We had such a blast with Kristy & David for their engagement session last August in downtown Rochester and we’re excited to post their wedding images very soon. Congratulations you two!!

Thank you Martha Stewart!

Actually, the thanks goes to our wonderful brides and grooms who took the time out of their busy schedules to tell the world about us by sharing their experiences online at Wedding Wire. The reviews were quite a wonderful surprise and reading each one was like receiving a huge hug from every couple.  I cannot express in words how incredible it made us feel to learn that doing what we love bring happiness into others’ lives as well. Couples today are bombarded with choices when planning their wedding and photography is no exception. Among a sea of photographers, our clients see something in our work, in us, that resonates with them. They realize that we’re as devoted to them and their experience as they are to each other and in that confidence our journey together begins. We look forward to getting to know and working with all of our unique couples in the coming year. Most of all, we look forward to creating new and lasting friendships.

And, because everything is better with pictures…

PRESS RELEASE:

Rochester Hills, Michigan – January 19, 2009 – WeddingWire, the nation’s leading wedding technology company, just announced The Shooting Gallery Photography has been selected to receive the 2010 Bride’s Choice Awards™ for Wedding Photography!
The annual Bride’s Choice Awards™ recognizes and celebrates excellence in quality and service within the wedding industry, as determined by recent reviews and extensive surveys from over 500,000 newlyweds.

The Shooting Gallery Photography is among the top five percent of all vendors in the WeddingWire community, which includes over 100,000 wedding professionals across the US and Canada. Awards were given to winners across 19 different service categories, from wedding venues to wedding photographers.

“We are excited to recognize and honor the success of the top wedding professionals within the WeddingWire Community” said Timothy Chi, WeddingWire’s Chief Executive Officer. “The annual Bride’s Choice Awards™ program has given us the unique opportunity to highlight the best wedding professionals in each region as reviewed by brides and grooms who have utilized their services in the past year.”

We are happy to announce that The Shooting Gallery Photography is among the very best Wedding Photographers within the WeddingWire Network, which includes WeddingWire and Martha Stewart Weddings. We would like to thank our past newlyweds for nominating us for the 2010 Bride’s Choice Awards™.

For more information, please visit our WeddingWire Storefront today HERE.

About WeddingWire, Inc.
WeddingWire is the only online wedding planning resource designed to empower both engaged couples and wedding vendors. WeddingWire enables engaged couples to search, compare and book over 100,000 reviewed wedding vendors nationwide, from wedding photographers to wedding cakes. WeddingWire also offers an online community and a suite of cutting-edge planning tools, including wedding websites and wedding checklists, all at no charge. For wedding vendors, WeddingWire provides free online management tools creating the only market opportunity that gives businesses control over their clients, reviews, leads and performance. In addition, WeddingWire has partnered with Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc. (NYSE: MSO) to provide its network of local vendors and online wedding-planning tools in the Weddings section of www.MarthaStewartWeddings.com. For additional information, please visit www.WeddingWire.com.

To take advantage of this FANTACULAR sale, simply log in to your online event and place your order. There are no codes to enter; holiday pricing appears in your active price list. CANVAS PRINTS are a special order item. Please see options and ordering instructions for those below. The print sale will run until December 31; however, to receive your items by Christmas Eve you MUST place your order by midnight EST on December 13.

///GALLERY WRAP CANVAS SALE///

16×24 $245
24×36 $325
36×48 $485
*canvas orders over $500 receive a FREE 10×15 canvas of your choice

All of our canvas prints are professionally finished with backing and bumper pads to protect your walls and includes the hardware needed to put it on display right away.

Send an email with your image file name(s), size preference(s), and any questions to: info@theshootinggallery.com and we will send an invoice with payment instructions. To guarantee delivery by Christmas, we MUST receive your order and payment in full by midnight EST on December 5. If you’ve had your eye on a professional canvas print, now is the time!

Happy Holidays!

To celebrate the kick-off of our beloved Holiday Season (marketing and radio may kick it starting nov 1 but I can’t even get into Christmas mode until I’ve awakened from my Tofurkey coma), we’re having an album special. WHY you ask? Because EVERY COUPLE should have an album. Oh, and I hear you out there…all you people tapping away at your keyboards making albums using boring templates on Shutterfly or those who just slide their proofs in one (or several) books from Target or Michaels. SHUSH! Those are not albums, people! Nope. Not even. Your amazing photographs deserve a phenomenal, custom designed (that means no templates), mind blowingly (so what if it’s not a word) gorgeous storybook of your wedding experience. And because I’m infatuated with life and love, I’m going to give it to you.

