Z MEDIA Blog

Please book sooner rather than later

Just a quick note from Team Z MEDIA - 2011 is booking quickly.  Due to the number of requests for each date (we are being hammered with new client inquires), we aren't able to hold dates open for couples who haven't finalized their decision.  Bookings are based on signed contracts with a deposit.  We have had a number of couples call in and book over the phone in order to lock in their dates.  If you have had a meeting for your date and haven't signed a contract and put down your deposit, please don't wait.  We hate to see couples lose their dates.   We want to be able to service as many people as we can.  Also - don't wait to add services.  If you want video or a photobooth, these are going quickly as well.  It's always best to book everything at once if possible.  We can't guarantee that these services will be available later. 

Thanks everyone for the phenomenal response.  We look forward to working with all of you!

Team Z MEDIA

Today's Bride Show a big success!

First, we have never seen so many fabulous brides in such a short period of time.  We literally talked with thousands of people yesterday.  Everyone we spoke with from the show had a fantastic time.  We couldn't have asked for anything better.

Second, we want to thank all of the brides who took the time to stop, chat, pick up a brochure and see what Z MEDIA is all about.  You were the first to receive information on a number of new Z MEDIA developments.  Here's a brief recap for those who weren't able to attend.

New - Image Styles - This is a brand new development at Z MEDIA.  We now can hand tailor the look for your image editing styles as we prepare your coffee table books.  Want to learn more - click to visit our Image Style mini-site.  Z MEDIA has pioneered this concept over the last year.  Look for additional Image Styles over the coming months.

New - Bride's RED CARPET blog - our resident wedding expert April is heading up our brand new RED CARPET blog not just for Z MEDIA brides, but for everyone.  If you are looking for the latest wedding tips, trends, styles, accessories or just have general wedding questions - this is the place to be.  Visit now at http://www.bridesredcarpet.com.   Our exclusive rating system, location database and vendor discounts are still available for Z MEDIA RED CARPET brides only, but we wanted to expand and share this blog with brides around the country by making it public.  We have a lot of plans for this blog in the coming months in addition to informative and fun posts.  We'd like to encourage everyone to visit often!

New - Z MEDIA Wedding Websites - Z MEDIA has worked for the past year to find the best option to bring our couples high-end wedding websites.  This brand new feature is being introduced into many of our high-end packages.   Can you find wedding websites from other sources?  Of course.  The problem?  You have to do them and update them yourself.  Here, we do all the heavy lifting for you including posting a selection of your engagement images, details about you as a couple, your wedding locations, a selection of your wedding images after your wedding, your wedding video trailer (if you have Z MEDIA as your video company), your thank you to your guests and even a copy of your coffee table book layout after you choose your images for your book.  This is a fantastic feature for busy couples who want to keep their friends and family up to date on their wedding!  Contact us today for further details.

New - Z MEDIA Lighting Design - now, our brides have access to lighting design specified by Z MEDIA and equipment rentals that can be booked along side your photo, video and photobooth packages.  We've been stressing the importance of lighting to our couples.  Now we've made it even easier.  Talk to your photographer or use our contact form for further details.

New - Video/Photo Booth - now, with the Z MEDIA video/photo booth option - your guests can capture photos or record video messages, well-wishes and advice.  This is the latest Photo Booth technology and it is available through us! Contact us today for further information!

New - Z MEDIA Motion - the latest photo/video montage looks have been available through Z MEDIA for months now.  We still feel there is a lot of room for improvement in the software that creates these amazing video clips based on your wedding images and video.  We've been working with the software provider to develop better looks and feels for weddings, and they've promised us that new tools will be available in the coming months.  For now, we have the tools to create some amazing productions, but we look forward to a time coming soon where they will begin to fulfill the creative vision we have for the integration of photography and videography.  These are exciting times for wedding imagers! 

Over the next several months - there will be more to come.  Z MEDIA is dedicated to constant innovation.  Weddings are fun and exciting.  It is our goal to continue to combine excellence in customer service with fun, exciting people.  Its the Z MEDIA Experience and we hope to be able to share it with each of you!

---Chris and Julie

Choosing Your Photographer Day 6

Here's an area to investigate when you are looking at booking a photographer.  Any package you purchase should have a full resolution image DVD of your photographs.  There should be no copyright restrictions, no watermarks (an overlay of the photographer's name or copyright symbol) and no funny business about lower resolution files that only print up to a certain size.  Another area to avoid are DVD slideshows of your images.  These may be nice for viewing the images on your TV (albeit at a much lower resolution than your computer screen), but these files can not be printed.   Make sure you are getting actual image files from your photographer on a data DVD or set of data CDs.  This is the only way to go.

