“You only take pretty pictures…” Learn About Your Investment?

Intro

As I was rocking out to awesome music. I was thinking to myself: Wow! He hasn’t missed a note!

Maria and I watched John Mayor in concert last Saturday. The inner-nerd in me was, of course, thinking and analyzing things. He sounded just like he does on his recorded albums! His rhythm was right on, his bridges filled with jam segments between him and his other band members were pretty amazing, too. Why? Because those jam sessions on stage and during his concert were ad libitum. I was thinking - wow! He is truly part of one of the greatest guitarist and all-around musician. I would be confident to put him up their with Stevie Ray Vaughan (just imagine seeing these two on stage together)!

One thing I got to thinking - which inspired this blog - a true pro performs difficult tasks and makes it look easy. He was up there having fun and he was alive smiling, dancing, and grooving with the beats! Have you ever heard of stage fright? He was not afraid or bashful. He was at home while performing inside Toyota Center in Houston where the Houston Rockets play basketball. The stadium was jam-packed with eager fans cheering him on.

How is a music-themed subject play into professional wedding photography in Houston?

During south asian weddings in Houston, I am able to control my emotions on a fast-paced and dynamic wedding day where all the pressure is on me to ensure my Bride and Groom make time for all of their priceless pictures. Like this 3 day Pakistani wedding. You may say to yourself: ‘you only take pretty pictures…’

“you only take pretty pictures…”

While the normal dramas occur during wedding day, I am collectively leading and guiding my Houston wedding couple through their wedding day by the timeline I helped them create during their second meeting with me during their Timeline and Planning meeting. As we prepare for their photo sessions, I prepare my light, position it, test it to get proper brightness and ensure the light is falling on the couple in the correct place on their faces, and I begin to guide my Houston Bride and Groom through poses (that I have studied and worked through myself to ensure high retention and fast recall and accuracy when I only have 10 minutes before the Catholic church kicks us out during their Bride and Groom Post-ceremony pictures inside the church. Catholic churches operate on strict time tables that must be respected and followed). All the while, I am dealing with distractions of the wedding party, pausing for hotel guests to pass to through our photo session location (because it’s rude to be unkind to others…after all…we are in public places), and I sometimes have to deal with a wedding planner who is reminding me every 2 minutes of the timeline because the limo will arrive to take the Houston wedding couple to a planned photo location they will take pre-wedding pictures (if they did a first-look) or to the church for their Catholic Mass wedding ceremony.

There is a lot required that goes unnoticed or is treated like small stuff (I’m not looking for sympathy, just pointing out less thought about aspects part of Houston wedding photography)! Non-wedding pro’s don’t realize that being the Lead Wedding Photographer requires a lot and there’s a lot that must be done - a wedding day doesn’t magically harmonize. Me and the planner (if the couple hired one) are solely responsible for ensuring that the modern luxury wedding couple’s wedding day is on-time, that the couple arrives and leaves per timeline, and that all mandatory events listed on the timeline occur and all family members have been present in Family and Group pictures - and not an item short!

What happens after your wedding that you’re also paying for?

File storage and backup, editing and delivering your digital pictures, creating your album layouts to send to you for you to design your album just the way you like it (and we usually will go through multiple album layout adjustments of moving a picture here, changing a picture there…), retouching all printed pictures, ordering those products exactly as you want them, and updating you each step of the way. You may say, “that’s your job“. Yes, correct. But, those tasks are also time consuming, require hours of patient attention, and more time I am not spending with my family. Of course, I love what I do. I’m just letting you know photographing your wedding is only the second part of the process of four! The four processes we go through are: one: meeting and planning; two: photograph your wedding; three: prepare your products; four: final delivery.

So, I ‘only take pretty pictures’?

As I photograph, lead my team and your wedding party through your wedding day, and keep track of what’s happening so we don’t miss anything important. Do I appear like I’m fumbling with my gear, hesitating, and thinking deeply about what pose to put you into next? No! I may pause to assess an area or which pose I want to put the couple into or which action I can direct the couple through next. But I do all of this quickly and not haphazardly. It’s all calculated, planned, and part of my routine for over 10 years of photographing weddings professionally in all sorts of places, under difficult and stressful situations to calm and peaceful situations and leading different types of personalities successfully - even though some of those people have been very difficult… I am not saying this is easy or impossible. What I am saying: these dynamics are part of it!

