Kaitlyn & Christian Wishes Japan/GM Lounge- 12/1/2019

The Longer you wait for something, the more you Appreciate it when you get it... I guess.
HAPPY NEW YEAR Y'ALL! It's been a little bit since the last time I posted, honestly there was just nothing to really talk about, still really isn't... I've come to the conclusion that I need to get used to WAITING for everything that goes on with the planning, I'm finally seeing a pattern. HA
Now that the room block was handled (I got over the "suddenness" of the due date) I just had to wait until I was sent my LOA. Which I finally got sent to me when I was back home in California for Christmas. Once I read it over once, and then my dad read it over :rolleyes: we had to WAIT to hear back from Amanda (Kristi's assistant) so we could get some clarification and adjustments to a few minor things, but weren't supposed to sign until then, so more days passed, and finally the LOA was completed and signed by ALL parties (this whole process almost took 2 weekso_O) SIGH.

YESTERDAY I was sent an email providing info for my ACTUAL "Dream Team": YAY
Wedding Event Manager: Carol Mikles
Wedding Event Assistant: Ashley Zirfas
Weddings Room Specialist: Marie Hallberg
(I had no idea Kristi & Ashley weren't involved in any of the actual planning :rolleyes2)

So now I wait for them to contact me to move forward... MORE WAITING OMG I CANNOT.


A FUN SIDE STORY TO PASS THE TIME.
So I've begun searching for photography & videography vendors (am I looking too early? too late? idk.)
I know that I don't want to use Disney's Fine Arts Photography, because frankly, it's just not my vibe. I cannot say this enough: I AM NOT A PRINCESSY DISNEY BRIDE. I do not think there is anything wrong with those who DO like that, but it's just not me and I have a certain feel I like in photos that I just plan on finding elsewhere, and prefer to find a vendor that does both photo AND video.
My Hairy God Mother/coworker/friend has tried to describe my vibe as this as of late:
jaded princess with a love of black velvet/ Maleficent fell in love and decided to get married & likes balloons.

I feel like I'm getting offtrack, ANYWAYS this is a story, LOL
So back in October when we first got engaged, the t-shirt company I order all my amazing Disney shirts from
(shoutout to @thelostbros check them out on insta, and thank me later!) reposted our photo and it went semi-viral for a minute (it showed up in the explore page of two friends so it wasn't that big of a deal honestly lol) OKAY now I end up getting this DM from this guy @disneydadswag congratulating us, and then telling me he has a company in orlando that does photo/video. Didn't really think anything of it, just followed their account @theportos (check them out if you're confused AF about what vibe I'm trying to explain :confused:) and moved on. Fast forward to like a week ago, I had just gotten off a phone consultation with another company that does photo/video and their quote was VERY reasonably priced... I'm talking 8 hours photo/video, two shooters, free engagement shoot, all for under $4k, which I'll be honest, I didn't know if that WAS a good deal, or not.
IDK WHAT IS CONSIDERED REASONABLE FOR WEDDING PHOTO/VIDEO YOU GUYS, HELP!
That same day, Christian had posted one of our engagement photos on insta and that SAME guy comments:
"FIRE YOUR PHOTOGRAPHER, I WANT TO SHOOT YOUR WEDDING!" we laughed about it, and he told me I should just email him to see what his rates were... you guys, I have NEVER had someone email me back so fast, also I almost died when I saw his quote- NINE THOUSAND DOLLARS for HIM to shoot our wedding. (he had people who worked under him that ranged from $6.5k-$8.5k) with the same package deal as the other company's quote.:rotfl:
I replied "thank you for getting back to me but unfortunately you're a bit outside my budget (by thousands) and I'll just have to admire your work from afar." Thought that was the end of it, I THOUGHT WRONG.
He gets back to me and after asking a few questions about what our budget was and what we were looking for, he came back and offered to shoot it himself for the low low price of FIVE THOUSAND, the man offered me a FOUR THOUSAND dollar discount.
:earseek:
The only thing I can think of is that:
a. he wants a Disney wedding for his portfolio
b. he's a hardcore disney fan (he told me he has a DVC and an AP)
c. see a and b
He also made a very good point: for how much we spend on this Disney wedding, to go with another company that I'm not in love with just for the deal is like eating at Taco Bell: it seems like a good value/deal and is pretty good, then later all you have is REGRET.:laughing:
I truly do like his work, much more than the other company that I got the lesser quote from, so I'm just thinking bite the bullet and pay the extra thousand dollars? Is that high? I don't want to regret not investing in photo/video because THAT IS FOREVER, THOSE ARE YOUR MEMORIES. Basically I told him I would talk to Christian, and we honestly just needed more info from Disney about everything before booking any outside vendors. Since then he has reached out MANY times, to make sure I haven't "forgotten about him" so I know he is VERY interested, VERY. lol

that's my little story, not that exciting, but more so I would love some opinions on pricing, or just like people's experience if they've used outside vendors for photo/video.
I LOVE EVERYONE'S INPUT IT IS FOREVER HELPFUL.:lovestruc

(ALSO, I completely cannot remember how to insert a photo from flickr so there's that...lol help):confused3
Congrats on your engagement and getting your dream venues! I am a little over a year and a half out, and I love the GM Lounge too :)
Would you mind telling me the name of the initial photo/video company you talked to who gave you that reasonable quote? I’ve been trying to find one company that does both, and I’ve been stumped! Thanks in advance for the help!
 
Congrats! Aww you were down for your planning session during our wedding week! :)

I hope you enjoyed everything and all is going smoothly. You choose our fave WS venue. ;)
 
Congrats on your engagement and getting your dream venues! I am a little over a year and a half out, and I love the GM Lounge too :)
Would you mind telling me the name of the initial photo/video company you talked to who gave you that reasonable quote? I’ve been trying to find one company that does both, and I’ve been stumped! Thanks in advance for the help!

I believe i had gotten a quote from George Street Photo & Video, I had come across them on The Knot, they have a lot of different photographers to choose from BUT they use the same editing team for everything which I wasn't a huge fan of. hope that helps!
 
I missed the day, but I hope it was beautiful! Can't wait to see pictures! Congratulations!
 



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