Serving Grand Junction and the Western Slope
Colorado Wedding Photographer
I am a documentary-style wedding photographer who captures genuine moments for a timeless gallery.
Packages are $900 - $2700, depending on the number of hours you would like coverage for. You receive a minimum of 50 digital photos per hour of coverage. I do basic editing on the photos and my turnaround time is under 45 days. You receive a sneak peak within 72 hours of the wedding.
June and September are my busiest months for weddings and weekends during this time book up very quickly.
Mini Package
2 continuous hours of wedding day coverage with online gallery
This is a great package for elopements or micro weddings.
$900
Classic Package
5 continuous hours of wedding day coverage with online gallery
This package is great for the ceremony and the important events of the day.
$1,900
Signature Package
8 continuous hours of wedding day coverage with online gallery
This package is for those who want getting ready photos, ceremony photos, and the reception photographed.
$2,700
Wedding FAQs
What type of editing do you do on the photos?
In order to get your wedding gallery to you within 45 days, I provide basic editing, or "Photo Developing" for your photos. This is the process that adjusts the exposure, contrast, coloration, and crop of the image. I deliver this on all of the useable photos from your day. I delete duplicates, photos with someone blinking, and out of focus photos. I deliver all other photos, which is a minimum of 50 photos per hours of coverage (although it is usually more than that). I have a true-to-life editing style that involves subtle adjustments and balanced lighting so the photos will have a timeless look in years to come.
"Retouching" is fundamentally altering the photograph that was captured and is not included in my wedding packages. While each of your photos will be professionally developed, sometimes there are special image editing requests that would not fall under normal photo development practices (such as the removal of bra straps, swapping heads from one photo to another, removing all background distractions, removing wrinkles from dresses, adding people to a photo, moving people around in a photo, making someone appear slimmer, etc.). I advise checking in with the bridesmaids about what they plan to wear with their dresses because I don't remove bra straps or dark underwear from photos.
Do you create a wedding timeline for us?
This is not something I do because either the couple, a wedding planner, or a wedding coordinator creates the timeline. A lot of logistics and coordinating with various vendors go into creating a timeline. I can help provide input with what I've seen done so couples can think about how that would align with their vision for the day.
I also don't move the timeline along during the wedding. If I am watching the clock and talking to people to get the next event to happen on time, I will miss shots. I have a documentary style of photography, which means that I follow along with the day as it unfolds. I capture moments as they happen, including getting those candid shots. I will have the timeline (if you provide one) on my phone so I'm ready for the big events. However, in order to capture the candids and special moments, I stay focused on the events, the guests, and the interactions instead of focusing on the clock.
A day-of wedding coordinator is in charge of coordinating ceremony and reception events, handles logistics and unexpected issues, and manages the timeline. If I'm asked to go and find someone or help gather items for someone else, it takes away from my ability to capture moments as they happen.
What are your timeline suggestions?
My two cents about timelines: try to not have large gaps where the guests aren't doing anything and nothing is going on in between events. We can usually get family photos done in about an hour if the ceremony and reception are in the same location. Use shortened songs for the first dances. I usually see first dances done when the bride and groom do their grand entrance into the reception. Then have dinner served right away, after first dances. Do speeches during dinner, after everyone has been served but before people wander off.
Give yourself enough time to breath in between events without stressing about the next upcoming 'thing'. When there is a large gap between the ceremony and dinner or dinner and speeches/first dances/cake cutting, I've seen guests get restless. If dinner takes a long time to be served and nothing else is going on, sometimes people leave since they're unsure what's expected. Plan the other big events right after dinner (cake cutting, throwing the bouquet, etc.) and then go right into music and dancing.
Something else to think about- your guests are going to want to hug and congratulate you right away. You can make a plan for this, like waiting right after the ceremony at the end of the aisle to give everyone a hug as they leave their seats for the reception. I've also seen couples go to each table at the beginning of the reception to say hello. Otherwise, people will stop to give hugs during the family photos that happen right after the ceremony (which adds time to this part of the day) or while you're eating dinner.
Also- ceremony times around 4 pm in the summer time are extremely hot for the guests and tech equipment will overheat during this time (my camera, DJ stuff like microphones, etc.). If you want a 4 pm ceremony time in June or July in Grand Junction, I will need a place with AC to rotate through my cameras and lenses so they can cool off.
What protections are in place for our photos?
All of my cameras have dual card slots. This means that every photograph is captured on two, separate memory cards. This is done so that in the unlikely event that one card fails or there is physical damage to the camera during the wedding, the photos are saved twice and more protected.
As soon as I get home from the wedding, I immediately begin downloading all of the photos from the memory cards onto my computer. The photos are then immediately saved on my Cloud. While I'm editing your wedding gallery, photos stay on both my computer and the cloud. After the photos are uploaded onto my website and delivered to you, I move the digital files to my external hard drive and store them there. At this point, the files are on both my external hard drive and online on my website. Couples need to download their entire gallery as soon as it is received so they can store the files themselves. My contract states that I have to keep the files for one year after your wedding date.
What does the 'Family Photo/ Wedding Party Photos' part of the day look like?
This is usually done immediately after the ceremony and before the reception, during cocktail hour. The amount of time you want to be away from your guests to complete these photos is dependent on the number of combinations you want done. Each family combination takes at least 2 minutes to set up, depending on the family member's mobility, kids who don't want to be in the photo, or if a family member has wandered off.
30 minutes= 6-10 different combinations
45 minutes=15-22 different combinations
60 minutes= 20- 30 different combinations
Please check in with extended family and in-laws to see if they have any must-have family combination that they want done. It is not included in the wedding contract for me to edit in or remove people from photos after the fact. If there are family combinations that you want done, please type up a list beforehand and assign someone to hold the list and help gather the people for each combination. They will also cross off each combination as the photo as been taken. I won't know everyone's names and I will be holding the cameras so will need help with this. This makes the process as quick and efficient as possible because otherwise I will need to keep setting down the list and picking it back up to read off who is next for photos. When making the list, I often do pictures with grandparents and little kids first so they can go sit down quickly or run off and play.
If you don't want to type up a list and assign someone- that is perfectly fine! I will do in-the-moment combinations. This just may not align with everyone's expectations, including in-laws.
This is also the time that bridesmaids and groomsmen photos are usually done. If there is another time in your timeline when you want these photos done, we can plan for that. Some couples try to get these done before the ceremony (unless they want photos of the bride with the groomsmen and don't want anyone else to see the bride until after the ceremony).
I'm a relative of the bride and groom. Can you do additional edits on the photos for me?
My client is the person who signs my contract, which is usually the bride. Additional edits are not included in my contract. I include all of the 'use-able' photos in the gallery, which means that I delete duplicates and ones of people blinking, etc. There are not additional photos that I could go through and send to you. I edit my photos with a warmer tone and my contract says that I edit the photo within my style.
I have wedding questionnaires that send out to the bride before the wedding so the gallery I provide aligns with her vision for her wedding day. I typically follow the bride or groom during the wedding day and focus my attention/ photos on them or where any action is taking place. However, if the family wants specific people photographed, I need to be notified of this before the wedding, as this will take my attention away from the bride and groom. The bride needs to let me know if there are specific guests that she wants me to follow and spend extra attention/photos on, such as the bride's grandma, groom's dad, little sister, etc.
