Weddings in North Carolina

My daughter’s photographer got pregnant and realized her due date was around the time of my daughter’s wedding, so she got her fellow professional photographer Elizabeth Larson to take the job. (I took the picture above.)

Elizabeth met us at Duke Gardens in Durham NC recently to do some engagement photos. She said it might take as much as two hours but we were done in 45 minutes and her images are wonderful. You can visit them at her blog: Elizabeth Larson, wedding photographer in NC. I love the choices she made when posting to her blog, here are a couple of samples:

Can’t you see how awful this is? Photographers, just say no!

Bob Vasile, my partner in the Pratie Heads wedding ensemble (well, we do a lot of other concerts etc too), had an opportunity to do a photo shoot with Jim Shaw, a very well-known, friendly, and relaxed photographer who’s been shooting weddings in the area for decades.

Jim was a good sport and let me take this picture of him, surrounded by some of his equipment.

We spent an hour there and will go back on Thursday to have a look at the results. I’ll let you know how it went! But we liked him a lot, he was peaceful and easy to be around.

I was at a bridal vendors event lately and while I did not meet this vendor, the idea seems interesting:

Chantel Smith, “event coordinator,” is offering a flat-rate $5,000 package which includes:

Events in a Box, NC.

I saw this on a wedding site today. Honestly, what’s going on here? Is it really a good idea to take a picture of a row of women with their heads cut off?

Shocked at the idea of spending thousands of dollars on a photographer for my daughter’s wedding, I looked on Craig’s List under services today for moderately-priced options. I was also looking for photographers who would provide copyright-free cds/dvds of the digital images.

Success! Note that I have not met or spoken with any of the photo studio folks below, but I liked the images on their websites. Each of them has a relatively low-cost package which includes a cd of your images so you can print away to your heart’s content.

I’ve decided that from now on I will feature on this blog only photographers with wedding options under $2,000 which include a cd/dvd of images which can be printed freely by the customer. If you qualify, or know a good photographer who does, please be in touch with me!

• Bennett Weddings

  Don’t let some photographer own all your wedding pictures, charging you exorbitant prices every time you want to print one! With my wedding packages, YOU OWN ALL THE PHOTOS – You can print as many as you want, whenever you want!

  I came to wedding photography through my experiences as a photojournalist. Twelve years in the newspaper business taught me to see things differently – and that comes through in my wedding photos.

  Ceremony & Reception Coverage (5 hours) $800

• Carl Johnson Photography

  Warning: Flash and automatic music

  Wedding special: Up to 3 hours of wedding coverage plus (limited time) free engagement session
  250+ images on a cd: $545 (regularly $629)

• Infantino Photography

  Photography Packages include “The Ruby” – 3 hours of photography coverage, over 250 images taken, high Resolution photo CD of all images (you receive copyrights to print all photos on CD) = $500. Additional Hour of Photography – $105.00

• Robert F. Filcsik Photography

  Warning: Flash and automatic music

  I like his images very much. He says “Offering modern and creative photojournalistic style photography at an affordable price. Wedding packages start at $600. 4 Hours coverage, including CD with edited high resolution images and the copyrights for all images.” The number of images is quite limited, however.

• Andrew Gloc Photography

  Gloc appears to be a newcomer to the business; he doesn’t have much of a wedding portfolio, but I liked the images I saw. He says: “I charge $299 for 4 hours of shooting including a cd of all images.”