How do my unique traits benefit you?

Here’s a little about me, my experience, and what I’m like to work with.

David Baker Studios, LLC is worth every penny because we help guide you through your wedding day with our personable and holistic customer service approach - and a lot of that is being familiar with wedding days and being able to anticipate what needs to be planned for during planning and timeline creation, we employ analytical problem solving gained from many years of professional wedding experience, our abilities we have mastered during a fast-paced wedding day.

How do experienced houston wedding photography and videography companies differentiate?
(You get what you pay for you…)
We do more than take pictures and deliver albums and wall art

1. Peace-of-mind Experience

   1. How does our Personable Customer Service Approach help us deliver your one-of-a-kind wedding wants and needs?

      1. Our client is at the center of everything we do. We have designed our services to cater to your various wants and needs through a customer service approach. We start from a place of service for our client. All people are unique and no two people are the same. We are also aware each wedding is as unique as you. What does this mean for you? You have unique wants on your wedding day.“Leave your wedding photography to us” - I like to say.
         We prefer to operate with an open-conversation-approach to learn what you envision for your wedding photography when we meet with you in both of our wedding planning meetings: Meet-and-Greet & Wedding Overview and Timeline and Planning.
         We are able to talk with you to learn what you want to do on your wedding day, help you think-through your wedding day from our experienced perspective, and help you create a feasible plan - in the form of a timeline - to provide you a tailored plan and solution to meet your wants that will bring-to-life your vision.
         There is a lot that happens during weddings. A successful, relaxed, and fun wedding starts from a place of a well-thought out plan where we talk about what you want to do on your wedding day and brainstorm proper solutions for your vision to come-to-life.
         What happens if we don’t make enough time for Getting-ready and Family Pictures?

      2. Formal Consultation: Meet-and-Greet & Wedding Overview and Timeline & Planning:

         1. Meet-and-Greet & Wedding Overview

            1. Where we meet and connect

            2. I begin to realize what you envision for your wedding day

         2. Timeline & Planning

            1. When closer to your wedding date and after all wedding-day vendors and important details have been decided upon. We take an in-depth look at your wedding day we discovered from our first meeting and communication updates we shared with each other between your booking our services and this next meeting.

            2. We discuss and think about your wedding day and create a timeline of your wedding day, so we make time for all of those important family and couple pictures.

   2. Problem solve and guide you through your wedding day to avoid common wedding-day problems:

      1. We are experienced creative problem solvers who make analytical and well-rounded split-second judgement calls during fast-paced wedding days to lead you and your wedding party through your day for a successful wedding day. We do this while managing multiple moving parts occurring simultaneously or in close succession, so we create necessary pictures in accordance to your timeline.
         How do you handle reduced time during Getting-ready because Hair and Makeup took longer than expected? What happens when your Wedding-day Bridal session that was originally planned for 3 locations and one hour but was reduced to 10 (max)??? What do you do in this situation - how do you still get wedding-day Bridal pictures?
         Our solution to this common wedding-day problem is reducing the amount of time and number of those Bridal locations originally planned-for that is written in your wedding-day timeline. We have saved wedding days and helped anxiety-stricken Houston Modern Luxury Brides have a sigh of relief knowing we were able to problem-solve during this difficult and stressful situation to create their wedding-day Bridal pictures for them to have when during the moment the Bride was unsure if she would have any Wedding-day Bridal pictures in Houston.
         Bride Getting Ready and commuting to multiple wedding-day locations are areas where your wedding day can get behind.
         Strategic problem solving during your Timeline and Planning meeting and during your wedding day helps my team deliver to you services and products originally agreed upon. During this meeting, we are able to bring up wedding day problems and provide our solution with how we can create a particular want for you.
         After all…David Baker Studios professional Wedding Photo and Video in Houston is one of Houston’s best and number one wedding company in Houston, Dallas, and Austin. We deliver solutions; not excuses!

