*our blog has moved. please visit us at eight20photography.com for all the latest from eight20 :).

jennifer and brad were referred to us by former clients kimberly and jay who are awesome, so we knew that any friends of theirs just had to be as amazing! and we were right! jennifer and brad were in need of a day after session, which is one of my favorite sessions to shoot! day after sessions have the vibe of an engagement session with the wardrobe of a wedding, so what could be better?! :). they were about to leave southern california and wanted a location that expressed quintessential los angeles. i suggested places like melrose, venice, santa monica pier… and melrose won! i love shooting on melrose because it has some of the best backdrops ever. the street is just gritty enough for attitude, but it still maintains that cool, los angeles feel!

when i spotted jennifer getting out of the car, i knew this shoot would be fantastic in every way. she had on the most amazing gown paired with a beautiful birdcage veil, red hollywood lips, and turquoise shoes (her sassy something blue). brad looked handsome, edgy, and cool all rolled into one. and let’s not forget their adorable dog who joined us toward the end of the session. i’m a dog lover myself, so i believe that man’s best friend also makes man’s best photos!

kimberly and jay, thank you for sending your amazing, gorgeous, cool friends to us! jennifer and brad, thank you for giving us the opportunity to capture these photos for you. we had the most wonderful time with you and promise to visit ya’ll in texas soon!

*our blog has moved. please visit us at eight20photography.com for all the latest from eight20 :).

this blog entry has taken me entirely to long to put together, and i apologize. i could not narrow down my favorite images and sangini and vik’s slideshow contains 108 images because of that!! sangini and vik’s wedding was incredible; the food, dancing, colors, outfits. everywhere i looked there was something exciting to photograph. sangini has the most beautiful eyes and skin you could ever wish for, and i probably took way too many photos of her getting ready but i couldn’t help it. for this 13 hour, over 400 guest event i brought in the one and only araxi to help us. you would think a 13 hour day would be exhausting, but i had so much fun, and at the end of the night wished i could stay to dance and eat along with all the guests that had no intention of leaving anytime soon :). sangini and vik, thank you for having us along to be apart of your fantastic wedding, i hope the long wait for this blog was worth it.

location: glendale hilton
make-up artist: beauty by lishma

In the last four years that we’ve been shooting weddings, one thing that’s always been consistent is the question about cost, and who can blame them? Clients always ask about the breakdown of costs and I found a great article that really delves into the expenses of hiring a wedding photographer, “Why is wedding photography so expensive?” Wedding photography and their prices can vary; what clients get and what they pay for it really depends on the photographers’ equipment, services, and deliverables so it’s important for brides and grooms to do research to understand exactly what they want and what they’ll get. When anyone comes into our studio, I always highly recommend they interview a few photographers to get a feel for the style of photography and photographer’s personalities. Our first priority is happy clients.

Bottomline: Higher quality is a better value for you! Think of shopping for a wedding photographer like shopping at your local shopping mall. You can buy a knock-off purse or invest in the Chanel one, though one of those — and you know which one! — might fall apart and leave you carrying all your stuff in a plastic bag. You can get a bite of sushi at your local gas station’s quick mart or you could get a reservation at Nobu. Both will leave you full, but one might give you food poisoning. Ouch. If you met someone special and you want it to be your last first date, you have the option to buy unreliable and uncomfortable shoes or you could feel safe in a delicious pair of Manolo Blahniks. But if your heel breaks on that hot date and you have to hobble around, well… anyways you get the point. Shopping for wedding photography for your special day comes with the same options. Some photographers are very low price, and some are extremely expensive. But the same way you look at handbags, shoes, and good food should also be how you think about your wedding photography: quality and value go hand in hand. Your wedding photos are the tangible memories of your wedding day and since your album can be handed down through generations, the quality, the moments captured, and the sturdy album are very important elements of a valuable piece.

Looking at wedding photographers’ sites can be daunting and overwhelming. There are so many different styles out there and after a while they can all start looking the same, but the expertise and the quality within might differ. A brand new photographer’s blog images might resemble those of a seasoned photographer’s but you have to look deeper down than just what you see on the outside. Blog images usually represent the best photos from that series; they’re the Photoshopped, hand selected images, but what about the rest that you don’t see? The same way a knock-off purse might look real on the outside, the inside is where it counts. The seams, the craftsmanship, the durability, and the longevity of its purpose should all be taken into consideration before plopping it on the check-out counter. When it comes to narrowing down a photographer, look at the album samples, and there should be a variety for you to see (are these albums something you would want to display in your home?) and click through the online gallery (is it user-friendly and easy for you and your guests to view, order, pick photos). These practices will showcase the photographer’s value.

Here are the questions I always hope people ask us, and if they don’t I tell them the answers anyway!:
Can we look at complete weddings, and not just one? (Really look for skin tones, exposure and framing).

Do you have insurance, for yourselves, your equipment and your business?

What type of cameras and lenses do you carry?

Do you have back-up equipment and are they the same high quality as the rest of your gear?

Do you always have a second shooter and are they random photographers or experienced wedding photographers?

What happens if you get sick and can’t be there?

Eric and I strive to keep our package costs within a couple’s reasonable budget, which is why our packages start under $3000 and album packages just under $4000. We have worked incredibly hard to give undivided customer service and run a boutique studio, taking on at most 30 weddings per year. I run our home studio and am always here for our clients, so they can always expect an email back from me within 24 hours! Shooting hundreds of weddings has allowed us the opportunity to be familiar with all cultures, venues, themes, and other vendors. Although no 2 weddings are alike, you can be assured that no special moment will be missed. Eric can bustle, I can fix flowers, and if your planner fails to show up, we can most likely run the whole show :). At the end of the day, we are there for our clients and only hope to give them the lasting memories and the high quality and value you would expect from Chanel, Nobu, and Manolo Blahnik!

It’s nice to know that excellent quality and great value don’t have to be painfully expensive for brides and grooms.

And because no post should be without a photo, here is one of my all time favorite detail shots from andrea and david’s wedding!