The Blog has a new home!

Yes, that's right, I'm on the move!

Having recently launched my new website (www.danieldaviesphotography.co.uk, go on, have a look!) - it's time to integrate the blog within the site.   So for all the best in wedding photography, great special offers and much more, pop on over to:

www.danieldaviesphotography.co.uk/blog.

See you there!


Dan

Nikki and Pete star in their Cambridge Pre-Wedding shoot

The bright sunshine this weekend meant that Nikki, Pete and I were very glad to have postponed our pre-wedding shoot from the wet-weather of a couple of weeks ago, and indeed the only challenge was finding quiet spots amongst the throngs of tourists hitting Cambridge last Saturday morning!

Here are a few of my favourites from their complimentary pre-wedding shoot:


Many wedding photographers will offer a pre-wedding shoot, but for most it's simply a chance for them to sell their clients more pictures. I really don't want my clients treated like cash cows, so I also give my couples a complimentary 16x16" canvas montage, based around one of three exclusive and unique designs. 

Having a montage like this means that there's no pressure sales and everyone knows that the sessions are all about making sure we get better photographs on the big day. Pop on over to my website for more details.

Dan

Aleisha and Ryan - a rocking wedding in Cheshunt and Enfield

It's very much "the morning after the night before for me" as I suspect it is for Ryan and Aleisha, who's wedding I covered yesterday.   A combination of Aleisha's massive hard work & attention to detail, and a truly excellent toast master made this a really easy wedding to cover.    Here are a few, very early samples of some images that immediately stood out for me.


These, and a few more images are also displayed on my facebook page.   If you'd like this quality of coverage for your wedding, then please pop over to my website.

Finally, a message for Ryan - "Thursday Nights, Channel Five!" :-)

Dan

Dodging the showers at West Lodge Park

Being a wedding photographer, the spring of 2012 will go down as one of the most challenging times in my career - simply because of the awful weather we've encountered.  Indeed as I sit here writing this, I can look out of my studio window and see hailstones the size of marbles and listen to the thunder.  Roll on June!

So it was that I ended up dodging the showers last week when Emma and Peter joined me at West Lodge Park Hotel for their pre-wedding shoot.   They're getting married there later this year and Peter had put together a lovely proposal in the gardens some months previously, so there's really nowhere more suitable.

Many wedding photographers will offer a pre-wedding shoot, but for most it's simply a chance for them to sell their clients more pictures.  I really don't want my clients treated like cash cows, so I also give my couples a complimentary 16x16" canvas montage, based around one of three exclusive and unique designs.    Having a montage like this means that there's no pressure sales and everyone knows that the sessions are all about making sure we get better photographs on the big day.

Here are a few of my favourite images, taken under the shelter of trees or when the rain briefly abated:

 

A huge thank you to both Emma and Peter for being such good sports and making the best of a bad situation.   Lets hope that's the last of the rain associated with your wedding guys!

Dan

Exploring Colchester with Julie and Niall

Julie and Niall are, I think, one of life's lucky couples.   As well as being lucky enough to find each other and develop a special kind of love, they also seem lucky in that they picked one of this springs few fine days for their pre-wedding shoot in Colchester.

Many wedding photographers will offer a pre-wedding shoot, but for most it's simply a chance for them to sell their clients more pictures.  I really don't want my clients treated like cash cows, so I also give my couples a complimentary 16x16" canvas montage, based around one of three exclusive and unique designs.    Having a montage like this means that there's no pressure sales and everyone knows that the sessions are all about making sure we get better photographs on the big day.

Here's a few highlights:

I can't wait to photograph them on their big day & I hope we have just as much fun and just as much luck with the weather when we meet again!


For more information, please pop on over to my website.


Dan

Becca and Ant - a pre wedding shoot with Gunnersaurus!

Here are a few shots from last weekends pre-wedding shoot that took place at Arsenals Emirates Stadium.  With Ant a fervent Gooner, it seemed the perfect place, and we managed to explore the environs a little as well, even taking pictures in Highbury Square, where the old ground had been.   I insist on these shoots for every wedding couple as I truly believe that they really build our relationship and make me far less of a stranger when it comes to the wedding day.   This leads to fewer nerves & therefore better photographs!

Many wedding photographers will offer a pre-wedding shoot, but for most it's simply a chance for them to sell their clients more pictures.  I really don't want my clients treated like cash cows, so I also give my couples a complimentary 16x16" canvas montage, based around one of three exclusive and unique designs.    Having a montage like this means that there's no pressure sales and everyone knows that the sessions are all about making sure we get better photographs on the big day.

Here's a few highlights:

I hope you enjoyed these, and I hope that Ant has got over the need to shoehorn Arsenal into his wedding well ahead of his wedding day!

For more information, pop on over to my website.

Why everything gets more expensive when you mention the "W" word

If you are making plans for your wedding, then you've probably felt a little "taken advantage of".  Many brides will tell me "as soon as I mention that it's for a wedding then prices seem to go through the roof".   As a wedding supplier, I'm going to give my perspective on this.

Now, I'm bound to try and deny the existence of this phenomenon aren't I? We can't possibly all be money grabbing people taking advantage of brides desperation and inexperience when it comes to planning a wedding, can we?

Well here's the first surprise.  From my perspective, things do get more expensive at the first mention of the dreaded "W" word, and the second surprise is that I think this is (usually) perfectly justified.

Brides get married (hopefully) once in their life, which rightly means that they want their wedding to be a once in a lifetime experience.  Everything needs to be perfect, "good" is simply no longer good enough.

This means as wedding suppliers we are under even more pressure to make sure that we deliver the perfection that wedding couples rightly desire.
 

Let's consider the florist.   If you pop into a florist and buy a £30 bouquet and 6 hours later the heads have dropped off a couple of the blooms, then you'll be annoyed, but you'll probably just get on with it, remove the stems and "make the most of" the remaining flowers in the bouquet.   A week later you'll probably have forgotten it ever happened.   On your wedding day, "make the most of" is not an emotion that any bride should be prepared to accept.  This means that  your wedding florist will select only the best flowers and spend considerably more time carefully putting the bouquet together, making sure everything is secured in place and that no blooms have been in any way damaged in putting it all together.  With that additional pressure for higher quality, it's natural (indeed a business essential) that your florist will charge more than for their day-to-day flowers.

Similarly, if a seam on a dress you've just bought un-picks a week after you've bought it, you'll probably patch it up "and make the best of it".  If the same thing happens to your bridal gown then you'll likely (and rightly) be distraught.

The same applies to my role as a wedding photographer.  If I shoot a portrait session and the images are "off", I can invite you back at my cost, re-shoot you, offer you an extra framed print and you'll walk away happy.  However, if I miss the first kiss at a wedding, or my group shots are underexposed then you'll never have a quality record of those moments and you'll hate the fact you booked me for the rest of your life.   So my quality threshold has to be higher, much higher.  I need to spend more time and money training, to make sure I have the best equipment, have selected the best suppliers, and even at the end of what is often a 14 hour working day, I need to immediately get onto the computer, even if it's midnight and get the images backed up and safe from any possible damage or loss.  

Your wedding day deserves to have a "premium" feel and you won't get that by paying rock bottom prices.   Do the maths, if a supplier is offering you a price that means that they can't possibly be doing this as their only full time job, then how good a service are they going to give you?

     Dan