When you are ready to book just let me know and I will send you a booking link to complete. Once the contract is signed and the $1000 deposit is paid the date is yours. All inquiries coming my way for your date will be turned away.

In general couples book their photographer 8-18 months in advance. If your wedding is only a few months away it never hurts to see if your date is still available. If you have not set a date yet it is a good idea to check with the photographer and other important vendors on what dates they are available before setting a concrete date.

I work with many couples who do not live on the Island or in BC and sometimes we don’t meet in person until the wedding day. With that said it is very important to me that there is a good fit for both sides as I am hanging out with you for most of the day and creating timeless imagery during many intimate moments. If we cannot meet in person I would love to arrange a time to chat on the phone or Facetime / Skype / Zoom. 

I photographed my first wedding in 2005 and have now photographed hundreds of weddings on Vancouver Island and across Canada. 

Couples often tell me they don’t want photos that look “posed” and were drawn to my photos because couples looked very natural. The reality is most couples don’t have much experience in front of the camera and direction is what they need to feel comfortable. They may look like models in the photos you see, but much of what you see is the result of the instruction I use to build that natural looking moment. So YES I will tell you how to ‘pose.’ One of my strongest skill sets is helping couples feel confident in what they are doing and building a photo that has a natural pose in flattering light.

It is really important to design the photography schedule together. There is not one universal wedding schedule, but I have photographed hundreds of weddings and can help you build a pretty accurate timeline once I hear the details of your wedding day plans. Couples looking for thorough coverage of the whole day end up booking 8-12 hours and couples just wanting the ceremony covered followed by portraits will typically book 3-4 hours. 

Most couples have their photos back in 5-6 weeks. My contract guarantees them back in 90 days. I also always send a few sneak peaks soon after your big day too.

Couples get fully retouched files delivered as JPEG’s with a resolution of about 3800x5700 (large enough to print any size image that could fit on your wall).

I deliver a small selection of black and white images when it suits the photo, but most are in colour. 

You will receive a link to a client gallery that is active for 6 months. You and your family can download the images from the gallery to store on your own device. 

Yes every photo has had some degree of careful retouching done to it in order to give it my final signature look. 

Yes you have ‘home use rights’ which means you can print and share the images with family. If a vendor or publication is requesting images please have them contact me and I will be happy to help them.

It varies depending on the length of coverage, but typically 10-20 hours for full day wedding coverage.

Generally speaking it works out to about 50-60 images per hour of wedding coverage. Yes that means about 500-600+ photos for full day coverage. Portrait session are about 40-50 images per 90-120 minute session.

I do not take any other bookings on your wedding day and if you need me to stay longer I am happy to be there for as long as you need me at my additional hourly rate.

You totally can, but don’t feel like that is your job. I have a huge list of really great locations I am happy to recommend. For out of town couples I usually pick the locations and for couples familiar with the area we usually pick them together.  

Yes, absolutely! It is just important that we build a schedule that can accommodate this.  

All of my cameras are weather sealed and I have many tricks to help keep couples dry while still exploring great locations. Some of my favourite images have been shot on rainy days. Using some of my lighting techniques to light up the raindrops can create an extra level of dramatic romance. That all being said I am equipped with the technical skills and equipment to create beautiful portraits indoors too. 

Yes, when we have the luxury to pick a different time it is no problem to reschedule for weather related reasons.

Most of Vancouver Island has no travel fees. Locations with travel fees are charged to offset the cost of ferries and accommodations when needed. For a complete list please refer to the Investment Guide. 

I love traveling and have ventured great distances to photograph weddings. 

Yes I love shooting elopements and have special hourly rates in my Investment Guide specifically for intimate elopements where it is only the bride, groom, commissioner and witnesses. This coverage is not available during peak season Saturdays unless it is booked with short notice and I am available. It is also not available for ‘small weddings’ where a group of family members will be part of the coverage including family photos and ceremony candids of the family. It is designed to solely focus on the bride and groom as I shoot this without an assistant in order to keep things very intimate. 

Sort of… I send out a bunch of planning questionnaires and one of them will cover family portrait planning. Completing this will give me everything I need to have my assistant organize the family photos on the day of. This way you can simply relax and enjoy your day while we do invite your guests in and out of photos.   

