I used to love Starbucks now I love Google

I've started using all the new stuff from Google. I'm in love with the desktop, Gmail and Calendar. But one of the coolest tools is the homepage. I have my most recent emails, weather, top stories, word of the day, Quotations, new york times and if I need to search for any file in an email or in any hard drive i just double clik bthe ctrl button and it scans so quick my head spins.!!!

Thanks for booking !!!Everyone say hi to Mahsa and Ali!!

Why I don't use the phone.

Imagine what it would be like to have to run a business 20 years ago.

-No internet
-No email
-No ftp
-No instant messaging
-No E receipts
-No PDFs
-Databases

Basically you had the telephone and tons of paper work.

I recently had a lovely Bride call on Thursday. Packing day for us. Friday was crazy with shoots and final preparations for a long weekend of weddings. So by the time I returned her call it was today - Monday.

Another Bride - who wrote this amazing email

(We) had our engagement photos taken yesterday. Not only did the weather turn out to be perfect but John you made the experience exciting, fun and adventertous. (Groom) is not one that likes taking pictures and i was soooo nervous but we both felt that it went awesome
(we hope) We loved the variety and amount of pictures you took and can't wait to see them all. We wanted to send a THANK YOU for making our experience with you so far a great one! Choosing our photographer was the hardest choice we had to make and we feel we made the best one. You are both so easy to talk to, flexible and understanding......kinda like friends. What else could we ask for in a photographer. Thanks for a great experience so far....looking forward to seeing the pics and ...well....keep up the good work


I don't have permission to reprint this email so in the event that they wanted to keep their names private -- well you know.

Anyhow the point of this blog entry is to let you guys know that you have to email me your questions. Marianna gets every email at the same time so we both read your emails usually within minutes.

My WorkFlow.

Email comes in for any of the 5 companies I run. ALL go to my BlackBerry and my Gmail account. Every email I send from my Blackberry gets automatically forwarded to my Gmail account.

Gmail is a world changing product. The most incredible aspect is that I can search by an parameter to find all emails.

For example:

Lets say Maria (good Italian bride) or Gus (great Greek Groom) sends me instructions for their wedding day using the Wedding Day Info form. I will get that form as an email in Gmail and my Blackberry. I read it to make sure it has all the info I need and send a thank you email back.

When I get to the studio I go onto Gmail search "Gus" and every email I have ever sent or received appears in a list by date (pretty pretty cool )

I print a copy for the file.

Now we will be off to Florida in a few weeks. If you leave a message at the studio I access it through Skype and return all calls, but usually after the kids are in bed. But if you email me I return the email immediately. :)


SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Don't call me I'll call you.

Ok just kidding around. Call if you need to speak us anytime. But understand that if you email our responseto your questions will be much much faster.

 

Wedding Day Form

Guys. I've finally go the wedding day itinerary form working. :)

Here is how it works. Visit your customer page or click on the link below. Complete the fomr as best as you can. Fill in every box. From there Marianna or I will contact you and confirm all the times.


http://www.excellencephoto.com/itinerary/

Sun is shining = lots of smog

Is it me or are the smog alerts becoming more frequent. I don't know if it the government becoming more aware of their social responsiblity, or if we are just slowly poisoning ourselves and our children by dumping chemicals in the air.

Probably both.

How much education do we need? I was asked if I went to school for photography. The short answer is every day. Every single day I read books on photography, marketing, finance, sales, accounting, digital video, photoshop, flash and even a few romance novels. I'm quite fortunate that I can read extremely fast. I don;t think I'm a speed reader but pretty close. It drives Marianna kinda nuts. Where other people have smoking habits, or gambling (649 etc) or spend money of sports stuff I buy books. Lots of them.

Each day I am usually carry 4 different books and in strategic places throughout the house, car, bathrooms I have magazines stashed so I always have something to read.

But the best place I have found to learn is on the Internet. Being connected to the web I have met thousands of Photographers from all over the world. We make it a point to stop by their studios on our travels. Take that person to lunch. Spend time learning about what makes them successfull and where they are having difficulties.

