WeddingWire Archives - Ying Multimedia

Annick + Joey

yingphotography_ghmtv5 — Tue, 28 Jul 2020 02:39:03 +0000

Annick + Joey ][ Bakers Ranch Parrish Florida Wedding

Annick and Joey were such a fun couple to work with. Theirs was the last wedding we took pictures at before the world went crazy and we all did the quarantine thing. It was an elegant affair at Baker’s Ranch, with lots of lush foliage and romantic shades of dusty rose. Much of her family came down from Quebec and it was wonderful to see a big happy family all together having a wonderful time and celebrating. We know the future of the wedding industry is changing right now, but we are so grateful that we were able to experience the sweet, traditional festivities of this love story before everything changed. This wedding will forever be a fond memory for us, and we are so thankful to Annick and Joey for welcoming us into this special part of their story. We are now looking forward to the changing face of weddings, and how we can continue to provide positive support and help our couples make their wedding dreams come true.

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Engagement Sessions: Pave The Way To Your Wedding Day Success

yingphotography_ghmtv5 — Fri, 03 Apr 2020 00:26:01 +0000

Engagement Sessions: Pave The Way To Your Wedding Day Success

Photographers are going to be one of a few ‘strangers’ that you will spend the most time with on your wedding day (the other stranger you spend a lot of your day with is your wedding planner.) The more time you spend with your photographer prior to the wedding day, the more comfortable you’ll be with them. Our goal as photographers is to document your wedding day in a mostly unobtrusive manner and to let most of the moments unfold naturally. Having you be comfortable and relaxed around us makes that flow more naturally and it is less likely there will be awkward or uncomfortable photos.

Getting to know your photographers at an engagement session allows you to get familiar with them and their personalities. You want to make sure you mesh well with them and they are not awkward or annoying around you. The last thing you want is to find out on the day of your wedding is that the photographer isn’t a good fit for you. That will add additional stress to an already packed and busy d

Unlike in years past, where a photo studio stands on every other street corner and inside every shopping mall, most people nowadays have never had professional photography done. That means most people find having a big camera pointed at them uncomfortable or awkward. Many people have spent years having photos taken by cellphone cameras and seeing an actual camera with a giant lens pointed at them may seem intimidating. Having an engagement shoot helps to alleviate some of that by getting you comfortable with having the cameras and photographers around.

In addition to getting you comfortable in front of the camera, the engagement session also helps us provide some pointers for you both on posing and will familiarize you with strategies that we may use on the wedding day.

For example, a quick peck kiss is over too soon to be captured by most cameras. We normally ask the couple to hold it for about 5 seconds or so. A longer kiss helps to guarantee the moment isn’t missed and also helps you to slow down and enjoy the moment as well. We may also ask you to pose in certain ways during the engagement shoot, and having that posing experience and prior experience and communication before the wedding mean that on the wedding day when the timing is critical, there’s less time we need to explain something and more time capturing photographs!

Engagement sessions normally last an hour to an hour and a half long for us. That’s a lot of time to get familiar with your photographers, to get to know us as we get to know more about you during the shoot and to get familiar with how we work so you know what to expect on your wedding day. The engagement session also allows you to express your unique personalities and interests. We’ve done an engagement shoot in a Target for a couple who loves shopping at Target. In another we did, the couple had met each other at an OrangeTheory Fitness, so we went back there for engagement photos. Doing this gives you more opportunities to tell your story and express your individuality outside of the confines of your wedding venue.

One last thing an engagement photoshoot will provide is confidence. The engagement session gives you an opportunity to watch us work and craft your photos. There are news reports all the time of photographers out there who steal images as their own for advertising, and it’s only later that couples realize they weren’t a real photographer at all, and the quality and style they receive is much different, and often inferior to what was advertised. And unfortunately, it’s too late at that point. Having us do your engagement session shows our capability, with you in the image, so you can be confident that the images we create are genuine and legitimate. This gives you confidence on your wedding day that your photos will be everything you want and more. You can go into your big day without fear of the unexpected.

