photography

Get an Eye on This: Firmoo Review

Third Time Wife, Wedding Planning

We signed our photography contract in October and I really, really wanted to set up our engagement shoot for the same weekend 2012 as our wedding would be 2013, kinda get an idea of just how everything would most likely be 1-year out. After all, one of the perks of signing with Honey Lake Plantation is that using the grounds for engagement pictures is included in the contract, might as well make the best use of it!

Unfortunately we’d left it until too late and not only was Kara (our photographer) unavailable but there were events on her available weekends for the rest of the month. It just wasn’t going to work out before the holidays, so we went for the next best thing: Saturday, January 12th.

Now, we’d scheduled this with plenty of time to spare, so what was I doing New Year’s Day?

Realizing that neither Todd nor I had done anything about our glasses situation, that’s what.

Here I was, 12 days out from our shoot and I still had major glare to deal with and some semi-distracting frames, and Todd still had those Transitions lenses. Todd was going to need a new prescription and while he tried to get an appointment in the coming week it just wasn’t going to happen fast enough. He had a plan B, though: stunt glasses! Sure, they were just reading glasses that he couldn’t actually see much through, but they’d do for the photos without darkening in the sun.

I, on the other hand, decided to take a chance with an online site I’d heard good things about from some other bloggers: Firmoo.com

Like many online eye wear companies, Firmoo offers designer frames at low prices. And like some, they also have a deal for first-time customers (there were big banners while I shopped with the offer and code “firmoofree”; always verify for yourself, though, as that could change). In this case, it’s your first pair of frames free–you just pay for the lenses, any special requests, and shipping.

Knowing that one of my wish list items was some low-profile glasses–the kind that wouldn’t obscure my eyes or take attention from the rest of my face–I focused (hah!) on their wireless frame selection and went with the “Sarah Palin” style (0212P, can’t seem to link directly to it, so they might be out of stock) since it came in a width that I needed and an unobtrusive gunmetal color for the bridge and arms. Size selected (based on the arm length and frame width information on my current glasses), I entered the prescription information from my last check up (in April) and that was most of it. The only thing I had to figure out on my own was Pupil Distance–the actual width, in millimeters, between the center of your pupils. Usually the optometrist does this when they fit you for glasses and it’s something you can request to be on your prescription, but you can also do it yourself.

It just takes you, a mirror, and a ruler with millimeters on it, plus the ability to look straight ahead and down sort of at the same time. It doesn’t hurt to get a friend to help, but I was impatient so managed on my own.

I was a little worried about them getting to me on time, so I paid for the Express Courier Service ($12.95) figuring I might cut it close but it should still be okay. After the first-frames-free discount ($38–a steal even if I’d had to pay full price, considering my last frames I paid around $200 for) my total, with shipping, was only $42.85, a price worth the risk of ordering from an unknown entity.

The glasses arrived in their case, with a cleaning cloth and wrapped in bubble wrap inside and out.

The glasses arrived in their sturdy case, with a cleaning cloth and wrapped in bubble wrap inside and out.

My glasses arrived on January 9th after coming all the way from Japan–good thing I went with the express service! They also took some serious getting used to. I thought frameless glasses meant they’d just have the little fishing line-type of bands around the lenses–I never even thought about how the bridge attached. And how it attached is with two bolts into the corners of the lenses and, at first, those two center bolts were really distracting, especially when I was working in the computer.

But, just like anything else, you get used to your new normal pretty quick and I didn’t feel the need to make use of their 3-day return window.

Little bits and pieces to keep your glasses in proper working order.

Little bits and pieces to keep your glasses in proper working order.

Speaking of those bolts, apparently they can come loose easily (though I haven’t noticed it happening to me, yet) so Firmoo kindly includes a little key chain-addable all-in-one tool to tighten them up, along with some extra screws and nose pads. They were tucked inside a black drawstring pouch that also held my receipt and some wear and care instructions. I thought that was pretty thoughtful.

And how did they do for pictures?

Jenn & Todd at Secret Headquarters

Photo by Pink Shutterbug Photography

The last thing I’m noticing in this one is that I’m wearing glasses at all, so I call that a win!

Pretty Book and Flower Icon

 

Would you order glasses online without being able to try them on first?

Achievement Unlocked: Photographer

Third Time Wife, Wedding Planning

When last I ranted wrote about the thoughts and search for a wedding photographer while planning a budget-minded wedding I was faced with seemingly few choices:

  1. Spend half our entire budget on a wedding photograher (conventional wisdom)
  2. Pay what we could afford but not be able to actually choose our own photographer (going with a photography group)
  3. Wait until a couple months before the wedding and try and score and up-and-comer on Craigslist or Facebook (last ditch before handing a friend my camera and hoping for a decent photo or two)

Seriously, that’s what the landscape looked like.