In order to keep the process simple for those who become overwhelmed by choices, we’re doing all of the work for you. Here’s what we’re offering (brace yourselves, it’s pretty freaking awesome).

One 12×12 custom designed album (by yours truly)
25 spreads (50 sides)
Up to 80 images
Black linen cover
Photographic matte finish print pages (NOT press printed/paper)
$795 (including sales tax)

*8×8 parent book copies $395 or (2) for $725

Want one? Email me at dionne@theshootinggallery.com now until December 14 and I’ll send you an invoice. I would be happy to select the pictures for you, but if there are certain images you are attached to simply include the file names in your email. What??? You say we didn’t photograph your wedding but you want an album anyway? Sure thing! As long as you have a release form from your photographer we would be happy to help you. Additional charges may apply for image processing and retouching of photographs not captured by The Shooting Gallery – please provide a sample of images and we will send you a quote. Albums will be designed and an online preview of the layout sent to the client prior to production within 12 weeks from the date of order. Delivery of the finished album will occur within 6 weeks from date of layout approval. That’s it! I told you it was cool…

It’s October. OCTOBER. The 10th month of the Gregorian calendar which is frighteningly close to the 11th month when the air begins to smell very different, Bing Crosby’s holiday classics hit the airwaves, and I attempt to get all of my Christmas shopping done before Christmas Eve (for once). And here it is the 22nd…someone light an aromatherapy candle and hand me a Xanax!

Yep, you guessed it. I’ve been busy. Busy as heck shooting weddings and sessions. Busy answering email, answering the phone…answering my husband. Busy giving kisses and hugs to my son and husband as I send them off to bed before settling down to edit and busy getting more kisses and hugs in the morning, dressed in the same clothes as the night before. Do I miss having a personal life? I sure do. And, what’s more, I feel guilty for missing out on the lives of those I love. Such is the life of a workaholic and I know I am not alone.

Big changes are coming for 2010 and in an attempt to find the proper work/life balance that eludes me, I am limiting the number of wedding and portrait commissions I take on. I was surprised to learn, quite recently, that 60 per year is not the average number of weddings a professional photographer accepts. Why didn’t someone tell me that years ago????? Perhaps they did and I just missed it. I tend to dance to the beat of my own drum so chances are I wouldn’t have listened anyway. I know I inherited my hard head from my Mother who inherited it from my grandfather; thus the beauty of the double helix. Well, that is changing and I look forward to spending more time honing my craft, connecting with my clients on a deeper level, and, last but not least, walking thru life with those who have so lovingly supported me and patiently waited for me to make time for them. Change IS good.

All of my clients are anxious to see their images and believe me, I dance and sing each time I wrap up a wedding or session and hit the upload button (and god willing it will never make YouTube). But, it all takes time and since I can’t seem to find someone to share in the wonderment that is editing, it takes alot of my time. To those who patiently await the first glimpse and to those who wait no so patiently, I appreciate your anxiety. It means that you care about your images, which is why you hired me in the first place, right? ::Wink-Wink::: I, too, care – I care allot, which is why I don’t just slam thru a thousand of your precious images slapping them with basic, universal adjustments or overused and outdated photoshop actions. These are your moments; snippets of your life as seen thru my eyes and that makes them just as special to me. I may not offer the fastest turnaround but when it comes to personal attention you can rest assured that I’m delivering my promises. And I hope that in the end that kind of care and attention is worth waiting just a bit longer for.

Here is my current edit roster which consist of weddings and sessions from AUG thru OCT – if you don’t see your name here please let me know. The hubby may have slipped decaf in the carafe to aid in getting some much needed R.E.M. (the sleep, not the band).

Walter Wedding
Boffi Wedding
Galli Engagement
Sanchez Wedding
Nickola Wedding
Fraley Wedding
King Wedding
Kelly Wedding
Kugler Wedding
Mavrellis Wedding
Leja Wedding
Fisk Engagement
Sumner Wedding
Bradley Wedding
Abdal Wedding
Long Wedding
Palin Engagement
Erhard Wedding
Caverly Wedding
Jelinski Portraits
Foust Wedding
Hanson Wedding
Kidwell Wedding
Abela Engagement
Owens Engagement
Garafalo Engagement
Alka Jain Portraits
Muench Portraits

Make that two Xanax and a bottle (read case) of organic red wine, please!!