As Brian Tracy has said over and over again. Life is a journey, you need map.

New wedding from yesterday Chastity and Roberto

Shooting in London tomorrow.

In the meantime, let me tell you how I spend my Fridays. Actually I'll back up and explain how we prepare for weddings.

We start on Thursdays. Because we are packing for both Photography and Video we learned many years ago that packing at the last minute is stressful. Here is the story.

One Saturday morning Marianna (no kids yet boohoo) were sitting in the kitchen talking about the Sunday wedding we had the next day. I was telling her it was so wierd for a philipino wedding to happen on a Sunday they alway happen on Sunday.

It bugged us so much that we got out the contract and check the date again, for the 10th time. And yep November 23, 1997 was a Sunday. (You can check by cliking on the clock on the bottom right of your screen and scrolling back to 1997)

We had packed the day before and were ready to go. Just as we were planning our day off the phone rings. JP (groom) scream guys I screwed up and told a few people the wrong date you gotta get over here!!!

We made it there in 35 minutes. Had exactly 20 minutes at the Grooms house where he thanked us 1000 times for getting there so quick.

Anyhow. Since then we have ALWAYS packed on Thursday and picked a few missing things (Film, Batteries,Duct Tape) on Fridays.

So I now spend Friday afternoons dating Marianna - Actually I usually take her to a movie or a funky restaurant and chill out Friday nights. I wake up fresh and ready to go Saturday mornins and can't wait to start!

Visit Ashley and Vince's new slideshow click on the link. Andrea hasn't connected it to th

CLICK HERE

Sorry Guys. Been kinda busy

I'm working on a BRAND new type of wedding album that is currently not properly utilized here in Canada. I wont go into more detail than that suffice to say it kicks ass.

So I only have about 18 hours each day. Between Excellence, ObjectiveEye, DesignerGeek and DGvideo, opps forgot to mention TorontoHomeMovies.com you can see that each minute is accounted for.

Now I'm not complaining. Excellence Photography has been a successful business for nearly 10 years. And I see a future where it is only going to get better.

The rest of the businesses are also successfull, each to varying degrees. In the Past few months THM (TorontoHomeMovies) has doubled its sales. Cool.

Starting this month we have also taken in a partner in Montreal. Raffi runs ClikArt a very successful coporate and wedding videography company located between Montreal and Laval.

Raffi will be overseeing operations in Montreal and all of Quebec. It is our hope that we can match the success of THM by starting ---- can you guess??


That's right MontrealHomeMovies.com

Expansion contines in the west in June where we hope to announce further alliances in Calgary and Vancouver. I'm hoping to fly into Calgary this July.


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Saw the DaVinci code - the butler did it.

Cool movie. Wont ruin it for thoses who have not seen it, but over an 8 out of 10.

Marianna and I love the movies. We probably see 4 a month. I go for the popcorn.

See the thing is that when life gets really stressfull I love to zone out in the movies for a few hours. Never ever fails to relax me.

Marianna has a great way to get free tickets. We put everything on our Visa. This way we not only get the points but it fantastic way to track our monthly expenses.

Going to see over the hedge with the kids soon too. That is usually a disaster where Sammy sits with Marianna while isaac gets bored. Usually I'll drop them at the door and go to Indigo and buy more books. Isaac plays with the choo choo trains and I read.

Anyhoo - if you spending more than 2 hours a day on the internet I highly recommend downloading google desktop. Its absolutely amazing!!! I see my favorite pics on a tool bar on the right side of my screen, plus News, my daily calander and even the weather in florida.

Its 84 degrees in Boca Raton right now

More sites coming soon!!

For all of those people who have not had their site completed - blame Andrea!! OK OK just joking.

Anyhow, I've been told that a few of you just can't wait another day. SO we should get them up later today or tomorrow.

I was reading my previous blog and wanted to expand on the title.

Schedule freak.


