Snap Happy!

Back in the day, when I started reading Weddingbee on a regular basis, I would read about all of these wedding photographers - Scott Robert, Jessica Claire, Jose Villa, Jen Skog, etc... and I started to check out their blogs on a regular basis. One of these amazing photographers was Lunaphoto, whose work I quite quickly fell in love with.... and then tried to persuade myself to not love them, since I knew that they HAD to be totally outside of any photography budget I could fathom.

After hearing COUNTLESS married friends tell me they wished they had splurged on their photography, I was determined to get the most bang for my buck. Once we were engaged, I started pounding in the doctrine of splurging on photography to Mr. Ramen. Being the designer that he is, he was completely on board - although he was a bit astounded at the amount I wanted to splurge... I told him I was willing to cut out other things, like a videographer and a dj in order to have my dream photos! When I grew up and realized that $10k is NOT within any budget I could ever even dream of having, we began emailing photogs to see if we could maybe afford to squeeze into one of their smaller packages. But our list of requirements was long! We wanted at least 10 hours of coverage for the day-of, an album, an E-session, and the digital proofs from our wedding. For much less than $10k. I bit my nails, seeing if we would ever find the perfect photog that would be willing to work with 2 aesthetic-crazed, empty-wallet students.

Re enter Lunaphoto. After making Mr. Ramen look at a million different wedding photographer blogs, only one really stood out to him - yup, it was LP. I quickly emailed them and so began our relationship with them. We loved their style, their concept and grasp of lighting, the classic clean lines, the crisp vivid images, the romance, the ultra-modern and sexy yet still traditional style... and once I saw this image, I was done; there was no way we could choose anyone else! :

I scheduled an appointment to meet up with Mike and Paula in the SD studio/loft, where I fell in love with their GORGEOUS home. Once I saw their Barcelona chairs, the same ones that Mr. Ramen had been pointing out to me, I knew we had found photographers who had the same aesthetics as we did. They offered us a package that fit our needs and we could afford, AND included travel (they're based in SD and our wedding is in Phx)! We were overjoyed that things worked together soooo smoothly, and quickly booked them.

Mike and Paula are in incredibly high demand and get to travel ALL over the world to shoot weddings (I'm totally jealous of their lives!). Since Mr. Ramen and I aren't based in SD, and because the Lunas are jetsetters, we decided to do a day-after shoot in lieu of an engagement session. This actually works out PERFECTLY, since we will be more relaxed, and I get to wear my precioussss a second time, and I get to have my desert photo session that I've been dreaming about, and we won't have to be all stressed and rushing around to take photos on our wedding day!

I'm super excited to work with Lunaphoto and I could go on and on and ON about how awesome they are, or what is so great about their style (I guess I kinda already did that, hah!), but I'll just let their work speak for itself. These are just a FEW of my favorites (can you tell that I looooove B&W???)! Enjoy!

Ramen Photography Tips:

• Personally, I feel this is the one area to splurge in - even if you don't splurge on flowers, you want amazing pictures!
• With that being said, there are a TON of up and coming wedding photogs that are awesome AND super affordable. Sister Ramen did tons of research and found a relatively new photog who fits within her budget and still is going to provide the look and style that she wants.
• Make a list of what is most important to you - an E-session, albums, prints, hours. Keep these in mind when you are contacting photographers.
• Make sure you get everything spelled out in your contract, including hours, # of prints/proofs, travel costs, etc. It's always good to have everything on paper for weddings!
• Getting married in the "off-season" worked for us; although Oct-Feb is the high season for weddings in AZ, its the low season for most photogs in more milder weathered states. Because it's slow, some photogs will consider discounts! So don't necessarily rule out a photog just because they're in another state and are in high demand!
• If you MUST have an expensive photog, consider hiring them to only shoot the ceremony and part of the reception, and asking a talented friend or a starting photog to shoot the getting-ready and later-reception shots.
• Make sure you factor travel time into your day-of photoshoot schedule!
• Meet with your photog in person before signing a contract! Personality matters A LOT when you are being "watched" by a person for 10+ hours. And it's back to that whole "clicking" thing. You'll know.

How did you know you had found the right photographer?