Favorite Part: Bridal Prep
Less Favorite: Night time family photos
It is done! From the beginning, middle to end, byLadyBug has its first wedding day under the belt. Previously, I’ve booked Bridal prep, and wedding day videography (which turned into an emergency photographer, because the hired photographer was late), but this is the first entire wedding day. I offered the couple two different packages (ref. Services Page) and they chose the premium package. Needless to say, I was excited, thrilled and nervous about this opportunity. From the moment the couple agreed to byLadyBug, I mentally went to work. I needed to be ready and prepared to deliver a product worthy of the price tag.
Praises went up and pens hit the paper; I wrote out a list of what was needed, the realistic list and what was desired, the dream list. byLadyBug is run by one woman but supported by a team of amazing people. One of those amazing persons was slated to be my 2nd photographer, and so I needed to double my supplies. I had my starter photographer’s kit: 1 DSLR Nikon camera and two zoom lenses. I had 6 months to check things off my lists and prepare myself for this wedding.
Further down the calendar, the couple hit me up. The videography team they selected had to back out. Now the premium package I offer already came with a 10 minute or less, short video of their wedding day, so they asked if I could extend that to incorporate the entire day. This was a big addition and I had to be upfront with the couple. This was doable but time-consuming and costly, but again doable. I needed an additional team member and even more equipment. At that point, if I purchased more equipment, I risked reducing my actual net income revenue, so I looked towards renting the necessary equipment. I found an amazing company (I’ll do a separate review on later). I was able to rent what I needed for the entire wedding weekend. Done. Next, I needed to find a third team member.
Since launching the byLadyBug Instagram page, I’ve been able to enter in and build a community of fellow professional photographers. One of which was a friend from high school. His photography business is G. Lucas Photography and I was a fan of his work. I felt God telling me to ask him, and it turned out to be the best decision. Done. The team was complete, two photographers and a videographer.
The entire weekend was a whirlwind of chaos, emotions, and success. I was flying out of Boston that Friday night after work and arranged it so my videographer would be flying out of Connecticut to arrive at the Reagan airport in DC at the same time as me. But the storm decided it wanted to mess up the plans that I had laid out months in advance. My flight was just fine, it remained the same and arrived on time, the Connecticut flight, however, was canceled. I received notification while at work and went into a panic. Then I received a follow-up email that the CT flight was rescheduled to Sunday morning…the day of the wedding. This was unacceptable. I decided to call because this was a reputable airplane service, someone really should be available to help. And they were, I spoke to a real live human and she was able to re-reschedule his flight to Saturday morning. This was acceptable. I flew in, as planned, on Friday night and started getting my equipment set arranged and verified that everything was correct. I woke up the next day, ready to go pick-up the videographer at the airport, but then I got a phone call…an alarm went off at the CT airport and the entire building had to evacuate. Luckily, no one was hurt, there was no dangerous threat or fiasco, so they were able to go back in with an hour or so, but of course, now the flight was delayed by hours. Nighttime falls and finally, he arrives at Reagan airport. Next, was food and rest before the big day.
Sunday comes, and we meet up with the second photographer at the hotel where the bride and bridesmaids are getting ready. I introduce the wedding party to my team and give them a rundown of how things will go while the bridge is getting ready. Next, we go to the other hotel down the street where the groom is getting ready. We do the same introductions and then I leave the two guys to work. I then head back to the bride’s hotel to do photography and video of the bridal prep. This is my favorite time of the day, getting to see everyone coming together. There’s laughter and nerves in the air, but most of all love and excitement. Bright sunlight is coming in through the window and good music is playing through the speakers.
After the bride and her team leave for the venue, I head back over to the groom’s hotel. Everything is in full swing there, the groomsmen are all dress up and ready to support their friend into this new step. The second photographer and videographer were working in tandem, getting some great footage. While they worked, I took the time to dump the first half of the bridal prep footage onto my computer. I didn’t want to run into an issue of a full memory card during an important memory-catching moment. Once the groom’s team left, the byLadyBug team piled into the car and headed to the venue. There wasn’t much time, so we ate as much as we could while in motion. I found out early in my creative career that my stomach stays very quiet and self-sustained when I am working/creating. But I didn’t want to test that on this important day, so I decided to hedge my bets and eat before I got hungry.
Once we arrived at the venue, we parted ways again. I went to find the bride and the guys took photos of the reception area and started the set-up for the ceremony. I was able to get some pre-wedding dress, vintage, pin-up girl style photos of the bride (love those), then it was time to put her in the dress. Her three bridesmaids took up the task, and her Mom was there to don her wedding jewelry. Once she was ready, it was time for “first looks” the groom walked down the hallway, eyes covered by a tie and spoke to his bride. We had all camera on them at that moment. Somehow though, it looked like they paid us absolutely no attention. The three camera-faced flies buzzing around them and they could be distracted from the person in front of them. It was beautiful.
After the groom left, it was time for the father-of-the-bride to make an appearance. This is when the ball started rolling. The wedding itself was underway and my nerves surged. Unfortunately, while I was working with the bride, I had an important piece of equipment that the boys need to set up for the wedding. Which meant that I had to hastily put it together as the bridal party walked down the aisle. At that moment, I was very happy that I assembled tripods hundreds of times before and was able to do it in less than one minute. I felt so intrusive during the wedding, circle the couple and the officiant, clicking away on my Nikon. But I was determined to get “the” shot and every shot. Then all of a sudden wedding ceremony was finished. It happened so quickly and I was completely focused on the other side of the lens that I didn’t even here the vows or “I do’s”. The couple faced the guests, hopped the broom and walked back down the aisle together.
Up next was family photos, and we had a very limited window of time to accomplish the long list the wedding planners gave us. As you recall, this was not my favorite time of the day. It was dark out and the usable space was limited. The party was high on energy and I wanted to spend more time capturing it all, but I was reminded that there was a photo list I had to stick to and check off. So, my videographer had the list and called the order as we went along. The second photographer taking photos on a wider lens and different flash setting to make sure we got the shot. The hour we had to get it all done in went by quickly and it was time for the reception. I didn’t have the foresight to add a required meal for my team and myself, but the couple being the awesome people that they were made sure each of us ate. Let me tell you, that food was great and I was sad to leave it once the Cupid Shuffle came on; to capture the memory, not to dance.
From there speeches were read and the cake was cut, the bouquet was thrown and the garter was flung; the party was in full swing. This was the fun part, capturing everyone in a natural state of fun and celebration. No more staging or adjusting the pose slightly, this was people being people. My team and I alternated around the dance floor until it was time for the send-off. The couple had sparklers and wanted to walk down a row as they’re family and friends held the lights on either side of them. It would have worked great if not for a few things, the groom went missing, the guest couldn’t stay still long enough for two rows to form and the sparkles went out before the couple even made it out the door. All of these did not stop the big smile on the bride’s face as she walked out with her husband in hand.
Then it was over. A full 12 hour day of work. My team gathered together in the reception hall sitting on the floor collecting our gear and our thoughts. We felt a sense of success and accomplishment. It was 2 o’clock in the morning before any of us made it back to a bed, which only gave my videographer and I a small 3-hour window before we had to get ready for our flights back to New England.
I gave myself a one month deadline for the photographer and two months for the video. I’m still hard at work but was able to deliver the photos before the deadline.
I’m looking forward to growing the brand of byLadyBug with other events, memories and stories that need to be told.
byLadyBug 