News and information.

If you are considering booking for weddings or have an interest in my services. You can keep up to date here. Don't forget to book mark this page!

Last updated 22/12/08

The sales start early

Times are hard and everyone is noticing the pinch, so in order to help, we have discounted the packages and we have reduced the BYO coverage prices as well. Simply take off the marked amounts from the cover or package and you get a discount. The offers will run for bookings made up till Mid January 2009.

The dreaded website update!

shortly, a new wedding photography website will be online with all the prices put up to date as they should have been for a long time now. Aside the creidt crunch that is effecting the costs and the general inflation thats happened and looks like it will continue to grow. the new pricing plans have been developed.
The packges are all going to change and the pricing will change.

Package one will be gone in the most sence, to be replaced by a package costing £570. and the all day cover package will now cost £1850.54.
As I have stated the package will then change with full digital negatives in all the packages, albums with all the packages, previews and slide shows will make a comeback along with websites and a few other things.
The new prices will come into effect shortly as will the packages, this will be refelcted on the pricing page as the detailed packages pages will not be updated from the outset.
certain packages will disapear as well. and Im not sure hwo we will meet the poor peoples budgets; but I will try.

The End of the year report!!

Its the end of the wedding year once again and it should be the end report of the year where I give a summery of the years work and the weddings that I have done. Well, its October and Im offically not shooting any more weddings this year..
Well this year has had its ups and down, I took this year to be my easy year as I really wanted a break. and I got my first summer holiday in 5 years!!
I have had some great weddings this year and worked with termendous clients that have been absolutly fantastic. They have been fully supportive and this has shone through in their photography.
I have given away over £2000 of digital negatives to clients. I have shot only one free video.. I introduced the £2.00 wedding package and I have given large discounts on my already low prices. I have provided pins to hold people together on their wedding day!!

This year has presented two complaints, and thankfully I know what they are all about and know that they are completely invalid, so as long as I feel in the clear, and I know I havent done anywrong, Im quite happy. Its when I doubt if I am fair, or doing something wrong, that I really do question if I should be working. But its all sorted out in a fashion. ( as your reading down you will see the problems)

Well this time when I close up shop for wedding photography the website will be changed.. I am Planing on revamping the website and all the info thats on it, this means new packages and may even mean that there will be a totally new website design.. lets hope that we can win some more awards!!!
I am more concerned about the resession and its effects on people that can afford wedding photogrpahy ontop of spiralling costs. But you must consider as your costs go up, so do mine!!
I will try to offer the services, at the best prices that I can possibly offer, I do not know what offers will be available. But we will proberly see a digital negatives offering without prints, albums or many frills. image editing and just photogrpahy cover will proberly be one of the packages.. BUT.. the problem is.. clients looking at unmounted and arty images are not that happy as I got feedback from one client this year, who looked at the edited and presnted photos.. so im not so sure how this will work...

The digital labums seem really popular. HOPEFULLY... I can drop the graphistidio prices on there albums and this should offer an upgrade package for those with the spanish digital albums.

I really really do not want to go for a conartist package, which many photogrpahers do.. thats where its real cheap and looks it from the outset, but then it soon creaps up,. Like £65 for a small print!!(7x5).. It seems to be the trend, so I dont know if clients actually notice this or now.. PLEASE TELL ME..

What new pussy cat?.. ohh
AS you may have seen, there is a advert for bridal boudoir on the website, this is grafixphoto and for some reason a very popular choice with brides to be to be mean and spiteful to their husbands and guests by having some rather racy photographs taken and given to the groom on the wedding day.. while I think its cute! the service offers a spanish digital album (slightly different) with some nice arty photographs of you in your bridal undies and dress.. well kind of in your dress.. to see the type of photography. head over to http://www.grafixphoto.co.uk and take a look at the other photography that I do..

Nightmare wedding photographer!
It may seem a little odd that a wedding photographer would ever consider using the term , nightmare wedding photographer, BUT I'm sure that is what some of my clients have though about me. WHY?? I know that you are dieing to find out why....