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We are WeddingWire’s 2020 Couple’s Choice Awards Winner!

yingphotography_ghmtv5 — Fri, 10 Jan 2020 18:13:09 +0000

We are WeddingWire’s 2020 Couple’s Choice Awards Winner!

Ying Photography Named Winner in 2020 WeddingWire Couples’ Choice Awards®

Sarasota, January 09, 2020. — Ying Photography was announced a winner of the 2020 WeddingWire Couples’ Choice Awards®, an accolade representing the top wedding professionals across the board in quality, service, responsiveness, and professionalism reviewed by couples on WeddingWire. A leader in the global wedding planning industry, WeddingWire continues its celebration of local wedding vendors with the announcement of its twelfth annual WeddingWire Couples’ Choice Awards® winners. To determine these distinguished wedding professionals, WeddingWire analyzed reviews across more than 20 service categories, from venues and caterers to florists and photographers to find the most highly rated vendors of the year. These winners exhibit superior professionalism, responsiveness, service, and quality when interacting with the millions of consumers who turn to WeddingWire to help ease their wedding planning process each month. Wedding professionals who win WeddingWire Couples’ Choice Awards® are members of WeddingPro, the leading B2B wedding brand. As the largest marketplace and community for wedding professionals, WeddingPro connects businesses with more than 13 million visitors per month who are planning weddings on WeddingWire and The Knot, as well as with hundreds of thousands of pros in the industry. Through its online marketplaces, educational programs and community-building events, WeddingPro is dedicated to helping wedding professionals build relationships with couples and pros that grow their businesses. Ying Photography is honored to be one of the top wedding businesses in Sarasota on WeddingWire.com. For more information about Ying Photography, please visit us on WeddingWire. To learn more about the WeddingWire Couples’ Choice Awards®, please visit www.weddingwire.com/couples-choice-awards. About WeddingWire WeddingWire is a trusted global online marketplace, connecting consumers with local wedding professionals and a suite of comprehensive tools that make wedding planning easier. Operating within a $250 billion industry, WeddingWire helps millions of users every month find the right team of wedding professionals to personalize and pull off their special day. Consumers around the world are able to read more than 5 million vendor reviews and search, compare and book from a directory of over 500,000 vendors local to them. Founded in 2007, the WeddingWire portfolio serves couples and wedding professionals across 15 countries in North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia. The company is headquartered in Washington, DC with international headquarters in Barcelona, Spain. Visit WeddingWire online at WeddingWire.com and follow on social media at Facebook.com/WeddingWire and @WeddingWire on Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest.

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Here are 20 Tips to Help Make Your Wedding Day Go Smoothly

yingphotography_ghmtv5 — Sat, 10 Aug 2019 16:30:07 +0000

Here are 20 Tips to Help Make Your Wedding Day Go Smoothly

Your wedding is fast approaching. Everything seems to be going smoothly and all your vendors are in place. Your timeline has been drawn and the planner states everything is going according to schedule. Nonetheless, in the back of your mind you feel like there’s still something you’ve forgotten. Here’s a list of twenty tips we have collected, through our years as wedding photographers, that might help make your wedding day proceed smoothly.

During Planning

You Shall Not Pass: Many churches and venues have restrictions on where vendors can be during the ceremony. Make sure to check with your venue to get a clear idea of what is and isn’t allowed. If they don’t allow your photographers near the altar, there’s probably not going to be a lot of photos near the altar. Set your expectations accordingly.

Have a Family Formal Shoot List: Depending on your family, family formals could be the most stressful part of your day. Having a list of all the formal photos you want with the names of the family members needed in each shot makes the whole process go much quicker. We recommend starting with the largest groups and dismissing those family to cocktail hour as soon as they are finished. Your planner might appreciate having a copy of this list so they can help to get the next group ready while the current group is being photographed. We provide a template shoot list for every couple at our consultation to assist in this process.

