Q: How long have you been shooting weddings? A: Our photographer David, has been shooting weddings for more than a decade, whereas our videographer/photographer and editor, Joe, has been doing professional video for 5 years, and had done wedding photography prior to that. OKPhotos.com was established in 2002. Q: What approach do you take to wedding photography? A: A mixture of both classic and photojournalistic styles. While our photographer is very good at classic portraiture due to the weddings he shot in the past ten plus years, we also like to capture a lot of candids throughout the day. However what is most important, is that instead of just giving you a handful of 4x6 prints, we try to tell a story of your wedding, using our very own creation, called the Bixbook™, an elegant 13x19 wedding picture storybook. Beside an artistic and a super nice guy as your photographer, the best camera and lenses in the wedding trade are there to document your big day. Afterwards, we utilize our expertise in digital artistry to adjust the images individually to create a consistent set of excellent photographs of the highest technical quality, picture to picture. Q: What approach do you take to wedding videography? A: Documentary, long-form, with occasional (licensed) background music added, and plenty of guest interviews before and after the ceremony and at the reception. The ceremony is produced in its entirety, usually with 4 or 5 video cameras. While most all other high-end wedding videographers use two video cameras with two operators (only), which enables them to cover the action from two different angles, we chose to use one or two manned cameras, plus 2 to 4 other unmanned cameras, capturing two to three times as much footage, which enables more creative editing, more content-deep editing, later. Two manned cameras might be enough to cover the action, but they miss the reactions of those not in the camera. The reaction of the guests, mom and dad, and even of the groom as the bride is coming down the aisle. Sure, these other guys will pan to the parents once or twice during the ceremony, but reaction can happen any time, hence we always try to put a locked-down camera filming the people in the front row all throughout the ceremony, while still placing two or three cameras on the happy couple. Our goal is to obtain clean, clear, beautiful video footage of your wedding day, as much of it as possible, even in the dimmest chapel and darkest reception hall, using our broadcast-quality cameras with their low-light capabilities, something that many wedding videographers and most amateurs lack. We try to capture everyone in their sunday best, grandparents who might not be long for this world, cute little nieces and nephews who would be growing up soon, and loving friends who might move away at some point. And then the raw footage is edited into a wedding feature WIDESCREEN movie starring YOU. A beautiful musical intro, a story line, smooth elegant transitions, special effects, cinematic soundtracks, moving interviews of friends and family, multiple-camera coverage of the ceremony in its entirety, the reception, and a dramatic ending and closing credit. Your own personal wedding movie, with you and your new spouse, and mom and dad, loving families, and best friends. Something you can watch again and again for years, and eventually sharing it with your future friends, children, grandchildren, and even great grandchildren. Q: What kind of still camera do you use? A: The best for the occasion. While all wedding photographers use professional cameras and lenses, most could only afford entry-level ones, as the typical wedding photography price permits. But we already have the top professional camera and lenses for weddings, why not use them? In the two photos below, the left photo was taken by us using an entry-level camera and lens some years ago, while the right one was taken by us using our high-end professional camera and lens last year. Can you see the difference? The right one has better overall sharpness and color, since it has twice the number of pixels, and more importantly much better accuracy in terms of capturing the precise shade of the color. However, the best feature of the high-end lens, is the ability to isolate the subjects, by blurring the background. Notice the gazebo in the left image, totally in focus and distracting, just like an affordable consumer-grade digital camera. The tree in the right image on the other hand, is slightly blurred and does not distract from the subjects. The ability to defocus the background, to take away the distractions behind, is the true mark of real professional photography . High-end digital can also do something that entry-level digital cannot -- super large group photos. We know, because in the distanced past we had used entry-level digital, and even under the favorable condition its resolving power will only allow group pictures of 30 or 40 persons before the individual faces start to blur out. High-end