This year we have had two complaints for clients. On september this year I shot a wedding that was booked for package 1, the client book a few weeks before. the wedding went well, as it was a small wedding and I tried to maximise the photography, but there is not much that can be done with such a small wedding.
After the wedding, I was not paid, and a week after I was not paid.. in fact its almost 4 weeks and they have not paid still. A dispute was raised as they wanted to pick the photos for there wedding, and I believe that they wanted to pick the digital negatives, they were quite abusive about this as distressed. As a offer of good faith, I allowed them to select the prints..that they anted as they had a bit of a nightmare with a friend they had asked to shoot a video and pictures. To help, I offered then a reasonable price on the digital negatives so that they could have all the photos from the day as digital negatives. then I received a highly abusing telephone call, saying that they didn't like the photos, I was rubbish and what not... I had put up a preview gallery for them..
So when they said they were not paying, I took down the gallery, and got more abusive telephone calls! Not a good idea.. I told them that they were refuting the contract as they hadn't paid and wanted to change the package from what they had booked.
after another abusive telephone call, I designed an album with there photos, to best show off the photos, which would normally be given to paying clients.. I received a letter saying that they now would like to pay and that they liked the photographs that were displayed in the album.
It goes to show that when you book something and make the contract it is a good idea to read what you are buying and the terms and conditions. as they would have known that they would have my selection of 20 images and that the digital negatives are randomly selected with the packages. and that they were required to pay before the wedding day or on it... A week of stress and undue work for such a simple thing that they didn't read and got abusive.

The other wedding nightmare....

A client contacted me about having a meeting for there wedding photography. I offered them the ability to pay the booking cost as it was July (peek season) and I would not be able to meet with them for some time and with their work schedule as well..
A meeting was held in Nov 07. and I left waiting them to confirm that they wanted me to be their photographer for the wedding as normally I would do - There is never pressure to book/buy at that time. they wanted package 2. It wasn't until feb 08 ( bearing in mind the wedding was in April - (start of) I was contacted asking if I was still available and could they make their payment for booking.
The website package two page.. contained in July 07 digital negatives. but if any one would read the T&C, they would clearly know that the pricing page is more accurate for the packages.. I don't have time to correct all 47,000 pages of the website's so this makes things a lot more simple for me to do as well as client who are viewing by price only.
So the nightmare of the wedding begins. it wasn't nice weather, and then the groom produced a list of photographs that he would like to be taken and proceeded to call the guests in a most disorderly fashion.. ( this disrupts the flow of the wedding and photography as I would normally take the photos) this went on to the reception as well, making what would normally take 45 minutes take 4.5 HOURS!! The guest were unhappy as you can well imagine but I got the blame for this idiocy of the groom.
They previewed the images and designed the album. then a week or so later, I got a complaint about the album that they had selected the images for and designed themselves. they were quite drogue about the whole thing and held me totally responsible for their choices and actions, which clearly were outside of my control.

When reading the terms and conditions, its clear that if you want to take over, if things go wrong its your fault. I can only control what I do. If you pick and design your album and your not happy with your work, that is not my fault, the albums are sold as previewed and any issues should have made before the conformation of the order.
I am currently being taken to court where the groom plans to obtain a court order for his digital negatives to which he is not entitled, unless he purchased them. I will keep you up to date...
Oh you will love this.. but if you are concerned about this complaint dont worry.. ask me personally and I will tell you as the case Is current I cant say much.. Check the forum though just incase I miss the update.

In closing summery...

It is important that client read what they are purchasing and obtain what they want. I will provide the services and what you purchase, if I'm in control I can do my job and you will receive the same services as you can see in the photo galleries. If you interrupt , pick choice and change anything with out me agreeing. remember you're hiring me for my art, not someone who will shoot the way you demand. I will always give you what's in the contract, but at the end of the day its your choices that you make that will be provided at the end of the day. ALWAYS read the terms and conditions. and look at the pricing pages for more accurate details one what is on offer as I cannot update every page for promotions and offers that are running at the time. I will always try to offer a client more.. but being abusive to me will not get you far.. I do want to provide you with the best photos and albums!

TRASH THE WEDDING DRESS
Clients are welcomed to come on our trash the wedding dress day shoot in September this year. This is a fun and exciting shoot that's free. get some more adventure in your photos. you can find out here: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=21922414398 or contact me

The Reverent Rory Witham
Today saw my ordination into the monastery as a Reverent who is allows to perform weddings and baptism as part of the ULC ministry. You can view a sample of my official and legal certification here I Hope that this allows people to enjoy their weddings more, although I do not feel that I would be suitable for photography at the same time. That said I would be sympathetic to photographers and the bride and grooms to have a record of their wedding. Please click here for my wedding ceremony services.

The amazing two pound wedding photography package
Well you have pound shops, we did something a little different with a £2.00 wedding photography deal that you can package up to make you're wedding photography package.
As we are honest it is a total con and in fact works out not to be much cheaper that most of the clients bookings, however it could bring great benefits to some wedding clients Perhaps clients viewing this can actually work out how little our package do actually cost and the shocking low rates of pay we work for.