Enjoy Sun Screen: If you normally wear a watch or a fitness band and you don’t plan on wearing them on your wedding day, consider alternating the arm for the band or simply put the band away for a few weeks so the tan line fades before the wedding.

Even Batman Has a Utility Kit: Have a tool kit available with safety pins, wipes, scissors, body tape and stain eraser pens. You never know when there might be a wardrobe malfunction. Always best to be prepared!

Water Makes the World Go Round: Make sure your caterer and venue verify with each other who’s responsible for the water/coffee/lemonade/tea for those who do not drink alcohol. We were involved in a wedding in which the venue and caterer each thought the other company was providing the non-alcoholic beverages and neither brought them. As a result, the donuts had no coffee and there was only beer, wine and water available to the guests. Even if everyone attending drinks alcohol, it’s best to have other beverages available to keep your guests hydrated.

Get Hungry: Have your caterer or family provide some snacks and beverages for you directly after the ceremony. Many couples are too nervous to eat and drink a lot before the ceremony. As soon as the ceremony is over, when the weight is suddenly lifted off their shoulders, they suddenly realize how hungry and thirsty they’ve become. Many couples also schedule their couples photo session between the ceremony and reception leaving them precious little time, and it may have been an hour or two since they have had anything to drink. We keep bottled water on us in case this happens, but not every photographer considers this.

Sunset in Your Time Line: Depending on your ceremony time, considers scheduling a moment in your wedding timeline for sunset photos. That will likely be when the light is the most flattering for photographs.

Your Dress Deserves a Little Bling Too: Most wedding dresses come with a plastic or wire hanger, which doesn’t photograph well and doesn’t look very pretty. Purchase a nice wood or felt hanger to replace it and make your dress pop while it’s hung up. Some couples even purchase a customized hanger with their names and special date on it!

It’s as Hot as Mount Doom: We live in Florida. The humidity here guarantees we will sweat buckets when we are outside. If your groom (or bride!) can get a little too shiny in the sunshine, consider getting them a personalized hand towel on Etsy or something similar that they can keep in their back pocket so they can pat themselves dry throughout the day.

If You Don’t Say It, No One Knows: Many couples have surprises for their family that they want to keep secret, such as a special dance dedicated to their grandparents or a special moment set aside for a sister with their father or a brother to their mother. Let your vendors know ahead of time so they can plan for it accordingly. If your vendors don’t know it’s happening, they can’t be prepared with cameras, video equipment, special music or whatever else is needed to make the moment happen. Let them know and trust that your secret will be

1-3 Weeks Before Wedding Day

Bling Bling: During your engagement, your engagement ring has seen everything under the sun. Dirt, grime, makeup, meatloaf, hair and more! For your wedding and engagement photoshoots, your ring will be getting photographed VERY CLOSE UP. The macro camera lenses do not lie. You want to make sure the engagement ring has been cleaned, trust us.

Heels, Heels, Heels: If you plan on wearing heels on your wedding day, consider keeping a pair of flats or flip flops nearby. This way you can change from the heels to more comfortable footwear during dancing and the rest of the night. Your feet will thank you when you are walking around mingling with your guests and dancing the night away blister-free.

Practice Makes Perfect: Practice your dance with your future spouse to ensure that first dance goes smoothly, some couples even take dancing lessons to wow their guests! If you want a photo with a dramatic dip, make sure you practice that a few times as well!

Measure Twice, Cut Once: Test fit your dress one last time a week or 2 before the wedding. If your dress has a bustle, have your bridal party, or whoever is in charge of helping with that, practice to ensure everyone knows how it comes together. Some bustles can be very complicated!

Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Moe: If you have a dress train or otherwise fairly long gown, speak to your wedding party and make sure you have volunteers to help you keep the dress straight and help you hold the dress up while you traverse outside of the ceremony site. We try to help when we can but having a wedding party member assist can really make life easier for everyone (shout out John Carroll, Best Best Man.) A lot of coordinators also offer it as part of their services, but it helps to determine that before the wedding.