professional digital on the other hand can handle many, many, more people in a group photo (see group picture sample below). Q: Is digital better than film? A: Quality of digital photography attained that of 35mm film about seven years ago, and surpassed it about four years ago. Especially in terms of sharpness, and color accuracy. And with digital, enhancements can be made quickly and easily to individual images, with precision and no risk of ruining the original negatives. Some people prefer film over digital, as film produces a soften look, especially useful for close-ups where pores, wrinkles, and other undesirable mini-features can show up clearly with digital. That is not an issue with our wedding photography, since we routinely refine the close-up and medium shots, especially those intended for enlargements, so as to soften out the pores, wrinkles, etc, while the eyes, teeth, and jewelry remain nice and sharp. The best of both worlds. 35mm film also has another setback, its softness is often too blurry for high-quality large group photos, one big reason why high-end film photographers have to resort to medium format film cameras. Our high-resolution digital on the other hand, produces nice, sharp, group photos. Not only are the individual faces distinguishable, but often in fine details. Q: Can your camera handle big group portraits? A: Not only can our cameras, but our photographers as well. Check out the picture below. Not counting the ring boy and flower girl, there are 4 rows of people, and amazingly our photographer still has both his feet on the floor. And you can see and recognize each individual faces. Q: With digital camera, is there a risk of loosing my wedding photos due to "computer error"? A: Never say never, but the chance of loosing photos with digital camera is less than film. In digital photography, captured images are stored in reusable memory cards instead of rolls of film, which are in turn read by computers. Chances of a card going bad is something like one-in-a-million, absence physical abuse. In more than seven years of professional photography using digital SLR's, we have never encounter a single card failure. And instead of 24- or 36-exposures, these cards can contain as many as several thousand photos per card, which might entice a less experienced photographer to use just one big card for the whole wedding day, eliminating the hassle of carrying and changing memory cards. Again we have never encounter a card failure, but we do give it some thought, as wedding is a once-in-a-lifetime affair. Instead of one big card, we use four or five smaller cards during each wedding, so that in the unlikely event that a card should fail, it would affect only a small percentage of the photos. Q: Do you have problems with “red eye” in dark reception halls? A: Nope. Red eye is caused by having the camera flash positioned too close to the camera lens, like Uncle John’s entry-level DSLR and a flash mounted directly on top, in a low-light environment. Some budget wedding photographers use this configuration and suffers from the occasional red eyes. An experienced and caring wedding photographer would use a custom bracket device to lift the flash 4 to 6 inches MORE above the camera lens in both the portrait and landscape orientations, which eliminates almost all red eyes, because the light from the flash would no longer be going into the subject’s eyes and coming back directly at the camera lens. The custom bracket also make the shadows fall behind and below the subjects, in effect hiding them, instead of to the side, when shooting in the portrait orientation. Some wedding photographers, even after purchasing the bracket, refused to use it because it makes the camera much more heavy and bulky, very tiresome to carry around for an entire day. We do not have this problem. The only time not to use the bracket, is when shooting for black-and-white images (no possibility of red eye), which we sometimes do for our Bixbook™ series. Q: What do we get in terms of photographs with your wedding packages? A: You get all the preselected individually-enhanced photos (that means each photo is carefully hand-adjusted for brightness, contrast, color balance, etc, photo by photo) of your wedding in 4x6 prints, or you may prefer to go with our very own creation, called the Wedding Bixbook™, see below for details. Or you can also have your photos as digital images on CD, with documented copyright release. However by having OKPhotos.com do the actual printing of the photos, we can ensure that each print comes out just right, not too dark or too bright, with the right contrast and color, etc, hence we do not advise going this direction and do not actively advertise it. But if images-on-CD is important to you, check with us and we will try to work something out. Q: What kind of printer do you use to produce our photographs? A: All wedding photos are produced using the latest commercial archival printer, which we upgrade from time to