You see in the cadets time is very valuable. You get up at 7am, get 45 minutes to eat shower and get your equipment and be ready on the field for rehersal. You get 50 push ups for every minute you are late.

Needless to say I have been socialized into not being late for anything. It's kind or weird on the wedding day when I'm five minutes late and bend over to do 250 push ups :)

The only problem with being a freak is that I expect from other what I expect from myself. SOOOOOOOOO

DONT


BE



LATE!!!!

In a nice way, I am trying to let everyone know that when you have an appointment at the studio and I wait for 30 minutes for you to show up, then you run late into another person's appointment who shows up on time. It's not cool.

Of course I expect the next time I am late for you, that I heard about over and over again. 

Why I am such a schedule FreAk.

I actually became schedule freak when I was 19. In my case I was a member of the Cadets of Bergen county.

History of the Cadets of Bergen County

The Cadets (formerly the Holy Name Cadets, Garfield Cadets, and Cadets of Bergen County) are a Drum Corps International Division I drum and bugle corps based in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Along with the Crossmen they are sponsored by Youth Education in the Arts (YEA!). Founded in 1934, The Cadets are the oldest continually operating drum and bugle corps and have one of the most extensive histories of any drum and bugle corps active today. They also hold the distinctions of being one of the few charter corps of DCI who have attended every championship held, as well as being the second most successful corps in the DCI circuit with nine world champion titles over three decades.

The Cadets have been DCI Division I World Champions nine times, in 1983, 1984, 1985, 1987, 1990, 1993, 1998, 2000, and 2005. The three consecutive victories from 1983-1985 were the first "three-peat" to ever be made in DCI history, and the only one that did not include a tie for the title with another corps. (The only other was by The Cavaliers from 2000-2002). The corps has also placed second five times (1992, 1994, 1995, 1997, and 2001) and third four times (1982, 1996, 2002, and 2003). In 2005, The Cadets won all caption awards as well as all sub-caption awards, which has never been achieved by another drum corps. The 1986 and 1976 Blue Devils won every major caption, but did not capture some of the smaller sub-captions, and as such The Cadets are the only corps to "win everything." The Cadets are now the DCI world record holders of a score of 99.150 (tied with The Cavaliers in 2002). In addition to DCI performances, The Cadets were guests at the 1996 Summer Olympics, performing the closer from their show and a special "band on the run" routine with comedian Bill Irwin.

Perhaps more than any other corps, The Cadets are a juxtaposition of history and progress. The corps can clearly trace its roots back to its founding, its uniforms have remained virtually unchanged since the late 1930s, and the corps frequently revisits the music that has won fans over in the past, such as Ron Nelson's "Rocky Point Holiday". At the same time, the corps is a pioneering force in the evolution of Drum Corps as an art form. This was especially so during the early 1980's when the corps championed liberal use of asymmetric marching formations, including the famous "Z-Pull" by lauded drill designer George Zingali. The corps director, George Hopkins, has continued to express his desire that the drum corps activity evolves, with proposals to integrate non-brass instruments, electronic music, and similar musical reforms, receiving decidedly little approval from the community at large.

While The Cadets have not been grounded in one traditional genre (in recent years shows have included the music of Jethro Tull, Ernesto Lecuona, and The Young Persons' Guide To The Orchestra), the corps frequently revisits the music of Leonard Bernstein. The Cadets have used Bernstein music in four of their nine championship shows, and in total have had eight shows in the DCI circuit featuring Bernstein's works. Among these are performances of music from West Side Story, Candide, Mass, Jeremiah, On the Waterfront, Wonderful Town, Fancy Free and Concerto for Orchestra. They have also performed music by John Adams, Aaron Copland, David Holsinger, Gavin Greenaway, Johann de Meij, Philip Sparke, Jan van der Roost, Bjork, and John Williams.

Fun at Mom and Pops.

Spent the morning with Vitaly at my parents house. They are moving in 6 weeks and had not started to pack. Unfortunately tons of my junk was stored in their basement. So I couldn't really comment on them getting started until my stuff was out of there.

