Memorializing that whirlwind of a wedding is critical, especially when you’re the bookworm acting as wedding planner. Since relying on iPhone photos and videos from attendees was not an option, I had to find just the right photographer and videographer; a task much harder than I ever imagined.
First Stop
My first stop in my wedding planning process was securing the church and meeting its wedding planner. Since her grandson had just gotten married a few months earlier in Estes Park, I asked her about the photographer they used. She pressed her lips together and shook her head “no.” She could not recommend someone who wasn’t any good (nor did I want such a person). Videographer? No.
Preferred Vendors List
I then turned to my trusty (?) Preferred Vendors List. There were quite a few photographers and videographers on that list, some companies handled both. After I emailed them all and requested a quote, I had to blink twice as I read the quotes coming in (none of them included printing). Amazingly, with the exception of one, they were all $2,000. My first thought was a wedding monopoly. By the way, the one different quote was $6,000. Yup, that’s not a typo, $6,000. With my science background and logical legal mind :0) I performed an experiment. My original quotes went out under my married name, however, I write under my maiden name, Karen Van Den Heuvel. A new and revised request for quotes went out under my writer’s name — a quote for a 4 hour family reunion involving 50 people in Estes Park. Alas, the quotes were half the price.
A Monopoly
My son had gone to school with someone who was now a professional photographer so he asked her for a quote — $2,000. He asked if she could give him a discount due to their long friendship. She could not, because of a contract she entered into with a third party — all her bookings go through them at their required pricing, as all of these photographers did. Aha! Sounds like a monopoly to me!
The Perfect Professionals
My goal was to find an excellent photographer and videographer not bound by a third party contract for pricing. That’s where Jane came in. Jane is my son’s beautiful girlfriend who went to school with a photographer using her talents and running her business while she worked on her degree. I checked out her website and FaceBook, and was thoroughly impressed with Laura Grace Photography. Her photographs were beautiful (as you can see through my posts) and I’d put her up against any of the other “professionals” I encountered to date. Her rates were very reasonable and I met her for lunch to discuss the process, wedding, expectations, etc. She was an absolute delight and she found me a videographer — a university student working on his degree in videography — Jackson Dorfman. Once I checked out his work and found it exceptional — as good if not better than most of the other videographers, I asked for a quote. His rates were also very reasonable and I was set.
These two professionals arrived early, blended in, and captured beautiful memories. I can’t recommend them highly enough! If you are looking for an excellent professional photographer and videographer, here is their contact information:
Laura Grace Photography
Laura Grace Photography: lauragracephoto.com, 970-227-0025, lauragrace.151@gmail.com
Jackson Dorfman: Jackson.dorfman@colorado.edu 970-306-2775
Jack provided not only the full video, but a second with highlights as well. You had a glimpse of the head table decor in Jack’s short trailer, but you won’t believe the story behind it! Stay tuned next week… .
(c) 2018, Karen Van Den Heuvel