The Wedding Album

Four years ago, on September 16th, one of my best friends got married in one of the most perfectly planned ceremonies and receptions I've ever seen. Every detail was thought out and every song was perfectly timed. For 9 months leading up to the wedding, all she thought about was this wedding so much so that after the wedding was over, she apparently wanted nothing more to do with it - hence the email that we all received the day after her four year anniversary that she had finally picked the pictures for her wedding album. FOUR YEARS later??!!
Knowing that I would blog about her, Bonnie Meteye, this topic is for you!
Most brides are similar to Bonnie in that they live and breathe for their wedding day while they are planning, but once it's over, they tend to let a lot of things fall by the wayside. Not to mention, the overwhelming task of picking 50 pictures from a proof book of over 500 images can be a bit much. But even with that being said, there has to be a deadline. In most cases, the bride gets home from her honey moon eager to see her wedding pictures and has no problem hounding the photographer about when they will be online or when the proof book will be in. Once the images are able to be viewed, suddenly, the bride does not have time to make selections and finish the process. And in that same token, when the day finally does come, a year, two years or even four years later, this bride has made her selections and is ready for the book to be made, she has no problem once again hounding the photographer as if he should have planned his work week around the fact that she would re-surface so many years later.
The fact is, in any job, there is a process and a shelf life for files and past projects. The same applies to a wedding photographer. Let's just pretend that Bonnie's photographer shoots one wedding every weekend - that's a little over 50 weddings a year. If he kept up that average for 4 years, by the time he heard from Bonnie with her decision of images, he would have shot over 200 weddings. What are the chances that this poor man has nothing else to house in his studio but old weddings with the hope that the lost bride will one day come to him to pick out images for an album that was inevitably included in the package that she bought 4 or more years ago. Yay, more work at a time that he didn't expect but for free! That's just what every professional wants!
The bottom line is, these brides should have up to 6 months, tops, to get the process completed. I think 3 months should be the cut off, but most photographers are more lenient with a 6 month reprieve. At any rate, I do understand that once the wedding is over, it's hard to get back into decision-making mode, but you have to give these vendors a break. I know, at the time of your wedding, the good vendors make you feel like you’re the only client they have, but the reality is, if they don't move forward after you, you won't have someone to call in 4 years for a book. So do not make their job more difficult and leave them stuck in limbo. Be grateful that you chose a photographer who gave you so many great images, pick your pictures and move on!