time, independently-tested to last over 200 years in the album by Wilhelm Research, beating out even conventional chemical-film photo prints. Regular home photo printers aka consumer ink-jet printers, is tested to last 15, 20 years even when kept in the album. In fact we did a little test of our own a couple years back, by exposing a print from a popular consumer ink-jet printer to the sun for two days, while keeping a duplicate in a dark drawer for comparison later. After just two days, the color shifting/fading was obvious to the naked eye. The same test was done to a print from our archival printer. After more than THREE MONTHS of direct sunlight from late spring into the summer, there was still no color change (we took it down after that, since there was no point in continuing). Q: Why is it best to have OKPhotos.com do the printing for our wedding photos when there are cheap alternatives out there, including printing them ourselves at home? A: You could go with one of the alternatives, but you would end up with either low-quality printing, or spend way too much time and money to get the same quality. Printing at home means you need to have a professional archival printer like ours to even have the potential to get to the same level. Even if you want to spend the money to get the professional printer, you still have to spend a lot of on-going time keeping the printer in shape. These professional printers need constant "babying" -- printing and/or declogging. Letting it sit idle for even a month is not an option, as the print heads will dry up and get clogged up to the degree they can't be fix without sending the printer back to the manufacturer. Beyond that, you still need to play with each image to get them to come out just right, probably printing each of them 3 or 4 time, needlessly using up ink and paper. Since we have been doing this for years, we get them to come out just right on the first run 99% of the time, very little waste. Chain store printing maybe cheap, but so will the results. They don't adjust each individual image for you or every customer, that would be unprofitable at the price they charge. Of course you can also get a professional lab to print them, but if they are as good as OKPhotos.com, they would be charging more than us. Q: Why does it cost $49 for a 13x19 enlargement? Other professional photographers charge even more, $100, $200, even $500 for the same, but still I wonder why? A: $49 for a OKPhotos.com 13x19 enlargement is actually a fantastic deal. We don't know what the justification for the higher prices other professionals charge, but our archival printing cost more than $10 each merely for the ink, paper, depreciation, wear-and-tear, etc. And often, to get the 13x19 print to be perfect in our eyes, a second printing is done after additional adjustments. Beyond that, we usually spend 2 to 4 hours retouching and refining each 13x19 image prior to the printing. If you have seen our actual 13x19 enlargements up close, you would know why. We are always amazed by the reaction from clients at our demos, which include showing of several 13x19 enlargements. First question they asked almost invariably is if any 13x19 enlargement is included in the packages? Followed by, if they could order some together with the photo/video package they want (even before the photos are taken)? Q: How much do your reprints and enlargements cost? A: About half of what most professionals charge today, despite the same level of retouching/enhancement. Click here for reprint price list and instructions. Q: Can the reprints be ordered by phone or via Internet? A: Yes. Click here for more information. Q: What is a Wedding Bixbook™? A: Wedding Bixbook™ (bi•x•book) is short for Big Picture Book, a larger (13 by 19 inch), more elegant, modern version of the popular wedding story book produced by many upscale wedding photographers around the country. Give us a call, you will like what you see, everybody has so far. Q: What is a 8x11 mini-Bixbook™? A: It is the same as the 13x19 Bixbook™, except it is about 8x11 in size, and do not have the thumbnail pages at the back. The 8x11 mini-Bixbook™ is very suitable for the parent's album. Q: Do you use “3-CCD” cameras for wedding videos? A: Yes, but not just 3-CCD, but professional low-light 3-CCD cameras. Well, actually all professional cameras, and some advanced amateur video cameras too, are 3-CCD. But not all professional cameras are low-light. Many entry-level wedding videographers use professional cameras that are not low-light, requiring 5 to 7 LUX lighting to operate properly. One LUX refers to the video camera needing one candlelight per sq yard, and in a large dimmed church with tall ceiling, that could be a problem. At that point, they either have to turn on their on-camera video light, if they even have one, or record dark footage which results in dark grainy ceremony video. And if video light is used, it would severely disrupt the mood of the ceremony, get you deer-in-the-headlight