***A Note on Copyright***
All of the images found on this site are ©2005-2013 by Arrow & Apple. The copyright belongs ONLY to Arrow & Apple in every instance. If you are a publication, magazine, or blog, please note that the responibility is yours to obtain permission from us, the copyright holders, before using them in a feature, advertisement, or otherwise, in order to protect yourself. :)
CLIENT QUESTIONS
Q. Why the name "Arrow & Apple?"
A. We had maybe a month or more of sleepless nights trying to come up with JUST the right name for our business. This came to me (Sarah) one night as I was thinking about the story of William Tell, who, as the legend goes, had to shoot an apple off of his son's head with a bow & arrow to spare their lives. I thought about how much faith his son had to have in his father's aim, as he stood there waiting for him to shoot. To me, there's such a beautiful correlation between this story and what we do every day! We know our clients have total faith in us to shoot them, and we love that about our couples.
Q. Do you travel for weddings?
A. We are asked this question SO frequently- the answer is YES. And we don't just advertise that we travel - we actually travel! Probably 80% of our weddings from this past year were out of state for us, and we totally love that. We have one wedding package with all the travel fees (airfare & hotel in the continental US for one photographer) built into the package, so you won't have to worry about going over budget trying to find a flight for us. We'll do all of that. If you're not getting married inside of the continental USA, just send us an email so we can give you an accurate quote - we will travel anywhere. :)
Q. How does the payment work for a wedding or a session? Do you require a deposit?
A. We require a 50% retainer at the time of signing the contract, and the rest can be paid either in increments or in lump sum, as long as the entire package is paid-in-full by one month prior to your wedding. We can provide you with a receipt via email for each payment if you wish. For a photo session, we require $100 to reserve your date, and the rest can be paid on the day of the session!
Q. When should I expect my photos to be done?
A. For a wedding or large event, your photos will be completed between 6-8 weeks after the date. For a session (engagement or family, etc) expect your photos back between 3-4 weeks after the session. During our off-season, your photos will probably be completed even faster... you never know!
Q. How many photos will we get from our wedding / engagement shoot / promo shot?
A. We would rather talk quality rather than quantity, but to give you an idea, at the very least, you will receive:
- 250 photographs from your wedding day
- 25 photographs from your photography session
- 15 shots from your promo shot / head shot
It usually ends up being more, but again, we weigh quality more heavily than quantity. If we feel like we have 300 strong images, we aren't going to throw in 200 just-okay photographs onto the disk just to make an even number of 500. On average, our wedding disks contain around 475 photos!
Q. What is your background in photography, and how long have you been photographing weddings?
A. Long answer! I (Sarah) studied photography at Randolph Community College in Asheboro, North Carolina, and graduated with my Associates' in Commercial Photography in 2005. RCC has one of the best photography programs in our great nation! I'm so grateful for that as part of my background. Shortly after graduating, I worked as an apprentice for Whitebox Weddings, a really fantastic and inspiring wedding photography duo! I learned more from Sara and Melanie than I've ever told them, and again, I'm so grateful for their wisdom and their patience with me. Hah!
Josh graduated from the Art Institute of Phoenix in Phoenix, Arizona with a BA in Graphic Design, although he took photography courses as well. He's got a really fantastic and creative eye for photography and it was always my dream that I'd marry someone creative and get to travel through life shooting together! Crazy how things work out, right?
Short answer: I shot my first wedding in 2004 and the rest is a long list of successes, mistakes and things continually learned along the way. :)
Q. Who do you print your albums through? Who do you print your archival prints through?
A. We are FIRM believers in creating archival prints and albums of your photos from your wedding day or session! Otherwise, what's the point, right? Once we turn the disk over to you, you can do with your digital files as you like, but should you decide to order prints or an album through us, we absolutely promise that we will deliver the best quality available to you. It's costly, but it's MUCH more important to have photos and an album that are still in lasting, great shape to show to your great-grandkids when you're all old and cute and wrinkly.
For this reason, we use White House Custom Color for all of our printing needs, and we use KISS albums for our wedding albums. We love the simplicity of KISS albums. They're as timeless as that black dress Audrey Hepburn wore in Breakfast at Tiffany's. There's a lot of crazy album fads out right now with fancy designs and swirlies and banners, but our goal is to give you something timeless, simple, and dead sexy.
Q. Can I bring different outfits to our photo session? How long will our session last?
A. Of course! We encourage wardrobe changes for different looks. We have to put a limit on somewhere though, so we usually say maximum 3 outfits. As far as time involved, it's kind of a blurry line, but expect the photo session to last anywhere between 1 and 3 hours, but no longer than 3.
Q. Will you edit some of my photos to be black and white with just my bouquet in color? Will you shoot a photo exactly like this one that I saw in a magazine? Can I give you a shot list of all of the photos I'm expecting from my wedding day?
A. Fortunately, we have had the best couples a guy and gal could ask for, who hired us because they were drawn to our style and the way we see life captured. We hope you trust us to photograph and edit your day in a way that makes us true to ourselves and our vision. If you are looking for your photos to be edited a specific way that you haven't seen from us, or if you are looking for a totally different style of photo, then perhaps we are not the best photographer for you. We absolutely do not imitate other photographer's work as this is technically copyright infringement. And we are willing to work with a shot list when it comes to family portraits (I have no idea who your Aunt Bertha is, so a list helps!) but other than that, we just ask that you let us do what you hired us to do - photograph your wedding day! Not checking off a list. :)
Q. How much time should I allow for portrait photography on my wedding day?
A. At least 90 minutes total! You can break it up depending on if the bride & groom are going to see each other before the wedding, or after. This is something we will talk about, because each wedding is uniquely different.
Q. What will you guys be wearing when you come to photograph our wedding?
A. We are going to dress just like your other wedding guests, which is something we'll ask you about. We're not a fan of wearing all-black unless we're going to a funeral. :)
SOCIAL NETWORKING QUESTIONS
Q. I'm a blogger / magazine editor / etc. and I'd like to use one of your photos for an article. How can I get it?
A. Because our first priority is our clients whose photos we are in the middle of working on (or a scheduled shoot), we ask that you give us at least a 48-hour notice to when you might need a certain photo by... and we hope you understand we're not being mean. :) Obviously we will try and work with your deadline if you have to have a photo by the end of the day, and if we are in office! Please be aware that you MUST obtain permission and contact us prior to publishing our images, or you will forfeit the opportunity to negotiate on our usage fees. You may not grab a photo from our website for print purposes - please contact us for a print-resolution image.
Q. I love your photo and I'd like to put it on Pinterest or We Heart It. Is that ok?
A. So, no one has ever really asked this question! But it's totally fine with us - a lot of other photographers and bloggers have good reason for not wanting their photos grabbed and used without credit or permission. We just ask if you happen to read this, that you credit our photos as "Arrow & Apple."
Q. I run a wedding blog, and I'd love to feature your photos of a certain wedding / shoot! Can I just grab them off of your blog post?
A. We'd love if you sent us an email and let us know - hello@arrowandapple.com - so we can make a connection with you first, and let you know if we have any additional photos you might not have seen on our blog post. It also helps to know where our photos are going out in the wonderful wide interweb.