There is someone out there waiting to ruin your wedding.

It is that well intending friend or family member that has a “nice camera” and offers to give you a great “deal” on photography.  They may even tempt you to do it for free.  DON’T FALL FOR IT.

Ask your sisters or friends what they wish they could change about their wedding and 9 times out of 10 it has to do with photo or video.  That is because wedding memories are the most important throughout life.  You only get one chance to get this right, and so does your photographer.  Trusting the most important day of you life to someone that “does photography” is like trusting anyone with a pair of scissors to cut your hair, only 100 times more regretful because your memories don’t grow back.

I know this person may be close to you, but trust me they’ll get over it much faster than you will when they ruin your wedding memories.  I’ve been in this industry over 10 years and have shot well over 400 weddings and seen so many of my own friends and family fall victim to the MWACs (Moms With A Camera).  They always tell me the same thing after too.  They would give any amount of money to go back and do it again with a true professional, unfortunately they can’t.

The sad thing is that in a wedding budget and to most young couples $1500 seems like a lot of money, and it is in some ways.  But the truth about adult life is that $1500 flies in and out of your wallet before you ever see it.  It’s like one mortgage payment, but these memories last a life time, and you will always look back to them.  So don’t be tempted to trust this most important day to someone with a “nice camera”.  Only trust it to the experience and professionals of Creativ Productions.

So you want some awesome, vintage, dramatic, top model, rock star images right?  But then Mom wants some nice portraits to go in her house that match her more traditional style.  What do we do?  You get Creativ!!

It can be hard for moms and daughters to find the right photographer today because they often have 2 totally different styles.  Luckily, our experience can work with both styles at the same time.  I’ll often ask young clients to find some images that they like and that will help me understand what style they are going for.  I find it funny that they don’t necessarily know what they like about the photography other than it looks “vintage” and they like the lighting.  I always give the client all the regular color images as well as the “vintage” style processed images and wait to see what actually gets ordered.  I’ve found that parents order the traditional color processed images and the younger client orders the creativ colored images more.  Good thing they chose to go with an experienced photographer that knows how to do both.

I don’t know, maybe it’s just me but so many photographers just blend into the “vintage” style now and don’t really give consideration to the one’s who are actually paying for the photos.  Parents, I totally understand your dilemma, you want your daughters to be happy with the photos they get and that is why you primarily let them choose, but you want to like them as well and have it match your style.  Well you can have the best of both worlds with Creativ!

Traditional & Vintage

Groom Hug

I had an interesting conversation with my sisters in law the other night about the recent trends in wedding photography.  They were commenting on a friend of theirs recent engagement shots and how they made her look so self centered.  She is a really sweet girl, but the photographer focused all the shots on the bride and often cut the groom out.  You know what I’m talking about, these real abstract framing kind of shots where we cut off faces and heads on the side of the picture or the top corners.  I’ve never been a really big fan of this style because I feel like the photographer is shooting more for themselves than for the customer.  The shots look awesome and look like they could be in a J-crew magazine, but the problem my sisters in law recognized is that these are engagement shots.  They are supposed to represent the love that the couple shares.  I’m all about creativity, but the way a photographer poses and instructs the bride and groom can represent a couple inaccurately.

I’ve always had the photography philosophy that the pictures I take for couples should capture the natural and deep love they have for each other.  I have a secret hope that the pictures I take will help remind couples of how much they love each other when the hard times come along and help keep them together.  I try to capture the personality and style of their love, whether it be silly or sweet.  Seems like so many photographers today are shooting like they would for a modeling session, no smiles, abstract framing, the bride and groom often aren’t even touching each other and looking in opposite directions.  What do those pictures say about the couple?  They might be awesome if we were trying to sell tuxedos and wedding gowns, but what about the couple?  When people are picking out pictures to send in their engagements, they most often want a nice portrait that shows theirs guests who they are marrying.  Now I make sure to get a bunch of other fun interaction shots too, but always placing equal focus on the couple, after all this whole marriage thing represents a union of two people, right?

Now I suppose there is the occasional self centered bride that thinks it’s just all about her, but in the 10 years I’ve been doing this, most brides are really in love with their groom and they want their pictures to represent that.  Picking the right wedding photographer is crucial to making that happen.  You’ll never have to worry about your photos misrepresenting you when you choose Creativ Productions to document your love, we always place the focus on both of you.  Here’s a couple of examples from yesterday’s shoot.