Verify whether or not your images are actually going to be edited.  Z MEDIA goes to great lengths to edit all of the images we provide to our couples.  We've seen photographers that simply take the files out of the camera and give them to the couples without putting any effort into them.  This may save money, but the images are not going to look their best.  We've seen others use automated processing routines to process their images.  We've looked at different packages for this and they just don't produce usable images in our opinion.  Our Z MEDIA photographers edit each and every image you receive.  Nothing beats the human eye looking at each image individually.  This takes a ton of additional time, but it is worth it.

Next, verify approximately how many images you will receive.  This is very much dependent on the day and how many photographers you have.  We say that a single photographer wedding for full day coverage will submit somewhere between 600 and 1000 images to you.  A two photographer wedding will be between 1000 and 2000 images depending on the length of coverage and the complexity of the event. 

More to come!

---Chris and Julie

Choosing Your Photographer Day 5

This may seem like a no-brainer - but not only do you want to get to know your photographer, but you also want to view their work.  Make sure that you are meeting with your lead photographer and actually seeing photographs that they have taken.   When you hire a Z MEDIA associate photographer, you view actual examples of their photographs.

---Chris and Julie

Choosing Your Photographer Day 4

This week, we'll talk just a bit about reading a photographer's price list.  There are now so many options available along with so many different photography terms that price lists can be a bit daunting.  Each day we'll go over some basics and some things to look for.

Package price -

Is the package price actually the total cost of working with the photographer?  Other than sales tax, what you see is what you should get.  You shouldn't have to pay any more after the wedding unless you choose to do so or you request additional services not included in your contract.

In other words - make sure the price is the price.  Some areas to watch out for are album credits (ask the photographer to at least commit to a certain album price and put it in the contract - if they won't, run away).   If you decide to add more pages, images, options or increase the size of the book, you can expect to pay more, but you need to know what the cost is up front for a book that you want.  If you leave this to later, its going to cost you.  Also make sure you are getting a full resolution DVD of your images - not a stripped down version or one with copyright marks on it.  Best to find out up front.

More to come on Wednesday.

Choosing Your Photographer Day 3

Ok - so you have an idea of what your budget is going to be.  Now, narrow your search down to those photographers that fit within your budget.  Is it possible that you'll spend more than you budget?  That depends on how important photography/videography are to you.  Many of our personal clients have photography as their #1 priority.  You may have to spend a bit more, but we never suggest completely blowing your budget out of the water.  We have pricing that covers the vast majority of brides and grooms so feel free to contact us for information.  

As you review pricing, make sure you know what your total cost will be.  Packages can skyrocket out of control when there are loose ends.  Things like book credits instead of books that are actually included in the package, extra charges for additional time and/or travel, image DVDs that are low-res or have copyright restrictions - these can cost you money big time.  What may look like a reasonable price may not be.  Do your research and ask questions.

Narrow your search down to around 3 photographers you really like that fit your budget.  Spend time with them on the phone.  If you don't like them on the phone, don't spend time meeting with them.  Pick someone else to meet with.  If you do hit it off, get together with them personally to view more images, books and other accessories.  This will then put you into a good position to make a final decision.

We're actually going to pick this discussion up on Monday.  We have several projects that must be done this week that are going to take a bit of time.  See you on Monday!

---Chris and Julie 

Choosing Your Photographer Day 2

Up next - finding a photographer within your budget.  Photography prices seem to be all over the map.  How do you decide what you need and how much you should spend?  I'm going to revisit a post we've done before and add some additional details. 

First, you need to set a budget.  Brides magazine in their 75th Anniversary Issue published the latest suggested wedding budget percentages.   They give a good overview of the wedding in general and where couples should look at spending the funds they have available.  These are not set in stone as each couple has priorities where they may spend more and areas that are less important that may receive a smaller portion of the budget.  That having been said, these numbers are a good starting point.  Here we go -

Reception - 43.7%
Photography/Videography - 15.2%
Wedding Rings - 9%
Wedding Dress, Veil, and other Accessories - 6.3%
Music - 6.3%
Flowers - 5.1%
Invitations and other Printed Material - 3%
Transportation - 2.4%
Attendants' Gifts - 2.7%
Hair and Makeup (including Attendants) - 2%
Officiant - 2%
Favors - 1.4%
Groom's Formal Wear (rental) - .9%

For example - if your wedding budget is $30,000, that gives you $4560 to spend on photography, videography or both.  Some couples choose to spend their entire amount on photography and some choose to split up their budgets between the two.  It is a matter of personal taste.  Z MEDIA provides both services in a wide range of prices to fit your needs. 

