right male model appears I may change my tune call 07939 041105 to enquire, this will be weekdays or evenings as most of my weekends are booked up

any way I do hope someone sees this blog and if you have why not pop me an email across to let me know and perhaps let me know what you would like to see me write about

cheers for now

Matt

Victoria and David Sevenoaks 26th May 2013">

A wonderful sevenoaks wedding gallery all 1600 images!

amazing even if I say so myself Victoria and David Sevenoaks 26th May 2013">

Grant Thornton at the Cutty Sark

this was an amazing afternoon and evening, we met at the London Eye to board the Barracuda to Greenwich, all day it had been grey and wet then as if someone was on our side the blue sky appeared during the duration of our boat trip to Greenwich.

On arrival the partners were met y fantastic staff at the attraction and we were led underneath the Tea Clipper where the most amazing layout would have complimented any wedding

my job was all reportage, no posed shots just tell the story of the event and capture the networking and location details.

If you look through the gallery I think its safe to say...job done :-) Really pleased with these images even though a motherboard broke on the 5d last night that will cost £400 to have mended

http://dubjubbley.jalbum.net/Bickley Manor Pre wedding/

http://dubjubbley.jalbum.net/Bickley Manor Pre wedding/