I want all couples to enjoy the wedding of their dreams while creating world class imagery for them. This is where it is really important that couples trust me remembering I have photographed hundreds of weddings. I will be ready to capture all the key moments, but yes I do want to know if a particular accessory, decoration or family relationship is uniquely important to you. Some of this may come out in the planning questionnaires and other times a couple might tell me while the day is unfolding. I am happy to shape my day and what I cover around these unique pieces. With that said, some couples ask about providing a creative shot list for the portraits to be duplicated. Although an inexperienced photographer might appreciate this when they are still learning, this can be very constricting for a professional photographer. It typically limits them creatively when trying to recreate someone else’s wedding photos instead of creating ones that are unique to each couple. Having your photographer constantly look at a list to check off instead of capturing the day organically can also result in many missed moments. I personally like to fully invest myself emotionally in every moment and use my technical and creative expertise to capture images you will LOVE!  

Your online gallery will have a link to download print ready files as well as social media files. These are watermarked and exported as a smaller file size for quick uploading and easy sharing. If sharing on Instagram I ask all couples to not apply a filter to their posts so it reflects the original work. Additionally it would be extra awesome if you want to tag Etched Productions so I can feel all the excitement of your friends and family. 

Many couples live out of town or province and this does not always happen. I am able to break the ice pretty quickly on a wedding If it is possible to meet for an engagement session it can really shake off some nerves you might have prior to the wedding day. It is also the best way to get to know one another. Couples quickly realize how much fun it will be to create the images on the wedding day and have extra practice to build their confidence. Additionally couples end up with a bunch more killer photos, but with their regular clothes at a different location than the wedding day. 

Yes! I would love to connect with them prior to the wedding day so we can do our best not to show up in each other's work. Do keep in mind as both parties are working to intimately capture the whole day it is likely I will be in some of their footage and they in some of my candid footage. 

I am a ninja at the ceremony as this is the part of the day where I don’t want to be noticed. I typically roam around at appropriate times and settle in during the more intimate moments. I will never jump in the aisle and wait for you to stop for a photo. Those stories make me cringe. If I have to sneak in for a close shot I won’t break your bubble and I will sneak back out in no time so I am not obstructing the view of guests and you never have a chance to notice me.  

I always work with an assistant who helps with lighting, wrangling people, gear setup, scheduling and so on. I also have the option to add a second shooter for couples that would like this option. This can be nice at very large weddings, but typically I am used to capturing the whole day on my own. 

If we are attending the reception we do require 2 meals (myself and my assistant) and ideally to be seated with a line of sight of the head table. If we are also able to eat around the same time as the head table that ensures we are not photographing you eating therefore ready to photograph as soon as you are done eating. We also understand sometimes there is a vendor table away from the reception space. We can work with whatever. We eat pretty fast;)

E-transfer is preferred, but I also accept cheques and credit cards. 

Yes, both liability and equipment insurance. 

I use professional grade weather sealed Canon bodies (with dual card slots), Canon and Sigma lenses and a variety of lighting gear. The important part here is my camera bodies make two copies of all the images I am shooting so any corrupt memory cards have a backup copy. 

Yes, I bring extra cameras, lenses, memory cards, flashes and just about anything else I might need.  

Yes your images are backed up in 3 places in that off chance you lose your images years down the road. I am always happy to have a hero moment when past brides call me hoping I still have their wedding photos after a computer failure on their end. That being said I always advise couples to keep multiple copies including one copy on a thumbdrive in a safe place or at someone else’s house in the event of a fire. 

I should first of all say that since starting in 2005 I have never missed a wedding. I even shot a full summer with a ruptured ACL. Obvioulsy there are unforseen circumstances and this is what your contract is for. It allows you to a full refund should I be completely unable to work. Optionally, I am networked tightly with photographers on the Island. I  also reach out to only the best photographers I trust can do a fantastic job. I would then present you with those options as an alternative to canceling. If you were happy with one of them I would cover any additional fees for that photographer's services. If this option is not satisfactory the retainer fee is returned along with any other payments made for unredeemed services.

When you book your wedding I turn all other inquiries away. The wedding industry as a whole is unique in how most weddings occur on weekends May-October. That means most businesses rely on reserving these high in demand dates well in advance for couples and turn many other couples away for those dates. In the event of a cancellation the $1000 retainer fee is not refundable. If I also photographed your engagement session couples would also be liable for the cost of the session and any albums related to the session. If you are looking to postpone your wedding the retainer fee can be moved as long as it is more than 6 months prior to the wedding day. This still allows me a reasonable chance to rebook the date. If the wedding is postponed less than 6 months clients forfeit half of the retainer fee. I have made exceptions to this rule during the COVID-19 pandemic.