Dear Excited Bride,
CONGRATULATIONS! – First on your engagement, second on considering St Lucia for your wedding and third for your interest in my Wedding Photography… I am truly honoured
With quite a few St Lucia photographers to choose from you will most likely find yourself looking at a number of websites before finding your perfect photographer. And while a picture is worth 1000 words it takes more than pretty pictures on a website to find the best photographer
So let me invite you to read on and discover more about options for your wedding photography down here in St. Lucia. In this short wedding write up you will find information that every bride already knows, as well as other information that will come as a surprise to you and by the time you finish reading you will know more about a St Lucia wedding than maybe 97% of the brides out there.
Then to learn even more simply complete the form at the end of this St Lucia Wedding review and I will personally contact you within 24 hours…
So Who Is Kirk Elliott & Why Should You Listen To Him?
Hi,
My name is Kirk Elliott and I have been a Professional Wedding Photographer since 1991. I shot my first wedding at the Windjammer Landing in October 1991 and was blown away by how much the bride and groom loved their pictures.
In fact Jill, the bride, kept saying how she had never looked as good in a picture before, how she really hated pictures and how she was amazed at how relaxed she felt during the entire photo shoot.
Truth is Jill’s last comment about hating her pictures and feeling really relaxed with me is a comment I have heard from way back when I was in the University of the West Indies Camera Club over in Jamaica back in the late eighties and it’s a comment I have continued to hear ever since.
The Secret To My Photography
I believe that brides feel this way because I approach all my photo sessions with great empathy and my photography is all about you the bride and having you know that you are not only the ONLY woman in the world while we are working together, but also that you are the most beautiful woman too!
Suddenly you are flirting with my camera and taking your hubby along for the ride as he joins in the fun… and the results are simply magical as you quickly forget that this is a photo shoot…
Sandals Wedding Photography – 10 Years & 5000+ Weddings Later
From 1997 – 2006 I was contracted by one of the three Sandals Resorts in St Lucia to handle all of their in house photography which included an average of 50 weddings a month… and this took my wedding photography to a whole new level. Then in 2006 Sandals took photography in house and decreed that no “outside” photographer was allowed on their property to shoot weddings. Some hotels very quickly adopted a similar approach and yet others chose to impose what I refer to as a “Silly Tax” – which is an insane fee to have independent wedding photographers come shoot your wedding.
Worse still there are some properties that point blank refuse to let brides use an off property photographer and I have seen brides in tears as they told me that the hotel was literally keeping them prisoner for the day by creating a schedule that literally took them from the hair dresser to their room, to their wedding with no pause in between that would allow them to interact with their chosen independent photographer. Trouble is imagine how you will feel if this is you and your hotel’s photographer ruins your pictures…
Click Here to get an idea in this Trip Advisor post
Brides Began Complaining Online
Suddenly wedding forums started lighting up with brides complaining about being held to ransom by unscrupulous hotels that didn’t care about them and only about how much money they could milk them for, which left a bad taste in many a bride’s mouth.
Then independent photographers started finding creative ways around these challenges, from inviting brides to have their wedding at less restrictive resorts, or even in a different country and fly the photographer in from St Lucia as the hotel’s silly tax was more than the photographer’s airfare. Yet other photographers started really low-balling their prices and I recall a bride one time rejecting my photography because another photographer offered her a package for $150! … though I won’t venture a guess as to what she got for $150!
Brides Regret Not Spending More On Their Wedding Photography
However in talking to brides after the fact a very interesting trend started to immerge. This trend was of an unhappy bride who wished she had spent more money once she saw the results of her wedding photography…and this regret was both for photography that hotels had locked brides into as well as for photography produced by some independent photographers. And while this was not every bride’s experience it was the experience of far too many brides.
Like Theresa Who Told Me:
Kirk I spent $40,000.00 on my St Lucia wedding and I don’t have a single picture that I like 🙁
And at St Lucia’s inaugural wedding symposium, Charles Oster, Vice President for local enterprise at MyWeding.com reported that over 60% of brides regretted not spending more on artistic wedding items such as flowers, decorations and photography. Charles told a gathering of wedding vendors down in St Lucia that even more surprising than this was how much more brides had been prepared to spend, noting that amounts from $5000 to $20,000 were often stated as how much more some brides wished they had spent after the fact
At the same time I also started to see more brides flying in their photographers, which is understandable as your wedding photography will always be your most important wedding keepsake – next to your wedding rings and your hubby of course!
Through all of this wedding photography upheaval I kinda remained on the sidelines shooting just one or two weddings a year…
St Lucia Launches The First Ever Wedding Symposium & A Light Bulb Went Off In My Head
Then in September 2013 the Saint Lucia Tourist Board launched the first Saint Lucia Wedding Symposium which I attended, and a light bulb went off in my head as I thought…
What if I were to offer The Most Amazing Wedding Photography available anywhere in the world, to brides who want the very best and a wedding memory and wedding album to last for all eternity…
This simple idea led me to adopt a new tagline – Friends for Life from my previous slogan of Passion in Execution… and while there will always be passion in my execution, Friends For Life embodies so much more than just my passion for wedding photography as my new aim is to become your friend for life.
Suddenly with this new approach I’m no longer caught up with all the noise in the wedding marketplace as instead I’m all about giving you – My Friend, your best possible wedding photography experience…and wedding photos too
- As friends for life think of me as your eyes and ears on the ground down here in St Lucia.
- As your friend for life if this will be your first trip to St Lucia it most likely won’t be your last.
