So I've been researching photographers and asking my beloved friends to recommend theirs to me (if they liked their work). Where am I now? I have a list of over 200 photographers!!! I'm slowly weeding through them (with an intricate Excel database, of course) and ranking with from 1 to 5 so that Donny can start talking to the 4/5's. I'm rather picky with the photographers. It's amazing what I've found...

I have my heart set on a handful. One guy from Chicago, an MSU alum, had a BEAUTIFUL diverse cultural portfolio, which is important to me. He is also a fashion photographer which is also a bonus! However, he now lives out of state and I would have to fly him into Lansing. The added costs put him over my budget. =(.

Then I have a couple of MI photographers whose works are amazing! I'm in discussions with them now and hopefully they'll have our date available. It's hard to believe, but a lot of dates for the good photographers are booked next year... and they said we are engaged for too long! THEN, the thing that drives me CRAZY is the excessive PhotoChopping that they do to the pictures. I will not be putting my money on the ones who put my face in a champagne flute with fake sparkles at the rims... or the lady who thought that thinks that fogging all the edges is classic.

And then the not so fun part: I've come across wedding photo sites with no photo galleries. Does this make any sense? I saw one site where the photographer had 5 pictures and his packages started at $4,000! It looked like he took them with a point and shoot too!

Anyway, we're going to end up budgeting more for photography, as many of you know--photos are important to us. (Probably why I have pictures from practically EVERY day of my life.) The costs get higher because of the cultural ceremonies--we have two locations and need a photographer at both. So if anyone knows a couple of flexible photographers who specialize in photojournalism or fashion, please let me know!