looks, not to speak of squinting eyes. Our professional Sony cameras, on the other hand, are rated at 0.5 LUX to 2 LUX, needing a fraction of the light to operate, and so far we have encountered no problems even in the darkest chapel and reception hall, no video light required. However we have come close at times, so even though we have not personally use the other cameras, we know they would have severe problems in those situations. Recently we have also acquired several HD cameras. They are not as low-light as our standard definition cameras, but will handle all outdoor and most indoor ceremonies without using video lights. We would not use them for any dimly-lit ceremony. As for the reception hall lighting, sometimes this gets even worse when the hall management tries to save on utilities by downing the lights, not sufficient to blind everybody, but enough to affect all but the Sony professional low-light cameras, like ours. So if somebody is using non-Sony professional video cameras, I would worry about the lighting, as these other cameras would have to resort to video light, a major grumble about wedding videography by the clients and guests, according to the videographers themselves. It hurts to be in a dark place, and then suddenly look into a bright (video) light. The only consistent time we have in the past used video light, is during the first dance when the lights are really low, when everybody is looking at the couple (and not into our camera/light), and that was only about 10% of weddings we did. Most of the time we had no need for video light even during first dance, even in dim light. Q: What do you mean by "4 or 5 video cameras" in the photo/video package? A: It meant that either 4 or 5 cameras will be deployed for the ceremony, base on conditions at the time. We try to deploy as many cameras as possible, makes our editing easier with more camera angles to choose from, but sometimes for whatever reason that is not possible. The same practice applies to "3 or 4 video cameras". Most wedding videographers, even those charging $3000 or $5000 for video alone in our great state, use only 2 cameras. They might tell you that we are crazy to deploy 5 video cameras for half their price, but the problem with that claim is, we have been doing it for more than 5 years. They may not be able to meet the logistic, technical, and creative challenges of shooting and editing 5 video cameras for the same ceremony, but we can, and have, with no complaints, and plenty of happy clients. Q: During the ceremony, do your videographer move around to capture more subjects and different angles of the bride and groom? A: We try to, unless you prefer otherwise, or are limited by church rules, equipment, or other types of obstructions. Typically at a traditional indoor church, in the midst of the ceremony, we try to stay put, unless the minister/church invites us to do otherwise, or that there was a very compelling reason at the time. At the beginning and end of the ceremony however, our videographer will try to capture the very important procession and recession "bride" shots, which may involve some moving around. At an outdoor wedding, or an indoor church without strict rules, we would occasionally move around during the ceremony, with the least distraction possible, in order to tell a better video story. For example, during the ring exchange, we may move in a little closer, just a little, to get a more top-down view of the rings. Which is why at a church with strict rules, it will be very helpful to have more video cameras, as many as possible. Q: Do you offer widescreen or HD wedding video? A: OKPhotos.com offers standard definition widescreen with all our wedding video packages at no extra-charge. Widescreen video means your wedding memories will look more grand and movie-like on your new widescreen TV (which you no doubt would eventually get), without the blackout areas on the left and right edge. We are also beginning to shoot some of our wedding videos entirely with HD (high-definition) cameras. Even though they are not recorded nor produced in the HD mode (i.e. produced in standard definition widescreen mode instead), the picture are still much sharper than those shot by the older non-HD cameras. In the past, this improvement would not matter because the old/current full screen CRT TV can only display up to 400 or 500 vertical lines of resolution, hence you can't tell the difference regardless. But today, with more and more people owning widescreen HDTV, which can display 600 or 700 lines of resolution even in SD mode, the visual improvement is significant. The pictures are sharper, and you can pick up smaller details. However, since lowlight HD cameras are beyond that of the usual wedding budget, both the ceremony and reception would have to be daytime outdoor or bright indoor. If HD-ish quality matters to you and you already own a HDTV, please check with us if you wedding qualifies for an all-HD-cameras shoot. There is no extra