Frequently Asked Questions
1. How long do you stay at the wedding for?
2. Do we get all the pictures?
3. How many pictures do you take?
4. How quickly will the pictures be ready?
5. Can we get a DVD of all the pictures?
6. Will you photograph everyone?
7. What would be your standard group photography?
8. Do we have to have group pictures?
9. Do you shoot with film?
10. What are art books/ storybooks?
11.Are you members of any professional bodies?
12. Do we have to meet you to book you?
13. Do you visit the wedding locations before the day?
14. How do we book you?
15. When do we pay you?
16. Do you carry back equipment / lighting?
17. Are you insured?
18. Do you photograph the actual ceremony?
19. Do you work alone?
20. Do you do more than one wedding in a day?
21. What area’s do you cover?
22. Do you charge travel expenses?
23. Do you accept credit cards?
1. How long do you stay at the wedding for?
That depends on which package you book and to an extent, what kind of event you are planning. As normal coverage is between 6 and 8 hours as a guide.
2. Do we get all the pictures?
Traditional Album packages get printed proofs, which is a binder containing a postcard size (6x4”) prints of everything we shoot on the day that passes our quality control. Storybook packages get a DVD slideshow containing all proofs.
3. How many pictures do you take?
The number of pictures taken depends on the size of the crowd, the amount of time available and other issues like the weather. An average wedding if there is such a thing, will result in around 100-200 images in the proof folder, but we don’t count and are more interested in capturing the spirit of the day to a high standard rather than worrying about the number of clicks.
4. How quickly will the pictures be ready
The pictures will normally be ready with 14-21 days from the date of the wedding, often much quicker. Once ready these pictures will be uploaded to a website for you and your guests to look at and order. Printed proofs will normally be available within 28 days.
5. Can we get a DVD of all the pictures?
Yes you can. We charge £200 for a disk with everything on it at high resolution with "Permission to Print" for your storage, safe keeping and you can also print from this disk.
6. Will you photograph everyone?
Our aim is always to try and get a great natural portrait shot of everyone who is at the wedding, plus a good number of storytelling shots that paint the picture of what happened on the day, along with some formal and groups shots if you would like them. Clearly we will try very hard to get shots of everyone and it is unusually that we do not, but if timer is short or the person in question hides away, it is possible they will get missed. Therefore it is important that if there are any people who simply must be photographed you either make sure that you request a formal shot with them in or assign an usher to point them out to us for special attention.
7. What would be your standard group photographs?
We would photograph the bridal party (bridesmaids and ushers and the bride and groom), both sets of parents separately and together in whatever format they may take, shoot one family and then the other family and the rest is up to you. Often that would be all, but we are sometimes asked to photograph grandparents, friends and so on, all with the bride and groom. We try to ensure that group photographs take no more that 15-20 minutes.
We would also take some time out to photograph the bride and groom as well. This can be in the break between the wedding breakfast and the evening reception depending on your days timings.
8. Do we have to have group pictures?
No, of course not. Many couples loath the thought of them and I fully understand why! It is up to you, but do warn your families if you propose not to have any formal shots as it may well be them that object and possibly ask for specific shots.
9. Do you shoot with film?
Not anymore, although we started taking photographs everything was film. Shooting digital is much harder work and consumes hours of my life in front of a computer screen, but so much better for the client, we can provide online web galleries much easier than with film, we can do special digital effects and even remove people from wedding photographs. See below.
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If you are not using film shouldn't the prices have reduced, in theory this would be the case but modern digital camera’s are more expensive, the computers and associated equipment are very expensive and the amount of time it takes to sort and edit the photographs is much more than using film.
Quality is simply not an issue- digital is as good as film for all the uses wedding photographs are put to. I can shoot more pictures - I can retouch the odd spot or smudge - I can shoot in very low light - I can shoot anything I fancy and be experimental - we can do wonderful things with albums - we can put the pictures on-line - and so on. With complete creative control over the images we can keep the quality absolutely first class.
10. What are art books / story books?
Storybook albums are whole page photographs of your wedding, these layouts can be designed to your particular style.
These image are then bound into a book. Horizontal and vertical formats available and also a complete range of parent albums.
The storybook albums can have any style of wedding photography, traditional or reportage or a combination of both.
Dobege Photography currently use albums from suppliers such as Graphistudio and Sim2000 Imaging.
An example of a Graphistudio Layout can be seen here
and an example of a Simimaging storybook layout can be seen here
11. Are you members of any professional bodies.
We are members of the Society of Wedding and Portrait photographers.
12. Do we have to meet you to book you?
No you do not have to meet us however we always find it better to get together prior to the wedding to discuss what is required.
However I am aware that with busy lifestyles and the distances we sometime travel that this can be impractical so these discussion could take place via email and telephone about 2 weeks prior to the wedding.
13. Do you visit the wedding locations before the day?
If I have not photographed at a location before I will generally visit the location either with the bride and groom (if your time allows) or alone. If you location is not within a reasonable distance we will make sure we visit the venues earlier on the day of the wedding.
14. How do we book you?
Once you have decided on Dobege for your wedding photography please contact us and we will reserve you wedding day. We will then send you via email our standard booking contract and will ask for the booking fee to be paid. On receipt of this your date will be booked into our diary. This booking fee can be paid via Cash, Credit Card or Cheque.
15. When do we pay you?
We take a £200.00 booking fee to book the day which is payable when you complete our paperwork. The balance is due 30 days prior to your wedding. Additional orders for prints, parents albums, extra DVD’s are payable with order.
16. Backup Equipment / Lighting?
We carry backup equipment for everything we use this includes backup cameras, lenses and flash equipment. We also carry full studio flash equipment (but as yet we have never had use it at a wedding).
17. Are you insured?
We carry full public liability insurance.
18. Do you photograph the actual ceremony?
This is all dependent on the registrar or priest conducting the ceremony. Some are very good and will work with us to allow us to capture your special moment, some ban photographers from taking pictures inside their churches during any part of the ceremony. (Normally we can get pictures of the signing of the register).
19. Do you work alone?
Normally I will work with an assistant who as well as taking some candid shots,
will help with arrange the groups and make sure we have everyone who is needed.
20. Do you do more than one wedding a day?
We never shot more than one wedding in a day, we want to be concentrating on getting the best shots of your wedding.
21. What areas do you cover?
We are based on the border of Cheshire and Greater Manchester. This allows us to cover the whole of the Northwest including Lancashire, North Wales, Derbyshire, Shropshire and Cumbria. This year alone we have shot in Hampshire, Northumberland and We will however cover anywhere in the UK or worldwide and have recently completed a commission in Florida.
22. Do you charge travel expenses?
We do not charge mileage expenses within the Cheshire, Greater Manchester and Lancashire, further a field expenses will be charged at cost.
These charges will be agreed prior to booking so there are no hidden surprises.
23. Do you accept Credit Cards?
We do accept major credit cards (Visa, Access, Delta and American Express) or alternatively Paypal.
unfortunately due to the cost of this service from our bank/Paypal we have to charge a 3% handling charge.
Payment by Cash or cheque attracts no charges.
If we have left any questions un-answered please email them to us at:- info@dobegephotography.co.uk