Ali Girl Photography » Scottsdale Wedding and Portrait Photography

As my business has grown leaps and bounds in the last year I have decided to change the business name to be more in-line with my branding and who I am as a photographer.

Ali Girl Photography is now Suzanne Melissa Photography.

Same photographer…just a new name and website.  Please check out the new site for current work and pricing information.

Thank you!!

Warning: This is a loooong post.  You might need an energy bar or extra shot of coffee to get thru it all.

This week’s Friday FAQ is all about albums.  Every package that I offer includes a flush mount 20 page album printed by Graphi.  Some photographers don’t offer albums with their packages or offer them for an additional charge.  I think 20 years from now your album is going to be one of the few, if not only, tangible things you have from your wedding.  So, everyone should have one!

I have covered some of this information before in my post Albums 101, but I think it bears repeating here.

A little album terminology that we should cover is “Layout”.  A layout is simply the terminology that we use to describe the left AND right page combined since we don’t design each page separately.  So, in a 20 page album there are 10 layouts (every 2 pages counts as 1 layout).  Is your head spinning yet??

Flush mount album…what does that mean.  Well, this means that each album image is printed and then mounted to the page.  The page has a thickness around 1/16 of inch.  It makes for a really thick and sturdy album.

Now that we have the basics down let’s chat about album sizes.  I offer two standard album sizes (8×8 or 10×10) with my packages plus parents albums.  You can always upgrade your album size, but I think these are a good starting point.

The parents albums are exactly the same design as the larger album, just smaller (6×6).  These are GREAT for parents, grandparents or even the bride to stick in their purse and be able to show-off their wedding day.

Okay, so we have covered that everyone gets a flush mount album with 20 pages (10 layouts).  Let’s talk about design and how soon you get your album.  If you keep up with my blog you know that I not only design my own albums, but I also design wedding albums for other photographers.  So, would you believe I’ve been married for 2 years and still don’t have an album of my own wedding!  The reason being I can’t seem to pick the pictures.  I am too attached to EVERY picture.  This is so common for brides and it results in them getting their albums much later.  My solution to this is I pick my favorite images from the day and design the album.  This is merely a starting point for you to get an idea of what your album could look like.  I will post the design on-line just like I have done here and here.  You can review your album and make any changes that you want.  If you want to swap out different pictures, add pictures, delete pictures that is totally fine, but at least we have the process started.

I also design several additional pages so that you have plenty to choose from.  If you love all of the pages your can upgrade your album for $30/layout.  If you don’t want the additional pages that is totally okay.  All you have to do is decided which pages you don’t want to keep.

Your album design is on-line ready for you to review 4-6 weeks after the wedding.  Once you have approved the design it takes 4-6 weeks to print and be delivered to you.  Typically you have your album in your hands within 2-3 months of your wedding.

Some of the photographers I design for wait for the bride to pick their images for the album.  We typically don’t start the design on these albums until 6-12 months after the wedding because we are waiting on the bride.  You would have already had your album 9 months ago!

Your albums come in these nice white boxes.

Yeah, not to exciting…I know.  I originally thought I would invest in some really nice boxes with my logo all over them.  But I decided to go green.  You see, your album is shipped to me in these white boxes and they actually do a pretty good job of keeping the album safe.  If I re-boxed the albums then I would just have to trash these boxes which I didn’t think was too cool or too green.

This has been a very long Friday FAQ, bonus points if you made it all the way to the end without falling asleep!

Today’s FAQ is, “How soon will I have all of my images?”.

The short answer is 1-2 weeks for portraits/engagement sessions and 4-6 weeks for weddings.

The long answers is I grow thru and edit every single image and color correct and enhance the picture to ensure that each image looks great.  Some photographers only edit a certain number of images or only the images you choose for your album.  I don’t understand this practice.  Are you not supposed to look at the other 500-1000 images?  Shouldn’t they be the same quality as your album images?

For portrait and engagement sessions you can expect to receive 100-150 images.  Usually within a week of the shoot I will have a full blog post the includes some of my favorite images.  Within a week to two weeks of the session all of your images will be ready and uploaded to an on-line gallery that is password protected.  You will be able to download the images at full resolution directly from your gallery.  I do this for the portrait and engagement sessions because most of the time clients are anxious to get prints and don’t want to wait for a CD to be mailed to them.