charge for this service. Q: Do you use tripod for your video camera, which may be too big for our little church? A: We advise using of tripod for video for everybody, even if somebody else was shooting your wedding. Watching video footage not shot on tripod from a handheld camera for any extended period of time, is like watching a tight-rope walker, shaky and constantly worrying if he is going to fall, and extremely tiresome for the eyes because they have to constantly adjust up and down to compensate for the “shaking”, as many as several times each seconds. We also have a remote-control skycam, which can be set at eye level to perform like a regular camera, except the foot print required at the camera spot is one quarter that of a regular camera on tripod with a cameraman, or raised more than 10 feet up in the air for a "sky" view. Click here for complete details about the skycam. We have used this small foot-print setup successfully in tight situations before, where the minister was literally backed against the wall, and the happy couple was less than 5 feet from the wall facing it. The primary camera was against the wall to one side facing the bride, and the whole video turned out wonderfully (check out the Debra and Greg video highlight in the video gallery). Q: Can you do candle light ceremony video? A: Yes, and a good one too. In fact this year, 2007, we have already done two candle light ceremonies (day-time indoor with most of the lights turned off, very little "window" light, lots of candles), both with three cameras, and both turned out very good. Reason being that we have professional lowlight cameras, Sony cameras, whereas other-brand cameras of this level will probably end up with bad grainy weird-color video that must be converted to black&white to be even presentable. Q: Is having the 2nd video camera at the reception important? A: Yes if you have dancing. For the important dances, the first dance, mom/groom, dad/bride, one camera would be recording the wide shot while the other close-up, so we can cut back-and-fore between the two in post. Q: What is Steadicam? A: Click here for a complete explanation of Steadicam. In short, Steadicam produces smooth camera moves without the use of a dolly, and sometimes doubles as a mini-crane. It can do exotic moves like filming the kissing couple while doing a circular "walk" around them and capturing background full of admiring friends and families in a panning motion, all without the jerkiness of a handheld camera. OKPhotos.com has the latest version of the Steadicam, even better than the older models because it can shoot both wide and medium shots. Also, being a handheld version, it can "fly" through a large wedding crowd and around tight corners with ease. Traditionally there are two types of shooting -- stationary camera resulting in stable videos, or moving camera with more or less jerky results. Steadicam permit moving camera, while still producing fairly stable results. Only high-end wedding videographers offer Steadicam, and there are only a handful around the country, none in the state of Oklahoma that we know of, until now. Q: Do you use professional wireless microphone? A: Yes. Not only that, but we also add a non-wireless digital voice recorder with a lapel mic to back up the wireless just in case there are extreme level of RF pollution and interference. Words are most important in any wedding ceremony, so more active backups are not too much, really. We use a professional UHF diversity wireless lapel microphone on the groom, and the digital voice recorder/lapel mic on the on the officiate, if permitted. A second backup is the mic on the camera. And for ceremonies with readers, an additional wireless mic is deployed on the lectern. Q: What does all these mean? How do they affect my video? A: Well, if there is not an active backup (which records at the same time as the primary mic), in the case the primary mic fails or more likely recorded sound with some distortions, then that is what you get on your video, bad sound, or no sound at all. Sound can be distorted in many ways. If the recording is too soft, then the editor has to increase the volume, which will introduce loud constant static noise. If it was recorded too loudly, there will be clipping, which sounds like a constant "clicking" sound, very irritating to the listeners. Wedding videographers who use inexpensive VHF wireless, which can easily be interfered with by cordless phone, cell phone, and other electronics, and you will hear cut-outs every so often. And if the wedding is outdoor and the wind picks up, you will hear something like a bed sheet flapping in the wind, constantly, louder than even the speeches themselves and making the whole audio hard to understand. OKPhotos.com has never loose an audio due to wind noise, or anything else so far. By using UHF wireless, with active backups, know-how in reducing most of wind noise outdoors, and constant monitoring of the sound levels at our primary camera, we