The price rise!
For many years, the prices of the wedding photography services that I have offered has been kept low in order to provide great value for money to all of my clients, there has been small changes in the totals of around £40 and most weddings have been shot at a loss. I know that some of you must be thinking that this cannot be right, but there is a hugh amount of work that goes on behind closed doors, and with today's economics other costs are rising also. Weddings can take around 5 weeks work both before and after and the amount of work is dictated by the package itself. So sadly the prices have had to rise, but reviewing other photographers, the prices on this website are still some of the lowest prices around. so there is something good from this bad news!

Postal let down!
For clients who have sent booking forms and order forms for weddings this year, You may have been wondering what's happening and why are things taking such a long time? well the simple answer is that the postal services have decided to send all the Mail to a closed shop!! It would seem that we have a new delivery person that's lazy. To avoid delays, We are an online business and can receive online bookings, orders and payments. Also if you do not hear from us within 5 days, its a good idea to contact us by phone to check.

New up market wedding photography web site.
I have now completed the upmarket wedding photography website. you can view the site here: http://wedding.nationalphotographer.co.uk/ This new website will be based on more structured wedding photography as the services on this website is more relaxed and flows with your wedding day. Due to the website update, this site will now be changed and alterations made to the packages as this website will be aimed more at a budget concerned couple.

New galleries
We have just added some new software for showing your galleries to you. We have added two software applications that allow you to see your photos in full screen slide show format. To make the most of this service, you will need to tell us and install a plugin into your internet browser. Please request Piclens albums if you wish to be able to do this.. the plug in also works with a number of other sites and make image viewing on the net better.

Digital albums
We have also loaded some new digital albums (spanish and Graphistudio) preview albums on the website and these can be viewed on this link The lower slide show, shows the spanish album layouts and the graphic studio director style

Pricing page and services
One of the things that I have now carried out is an update on the wedding services. Because there is a lot of difference on the albums it is more simple to layout the cover, or Hire time and what you get from me, and place the albums in a separate area. This makes what was quite a hard choice and rather complex into a more simple and easy way to get what you want and try to keep to a budget.
One of the hardest parts was trying to keep to the package bundles that already exist , If you do have any comments please feel free to contact me and let me know. I wont set them in stone at the moment.

Updates on albums and other services

This years focus on imaging has just past at the NEC and we have been there hunting down the best bargains in mounts and albums for all our clients. My main aim was to find good high quality albums at great prices and something cool for you to own or have within your package or bespoke design. I have selected 3 companies from the hundreds that I have reviewed from the event. I will now be offering these albums to my clients. You will shortly be able to view the album on the albums page, I think that you will like what you see..

Large poster prints
I have tried out one of my printers poster prints. I was not expecting the quality that they served up and I have now added these to the special additions and to the new 3.5 package

New package 3.5
Many people have asked me about having the graphistudio image books with their packages, but have always wondered about the costs of the stunning albums. Package 3.5 is the same as package 3 in many respects, yet what I have done is change the album to a set of Graphistudio image books, that's one main large album and two parent albums. In this package you get the best of everything, all day coverage and top of the line albums.

Graphistudio Image books
Yet again, Graphistudio are doing another promotion and as normal they haven't laid out the pricing clearly. I am looking at these album to put into the main stream packages and even into the build your own package building page. I have not received the final prices on the books and the prices are as they stand. But before getting excited, they will be changing the prices in February , but I have been assured that there wont be much of a change in the price.

Wedding website's

We have now added some website templates for the wedding web site services, this will allow Brides and grooms to see the designs and to hold a website which can detail the engagement right through until after the wedding. There is options for gift listings, gallery ordering and extended hosting services. This services is probably best severed with a full photographic package from Rory as you can hire Rory for the hen and stag nights (which will only show a limited number of shots-nod nod wink wink.) engagement images rings and the couple together, planning images rehearsals, and then on the big day. Take a look by clicking here.

Redesign of the hitchers package
over the last few years, I have asked brides and grooms what they wanted from their photographer or what they had. This give me lots of information into what you want and how you want it. In the pricing page, you can find a hitchers package price and listing, take a look.
I am currently updating this package so that it meets the average requirement and it could make for a great package. I am yet to sort out the full details as I am waiting back for more replies to be able to make a good projection of the package.

The close of another year
This year has been entertaining with the peak season falling from the sky. rain and floods. Thankfully we didn't have nay issues with getting to the church on time and everything went flawlessly. This year there was some issues with the service, I was around 10 minutes late due to a road being washed away and another was that the pricing was different before and after the wedding, I couldn't see how the pricing could be missed and I had updated the website to reflect this issue. to resolve the other issue, I have had to make changes to the booking form. so that the actual time is correct - hired from, ceremony start is more clear.
This years non ordering couples are now set at 2, this seams to be the average each year, it is both disappointing and hindering when couples do not order their images and albums within a certain time frame - say 3 months- as they only need to sit and select the photographs that they want, its all paid for in all the cases. My Last wedding is tomorrow and its a all day wedding for a photographer. scary!