For weddings you can expect to receive 600-1000 images depending on the number of hours and number of photographers.  Within one to two days I will have a sneak peak of the wedding on the blog.  This usually includes one to two pictures.  Within one to two weeks I will have a full blog post that includes some of my favorite images.  As a bride once myself, four to six weeks felt like FOREVER to wait for pictures, so hopefully the sneak peak and full blog post helps the anxiousness of the waiting.

Since every blog post has to have a picture here is a couple from a bridal shoot that I have yet to post!

That’s all for today’s FAQ…happy Friday everyone!

Friday FAQ a little early!

Today I shot Kandice and Nate’s engagement session and I thought this would be a perfect topic for Friday’s FAQ! So, today’s FAQ is, “Where to have your engagement session”.

The short answer is anywhere you want!

The long answer is that I can give you lots of ideas or you can choose a location that is special to you. If you like to golf, play tennis or have a special place that you always go for date night it’s great to incorporate these activities/places into your engagement sessions. Kara and Chris busted out their football jerseys for their session and I absolutely love these pictures!

If you need a little help with coming up with ideas here are a few favorites!

Yesterday we shot at Sahuaro Ranch Park in Glendale. There were lots of little spots to take pictures!

Downtown Scottsdale. The infamous LOVE statue is here, but that’s not all. Below are a few favorites from this location and you can see more here, here and here!

Tempe Town Lake offers lots of variety and is perfect for getting those sunset pictures. This is where Kristin and Ben had their pictures.

Since I graduated from ASU how could I not love shooting there! Love this cute little cottage on campus. Check out more pictures from ASU here and here.

An engagement sessions can really be anywhere! Your imagination is the limit, but if you need a little help hopefully this FAQ will help!

Also check out this post for “How to make the most of your engagement session”.

Happy Friday everyone!

I’ve decided to start a new series called Friday FAQs. Every Friday I will post answer(s) to…you guessed it, Frequently Asked Questions.

If you have a question that you would like to submit please e-mail me! Feel free to also chime in on the questions by leaving a comment (side note-my Google analytics tells me lots of people are ready this blog…please leave a comment and let me know you were here or what you think!!).

Okay-let’s get started with FAQs.

By far the question I get asked the most is, “How much time do we need to take pictures the day of the wedding?”.

Short Answer: Start at least an hour and a half before the ceremony and plan for at least an hour and a half between the ceremony and the reception.

Long Answer:
I like to start about an hour and a half before the ceremony. This allows plenty of time for getting ready pictures and documenting the ceremony set-up.

Many couples are now choosing to see each other before the wedding, this is called a “First Look”. This allows more time to get pictures of the two of you before the ceremony (and before family and friends overtake you) and this also cuts down on the time needed after the ceremony to take pictures.

Remember Paul and Sue’s first look…LOVE it!

If you are going to do a first look then I would start shooting approximately two and a half hours before the ceremony.

After the ceremony I like to have an hour and a half to shoot the family portraits, bridal party and bride and groom. Especially if the ceremony is not at the same location as the reception please add travel time plus 15 minutes. For some reason the bridal party always seems to go MIA when we go from the ceremony to the reception location.

If you have decided to do a first look then you only need an hour between ceremony and reception (plus travel time plus 15 min..don’t cheat here!). You may be asking why I only cut the time down by a half hour. Well-I want to get as many pictures of the bride and groom as possible. Plus, you are married now! Let’s celebrate and take more pictures!

You should coordinate your reception timeline (toasts, first dance, cake cutting etc) with your DJ. It is very important to let your DJ know how long your photographer is contracted until. 6 hour package starting at 2:30pm, “Hey Mr. DJ, my photographer leaves at 8:30pm”. They will make sure that all of your events are done before the photographer leaves.

On a side note-I highly recommend hiring a professional DJ. I know it’s tempting to ask a friend to bring their ipod and keep the place rocking, but a professional DJ can make or break your reception. Timing, song selection, and experience makes the difference between an empty dance floor verses a reception people are talking about for years to come!

Paul and Sue hired SKM Entertainment and their reception was crazy fun!

That’s all for today’s FAQ. If you found this helpful or would like to add your own imput…leave a comment!!