My experience with R.E.M. was everything that a photography company should aspire to be. My husband and I first met Robert almost two years ago to discuss our wedding--he showed us gorgeous albums with equally gorgeous pictures from different p...hotographers who work with him. That night, we decided to book R.E.M. two years in advance for our wedding day. When the date started to arrive, Robert got in contact with me and sent me a checklist of all the types of pictures that we wanted our photographer to take. The options were numerous and gave us even more ideas than we initially had in mind for our wedding pictures. The communication regarding this company was absolutely wonderful. Emails were responded to immediately, and we were able to converse with our photographer a few weeks before the wedding (something big photography companies don’t do!).
One of the things my husband and I loved about John LaVere, our assigned photographer, was that he showed up at the exact time we agreed upon at the venue and dressed professionally. John was in charge the entire time--it was great! We had a very large wedding party (16 people), so when people were still floating in late, John was able to work with what he had for shots. He was firm, but very kind and approachable, and I could genuinely smile with him taking my picture and it showed in every shot.
Another great thing about R.E.M. is that they charged by the hour, not by the number of photographs. About 500 pictures were taken in 7 hours and a vast majority of the pictures were artful and showed the decorative work that was put into the wedding. We really appreciated that.
Shortly after the wedding, the pictures John took were touched up by Robert’s wife, Izabela (Yes! A real husband and wife team!), and put on a website, so I could send invites to people who wanted to view and order any pictures. Note to the bride: when you get excited to see the pictures online, make sure you read and respond to the entire email regarding whether you want your photos on a CD or a flash drive. I was so excited to see the pictures that I did not realize that I hadn't responded to R.E.M.'s question which delayed the shipment of my pictures. This was entirely my fault--their communication is pretty much perfect!
The flash drive arrived and we immediately backed up all of the images to our external hard drives, just in case. R.E.M. provides digital rights, so you can copy and print out your pictures on your own time, but they also back up your pictures as well. This is important because if you want to contact R.E.M. in the future about ordering one of their gorgeous professional albums, you have the opportunity to do so. This provides a real sense of security for us.
The photographs are the only things that last after that crazy expensive day is finished, and seriously, you want to have stunning pictures to remember your wedding. If you choose R.E.M. Video and Photography, I promise that you will be patting yourself on the back for years to come because it was the best wedding decision you made.