- And we’ll meet up whenever you’re in St Lucia…and I’ll be sure to call on you whenever I’m in your neck of the woods.
Funny though, the more I thought about it is the more I realized that this is exactly the kind of photography that I enjoy creating most… and brides have been saying so all along.
Sandra & Russell’s Saint Lucia Wedding
Take Russ and Sandra in the short video below which I compiled some time ago before taking that hiatus from wedding photography of which I earlier spoke…
Or Jaime & Jason Who Sent Us This little Thank You Card…
Amazing Wedding Photography Guaranteed
So here’s what you can expect…
Forget about botched weddings or having to fly a photographer down to St Lucia with you.
Your Ultimate St Lucia Wedding Photography starts with a Wedding Consultation either by phone or by skype. During this consultation we will discuss your idea of your perfect fairytale wedding photography. Then we will explore options and work on budgets. And the nice thing about planning early is that you can establish a convenient and easy lay-away plan.
Many of my weddings are shot with an assistant whom I’ve trained in lighting techniques and we work together to create some exquisitely lit pictures that will quite simply amaze you.
Your Own Private Wedding Website
Once you book my photography we will create a private wedding photography website just for you where you can invite friends and family to register. This allows you to share your wedding pictures with them all, which is really cool for friends and family who can’t make it down to St Lucia to celebrate with you
Visit St Lucia Before Your Wedding
A pre-wedding trip to St Lucia is a great idea. This allows you to really get a feel for your venue as well as meet and finalize the selection of your service providers. During this visit we will explore your photo options taking into account such things as what direction the sun will be shining during your wedding ceremony and how this will affect your pictures as most wedding ceremonies are held outdoors. During your visit we can also have a mini photo session to give you a taste of just what you will be getting photographically on your wedding day.
Not Visiting St Lucia Before Your Wedding?
Well that’s no problem as we will meet up with you before your wedding day once you arrive in St Lucia and we will explore all of your options at that time.
Enjoy Kirk’s Undivided Attention During Your Wedding Photography
On your wedding day you will have my undivided attention whether it’s just the two of you or it’s a grand affair with family and friends from all over the world. Best of all you will get to select your favourite pics which you can combine with our scenic resort and island shots for the ultimate wedding album.
Beautifully Hand Assembled Custom Heirloom Wedding Albums
Our hand assembled heirloom wedding albums are a work of art and will easily become your most prized wedding possession after your groom and your rings, and the first thing that will strike you when you receive your album will be how regal it looks and how solidly heavy it feels…
Custom Heirloom Wedding Albums Printed & Hand Assembled in California
Your pictures will be printed at the state of the art wedding photography and albums center for professional photographers only over in California and all of your selections, including your album and any prints you purchase will be shipped to you directly from there. Best of all their easy to navigate online selection and payment system makes putting your albums and prints together quite effortless. And with a variety of options to choose from St Lucia Wedding Photography never looked so good!
Click Here For Sample Wedding Album …then when you’re through just hit the back button to continue reading this page
Don’t Let Cost Ruin Your Wedding
Now while what you pay for your wedding photography is important, you should never select a photographer just because he or she is the cheapest as this will most likely come back to haunt you.
Instead start your search by seeking out the photographer you are most comfortable and at ease with because you will be spending a lot of time with this person and having a great working relationship with them can make all the difference between pictures that make you look super good and pictures that are mediocre at best and downright bad at worst.
Consider A Lay-Away Plan
It’s best to select your photographer at least 18 – 24 months before your wedding and certainly no less than 6 months before. This allows you to create a lay-away plan and so get the wedding photography of your dream without breaking a sweat, or the bank!
Prices
With wedding packages starting from U$500 we’ve got options to suit every budget…
Complete The Form Below To Schedule A Wedding Photography Consultation…
Don’t Let Your Wedding Pictures Live There Entire Life As Jpegs Only
Research has shown that brides who purchase Shoot & Deliver wedding packages hardly ever end up with great wedding albums. Now don’t get me wrong as this is not to say that the album you get from a shoot & deliver wedding will be bad, but rather that it is just very likely to be average at best… Here’s Why – While you can send your shoot & deliver images out to a print shop and get back an album, spectacular wedding albums are created when your photographer artistically crafts your wedding album based on all that went on during your wedding day and only your photographer can have this vision as a result of having experienced the event right alongside you. So rather than regretting after the fact when it is too late, trust your wedding album to a wedding photographer who can deliver a world class wedding album just as if your wedding was at home.
You Owe It To Yourself
Before deciding on your St Lucia wedding photographer you owe it to yourself to ensure that your wedding album will be the best that there can be and I recommend that you ask to see samples of albums that the photographers you are considering have produced. And if you plan to create your wedding album yourself make sure you find brides who can let you know that they too got an album maker that worked out for them so that you can use that album maker and not end up being badly disappointed like so many brides before you…
What Is A Shoot & Deliver Wedding?
This is a wedding in which the photographer hands over all of the unprocessed digital files to you, generally for a very low price and you then go off and do as you please with those images.
The Trouble With Shoot & Deliver Weddings
While getting all your files can seem like a really good deal, especially if the price is very low, remember than in life you most often get exactly what you pay for. So why risk this law of averages with your wedding photography when you simply won’t have a second chance to get it right! Also when doing shoot & deliver weddings some photographers choose to concentrate on the number of pictures they shoot (quantity) rather than on artistic creativity (quality)…
To Discover More Complete The Short form Below, Hit the Submit Button and I Shall Personally Contact You Within 24 hours…
One Love,
