Randy vs. Misty

[skiqt323]

So now that Misty's prices went up, I am not considering both hers and Randy's packages. They are very similar however, Misty offers professional lighting setups and a second photographer and her price is a little less, but Randy seems to capture all the needed photographs and I havent seen any pictures that need to have professorial lighting if he doesnt offer it. I am having a hard time deciding on this one. I love both of their photographs very much. Randy was my first choice, then I saw Misty and loved her pictures and her prices. I just can't decide!

 

[orangetiggs]

we went with misty as randy pics were a bit hit and miss for us maggimus pics are great but then i saw others that were not as good as hers so i changed and booked with misty as all hers are consistant

 

[MistressOfAllEvil]

we went with misty as randy pics were a bit hit and miss for us maggimus pics are great but then i saw others that were not as good as hers so i changed and booked with misty as all hers are consistant

This was the feedback my step-father had about Randy too. But I took the risk and went with Randy anyhow. I have faith that out of the gazillion pictures he takes, enough will be top notch! I can't imagine not having some off pics in the amount that he shoots.

 

[orangetiggs]

Yes I guess what also took us to misty was that she offers a cd only package and being from the UK i thought it would be easier than trying to get prints and albums back form the states

I think whatever photographer you go with they will be great

 

[Maggimus]

we went with misty as randy pics were a bit hit and miss for us maggimus pics are great but then i saw others that were not as good as hers so i changed and booked with misty as all hers are consistant

That is so sweet of you to say about my photos.

OP- I agree with what the other girls are saying. Some of Randy's photos I'm not completely thrilled with. However, he takes so many photos that obviously you aren't going to love them all. I have enough- more than enough that I am ga-ga over. Remember that some people like certain photos, and things about certain photos, that you may not like. I only share a handful of my photos here.... but that's because those are the one's I love best. Whereas those might be angled in a style you don't like, or accent one of my features that you particularly think is terrible-- but I like. See what I'm saying? Everyones tastes are different.

I don't know Misty's work-- but I do love Randy! He did shoot my wedding and he was great to work with. I cannot help you decide-- but if you have any questions about Randy let me know. He was absolutely amazing and I would choose him again without a shadow of a doubt. He was the best decision I made on my wedding day (other than marrying my now husband and having the wedding at WDW ofcourse!).

 

[17march2005]

For what it is worth, we wouldn't choose Randy again. He does great work for some but not for others. We were thrilled with our engagement pictures and the albums he showed us. We even changed the package we originally requested. We have very few wedding pictures we are happy with. Maggimus has awesome pics and he did a great job with hers, but others we have seen are not so good.

This is a big decision so make sure you find out exactly what you want. Misty seems very consistant. We will choose her for our vow renewal.

 

[kwalls]

i was set on one of them shooting my wedding, send both emails, heard back from both but randy was already booked-easy my decision was made. if they are both available, sorry! hope you get it all set.

 

[TInk218]

Randy was fabulous!! We would 100% use him again he did great work and made you feel at ease about everything. He takes so many pictures and captures everything from your wedding day. We had him for 8 hours and he took 3,000 pictures of our wedding day. Here are some of my favorites....

He also did some additional bridal portriats for us:

I really cant say enough about how great he is. Our pictures were the most important thing for us considering it is basically all you have left to remember your day. He went above and beyond our expectations and we really have the most beautiful pictures beacuse of him to remember it all!

Hope this helps you in your decision!

 

[BaBeeCee14]

I love this picture!

Thank you for sharing! Your pictures look great!

 

[Swmhc]

I would choose Randy again in a heartbeat ! I think the biggest key is communication. I spoke with him ahead of time and asked if it was okay for me to email him some photos of examples of what I wanted and he was happy to get them. That way he knows what you are looking for.

Like Maggie said, different people like different styles. He can accomodate to fit your style choice, but he needs to know what that choice is. I wanted more random, photojournalistic shots rather than "posed" shots". After I got mine back, I realized I should have asked for a few more posed shots that I didn't get, but I love how he captured the mood of the day as he just snapped away throughout the ceremony and reception. 99% of the time during the ceremony, I never even knew where he was...he was invisible while capturing the ceremony, he didn't "intrude" at all !

Any photographer can pose people and take shots, it takes real talent to capture the special shots that will remind you of little things about the day. I don't know if mine are still up on his site, but one set he took of me and my matron of honor laughing and fluffing our dresses are some of my favs. I totally didn't even remember that 1-2 minutes of silliness after the day was done. Then I got the pictures and started laughing all over again. (It was 8/1 and hotter than heck, we were "fluffing" after the wedding to create a breeze on our hot legs).

Just my two cents. I can't give any input on Misty as I didn't use her. But we LOVED Randy.

 

[purplegirl247]

I'm with Shelli (Swhmc) and Maggimus. As long as you give clear direction to the photographer on what you want, either Randy or Misty seem reasonable. Randy did our photos, and while there were more than a handful that we LOVED, a lot of our photos seemed a little too staged/posed. It's like I had the opposite problem as Shelli! (between the two of us, we probably have the perfect wedding album ) But that was my fault, because I didn't communicate with him.

And of course, there's always the "her pictures look better than mine" syndrome, which seems to hit every bride at least once. (Except for Maggie, 'cause her pics are the gold standard )

Happy almost anniversary, btw, Maggie!

 

[wendy46001]

While i didnt use either of these two (so wont comment on them personally)
I just have to add a second photographer is a wonderful thing....
A few photos we have come to mind

I loved that we have a shot from both directions when the WP door opened (without someone running up and down the isle)...DH's face was so cute but the look on my dad's face at the same moment....now that’s a picture i love having...