New services
More and more people are concerned with getting digital negatives with there package, so with the ever increasing costs of weddings and other services, a new service allows clients to walk away with the digital negatives on the same day as the wedding. Another new service is the guest photo editing. With many clients opting for light coverage the evenings are often forgotten about with 'shall we say drunk' family photos that really don't capture much or poor quality domestic cameras. The editing services allows for the images to be edited and fixed, therefore more prints are available. Details on both these services can be found here.

New info page on pricing
I Have wondered how people viewed the galleries and if they viewed the pricing for after wedding prices before obtaining my services, the prices are linked on the top of many of the galleries and sideshows, but being up front I have now added a new page to the website to deal with the after wedding pricing. Weddings that have items and service purchased have a high discount on the services, simple as I don't know what your going to get and nor do you, but when the wedding is over, I know and you know the quality of the images and sometime people just want more things added after the wedding has ended. The after wedding pricing can be found here.

New galleries
Today I have loaded more galleries from this years weddings onto the website, there are some more to come shortly.

A New package in 2008
this coming year I will be adding a new package and making alteration to the older packages that people haven't really wanted to go for, one package will be 'pay per click', you pay a fixed fee on the photos and then buy prints. A redesign of the deluxe package, to slim it down and get back to basics. friendly package will be mixed with package one, and the times allowed for bookings will be changed. A package between two and three will be devised to give the most popular selection and all packages will be priced without albums.

Another year round up
Well its coming to the end of the year and with my holiday booked, and only two booked weddings remaining, its time to put my feet up.. NO.. I have emailed clients who have outstanding orders, please ensure that you have ordered your photos as it can take longer after your wedding to get every thing printed and sorted out as I often forget all the details of you and your personality to put back into the finished products.
This year has been different with the rain and floods but this doesn't compare to the news of the tragic deaf of one of my clients.

Offers updated
I have added more freebies on the offers section of this web site. So far, No one has added a offer to their package!

MORE..
Side sites are going to be added to the site which will help brides and grooms as well as the wedding party. The site will have tips, advice and even some information about florists, videographer's and even more. This will mix with the other site mentioned below.

New section to the web site.
Many of you planning your wedding have gone through the steps of finding a venue and a date before contacting your photographer, in this case the information may not be any good. For those who have not fixed a venue for your wedding, help is at hand.
I will shortly be building a web site with the reviews from the wedding venues that I have been to to give you a account of what I have seen and what the bride and groom think of the venue as well as guests. I hope that this will help many of you in the selection of your wedding venue.

Postage and Packaging.
Due to the high number of clients which are not local, the package do not include the postage and packaging of albums that need to be delivered.

TERMS AND CONDITONS
Please check with the terms and conditions for photography Click here.

Package adjustments
I have been waiting for some time to prepare a digital photo album which I will be replacing package two's image book. I found that package two's image book was limiting due to the layout. I now have a digital image book in stock to show to clients, and I will offer this to current clients who have booked the package at no extra cost. Future clients will have the package adjusted to meet the costs.

Booking dates 2007
This year I am already at my quota for weddings for this year. The dates available are: Last week in June, First week and last week in July and the first three weeks in August. Any week in September (I will only take two bookings during this month) and the first weeks of October (I will only shoot one that month) This give a total of 9 booking dates for main packages, however you maybe able to fit the friendly package or package one in around these times.

MOBILE LOST
Now found, I am available on the same number

Fashion photographic package
I think that everyone aspires to have the photos of their wedding looking like those that they see in the magazines. With the help of my sister a full time model (hollywood dreams) and my help as a model and photographer, together we can help you get that look. This package was designed last year, and it is very limited. Click here to see some information or contact me for up to date information.

Pricing
The pricing was reworked this week and I must say that some packages make a loss. Photography is very competitive and while I try to earn a living from photography its has become more hard to. Tom dick and sally have picked up their digital cameras and think that they can hack the wedding photography business. they offer low prices and this shows in their work and product, but when people are selecting photographers based on price, it is hard to compete. there will be no reductions with many of the packages. A hardship package has been drawn up and a link is available on request to those who need it. My thoughts on weekend photographers

Funky got reduced
Due to a weak take up for the funky wedding package I have reduced the price of that package, I had to turn people down who wanted the package because of the time of year they wanted the package. so in any case its now been reduced and I hope that more people will take this package.