Found some really interesting things.

• old dented frames
  
• moldly matts
• a wedding ablum that was brand new (10 years ago)
• portraits from couples that never finish paying (9 years ago)
• old camcorder batteries
• tools
  
• wires
• SVHS tapes hundreds of them
• my old trophys from hockey and football

Anyhow, I brought some of the portraits to the studio and will take photos. I figure I'll upload them to the blog and show you some old school photography.

I'm shooting in Boca Raton on June 24th and my parents are moving on the same day. So I told them and they're like, " can't you reschedule I'm like - sure mom I'll call the bride and see what she thinks about moving the wedding to another weekend. "

So in the end to resolve the guilt that has already begun Alex, Vitaly and Yuri are going to help me each week for an hour to move boxes at my parents house. Any one want to help... Just kidding.

Gift Certificate for $750 to Kogan Rennaisance Portraits

That's it! I've decided the only way to get started is to get started.

Sooooooooooooooooo.

For all 2006 2007 and 2008 couples who have already purchased both frames and albums with Marianna you are to receive a Gift Certificate for $750 to Kogan Rennaisance Portraits.

Now there is no catch. It is real money. But it has to be redeemed by no later than June 20th. We are back in Florida as of the 20th.

Now here is a few details you need to know.

Kogan Rennaisance Portraits is "in the studio" photography. Prices are not the same as Excellence Photography.

Dress code is ultra formal (meaning dress as though you are going to Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's wedding. We are ONLY available during the week. During the day.

Otherwise. Bring your entire family. We are shooting a stlye of photography where you are photographed in classy, elegant poses with a rich blue back drop. For more information call me at 416 630 0090

Francesca and Tony -wowowwoowowowo

Ok. It's Monday and I'm a little hyped.

It is going to be an amazing week. Lot's of video getting done.

Alex is off to New York seeing a few clients.

I got Tom Jones playing in the background.

4 coffees already and it 11am

Isaac woke up and 6:30 yyyyyyaaaaaa!!!!

So as you may have noticed the site is continuing to progress every day.

My favorite hobby now is to check out how many hits each page is getting. If you look on the couple pages there is a number with a link that says view my stats. That is how many times your site has been viewed.

As Larry David in Curb my Enthusiam would say "Pretty pretty good"

Also, If you know anyone who can laydown hardwood floor or something like that, I want to change the carpet in the studio. Have them give me a call!!!

 

Wow what a weekend.

Mothers day is almost over. Marianna took the mothers out while I took the kids to my favorite restaurant. Big mouth kee. Ever notice how your favorite night time place doesn't look so good during the day?

Even the food didn.t taste as good. I'm used to walking in at 2am and the waiter saying "the usual John?"

Anyhow. I read an amazing book this weekend. Marketing without advertising. It was kinda cool that we are already doing most of what these guys suggested. But I am going to remodel the studio. Need to clean it up. Add some plants. Feng shui stuff. We already replaced a bunch of shelves and moved a bunch of customer bags into the store room. But I want to put up some cool posters, and because it is Engagement photo season I'm getting a whole bunch of new collages to put up, yay.

Marianna want to change the floor. Anyone of you in the biz? Give me call.

Precilla and Vince - New site up. Cool music

They are a funky couple so I thought - why not some funky music?

Click here to visit their Engagement Portrait presentation.


PS - It's mothers day - don't forget!!! I didn't. I woke up with Isaac at 5:20. Cleaned up the kitchen, made breakfast on my NEW grill and now I'm taking her shopping. Thank god its only once a year :)

Fixed the 2006 Photo Presentation

Another fun night with Isaac. The cutie woke me up at 5:10 after I went to sleep at 1:30am. So I decided to hook up the 2006 photojournalism presentation to the site.

That's the one where I spelt among wrong. All fix click on the link above to view.

As all you already know we do not advertise. It goes against our beliefs. We rely solely on 4 bridal shows and most importantly word of mouth advertising.