Day of the Wedding

Thank You Cards: If you plan on sending a thank you card to your guests, you might want to bring a thank you sign to the reception. Your photographer to grab a photo of you holding the sign at the end of the night. This way you have a photo ready that can be used for thank you cards.

First We Eat, Then We Do Everything Else: Make sure both the groom and the bride have a meal during preparations. The last thing you’ll want is someone HANGRY at the altar!

It’s Potty Break Time: Use the restroom before getting into the dress. Also, make sure the bridal party gets a chance to use the bathroom as well before the ceremony. You don’t want your groomsman doing the pee-pee dance at the alter while you say your vows.

Feed Me Seymour: If your vendors have meal stipulation in their contract, or if you simply feel generous and want to feed them, arrange for them to get their meal right after the bridal party. This way the vendors are on the same timeline and will finish eating at the same time as you and they can be ready to go again as soon as you are. Having the vendors go last means they are either going to be too busy eating as the next event happens, or they are unable to eat because the next event is happening, causing them to not be able to perform up to par. No one likes to work hungry!

Electrolytes, It’s What Plants Crave: Have an open bar? Consider keeping some Gatorade or other sports drinks at your hotel room or wherever you are going the night of the wedding to help with replenishing lost fluids. Take care of yourselves! You definitely don’t want a hangover kick off your honeymoon.

Do you have your own tips based on your experience? Post them in the comments or shoot us an email so we can add them!

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How to Maximize the use of your Wedding Photographer

yingphotography_ghmtv5 — Thu, 10 Jan 2019 22:41:19 +0000

Photography is one of the largest investments you will make on your wedding day. Not only in cost, but the memories that last for a lifetime. In the 6 years we’ve worked in weddings, there’s been many common factors that allow us to operate smoothly and to maximize your return on investment. Here are some tips to keep in the back of your mind. Follow them and you’ll be amazed at the quality of your images and make most of your photographers.

#1 BUFFER YOUR SCHEDULE

There’s going to be at least one thing that will not go as planned on your wedding day. Falling behind schedule can mean your photographers are left waiting instead of taking the next great photograph. If you buffer your schedule during schedule creation, you’ll be in a much better place when something unexpected happens. Things like delayed delivery of cakes, late bridal party members or someone forgetting their dress or make up can cause unforeseen delays in your day. Makeup and hair are always longer than what’s planned. A schedule with plenty of time will allow you to relax and enjoy the day.

#2 BEGIN EARLY

This goes back to #1. We always recommend starting your day earlier rather than later. Preparing for the unexpected means having the extra time on your wedding day to relax and enjoy the day. Getting ready earlier also means there’s more time for us to do bridal portraits, a first looks or any other photos you might want before the guests arrive.

#3 HAVE A ‘FIRST LOOK’

We love first looks! This is a chance for the couple to have an intimate moment for the first time on their day, away from prying eyes of guests and have some alone time to reflect with each other. A first look also yields amazing photographs as the couple has the opportunity to express their emotions in private, rather than in front of a large audience. If first look is not your thing, a “first touch” of the day where the couple share a touch of hand divided by a door or a wall also works great! Many of our couples even write a letter, a card or share a prayer for their future spouse to make the moment even more sweet.

A first look provides more return on your time as it allows you to get some of the formal photos out of the way now, reducing the possible need of a cocktail hour or to provide more time for family photos between ceremony and reception.

#4 REMEMBER THE LIGHT

Good light is a photographer’s best friend. To make the most of your bridal photos, schedule the time for posed portraits within the golden hour. This is the hour before sunset and it provides gorgeous, warm, and flattering light. Typically, the best time to schedule this is between the ceremony and your reception entrance.

A tip from our friends at BEWED: schedule sunset portraits in your timeline during reception, so you have 15-45 minutes near sunset to get some beautiful imagery.