Keep in mind that photobooths have also been really hot lately.  We've been providing more and more photobooth services to couples this last year with even more are booked for 2010.  You may consider this part of your photography budget or you can consider it part of your reception spending.

At Z MEDIA, we have photography, videography and photobooth services to meet almost any budget.   Our highline packages feature great value mixed with high-end services.  Our value packages have less features and time, but you still get the same great photographers, videographers and photobooth services.

More to come tomorrow!

---Chris and Julie

Choosing Your Photographer Day 1

Today, we're starting a new series that will run for the next several days on choosing your photographer.  We have a large number of new clients contacting us right now and, even though we've done separate posts on this subject before, we felt it would be useful to consolidate this information into a handful of easily accessible posts.

Julie and I work with a large number of couples every year.  We talk with many of you.  We meet with many of you.  Our first word of advice as you look for your photographer is to find someone you really like and get along with.  There are other factors that come into play, but to us, this is the single biggest hurdle.  You are going to spend a lot of time with your photographer, so make sure you click.  I don't care how spectacular their work is - you still have to deal with them on your wedding day as well as before and after.  If you don't like them when you meet them, it isn't going to get any better.  Our business is built on a personal connection with our couples.  The majority of our bookings come from referrals.  This wouldn't happen unless we became a part of our client's lives for the period of time that we are together with them. 

Just the other day, Julie and I were talking about what a wonderful group of brides we've had to work with and how they've continued to be friends well beyond their weddings.  We have open invitation to stay in London, New York City, Chicago - the list goes on and on.  Why?  Because we truly care about our couples.  This comes across not only in our photography, but in the way we treat each of you.  We insist that everyone that works with us also has the same desire to get to know their clients.  Its what we do as a company.

As you search for your photographer, find someone you like as a person.  Yes - you have to like their work and they have to fit your budget, but if you don't like them, you are in trouble.  Simply put - if you don't like the person you meet with - run away!  Also, never book a company that isn't able to put you in contact with your actual photographer.  We work with many out of state clients and may never meet them personally before their wedding, but we still get to know them.  Email, phone, Facebook - we still interact.  Don't accept the idea that you don't need to know who your photographer is.  We hear horror stories of companies that end up sending someone you haven't met with on your wedding day.  Don't fall for this.  Personal relationships are too important.

See you tomorrow!

---Chris and Julie

Enjoy!

There comes a magical moment after each event where Julie and I sit down and look through the images from the previous week's wedding.  This time, beyond everything else we do, drives us to be the absolute best we can be.  There is a sense of exhilaration as we relive the moments of our couple's weddings.  The joy, the laughter, the tears, the little looks the couple gives each other throughout the day - each moment frozen in time forever.  There's nothing quite like it. 

As you approach your wedding, remember that it is uniquely yours.  Don't get caught up with what you see in a magazine or what your friends have done.  There's nothing wrong with incorporating elements from other weddings, but work on making this event about the two of you.  Then, after the wedding, sit back and enjoy the images as much as we do. 

When you look back at your wedding images 50 years from now, you'll remember every moment as if it were yesterday.  Next year, Julie and I will be married for 20 years (no - we're not ancient - we just turned 40...).  Photography was much different then.  We have a few nice images that I'll treasure forever and can't help smiling every time I see them.  Couples today have such a wonderful advantage with the type of wall to wall coverage that we can provide.  Make your day as special as it can be.  Focus on the two of you and then enjoy each and every moment. 

We can't wait to work with you!

---Chris and Julie

Choosing Your Photographer

Good morning everyone!  In our continuing series on finding the right photographer for your wedding, we want to cover a topic that we feel is paramount.  Finding someone with great images is a given. More importantly, find someone you absolutely love as a person.  You'll be spending a considerable amount of time with them.  They should fit well with you, your fiance and your families.  Photographic style is one thing, but it is paramount to be comfortable.  That relationship and ease translate into better photographs.  We see it time and time again.  As people become more comfortable with Julie and me, they become more comfortable in front of the camera.  Even if you don't like having your picture taken, you will relax more with someone you know cares about you, your family and your wedding. 

To us, relationship is everything.

Have a great day!

---Chris and Julie