So if you have friends or family who are getting married we simply ask that you show them the presentation above. I expect our work to speak for us.

Thanks guys

Busy night!!! Marco and Dorothy

Ok I'm also having a blast. It's going to be a lonely week Alex is in New York meeting with clients and I am battling some videos that are about to be due. Vitaly has 6 customers breathing down his neck and even Andrea is under pressure to finish a few Video presentations. Yuri has 4 shoots this week. Marianna is meeting 6 couples regarding their wedding day.

Fact is that we are getting busy, so please understand if we do not call you back within a hour it's not that we are avoiding you. We're just busy.

Click Here to see the latest Engagement presentation

Redid Chastity and Roberto's engagement presentation

They just way too many kick ass photos for me to limit them to 8. So take a minute a minute and check out Chastity and Rob's engagement pics.

http://www.excellencephoto.com/2006site/couples/2006/chastity_roberto/chastity_rob_web/

Oh. All couples have G.Ross Park included as a location for engagement portraits. In many cases couples upgrade to a separate location. In this case they went to Sunnyside Pavillion.

For more info on changing your Engagement portrait location click on the link below.

http://www.excellencephoto.com/site/index.php?id=12,117,0,0,1,0

Redid Chastity and Roberto's engagement presentation

They just way too many kick ass photos for me to limit them to 8. So take a minute a minute and check out Chastity and Rob's engagement pics.

http://www.excellencephoto.com/2006site/couples/2006/chastity_roberto/chastity_rob_web/

Oh. All couples have G.Ross Park included as a location for engagement portraits. In many cases couples upgrade to a separate location. In this case they went to Sunnyside Pavillion.

For more info on changing your Engagement portrait location click on the link below.

http://www.excellencephoto.com/site/index.php?id=12,117,0,0,1,0

Welcome Elizet and Paul!!!

As we finally get everyone's couple pages up I am going to post multiple posts. So for those subscribers that recieve a ton of emails I apologise.

So everyone please check out Elizet and Paul's couple page at http://www.excellencephoto.com/2006site/couples/2006/elizet_paul_web/indexpaul.html

Dreaming of work again.

Last night after my 3 rd appointment of the evening I got home just after midnight. So I figure I would watch a little Letterman, eat so chips I had hidden away and go to bed.

Instead I found a note. Appparently Isaac had pulled the keys off Natasha's (Mother in Law) laptop. It took 2 hours to get them back on and the space bar isstillnotworking. :)

Anyhow, as I was falling asleep I had an idea. What if we add couples favorite services their home page.


You send me a list of the services you have booked and we will put a link from our/your site to theirs. This is one of the best way for your guest to be able to contact them if a)they are lost and need directions and b) if they secretly admire your taste they can follow in your footsteps.

not for this post. But one day I'll write about how Marianna and I basically copied our weddingfrom Leon and Cathy. Same Hall, cake, limo, even honeymoon.

back to this post.

The thing is I want your guests to get the full picture (no pun intended). Also, by only listing the great services you have, they will benefit and so will the brides that book them because of you.

Soooooo

send me you names and the following

Reception Location
DJ
Florist
Limo
Cake
Dress Shop
Jeweller
Invitations
tuxedo shop

Welcome DGvideo and TorontoHomeMovies.com

This blog has been slowly growing into great community. I've had nothing but positive feedback. So with that in mind I have expanded the blog to include all our TorontoHomeMovie.com customers and DGVideo.

So for those of you reading my blog for the first time. Take a few minutes and click on the archives. You will find a lot of funny and true events that all of us at Excellence photography have been through for the past year.

Plus dont forget to put your email in the subscribe box. This way you will automatically be emailed the latest post.

Last but not least. Please feel free to leave you opinions at the bottom of each post. There is a comment link.

An oldie but a goodie

Hetty, an elderly lady, has been driving around the Brent Cross shopping

center’s car park for some time looking for a place to park when at last she

finds one and stops to pull into it. Suddenly, a youngster drives his car

around her and parks his smart silver Audi in her space.

