The following nearly fifty images were presented to James and I as part of our “image choices” from our professional wedding pictures.

We’ve been married for just about eleven years. Eleven years ago we were just babies. We got engaged and I chose our photographer based on what, I’m not sure. But I was sure I had to have this photographer. Obviously, no names need to be mentioned, and there are only a select few people in this world who actually know who our photographer was, but the point in this post is not to bash anyone. It’s just to reiterate that it’s so important to choose a good photographer with a good word of mouth recommendation who you have had someone see in action and be pleased with the results. In our case, that unfortunately was not the case. After seeing our wedding pictures, I did not recommend our wedding photographer to anybody.

The fact that these almost fifty images were actually considered ones good enough to make the cut is beyond me. But eleven years ago, maybe things were much different than how I view them now. Our wedding day coverage cost $1600 eleven years ago–I believe we got about five hours of coverage and 400 4×6’s in an album (the kind where you just stick the picture behind the plastic sleeve). We did not get any digital images at that point. NONE. For $1600. About five years later we were randomly sent the disc of the images because they were clearing out the hard drives.

I have four small images from our wedding day framed and displayed in my house. THREE. FOUR BY SIX images. That’s a little embarrassing. And then an 8×10 as well. And these, only because I feel obligated to display at least something from our wedding day, considering my dad (who gave us the photography as part of his gift) spent that good money for the pictures.

Truly, it was a disappointment in so many areas. We didn’t take any wedding party pictures outside. The only images of James and I for our “portrait” time are the ones where we walked across campus (we got married at our college) from the church to the reception site. It was about a three minute walk, and we weren’t told to “do” anything or given any instruction, so we literally just walked from point A to point B and got a few images during that time.

Of course, hindsight is always 20/20, so there are so many things we were do differently, including making sure that we were able to get quality images that we would be proud to share with generations to come. Perhaps eleven years ago, with no photographic eye of my own at the time, I chose our photographer based on what we saw of the portfolio and was just in awe. Perhaps that’s the case, and I’m assuming it was. But do your research, friends, and make sure you choose your wedding photographer/family photographer/newborn photographer based on someone who can produce images that you will be proud of still in eleven years. Make sure you view a full event that they have taken pictures of. Make sure you know the whole story behind just the pretty pictures they show on the website.

So, here are the worst of the worst from my wedding. Underexposed, overexposed, blurry, people making funny faces, obstructed views, strangely cropped, etc. Of course they were not all this bad. I’m just pointing out that I was surprised that were were given these images and that these were considered “professional” enough. And if my wedding photographer reads this (which would be crazy, since I don’t even believe that we are even someone that would be remembered eleven years later), I’m sorry that I’m using your work to make a point. I’m sure in eleven years, I will be embarrassed about some of my work back in my past as well.