Also we have all the standard line up photos of the wedding party
but in addition we some of the sweetest pics of the flower girls just waiting off to the side...

having two photographers just captured all those little moments

 

[Maggimus]

I'm with Shelli (Swhmc) and Maggimus. As long as you give clear direction to the photographer on what you want, either Randy or Misty seem reasonable. Randy did our photos, and while there were more than a handful that we LOVED, a lot of our photos seemed a little too staged/posed. It's like I had the opposite problem as Shelli! (between the two of us, we probably have the perfect wedding album ) But that was my fault, because I didn't communicate with him.

And of course, there's always the "her pictures look better than mine" syndrome, which seems to hit every bride at least once. (Except for Maggie, 'cause her pics are the gold standard )

Happy almost anniversary, btw, Maggie!

Thanks Christine! Ive got the syndrome too!! ANd my photos are not the gold standard by any means! I think I just put mine out there more than some. I do love Randy's work and am so jealous that I cant go back and get some of those poses ive seen some girls get. Hes always progressing. Those who use Randy-- get those poses you want in your head-- and locations you want. There are so many to choose from.

I miss you Christine! I hope you are doing well!

 

[Swmhc]

Maggie ! Glad to see you still pop on here. I haven't been on nearly as much lately having moved into our new house and trying to catch my breath after the wedding ! We are going back over Thanksgiving for a couple days too ! How goes your house building ?

Christine...don't see as much of you around here either ! Thought of you and your DH when my DH started looking at Disney's IT openings again this week !

 

[AbbyPan]

I loved Randy!!!!!!!!! he was so engaging, helpful and he knew exactly what I wanted. I honestly used 0% of my brain when he was with us. the guy even had to show me how to cut my cake!

anyway, our friends and family we're really impressed with our photos, so i will always be partial to Randy!!!


Maggie, so nice to see you!!! YES! you're anniversary is coming up soon....I'll save my congrats until next week

 

[Maggimus]

Maggie ! Glad to see you still pop on here. I haven't been on nearly as much lately having moved into our new house and trying to catch my breath after the wedding ! We are going back over Thanksgiving for a couple days too ! How goes your house building ?

Hey stranger Long time, no talk! Im doing good. Im glad you are settling in well! Our house is going great! They are finishing up the brick this afternoon. Things are moving so fast! We should be in before long. It's all been so exciting! I hope you are doing well!!

Maggie, so nice to see you!!! YES! you're anniversary is coming up soon....I'll save my congrats until next week

Thanks Abby! Time has FLOWN by! The days get shorter and shorter it seems. I hope you and Jon are doing well! Your anniversary will be here before you know it!

Miss you guys!

 

[melanieewr]

Everyone knows that I didn't have a wedding, but the photos of my birthday with Misty were fabulous. Having 2 photographers is a huge plus. I loved the way she blended with our little group. My EP's both said they really liked her also.

I have seen her amazing wedding pics and I thought she did an equally excellent job with my group of mostly grandparents...lol.

You can look at our online pics at her website. Mistysportfolio.com. Go to the preview section. Click on Melanie Disney. Then click on disney under my name. Password is Wells.

 

[JonetteA]

Speaking from experience, I can hardly think of any day that would need professional lighting. If Missy is bringing a light set with her for set up, not all of the action will be around that light set up. Depending on if you are having your wedding inside or out, the lighting can be accomplished via other avenues (ie white balance, and "see-ing the light" ). If you are having your wedding outdoors, a light set can be useless unless they really know how to work it. And indoors, you can accomplish great results via a speedlight and white balance. I think you need to look at styles and decide from there who you would like to use. No matter who you choose, have a frank discussion about what you are looking for. I know it is hard to plan this part with everything else you have going on, but these are your memories. Make sure that you make time to talk with your photographer and videographer just like you do your wedding planner. If people were not happy with Randy's photos, I hoped that they talked to him about it! Since I do not know what people don't like I can't help you there. I don't know if it was a style issue or not. I personally loved the photos we got from Randy. Are there things in a few of the photos that I wish I could change, absolutely! But we had some amazing shots and got way more than we would have ever thought possible.

 

[IrishLily]

I had always had my mind set on Randy. However, after seeing one DISer post a link to her pics for Misty I began to really sit down and decide who I wanted. I gave my mom both links (Randy and Misty).

My mom said Randy hands down. She said she liked his actual photography much better, and that the things that I admired in Misty's (the mirror shots with color/b&w, etc) were all things that I could do myself with photoshop. It's the actual photo that I can't change. I realized that my mom was right. I loved the weird angles that Randy would shoot from.

With that said, Randy still may not be for you. If you don't know how to do photoshop, then I would go for Misty because she does a lot more "creative" pics where she tweaks the photo. And I would choose Misty if having two photographers is a must. It sure is always a plus!

Either way you go, make sure you communicate what you want. I can't imagine a much worse feeling than getting your pictures back and realizing that they aren't what you wanted at all.

I think both do great work. I would just recommend looking through other people's photos and seeing which you admire more. I'm definitely going to ask Randy for the "mirror" pictures that Misty does so well. I think it is much better to give them an actual picture of what you're talking about.

Hope this helps!

 

[JonetteA]

Oh, one other thing I would suggest. Photographers develop over time. Meaning what you see from a year or two ago is not the same person they are today if they are growing and doing their job. Make sure you compare current work to current work!