Hetty is so upset that she gets out of her car and says to the young driver,

"I was going to park there!"

As he walks away, the man just laughs and says, "That's what you can do when

you're young and quick."

Well, this really infuriates Hetty. She gets back into her car, backs it up

and then drives it at speed straight into his Audi. The youngster runs back

to his damaged car and asks, "What did you do that for?"

Hetty smiles and replies, "That's what you can do when you're old and rich."

Congratulations - Mayank and Gail

We have been slowly adding more and more DGVideo customers since we began in January. Just as I am planning on showing you tons of photos for Excellence couples, I will also be updating video.

To visit the Theatre click here.

Now we not only did one wedding for Gail and Mayank but 2!!!!

So here is the link to the video presentation we did last night. According to Alex it received the biggest applause for a video presentation ever.

Edited by Vitali

http://www.dgvideo.ca/theatre.php?clip=gail_mayank_lw2

Congratulations - Jasper and Leslie

I'm quietly introducing our new couple sites. After about 36 versions I think we have it.

Check out http://www.excellencephoto.com/2006site/couples/2006/jasper_leslie/indexjas.html

Guys thanks for the memories.

1. The old guy who yelled at us for making too much noise
2. The first wedding party to stand in line 30 minutes before walking down the isle
3. baby face cousin who may still come after me
4. wonderful meal, great music, slideshow was fanatasic
5. lots of crying

Only for the people that read this blog!

Ok. We have been working on the couple sites all week. Still not done. But were getting very close!!!

Anyhow, your start working on one project and end up doing something completely different?

That's what happened this week. In the process of building the new couple pages I ended up creating a brand new portrait presentation.

Here is the link.

http://www.excellencephoto.com/2006site/2006web/index.html

OK so I spelt among wrong - it was 2 am.

Please leave your comments and feedback!!! Click on the link called comments at bottom of this post.

Looks like this --->posted by Jean (Janot) | 11:27 AM | 0 comments links to this post

TorontoHomeMovies.com May sale

Well I just wanted to remind everyone that May is TorontoHomeMovie.com 2nd year aniversary. And all Excellence Photo and DGVideo customers get %50 off all orders placed in the month of May.

So if you have old film reels from you parents or VHS tapes from your borthers wedding 15 years ago. Bring them in and our guys will convert them to DVD, for half the price we charge everyone else.

So give Alex a call at 416 840 6623 and arrange to get your orders in ASAP!!




At TorontoHomeMovies.com we are in the business of saving your precious memories. Using only the latest professional digital broadcast cameras and the best in transfering technics we are saving peoples old 8mm, 16mm, super 8 and even VHS tapes. Located in Toronto we have been transfering VHS 8mm and 16mm film for over 9 years. Using UPS we convert old film for people all over Canada and the USA.

How better to remember your memories forever than to convert all your 8mm, 16mm and Super 8 films on to 1 or a set of VHS tapes or DVD's.
Remember the family projector??? You know, the one that makes the stuttering sound and makes you throw your memories back to 'the Good ol' Days'? We remember it too, and while we remember it fondly, we also remember a few others things.

* Broken tapes* Poor or No Sound* Bulbs burning out* Faded image quality* Irreplaceable projector parts

Imagine, sitting down in your living room or den and spending some fun times with everyone simply by slipping in a VHS tape, Video-CD or DVD and pressing PLAY! We can even convert your 8mm old film to .avi or mpeg so that you can edit yourself in the future.

How about giving us your VHS tape or 16mm movies and we will convert the footage to Flash for internet viewing. We can even host!!

We can convert your 8MM, Super-8MM, 16mm movies to either VHS, Video-CD or DVD* media formats, letting you keep those movies for a long time to come in a way that lets you have all the nostalgia with a lot less of the nostalgic hardware that would otherwise go with it.

We convert almost any format to digital. Here is a list of the most popular

8mm converted to DVDSuper 8 film transfered to MiniDV or DVD

VHS converts to DVD or .avi for future editing

16mm film with sound or without to DVCAM, then uploaded to Premiere Pro 2.0.

