organic. photojournalistic. fine art. heirloom quality.

gvp weddings

Most couples know that they need a photographer, but aren’t sure where to start.

It can be overwhelming when you start to look for your wedding vendors, not knowing what kind of collection you need, how many hours of coverage, what your style is, and what type of personality you want hanging around with you on such an important day.

After years of experience photographing thousands of weddings, we have a formula that serves as a great starting point.

- Six hours of coverage on average, if you are planning a full day event. This will capture the finishing touches of getting ready for the event, portraits, ceremony, and the main photo ops of the reception. You can always add extra hours if you want more time, a more leisurely schedule, or if you have special things planned like a sparklers exit at the end of the night.

- Two photographers are the norm for events of 75+, but we start with just one artist, and offer the second photographer as an optional add-on. The benefit of a second photographer is that you get more photos, additional angles, focused attention from your primary photographer while the additional shooter focuses on guests, and flexibility when there are multiple locations. This is totally up to the preference of the couple, and not required.

- Engagement photos are a package option for a photo session to be scheduled around six months prior to your wedding. It’s typically a two-hour portrait session, in a location chosen by the couple, or we can provide suggestions. Many couples like to meet at our studio first, and then explore the Midtown Sacramento landscape. Engagement sessions are a great way to familiarize yourself with your photographer, and the posing experience. It also celebrates the engagement, can be used for invitation stationery (save-the-date cards) and wedding websites and social media. They can also be used in a layout for a wedding day welcome guestbook, framed artwork in the wedding decor, or just to have photos of yourselves to celebrate this milestone in different clothing than your wedding day looks! You can expect 50-75 retouched images, and can bring up to two outfits.

- Print packages are the fourth element of your package. If you know that you will want a custom heirloom wedding album or parent gifts, take advantage of package pricing while booking. Most people don’t know what they want until they see samples, so you can wait until after you receive your digital images to mark your favorites and schedule your design appointment. Special promo pricing is offered within six months post-wedding.

Choose a photographer who makes you feel at ease in your first meeting, whose portfolio reflects an aesthetic that appeals to you, and who has a working style that is going to match well with how you want your wedding day to flow. It would be a mismatch for a photojournalistic photographer to work with a client who wanted all staged photos with dramatic lighting, or a photographer who likes to elaborately set up shots with a couple who is uncomfortable in front of the camera for too much of the day. We like to capture the moments of your day in the best lighting, but our first priority is the experience of our couples and their guests. If you’ve ever been to a wedding that felt like a movie set or a a swarm of paparazzi, that’s not us. We plan your day so that we jump in and direct when posing is needed, and then fade into the party for the rest.

Wedding day packages

Deluxe

All day coverage (8-12 hours)
Two or more photographers
Engagement session
Design service, wedding album
Classic

Finishing touches to dancing coverage (6-8 hours)
One or two photographers
Optional engagement session
Design service, print credit
Simple

Brief or elopement coverage (2-5 hours)
One photographer
Design service

GVP Style

Pre-ceremony (getting ready/detail photos): This is during hair/makeup, oftentimes at someone’s home or in a hotel room. We enter the location and assess the areas near windows with good natural light, ask for your details to be set aside for photography (jewelry, shoes, dress, ring boxes, gifts, keepsakes, vows, notes, etc.). We tell you where to stand when you get dressed, but otherwise, we snap away at whatever is happening in the room while you’re hanging out. You won’t feel like there are paparazzi swarming.
First look (when applicable): We decide on a spot to bring the couple together to have a private moment to see each other before the day begins and guests are around. We often take wedding party photos, immediate family, and some couple portraits afterward. This lessens the pressure on photos after the ceremony so that the couple can enjoy cocktails with their guests, instead of being gone for portraits.
Ceremony - The arrival of guests, processional, ceremony, vow exchange, and everything else during the ceremony is captured photojournalistic- you will barely notice we are there, and we never step in to manipulate any shots.
Formal portraits - We ask you for your wishlist and a list of family members/wedding party members and special requests, then choose the locations based on lighting and how it will fit into the day. We might split these times up throughout the day depending on what you have planned. If a couple opts to have us there without a wishlist or shot list, that is fine with us, but it might feel unorganized and chaotic if people don’t know where to be and when. Make sure your family and friends know that you are going for a loose photo schedule.
Reception - The reception is typically fly-on-the-wall and photojournalistic, but we ask you to think of a list of any informal snapshots you may want (college best friends, favorite aunt and uncle, etc.) that may not have been taken during formal portraits. For dancing and mingling, we bring artificial lighting so we can get photos in the dark, take artistic sunset and night photos, and be able to shoot from far away and capture all the fun without being too intrusive.

how phases of your day will be captured

storytelling images

You can rest assured that we take this honor seriously, and are so excited to get to know you and what you envision for the most important day of your life. We strive to document true, happy moments in the most beautiful way possible, with a focus on YOU, and your experience.
keep it simple

A big part of the wedding day are the formal portraits and “must-have” shots. Keep in mind that these formal portraits are only for the shots you want to frame, or put in the album. We can get more casual groupings during the cocktail hour and reception.
captured moments

Our clients prefer the shots we get of “real moments” instead of being tied to a long list of shots that need to be checked off. Most of the day we will be a fly on the wall, getting all of those real moments with your nearest and dearest. Those will be your favorites!
Magic Time

The artist takes over when we get to be flies on the wall and make magic. This defines our “fine art/photojournalistic” style.

tried and true tips

special details

Start gathering all of your details like jewelry, shoes, and stationery in a bag or box that is easily accessible for your photographer once they arrive. Bonus points for keeping a clean area near the window.
getting ready

Prep coverage starts the story off with all of the fun hanging out and getting dressed. We can either do full photojournalistic coverage, or just the finishing touches.
what time should people be dressed?

Make sure the people you want present for the dress button-up are finished with their hair, makeup, and are in appropriate attire once you are ready to get dressed.
first look.

A first look means that you schedule all couple and group portraits pre-ceremony, so that you can join the party after the ceremony. A traditional schedule means the majority of portraits will take up the entire cocktail hour.
church.

We strive to be as respectful as possible especially in a church, so please let us know what the shooting restrictions are beforehand so we can be prepared.
Unplugged.

We encourage you to ask the officiant to make an announcement before the processional starts, for guest to put their phones and cameras away. This will avoid photos people holding up phones, or guest blocking the aisle.