have few of these problems if any at all. And there is always the backup to fix the problem if the primary mic should fall pray to one of the above. And with our latest addition of a non-wireless digital voice recorder/lapel mic, even places with the worst RF pollution wouldn't prevent us from getting good sound. Q: Are interviews a must in our wedding video? A: Nope, you decide whether to have interviews, and to what degree. In our current contract, you get to pick from following options. "Try your polite best" is the safest option to go with. We would be somewhat passive in getting interviews, definitely not pushing anybody hard. Important people like those in the wedding parties, parents, etc, would be asked more than once if necessary, but again not pushed. "Try very hard" means we would persuade the guest a little bit if he/she was reluctant at first. Initial reluctance is common with wedding interviews, most people do not expect to be asked, and often instinctively say "no". However after the initial surprise, many would change their mind and decide that it is a good idea. In the final video, we like to keep the interviews polite, because we presume the video would also be shown to friends and families at anniversary parties. Hence we put some effort into keeping out the "rough stuff". For example, one well-meaning brother once talked about divorce rate in the midst of his congratulation to the bride and groom. We took the 10 seconds out of the one-minute interview, almost seamlessly, and nobody was any the wiser. Grandpa once threatened the groom "you better take good care of my granddaughter or else..." before he "calmed down" and did a sweet interview. We cut out that front portion and everything was peachy. Which is why the next option is "try very hard and keep the rough stuff in". In this case, we would keep almost everything in, unless they are truly extreme, which means they are no longer just "rough". Another option is "bestman/maid-of-honor and parents only", which is done prior to the reception. This way, only the "safe" people are interviewed, and the videographer is free to get more candid shots at the reception. And finally, "no interviews" means just that, even if a guest ask, we would not permit any interviews, for the entire day. Q: Will our wedding DVD have chapters and a menu system? A: Yes. In the old days of VHS, menu systems and direct-jump to chapters of course was not possible. As DVD's got popular, many videographers for whatever reason continue this practice of simply dumping the final video footage onto a DVD, without a menu system or chapters. OKPhotos.com started doing menus and chapters since day one, it is part of our practice, and expertise. In fact, we typically spent hours on menus and chapters for each project, carefully considering where to put the beginning of each chapter, designing and testing individual menu backgrounds, incorporating the right menu music, etc. One thing our customers like a lot, was the background of the scene selection menu, where we usually put a "panoramic" view of the ceremony in progress, from images captured by our photographer with a special lens. Even when other videographer's DVD has chapters, many of them are very limiting. One videographer on the Internet limited his number of chapters to two (2) for his smallest package, three (3) for the mid-range package, and four (4) for the high-end package. We thought that was very funny. On our DVD's, you can have up to nine chapters that are selectable from the "select scene" menu, and unlimited number of sub-chapters which can be used to jump forward and backward using the chapter-jump buttons on your remote. This way, you don't have to fast-forward and reverse straining your eyes trying to stop at the precise point. For example, when the guests start arriving, there could be a chapter or sub-chapter point, so you can skip there quickly. When the grandparents start down the aisle, another chapter point. Then the parents, the groom, the bride's maids, etc. This way, you can fast-forward with ease, without straining your eyes or over-shooting the start of the segment. This applies to all standard OKPhotos.com wedding video DVD's. No extra charge. Q: Can you make any changes to our wedding video after delivery? A: Yes, we try to retain your wedding video files on our system for at least one month after delivery, so changes could be made and a new DVD could be mastered. But re-edit does not guarantee what you think you requested. Since nobody can read another person's mind, we try our best to picture what you want. Q: Will we have any problem playing your wedding DVD in our DVD player? A: There is no guarantee, but there has been no complaint so far. We do not purchase our DVD blanks from discount chain store. Instead they are obtained from professional commercial supplier and are of the highest grade – the professional grade. More expensive, but zero error and no compatibility problem so far. Q: How would the DVD's be