Wedding Day continued...
So we walked as quickly as we possibly could to meet Randy. Steven and I debated along the way as to whether we were supposed to meet him inside The GF or outside; we decided to wait outside, overlooking the marina. I figured I would be easily spotted so I knew we wouldn’t miss him.
Randy showed up at 8.55pm and we decided to walk over to The Wedding Pavilion. We chatted about our meal at Victoria and Alberts as Randy said he was yet to try it.
We had hoped that The Wedding Pavilion would be open and we could get some nice shots beside it, but unfortunately the gates were locked. So instead we got some night time shots beside the gate, we actually managed to get some decent shots:
On our way back to The Grand Floridian we also stopped to get some pictures along the path. The path has subdued lighting all along it, so it made for some nice pictures:
By the way this is one of my favourite pictures:
We walked along and stopped for some pictures beside the pool, this was really strange as the pool was pretty full. A hush came over the growing crowd as Randy positioned us here and there. I heard people asking others if we were celebrities. We stayed here for about 10 minutes and got a few shots:
I asked Randy if he wanted me to jump in the pool. I said to him I would do almost anything for a good shot. He laughed; I think he thought I was joking!
Our main reason for asking Randy to come back was to get some pictures during Wishes. Wishes wasn’t until 10pm that night so we had a chance to talk to him about other things other than photography.
I’ll confess that I mentioned a few girls by name, Maggie, Jen, Karen, mainly to talk about shots and let him know how popular he is on the boards. I also asked how Emily’s wedding had been as I knew her wedding was the same day. He had said that her wedding had gone well. I explained to him that I wasn’t a stalker or anything like that, that I had ‘met’ Emily on these boards and I knew he was photographing her wedding. We continued to chat about the boards and other weddings he had shot; he said he really remembers Maggie’s glasses apparently and loves that she bugs him about putting up Disney brides pictures. See Maggie, you are very memorable!
Randy spoke about his kids for a while and we spoke about our future plans. He was just great to talk to, so approachable.
Wishes was about to begin and we found a spot on the marina on the far left hand side. Randy said if anyone tried to view Wishes from where we were, he would get rid of them, lol.
Now as a Wishes Novice, I didn’t know what to expect, I had seen samples of this show online and had heard the music before, but I was still new to this.
Randy told us to do whatever we wanted, just not to watch the show all the time, to turn to the camera every now and then.
To be honest, I hardly saw any of the show. I heard the music clearly and turned around when I was startled by the big bangs, but Steven and I were mainly caught in the moment, and even though we didn’t get great shots of the fireworks, I am glad we did this. Wishes was the perfect end to a perfect day and as we gazed into each others eyes we bid goodnight to our wedding day…
Coming up…
MK Shoot with Paul Looper
Well I have given an in-depth review of every vendor I used, so Randy will receive no different. In one word Randy is AWESOME. He is by far among the best choices I made for our wedding and I can certainly see why he is always booked up months in advance.
Through all our email ‘conversations’ he has always been so friendly and was always open to suggestions. He even allowed me to book him separately for shots during Wishes, something I know he doesn’t normally do.
On the day he was loads of fun to be around and oozed professionalism. It’s pretty obvious he loves what he does. He often stopped to let me see some of the shots he had taken, I think he knew that Steven and I were both interested in photography.
I paid for 4 hours of Randy’s time but in the morning he came early and when he met us for the night time shoot he stayed until 10.30pm. In total we actually had Randy for 5.30 hours, at no extra charge.
I easily recommend booking him, he was such an amazing down-to-earth guy and such value for money, seriously he could get paid 10 times what he charges and he would still be good value.
So my advice, if you are looking for a photographer in Orlando, book him now, you won’t be disappointed!