Bride Hug

Kind of a sad story. I had a bride come in today to pick up her wedding video from us and we got to talking about how everything turned out. She’s had such a hard time sending in a print list to us because there were too many good ones, and it’s hard to narrow it down.
She then told me she wishes she had done her engagements and bridals with me. I asked her why she hadn’t and she said, “Well we had a friend that wanted to do our engagements as a gift, and then we won some free bridal shoot.” That sounded really good before the wedding, but after comparing them with the shots she got from us from the wedding, they don’t even compare. She even asked me if I would be willing to go do her bridals again. Apparently they turned out so bad that she wouldn’t even hang them on the wall next to our photos.
Unfortunately, this happens all too often. Some well intending friend or family member offers to do the photos and inevitably the bride and groom are left wanting. Often times it’s too late to redo it though and they will forever regret letting their friend “help” them.
A few red flags to look out for to tell the difference. If you find yourself saying, “They do photography” that is a bad sign. Maybe they like to take pictures but obviously they aren’t good enough to make living at it. Or if someone says, “They have a really nice camera” If they are a true professional you wouldn’t question if they had a nice camera, it goes without saying. Just because I have a nice oven and refrigerator doesn’t make me a chef.
So what do you do if your friend or family member offers to help you with your photos? Just politely say “No thanks, we’ve got a professional who is taking care of it,” then call us. You’ll never regret having us do all the shoots, but you run a very high risk of disappointment if you let your “friend” help you. 10 years of experience has proven that to be true.

Time Stands Still

It’s time to revamp the website to a non Flash based site so all our handheld devices and iPhones can browse Creativ.  With A new website comes an updated portfolio.  It was fun looking through all the memories of the last 2 years.  Thanks to all our great clients.

I think a couple photos from previous years sneaked in there. Anyway thanks to all our great clients, we’re looking forward to another awesome year.

January is the big wedding planning season. There are tons of bridal shows and wedding books, many of which are free to help you plan the perfect wedding. These planning utilities are great because we often offer discounts to help you save on your wedding budget. We’ve chosen to be a part of the best of the best planning utilities which include, The Utah Weddings Book, Zweddings Wedding and Event Book, BrideAccess.com, and The Wedding Festival. We also offer discounts through our social media sites like Facebook. So whether you’re planning a wedding or you know someone who just got engaged, help them out with using these great resources and get some awesome deals. In fact just for mentioning this post, you can get $200 off any wedding package.

Happy Planning.

Joe Newman

God definitely made little girls a little extra special.  Anika loves ballerinas as do most little girls I think.  She gets the cutest little smile when she is all dressed up in her toe shoes and tutu.  You can see a sparkle in her eye similar to brides when they get all done up for the first time at the bridal shoot.  I love working with kids because always get such raw emotion.  They can be so unabashedly happy and give you the best smiles and they can also be unmentionably cranky and give you the best sad face pictures ever.  Anika was overjoyed to be all dressed up like a beautiful ballerina and could hardly keep herself from smiling and dancing all about.  What a sweetheart.  Here are a couple of my favorite shots and a short video montage.

One of the hardest things about bridal photos is waiting until after the wedding to blog about the shoot.  We did Heidi’s bridals middle of February at Wheeler Farm and had a beautiful day.  I knew when I took these pictures they were amazing and could hardly wait to show them.  But we always make sure not to let the bridal photos out early in case the groom sees them and brings bad luck to their marriage.  Well they are worth the wait.

She had originally hoped for snow but after enduring even the nicest day in February in a dress I think she was happy it wasn’t colder that it was.  We try really hard to keep the bride comfortable because I believe you can see it in the photos.  Maybe that’s why our brides always look so good.

It was so great working with Heidi during the bridal shoot I could tell we’d have a great time at the wedding too.  I really like Heidi’s easy going approach to everything and I think that attitude added to her beauty.

They had the wedding and reception at the Rice Eccles Stadium.  We were able to go down to the field and do some photos with the wedding party on the 50 yard line.  It’s always a pleasure shooting at the U of U stadium and Heidi and Jason’s wedding colors complimented the stadium nicely, don’t you think?

Great time with Heidi and Jason.  They really did it up right and created these amazing memories.  I think it was good times for everyone.

One of my favorite things to ask clients is how can we incorporate your personality into these photos? I ask them about hobbies, interests, activities. We’ve seen a lot of fun things over the last 8 years and Karissa and TJ really did it up right. TJ had the hook ups with this sweet candy apple red 67 Camero, so we had a little fun with it.

Karissa and TJ have such a sweet and pure love for each other too.  Some brides you can really see in their eyes that they just really adore their groom.

Then TJ wanted to get some shots of them with his second great love, Dirt Biking.  Now the only photoshoping on these photos is a little color enhancement.  Otherwise TJ really is jumping his bike that high and Karissa really is that cute.  They are amazing!!

Once again the best photos prove to be those that require a little Creativity and thought.  I learned that TJ and his Dad spent hours fixing up the track and getting the car ready.  Karissa did a lot with their wardrobe in coordinating colors with the car and TJ’s dirt biking outfit and also being willing to work with the dust and dirt.  All in all they got some really great photos that they can cherish a lifetime.

Ali & Tyler Brown were married December 19th at the Draper Temple.  Although they look warm and very much in love, they braved the bitter cold weather to capture some priceless memories.  Ali and Tyler you were so fun to work with and we loved being able record your sweet relationship.