packaged? A: Each DVD will come in a standard DVD case, both the DVD disc itself and the case will be decorated with custom artwork, using the pictures from your wedding photos, if you booked the photo/Video package. Else we would bring a camera to the rehearsal and take some pictures for the artwork. The artwork on the DVD disc is PRINTED ON in a professional manner, not some cheap sticker from the store which might cause imbalance to the disc as it spins at high speed in the DVD player. Q: Is 5 hours on-site time enough to cover everything? A: Yes, a 5-hour period is usually enough to cover everything, if there is no dancing, and with the ceremony and reception at the same place or very close by. With dancing, 6 hours is a must, which is why the "Classic Plus" package was created. The only exception is when the dancing is limited to one or two, for the video sake. And you can always extend the coverage by an hour or two for a small fee. Q: Can our guests use their cameras? A: Yes they can, and in fact we write it into the contract that we encourage guests to use their consumer-grade cameras, including video cameras, so long as they do not create problem for us. Q: Do you carry backup cameras? A: Yes, for both still photography and video. Professional cameras today are very reliable, not only because of improvements in the manufacturing process, but also with the quick turnover of each generation of cameras, there is usually not enough time for them to get overused and worn out. Hence some photographers and videographers, especially those on a budget, are tempted not to have backups, or simply cannot afford them. Even when a photographer or videographer said he/she has a backup camera, what he might really mean, is that if his equipment should failed prior to your wedding day, he could borrow or rent a camera for your wedding. But if the equipment should fail in the midst of your wedding, then you are both up the creek. Not only do we have backup cameras, but we also bring them, so that if anything should fail in the midst of the wedding, there will be little if any interruption. Our photographer simply grab the backup camera with the backup flash, flash bracket, lens, and batteries, already put together and ready-to-go, and continue shooting. We also carry extra microphones, spare video tapes, memory card storage, etc. Q: What do you mean by "on-site time" in your package listing? A: On-site time refers to the time period when we arrive at the first location (usually ceremony) as previously arranged till the time we leave the last location (usually the reception). The travel time in between your locations are counted as part of the on-site time. Q: Do you provide any "safety margin" in case of traffic jam, especially when traveling to an out-of-town job? Yes. For OKC and Tulsa, we typically depart half hour early, and is glad to say that we have never been late for our appointed time (which typically is 2 hours prior to the ceremony) so far. For here in Stillwater, we usually get on-site about 10 minutes early. Q: How would you be dressed for our wedding day? A: We require everyone to dress professionally, usually black dress pants with dark-color shoes, and black or white long-sleeves dress shirt. However if you should need something more formal, please check with us. Q: Do you outsource any portion of your work? A: Can't think of anything we have outsourced, and hard to at the price we charge. Consultation, engagement and bridal photos, rehearsal, shooting on wedding day, image processing, editing, printing, most everything is done by us in-house, and adhere to our strict rules and standards. Along the same line, going with an OKPhotos.com photo+video package means you never have to worry about your photographer having conflicts with your videographer, or just getting in each other's way at critical moments. Our photographer (David) and videographer (Joe) have done so many weddings together for so many years, they instead compliments each other, knew each other's habits and style, and back each other up. For example, when the cake-cutting starts, our photographer would make sure the videographer is there and ready. This way, the videographer doesn't have to stand by the cake or the bride meanwhile, or glancing at the cake area every other minute, and can instead concentrate on getting his B-rolls and interviews without missing the start of the cake-cutting. Q: Do you come to the rehearsal? A: Most of the time one of us comes to the rehearsal, in order to scout the ceremony location, lighting, church rules, etc, to produce the best video possible. However we usually do not stay long, 30 minutes perhaps, just to check things out first hand. On rare occasion the rehearsal night conflicts with another project, in those cases, we would have to arrive early on the wedding day instead, and obtain our information then, and/or days before on the phone. If our coming to the rehearsal is important to you, please check with us at contract