But I’m a little more stubborn than that, and I started searching afresh for someone out there who took good, no-nonsense photos without charging an arm and a leg. To do that, I did something a lot of people don’t: I went beyond the first page of search results. I clicked on every link listed in the WeddingWire photography directory and about midway through I found my glimmer of hope: Pink Shutterbug Photography.

Not only did she take straightforward photographs without a lot of over-processed filters applied, but she’s personable, quick with an email reply, and understands that not everyone has a photography budget of $2500+ but that everyone deserves decent wedding photos.

What makes her able to offer such affordable wedding packages is that she’s primarily a family photographer. She might do only one or two weddings a year, but she tells me she likes it that way–she gets to enjoy the shoots more than always wrapping up one to go straight off to another.

After a few dozen emails back and forth, we met for an in-person meeting and signed the contract then and there. I couldn’t see finding someone a better fit for our budget and we got along swimmingly. Better yet? She includes an engagement session in her package–great opportunity to work together before the actual wedding day–and delivers strictly digital files, just what I was looking for.

She wasn’t the only photographer I reached out to, of course. There was another who did her best to work with our budget but it meant one shooter for half the hours and no engagement session and was still 50% more than we really wanted to spend. We could have made it work, but I’m glad we didn’t have to.

Our engagement shoot was in January, and I’ll go into more details in another post, but here’s the teaser collage she posted on Facebook, just to give you an idea of what you can get if you really look hard enough:

It can’t be all about price, of course, but when you’re on a tight budget, price can’t be discarded from the discussion entirely. What lengths were you willing to go to, to find the vendors you needed?

Dorothy Parker Lied

Third Time Wife, Wedding Planning
digital collage by Miss Road Trip

digital collage by Miss Road Trip

You know the rhyme, right?

Men seldom make passes

at girls who wear glasses.

Passes were, thankfully, never really a problem (though I did have one male roommate do a bit of a double-take when I finally got contacts for a spell).
I wear glasses. Big deal. So does Mr. Road Trip for that matter, and aside from the occasional nose-smudge or necessity of a head-turn during a hug, it’s no problem on the day-to-day.

And, yet, they are bringing up a couple of thinking points when thinking about the wedding.

My first wedding my glasses weren’t quite the necessity that they are today: I just took them off and didn’t worry about it. The second wedding was an elopement and I may have been wearing contacts back then. I know the photos we went for after the quickie courthouse ceremony were spec-free, so I definitely didn’t wear them!

Why is this such a big deal? I love my eyes but they’re not huge, limpid pools and, being nearsighted, the lenses make them look even smaller. Eye make-up becomes practically non-existent behind them, lashes too.

This mucks about with my eye-deas of how bridal eyes should look. Not to mention the glare from the sun or lights that gets reflected in them. They also tend to get in the way of certain side-swept hairstyles.

I suppose I could go back to contacts for the ceremony and reception. Sure, it’s another thing to add to the list and another expense, but I’d get my pretty eyes out of the deal. Worth an extra $100 expenditure? Maybe. But then would I look like “me” since the real me is a glasses any time I’m awake sort of girl.

You know, guys have it so easy–

Except that Mr. Road Trip wears those transitions lenses that go dark in sunlight and unless something changes it’s going to look like he’s wearing smoked lenses for the pre-wedding and ceremony.

What’s a four-eyed-girl and groom to do?!

What I’ve settled on is, first, getting new lenses. I had my eyes checked last spring and my prescription hasn’t changed, but when I got these lenses I passed on the anti-glare coating. Back then it wasn’t such a big deal–I wasn’t exactly getting my photo taken a lot. But  with the anti-glare on the new lenses, the glasses will blend into my face much better, and you’ll actually be able to see my eyes and my carefully-considered eye make-up. And speaking of make-up, I’m probably going to forgo false lashes–I love the look but they’d likely brush against the lenses and that would drive me batty. Instead, I’ll concentrate of mascara that makes my lashes look fuller and just leave it at that.

T’s going to get new lenses, too, as we agree the transitions lenses are a bad idea for wedding photos. (And life in general–they darken quickly but take forever to clear up, and don’t darken in the car when he could actually use them!) He’s overdue for an eye exam, though, and fears bifocals may be in his near future. If so, it’s better than not seeing at all, right?

Did you have any non-traditional concerns when planning your own wedding?

Not-So-Best Practices

Third Time Wife, Wedding Planning

As I hinted at in the last post, I actually thought I was on the right track to finding a photographer that fit our needs (those needs being minimal upsell and budget economy).

Unfortunately, I had the audacity to ask for a meeting with the photographer when we were next schedules to be in Jacksonville. That’s when she explained that they work primarily online or over the phone.

Full stop.

Lady, unless you plan to shoot my wedding online or over the phone,
you’d damn well better be able to meet me in person.