We then colour correct, sharpen and output to DVD.MiniDV or 8mm or Hi8 or Digital8 transfered to DVD.
Audio tape to CD

We even scan all your family photographs and create slideshows to music then output to either the internet using Flash or create a VCD or DVD.

It wont be long now. Couples pages almost done~

I love the fact that the sun is shining. It seems to make the day go faster, people smile more, I can't believe I get to hang out in the park during the day and take pictures for a living.

Well yesterday sucked. Not the morning, had a ball taking some great photos (like the one on the left). But for the past 5 days I've had a tooth ache. It kept getting worse so Marianna and her mom brought me to the Russian dentist. Now this is not to say it very different from a regular Canadian dentist, except they dont use anesthesia.

Ok. Ok. Just kidding.

It was cool that Marianna called the guy and because her mom and her are good friends I got an appointment on the spot, with no waiting.

Marianna talks to the guy in Russian and then looks at me with this look of pity. Shaking her head she says - " looks like you have a bad tooth" -- well friggin duh -- I knew that.

Turns out one of my wisdom teeth needed to go. So fine, I expect that we will make an appointment for surgery, I take drugs until then. But nope. Marianaa says I'll be back in half an hour and runs off.

Dr Karlin says " don;t you worry it only take 10 minutes"

I'm like what? And the next thing you know he is pokeing me with a needle 3 feet long.

OK so I'm a suck.

To make a long story - It was quick. The only pain I felt was the needles.

I had planned on taking a photo and adding it to the blog but Marianna vetoed it. She says it be gross.

Sammy thought it was cool - Of course, I told him the tooth was bad because I drank too much pop as a kid. So last night at Mcdonalds he told the lady at the counter that he doesnt want a Coke cause they rotted his Papa's teeth. 

Why oh why don't more people get it?

Just had this exact conversation with a bride and had to write about it.

Why is it that some couples (more than you can guess) do not take the engagement portrait session as seriously as they should.

Contrasting fictional couples.

Couple #1.

-Shows up 30 minutes late for the shoot.
-Bride has not read the dress code and is wearing a flower print dress, 2 sizes too small. Shoes don't match.
-groom has not shaved, got his haircut the day before and it shows
-white socks black shoes - nothing more to be said on that.
- Bride applies make up in the car while I wait. Putting us another 15 minutes behind. I have another shoot in 30 minutes that I call and beg to come 15 mins late.
- Grooms pants are wrinkled and the shirt is too tight. Oh and is neon green.


Couple #2

-couple arrive 15 minutes early
- ACTUALLY READ THE DRESS CODE (click here for the link)
she prepared both the groom and brides cloths a week in advance. Made him try it on.
-Groom got a haircut 5 days before, shaved the night before and wore black socks and matched the shoes to what he was wearing
- Bride had make up done professionally
-Bride and Hair done professionally
-Bride had nails done professionally
-Couple brought sun glasses, extra sweater, the bride even brought a cool expensive scarf as an accessory


Now I admit I have never had a couple exactly like Couple # 1, but darn close.

In your lifetime you will likely be photographed professionally less than 4 times. The portraits that will travel with you, that you put on your walls in your 1st, 2nd and finally in your dream homes will more than likely be the images that Marianna, Natasha and I take!!!

So Why oh why don't more people get it?


I think its weding stress. Either way. If it were Marianna (She's the most detail oriented person I know. We would not only be Couple #2 but she would invent something to make her photos even more unique.

Brides.

Pamper yourselves!!! Your engagement session is supposed to be about capturing the high point of your life. Put some money away and prepare for your photo session. Scope out the BEST freaking hairdresser in the city. Hire a REAL make up artist. Don't dress for other people. Dress for yourself. Take this as seriously as you would if we were in the 1700's and you were going to have your portrait painted over 3 months of sitting in front of an artist.

Grooms

Show up. Do as your fiance says. Clean your car. :)