   3. Leadership and Guidance:

      1. We employ proactive leadership to lead you, your wedding party, and family successfully and personably through your entire wedding day.
         From our experience gained over past Weddings in Houston photographed. We are aware of those unique challenges part of leading a wedding-party during fast-paced modern luxury wedding days - where emotions are high and expectations for beautiful, heartfelt, personable, and expressive pictures in accordance to our current portfolio you chose the top Houston wedding photography company by. We guide you through your entire wedding day and through each event in a personable, professional, patient, and decisive way.
         Using the timeline we helped you create during your second meeting, Timeline and Planning meeting, we are able to strategically pivot when the time requires a change of plans because we learn of other variables that may hinder your coverage.
         Our goal is to document and deliver to you a full Wedding gallery consistent with our current portfolio you chose us by. We have been in challenging circumstances on past wedding days when time was drastically reduced, and we were still able to lead our weddings in Houston Bride and Groom through their couple photo session and create pictures our Houston Bride loved!

      4.We use lighting throughout your wedding day.

      1. We are lighting specialists who use lighting comfortably during fast-paced wedding days and inside difficult to light, darker more luxurious venues. Creating high-quality moments is one of our highest priorities for you. So, when you choose The Astorian Events Venue in Houston. Be assured, when you choose David Baker Studios Houston luxury wedding photography and videography as one of the The Astorian’s top preferred wedding vendor, we will create breath-taking moments inside one of our favorite wedding venues in Houston.

      5. Posing

      • We put you into classic-chic, romantic, and timeless poses

      • Candid and natural-looking poses, expressive with movement, and formal and editorial

      • Pose family and wedding party on wedding day.

      6. We Invest in our training and development regularly

      1. Do you prefer peace-of-mind? We do!
         We are able to guide you with our prior professional wedding photography experience, our abilities we have gained through learning from mentors, training, and our continued education and self-practice. We invest in our abilities and knowledge to provide you professional and priceless results through your entire experience with us as we guide you through the entire process.

      7. We specialize in South Asian Weddings in Houston:

      Hiring an experienced houston south asian wedding photography company in Houston who is aware of your wedding’s needs is important for you to be able to celebrate with your family and friends with peace-of-mind knowing your Haldi photography in Houston is in good hands.

      1. We are familiar and comfortable with both Indian and Pakistani cultures, their wedding day rituals and practices within each culture, and order of events during each event and what to expect on each day. It is important for top houston wedding photography companies to be aware of the general order of events, so, we can anticipate and get in position before a fleeting candid moment happens, so we document what is can be missed. South Asian weddings in Dallas can be FAST!

      2. Indian Wedding Photography

         1. Indian Hindu-punjabi, Indian-Catholic,

      3. Pakistani Wedding Photography

         1. Muslim and Ismaili

      4. We are able to light stage setups and ballrooms during Mehndi and Walima nights

      5. During Indian Hindu weddings. We are able to light the ceremony inside the Hindu Temple to create soft natural-looking light without looking like there is light.

      6. We are familiar with the types of poses and pictures that are preferred and religiously accepted within both Indian and Pakistani cultures. For example, during a Muslim wedding on the day of the Nikah and during their Pre-wedding photo session. Bride and Groom do not touch.

2. General FYI’s:

   • Arrive before your wedding starts to setup and get familiar with location/wedding venue, so when coverage time officially begins, we are able to use your time effectively. Again…wedding days are FAST!!!

   • As we guide you through your wedding day, we are personable, kind, and diligently work for you.

   • Formally dressed to appear consistent with your event, wedding party, and guests

   • Respectful, hard-working, courteous, professional, and personable

   • We only use professional photo gear:

     • We use two camera’s with dual card slots

     • Bring lighting to use throughout your wedding day.

   • Some couples prefer candid and formal possess during their wedding. If you want a combination or strictly one or the other, I guide you through those distinct ways - so you have timeless, candid-natural, formal, Editorial, fun, and expressive pictures. Because we understand your parents want to hang certain pictures created during your wedding day and we know you and your husband prefer other types of pictures. When we photograph your wedding in Houston. We keep these important aspects in-mind.

For more information about our services. Contact Us!