Now, I knew this was one of the large national agencies, but I thought I’d been corresponding with the actual photographer in this region. Nope, just the “matchmaker”. If I went with them, I wouldn’t actually be assigned my photographer until a month before the wedding.

No.

I mean, can you imagine not meeting the person who’s going to be all up in your grill for 4 hours or more at the last possible moment? What if they rub you the wrong way? What if you get a creepy vibe from them? What if you just don’t mesh well?

That is NOT the way to get good wedding photos.

So I went back on the hunt for a photographic match for our wedding, only to add a few more items to the Not-So-Best Practices List:

  1. Not listing prices on your website, or even a starting package range.
  2. Auto-play music.
  3. Flash sites that open a new window instead of staying in the current one or otherwise hijack your browser.
  4. Password-protecting your wedding rate-sheet.
  5. Being obtuse in email responses.

The first three are pretty common transgressions, almost to be ignored except they truly do make it more difficult to find a vendor to hire. The last two are new encounters, and just as bad when it comes to making commerce that much easier.

Yes, one site really did have a password-protect on their rates page. Not their regular session fees or print packages, but to see the wedding fees you have to have a password. I’m sorry but that’s just patently ridiculous.

Finally, I had contacted one photographer and she was kind enough to send me her 2013 brochure–good job! And I liked the price, so I responded with a question, to clarify whether the stated fee included the disc with reprint rights. “No,” she replied, “the disc is extra.” And that was the end of her reply. Not how much the disc added to the cost, nothing. So I asked the obvious question and have yet to hear a reply.

On the up-side, one photographer I contacted was very nice and has worked up a quote that does fall just within the upper edges of our budget, and she’s local so there’s no issue there. Another one or two I’m waiting to hear back from that also sounded promising.

Feeling like I’m kissing a whole lotta frogs in the search for our photographic prince(ss).

Have you encountered anything else that would fall under not-so-best practices for wedding photographers?

Picture This

Third Time Wife, Wedding Planning

Photos are the one thing you take away from this very expensive, very busy day.

Or so the conventional wisdom goes.

And I agree, to a certain extent. The dress? Not going to have many opportunities to wear it again. The food? Eaten. The venue? No longer your own personal playground. The memories? Intangible.

So photos to the rescue. To show you what you didn’t see when you were talking to Uncle Eddie with your back to the rest of the room. To catch those little (sometimes staged) moments between you and your beloved, one of which you can blow up to 16×20 and have printed on canvas for your wall.

Or not.

See, we’re not the hang pictures of ourselves on the wall type of people. We’re not planning to have children, so no generations to pass them down to. And if our respective histories are any indication, we’re not going to pull out the album every anniversary and get all schmoopy over the pictures again.

Not that there’s anything wrong with any of the above behaviors, it’s just not us.

For the record, there were 3 separate videos taken of my first wedding and I’ve yet to see even 5 seconds of any of them. Of those wedding photos, the ones I valued most (we had a photographer-friend offer to take the pictures for the cost of the film–which we had developed ourselves) were the random, candid shots of folks at the reception. Mr. Road Trip thinks he might have watched his wedding video with his ex (before she was an ex, obviously) maybe twice in the 10 years they were married? And the photos flipped through about the same.

So when I see starting “investments” of $2500 or more for a local photographer (that being half our total wedding budget), I start thinking that the majority of pro photographers aren’t for us.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not even for a moment trying to say that photographers don’t earn every penny of their fee. Sure, a chunk goes into the physical album (which we do not want included, and I’ve asked several photographers at bridal shows ‘Do you have a package without an album?’ and, with the exception of the one dude with the very nice custom flash drives in their own wooden boxes, they all fluster and bluster about how we can’t possibly NOT want an album), but their time is just as important, and therefore valuable, as my own. They have a business to run and I respect that.

Nor am I whining about how I want stuff I can’t afford and hoping the Universe will hand it to me on a silver platter. Because that’s just it: I’m not lusting after a certain out-of-budget photographer. I don’t have visions of dreamy shots or over-saturated artistic interpretations. And I certainly have no desire to traipse around our venue for 2 hours doing photo after photo of T and I staring dreamily at each other; away from each other; at some indeterminate spot in the distance. Nor do I want a single shot of someone’s hands holding some tiny thing like it’s a fragile baby bird. This is a wedding, not a catalog shoot.

Yes, I want photos. Of us with our friends, of our ceremony, of our friends having fun and laughing and eating and drinking. I see the perfect photographer for us as a personal paparazzi-meets-photojournalist. No avant-garde artistic sensibilities, just an honest representation of the day, however it turns out.

And I’ve got a feeling that’s out there. At a price that won’t strangle what’s left of our budget after the venue, food, drinks, and attire have taken their chunks out. I just have to find it, is all.

So tell me, am I alone in my photography is not the most important thing ever sentiment?Â