WOW what an offer,
Our funky package is great, it lets you have fun and the shots are taken round you with out to much fuss. Freedom to enjoy your image on your wide screen TV with the DVD Video show, and you get a Album full of images!.. and for this month (Feb.) you get £400.00 off the price! The normal terms of this package apply.

Family and commercial photographer
Don't forget, if your smitten by my photography, you can also have family portraits and commercial photography also taken by me, check out my commercial site:
http://www.grafixphoto.co.uk

Dates
May and June are almost full, I do have week days available all year (almost).

Price rise.
Due to the ever growing cost of business, costs have risen and there fore the prices of the wedding packages have also risen to match these costs, Its been over a year since the prices have risen and I hope that while the prices have risen they are still below the the average prices. Do watch out for promotions and offers that are always available.

End of the year round up.
This year I saw around 250,000 wedding photos taken over this year; Currently outstanding is 4 wedding orders and and one parent order. I have enjoyed working with the couples and spending their special day with them. I would like to thank those of you who booked and ordered your images in a timely manner.
We have now taken some bookings for 2007 weddings and have been informed of friends of our clients who wish to book, please do book now to avoid disappointment as dates are filling up.

Full presentation DVD.
With the time involved with clients and the long selection which you make, I have saved myself time and with the age of digital media's I will be producing a presentation package for clients (future clients) to get the feel for my work and meet with me Via DVD video and photographic material. Currently I am unsure how this will work as with most things costing money and the amount of enquires which I have each year, the cost of the presentation packs could be not cost effective. We will see, But I shouldn't think that they will be ready until mid spring at the earliest.

Assistant still required.
I am still currently having a issue with finding a suitable assistant/2nd photographer. While some clients may have met my stand in, we do not currently have a big issue.

Graphistudio wedding books offer expired.
At the moment we do not have the details of the graphistudios offers and have discontinued the the offer which gave our clients a 50% discount on the wedding book. We hope to pass on new offers as soon as we are aware of them.

Digital negatives.
With most of you viewing the images on your slide show we now have put the digital negatives back into package 3, while we have limited these to 100 digital negatives, you will also have the slide show to view your images.

Last dates on this years wedding orders.
Please be aware that your photographs orders should be returned by the 14th of december or before if you wish to have your completed wedding album before christmas. Due to the amount of outstanding orders, it would be best if you sent your orders in ASAP.

New assistant required.
During 2006 you may have met one of the two girls that were assisting me on your wedding day, sadly, they have been less than reliable and I now seek a new assistant to carry out weddings on a freelance basis. Please contact me for more information.

New sections to the wedding web site.
With some clients not ad hearing to the web site terms (terms of business) I am unsure if people are happy with the work which I have carried out or there guests have similar images and are supplying the photographs to my clients. As such I have placed on the web site a new complaints form and information.

Additional charges.
Please do not forget to check the terms and information pages for updates on the service and the charges. For the past few months a new charge has been added to the terms page which I apply due to the high risk storage of you photos and video on our systems. After 3 months you will be charged £10 per week for storing your data.

Video for your wedding?
Recently I have purchased a video camera and started to take steps in Video production after a long gap of 7 years. Now I am armed and ready for wedding videos. I require someone who has a photographer but not a videographer for their wedding to have some 'cheap videography' of the wedding. You can see a small example of my work while actually being the main photographer! by clicking here (requires a 250Kb internet connection) I am considering involving myself with wedding videography, but until I have had a chance to carry one out there is no official videography being undertaken.

Wanted.
Next year, or even this year I would like to shoot a video for a web site overhaul which I want to carry out, this will be great for those who want to be featured in a video and also get a copy while having their wedding photography/videography carried out. If you are interested, please do let me know.

New web site online for other photography outside of weddings. We are currently working on this web site and should have this site has now been finished. Moving away from weddings, you can have portraits and commercial photography carried out. Click here to view the site www.grafixphoto.co.uk

SOPP-UK (Society of Professional Photographers UK) A Web site is now being made. The SOPP-UK is a guild of photographers similar to the BIPP and SWPP but being for favorable to the photographers and the clients wishing to seek out quality photographers who will have to meet very high standards. A link will be available soon.

Breaking the package, again! Since being booked up almost full for this year I have kept the freebie in place, recent freebies included over £175 of free prints and giving away the digital negatives. I don't plan on doing this for everyone and it will be assessed on the merits that I see on the day.

Your feedback! It would be nice if people would leave feedback, I do know that its not a british thing to do, but with out the comments of I will be recommending you to my friends, a written /Email account would be gratefully received. I am sure that I would hear from you if your were unhappy, lets just hope that I do when you are happy.