My first impression of Tom was meeting up at a coffee shop to see if he was a good fit for us. From the get go, he was enthusiastic and spoke of how he had a little book at his bed side, so if he thought (or dreamt) of the perfect shot, he'd s...ketch it out and then make it a reality. It was neat to see his ideas. Based on this conversation and other conversations, it got me really excited for an epic, creative, and unbelievable night shot on our wedding night, as it appeared this was something he was very geared towards doing.
After our first meeting, we set up our engagement session with him, and it happened to be the absolute coldest day of the winter. My fiancé’s hands were cracking from the cold...but Tom followed us around with a smile, as we awkwardly and coldly (but our hearts were warm!) loved on each other for those sweet photos. Tom also captured some great more serious photos. He found some inventive ways to get shots and wasn't afraid to try new things. He was creative on the editing side of the final product too, which added the perfect touch to some of the photos!
Although I did not realize on the day of the wedding, I now realize I put him and Liz in a tricky situation on our wedding day, because I (who loves photography) could have done fun photos all day long and loved finding unique spaces to catch the 'perfect' shot, but the groom wanted to do very few photos... So, essentially these two photographers had to find a happy medium between the two extremes…and I think they did a pretty good job of doing that! They arrived on time where we were getting dressed and were snapping away getting candid shots. They even did a "drive by shooting" as I rode with my parents in a classic car to the ceremony site. There were a few photos I and my mother requested that I don't think were taken, but the weather and time were not as cooperative as we could have hoped - so, some things you just have to roll with. As there might be some photos that were unexpected and will blow our socks off. Tom and Liz are great at doing the candid shots and catching the raw emotion, so having set/required photos can sometimes be limiting! My one critique, and this is only from an hour or two of time of the nearly twelve hours they spent with us, is that they seemed together/side-by-side much of the time – so I don’t know if they were shooting the same angle or catching the same thing.
During the reception we had a handful of "will you please take this photo"...as we did not get family photos at the top of the mountain, and Tom was ready to make that happen. I did not see much of them during the reception - which was good, because that means they were getting photos of all our loved ones that were there (there can only be so many pictures of the bride & groom!). One of my guests shared with me that Tom was going around table to table and getting shots of our guests. I am looking forward to those, because the wedding was not just about us, but sharing the day with those who traveled near and far and seeing their happy, smiling faces!
Our night shot went a little differently than I had expected, so I am interested in seeing those. Although we have not seen the final product yet, I know these two are good at what they do, and that the saying will be true…"a picture is worth a thousand words". Thanks to Tom & Liz for capturing some of the smallest, yet most meaningful moments, on one of the biggest day of our lives.