#5 TRUST YOUR WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER

On your wedding day, your photographer is going to ask you to do all sorts of weird poses or positions, and they may ask you to do something that may be out of the ordinary. Trust that your photographers have your best interest in mind. The dress can be dry cleaned, and the suit can be repaired, but your wedding photos are a once in a lifetime deal. Don’t let something temporary prevent you from having great photos that will last a lifetime. Trust that your photographers will do everything in their power to make sure the photos are as epic as your wedding day.

#6 HAVE AN ENGAGEMENT SESSION

Having an engagement session allows you to see how you will connect on a personal level with your photographer on the day of your wedding. The last thing you want is to feel awkward and uncomfortable on your wedding day. An engagement session is a great opportunity to get familiar with the person pointing a big camera at you as well. For the photographers, this is an opportunity for us to see your personality and to incorporate it into your wedding day photos. This is also a chance to see your photographer’s work with you as the subject instead of somebody else.

If you can’t or don’t want an engagement session, that’s okay too! Schedule a in person consultation, so you can spend some time with your photographer to get familiar with them.

#7 SMILE / LAUGH

Although it may seem that laughing and smiling would be natural, stress and tight schedules can make your day not as enjoyable as you have dreamed of.

Having everyone in high spirits will yield more and better images. Laughter is contagious, and it also creates the best smiles. Keep your wedding day as lighthearted and carefree as possible. Surround yourself with those who bring out the best in you, those who make you laugh, and those who you can be yourself around. Who knows.. maybe some of those moments will make it into a blooper album!

#8 HIRE A SECOND

Second shooters are common in wedding photography. It’s a considerable amount of effort to photograph an entire wedding solo, so when you’re in the market for a photographer you may want to consider finding one that includes a second. The price for an additional photographer at your wedding has a great return on investment and will allow you to have a fair amount of additional images. A second photographer is great for grabbing candid shots and generally ease the work load of the primary photographer. Furthermore, second photographers also act as lighting assistants during posed portraits. This assistance to the primary photographer will expedite the work flow.

photo courtesy of BEWED

#9 HAVE AN UNPLUGGED CEREMONY

An unplugged ceremony allows your guests to stop worrying about capturing the day and actually be able to share in the moment with you. You invited them to share your special day! This goes back to #5 as well for building trust in your photographer!

Having no phones during the ceremony also ensures your photos will be timeless. Five years from now, everyone will have new iPhones, and looking at your wedding photos where everyone is holding an iPhone 6 will stick out like an eye sore.

#10 HIRE A GREAT DJ

A DJ’s responsibility goes beyond simply playing music. They are the drummer of your vendor band and they keep the pace of the wedding on schedule. It’s also their job to keep the guests at your reception having a great time for long as possible. Couples typically spend the largest percentage of their budget on reception venue and reception related events and decor. A good DJ will play the right music, but a GREAT DJ will make sure you get your return on investment at your reception venue. In addition to that, a great DJ will ensure your guests are having a great time, which will facilitate amazing reception photos for the photographers.

Great DJs will also have several add-ons such as a mic for your officiant, an audio board for your videographer to get speech audio and little things like special requests. Some DJ even provide their own light and fog effects.

#11 HAVE A WEDDING PLANNER/COORDINATOR

The last thing you want on your wedding day is to worry about anything going wrong that may come up. Investing in a good coordinator ensures your wedding day runs smoothly. The planner will also take care of communicating with your vendors. A GREAT wedding planner will create a great timeline which will help you handle #1 and #2 of this blog post. They will also consider thoughtful things such as a quick break for a bite to eat and rest between ceremony and reception, or sunset photo session to maximize your photographers. We find that a professional wedding coordinator will make a wedding day go smoother and will return more photos for the couple. Many coordinators also have connections within the industry and may be able to get a better deal on other vendor services, help you to make the best of your budget.

