Over my relatively short career in wedding photography, I’ve shot several hundred weddings – which means that I’ve had several hundred more in terms of consultations. I don’t remember all of them verbatim (that’s what my notes are for!), but there are a few that have stood out over the years. Dustin happens to be one of them. Why? During our first phone meeting we talked about everything NOT related their wedding. Twenty minutes later, in my mind, I was pretty sure he was still looking for a wedding photographer, and at some point he was going to ask for the paperwork. But of course, that wouldn’t happen till much, much later, after we had both essentially divulged our life stories to each other. It was a little unorthodox, to say the least. But I can appreciate a client who wishes to get a better sense of the person who’s going to be documenting one of the most important days in their lives. Portfolio and pricing’s the easy part to figure out; that person you’ll be inviting to your wedding for 10-12 hours…that’s probably just as important as the other two!
At the end of the day, Dawn and Dustin were more than thrilled to have a photographer who was once the Willy Wonka of a chicken factory in a previous life (true story), and I couldn’t have been more thrilled to accept that honor. Their romantic engagement session took place at the Frelinghuysen Arboretum in Morristown, one of the most picturesque locations in Northern Jersey.
