In our ever increasing endeavor to provide our clients with the most up to date information regarding trends and cautions in the wedding business the following info should be taken very seriously. We will never put out any information that is designed to increase our sales, scare you into doing business with us and no one else, or manipulate our clients in any way. 1. Photography    This is not a trend but an unusual amount of people we talk to lately are having a family member or friend of the family offer to do their wedding pictures for free. The reason for this seems to be two fold. The digital camera revolution and/or someone they know has a 35mm camera and takes "nice pictures". Now if your friend or family member is a professional wedding photographer than go ahead, after all who wouldn't opt to have a pro do someone's wedding for free. However if  Uncle Joe or my brother Mikes friend Bob has taken some photography classes and assures you they can do the job, than a bit of caution would be advised. This may be like letting the guy down the street who knows how to change spark plugs work on your BMW. No offense to Uncle Joe or friend Bob but taking well exposed pictures is more than setting an expensive camera on automatic and start clicking away. Even with the new batch of high resolution digitals that have hit the consumer market lately, the odds of having someone shoot your wedding and think the camera will do all the work are slim to none. There are way to many variables involved, type of film, film speed, flash output, shutter speed, aperture settings and lighting conditions just to mention a few are formidable even to the well trained. With digital, what comes out of the camera also depends on several aspects, editing programs, computer capabilities sensor size, RGB and Histogram settings, focus speed and printer capabilities just to name a few. Vary rarly does a digital image come straight from the camera and right to your album, even with the pros, and if they tell you different they are just not being honest. But most of all, a pro photographer should be more than a picture taker, more so, they should be an ARTIST! Poets of light! they will know intuitively that its not only exposure but composition and emotion that makes for great wedding photography. So be VERY CAREFUL when letting someone do your wedding pictures for free, odds are you'll get what you paid for. And one more thing and this VERY IMPORTANT! Even if the person that is doing your wedding for free is a professional than make darn sure they are a wedding photographer.  Just because you got a pro doesn't mean that they know how or even are good at wedding photography. Ansel Adams was a great photographer, an American Icon of Photography, but have you ever seen any of Ansil's wedding shots? I think not.  Wedding Photography compared to say Landscape Photography or Still Life Photography is in a class all by itself. Its like comparing apples to oranges even though they are both fruit. Pro Wedding Photogs are out there in the trenches shooting every week, they know what shots to shoot and what shots not to shoot. They know most ALL lighting conditions and can compensate on the spot! They can create candid's even when "God forbid" there are no candid's. This is why they are called "Professional Wedding Photographers"

2. Facilities ( Ballrooms, clubs and assembly line wedding vendors)    Probably the most egregious of all vendors are facilities with attitude problems. There are to many of them out there. However the attitude usually dosen't appear until AFTER you have given them a deposit and with facilities thats usually a big chunk of change.   Consequently, there are very important things to know like;   A.  What is the most important thing you need to know when booking a facility?   B.  How do you negotiate a facility contract?   C.  How can you save money when booking a facility?   D.  What are the best times of the year?   E.  What is the number one thing to say when booking a facility?   F.  What will happen in the event of cancellation or bad weather (if wedding is outdoors) ?   G. How can you completely insure they will do or provide what you agreed to?  Answers to these and more can be found out by calling and booking with us. Remember you don't have to use ALL of our services, you can use just one to insure yourself of a successful event.

3. Floral Designs ( Center pieces, alter arrangements, bouquets)     Have you heard " O my God! Did you hear about the wedding? The brides bouquet started falling apart while she was walking down the aisle." Or how about this one..." the flowers looked like they came from a funeral!"    Flowers like all living things of course have a life expectancy and now since they have been cut from their roots the life expectancy is just about over. But of course you would expect your flowers to last at least thru Monday from a Saturday wedding. Well, don't be so sure. Good cut flowers come in MANY VARIETIES and the quality of a good cut flower can involve many factors. Time of the year, country of origin, conditioning and cleaning after delivery to the florIst, holding temperature, and just plain TLC. The last thing you want is flowers delivered to your wedding after they have been setting in a florist cooler for a week or more, which I am sad to say happens more times that I care to think.  To much to often the bride is usually not a Botanist or a Floral Designer. They usually look in some national wedding magazine and see what they want or have had some experience with backyard domestic varieties and pick a florist out of the papers or telephone book, or maybe the florist is the one who has served the family for years and has done all the funeral work. Please don't make the mistake of thinking that just because they are a florist and even has an FTD sign on the door that you are going to get quality and/or original designs.  Carnations, Gladiolas, Pompoms, Spray Mums look great for funerals and local deliveries but they are really not wedding flowers.  Also please be very aware that a lot of "local" florist will use leftovers and not even let you choose the floral species that you want. Don't ever be intimidated by a florist who says that there is no such thing as a Black Magic Rose, or Roses don't come in orange, or Calla Lilies are extremely expensive. Make darn sure you call a "FLORAL DESIGNER" not just a FLORIST. Always make sure that your flowers are delivered to the shop no more than 3 days prior to your wedding. LIKE OURS!               Baltimore City and County, Havre de Grace, Aberdeen, Edgewood, Elkton, Ellicot City, Westminster, Bel Air, Joppatown, Parkville, Perry Hall, Woodlawn, White Marsh, Essex, Dundalk, Middle River, Linthicum, Arbutis, Catonsville, Gaithersburg, Potomac, Silver Spring, Kent Island, Easton, Annapolis, St. Michaels,  Chevy Chase, Bowie, Columbia, Bethesda, Glen Echo, Beltsville, Laurel, Collage Park, Cheverly, Washington.D.C. Arlington, Alexandria, Mt.Vernon, Falls Church.