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We are 2019 WeddingWire Couple’s Choice Awards winner!

yingphotography_ghmtv5 — Wed, 09 Jan 2019 21:54:43 +0000

Ying Photography Receives Distinction in the 11th Annual WeddingWire Couples’ Choice Awards®

Sarasota, January 08, 2019. — Ying Photography was announced a winner of the renowned WeddingWire Couples’ Choice Awards® in Sarasota. WeddingWire, Inc., a leading global online wedding marketplace, annually celebrates the top wedding professionals on WeddingWire across more than 20 service categories, from venues and caterers to florists and photographers. These distinguished vendors exhibit superior professionalism, responsiveness, service, and quality when interacting with the five million monthly consumers who turn to WeddingWire to help ease their wedding planning process. Ying Photography received this esteemed award based on their outstanding experience working with real newlyweds. WeddingWire features more than three million reviews, and these notable vendors all received prompt, reliable, and quality feedback. “We are celebrating our 11th annual Couples’ Choice Awards, where we honor our vendors who help make millions of couples’ big day one to remember,” said Timothy Chi, CEO, WeddingWire. “Not only are these hardworking and distinguished wedding professionals, such as Ying Photography, a fundamental part of the wedding planning process for engaged couples, but they help make WeddingWire a trusted source for wedding planning. We congratulate everyone on this well-deserved achievement.” Ying Photography is honored to be one of the top wedding businesses in Sarasota on WeddingWire.com. For more information about Ying Photography, please visit us on WeddingWire. To learn more about the WeddingWire Couples’ Choice Awards®, please visit www.weddingwire.com/couples-choice-awards. About WeddingWire, Inc. WeddingWire, Inc. is a leading global online marketplace connecting consumers with local wedding professionals and a suite of comprehensive tools that make wedding planning easier. Operating within a $250 billion industry, WeddingWire helps 16 million users every month find the right team of wedding professionals to personalize and pull off their special day. Consumers around the world are able to read more than 5 million vendor reviews and search, compare and book from a directory of over 500,000 vendors local to them. Founded in 2007, the WeddingWire portfolio serves couples and wedding professionals across 15 countries in North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia. The company has more than 950 employees and is headquartered in Washington, DC, with international headquarters in Barcelona, Spain.

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We Are a Couples’ Choice Awards Winner!

yingphotography_ghmtv5 — Fri, 19 Jan 2018 15:19:45 +0000

Ying Photography Honored for Excellence in 10th Annual WeddingWire Couples’ Choice Awards^Ⓡ

Sarasota, FL – Jan 19, 2018 – Ying Photography today announced its recognition as a winner of the esteemed 2018 WeddingWire Couples’ Choice Award^Ⓡ for Wedding Photography in Sarasota.

WeddingWire Inc., the leading global online marketplace for the wedding and events industry, annually recognizes the top five percent of wedding professionals on WeddingWire who demonstrate excellence in quality, service, responsiveness and professionalism. The top local wedding professionals in more than 20 service categories from venues to florists are awarded the prestigious accolade.

Ying Photography was recognized as a recipient solely based on reviews from newlyweds and their experiences working with them. Award-winning vendors are distinguished for the quality, quantity, consistency and timeliness of the reviews they have received from their past clients.

“This is the tenth year we’ve celebrated our top-rated vendors who have helped millions of couples celebrate one of the most important days of their lives,” said Timothy Chi, CEO, WeddingWire. “This group of dedicated and acclaimed wedding professionals, such as Ying Photography, not only make wedding planning simpler for engaged couples, but also serve as a trusted partner in helping to make WeddingWire the go-to place for wedding planning. We congratulate all of this year’s winners on their achievement.”

Ying Photography is thrilled to be one of the top Photographers in Sarasota on WeddingWire.com.

To learn more about the WeddingWire Couples’ Choice Awards^Ⓡ, please visit www.weddingwire.com/couples-choice-awards.

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