time. We can usually tell by then whether there will be any conflict. Q: How soon should we book our date? What is the advantage of booking early? A: Booking early obviously prevents other people from taking your date, if you are set on using OKPhotos.com (thank you). This is especially important in our case, because we can only do one wedding video per week. Reservation is taken up to one year in advance. Another advantage is to lock in on the current package price. OKPhotos.com raise prices occasionally as our expertise increases, service expanded, and equipment get upgraded. By booking early, you get to enjoy some of those added amenities while still paying the old price. Q: When is the package price we will be paying set, at first consultation/demo time, or booking time? A: Booking time. Generally we give a grace period of two weeks after the first consultation if the price should go up meanwhile. However if the contract is not completed and deposit paid up within two weeks, then the new price kicks in. Q: What is needed to secure our date? A: A completed contract and the required deposit. Q: How soon after the wedding can we see our photos and video? A: Despite extensive post production work and photo editing (up to 100 hours), complete final delivery in three weeks, if everything goes well. Can't guarantee anything but, that has been the case for the past four years, both photos and video (or wedding movie, rather). Q: How long do you keep our negatives and video files, if we should require reprints or extra video copies in the distant future? A: We try to keep them forever, but of course things can and will go bad at some point, so you should order everything within 2 years. Multiple copies of the digital negatives are kept in storage, whereas the video are not only kept in the form of a master DVD, but also recorded to a digital tape, so that if one medium should fail, we still have the other. Again you should order all the reprints, enlargements, and video copies you want ASAP. We make backups, but there is no absolute guarantee. Q: So why should we pick OKPhotos.com for our wedding photos and video? A: For the price of what most people pay for wedding photos alone (and that is today's low "digital photography" price), OKPhotos.com provides both wedding photography and video. But not stopping there. We try our best to achieve top-level results, above and beyond what is available in this price range. Large, elegant, 13x19 Wedding Bixbook™ which tells your wedding story with colorful photos big and small, thrown-in with some striking black-and-whites, so artistic. And not just video, but widescreen wedding movie. And beautiful interviews with clean clear professional audio, showing grandpas and grandmas in their sunday best, something you could show to your kids and grandkids even after they have passed on. And who knows what your rowdy friends and family would come up with. Of course, you get to decide (at contract time) whether you want interviews, and how much. We don't just "record" your wedding. At OKPhotos.com, we strive to be picture storyteller, wedding filmmaker, and also go to great length to produce the best images and sound technically. Finally, OKPhotos.com is very easy and flexible to work with, be as interactive or as non-intrusive as you prefer. Some photographers and videographers INSIST on seeing you 2 or 3 times before and after the wedding day, while others don't even come to the rehearsal. Unless it was a special arrangement, we attend all rehearsals. You can email or call us any time, even on weeknights and weekends, even for the tiniest detail you may have some question about, or just want to be sure. We like getting calls from our customers, because it means getting to know more about the wedding arrangement, which in turn will result in better wedding photos and video. We have customers whom we interacted with 15 or 20 times prior to the wedding day, and customers who preferred not to be bothered until the rehearsal. We are happy to work either way and always optimize the results by customizing our workflow accordingly. And we would never call you unless it is absolutely necessary, knowing that you are probably very busy with school, work, and the other aspects of the wedding. Call us at 405-377-5967 day or night to check if your date is available, and we will also be glad to answer any question you have. We cover Stillwater and surrounding areas, OKC and Tulsa, at no additional charge. No travel fee, and clock does not start until we get to your location. Please consider booking at the earliest moment, it will not only secure your date, but a great package deal as well. Bookings is accepted up to one year in advance. We take VISA and Mastercard. Home | Privacy Policy | Info | View Cart Contact OKPhotos.com at (405) 377-5967 or Email Content subject to change without notice. Not Responsible for typographical error. Copyright ©OKPhotos.com, All Rights Reserved. Bixbook is a trademark of OKPhotos.com.