Weddings By Madman. Your  Wedding Photographer.

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Yes! You can have your engagement and wedding photography done by Peter as well.

For most weddings you will be provided with 4 styles of photography: The  Elegant Formal  the  Photo Journalistic  the  Natural Love Style ^tm and the Pure Fun. And of course we handle many  Unusual Wedding Choices.

As with our standard portrait package, you get to keep a copy of ALL the proofs. You don’t have to agonize over the proofs trying to decide which few you get to keep. And you will get to keep a LOT of prints – when Peter shoots your wedding, you will get dozens and dozens of prints. Many photographers (not all) will try to convince you that a limited number of pictures is better. We respectfully disagree. It takes several pictures before you and others get comfortable enough with the camera to give true expressions, and with the subtlety of human expressions, a large number of photos gives you the best chance of finding the pictures that bring tears of joy to your eyes. One popular wedding photo "course" says you should tell people that if you have lots of photos, you will be disappointed at having to reject so many great photos. Well, we have a different attitude - first, you get EVERY photo to keep forever so you don't have to eliminate ANY of them! And besides - wouldn't you rather pick from more photos than be forced to accept a more limited number? And yes, if your package includes enlargements or you decide you want enlargements later, you will have to choose which ones to blow up based on the space you have available and your budget. But again, we think it is far better to have the more difficult choice of deciding "which" ones, then the easy choice of accepting what you got - because there simply is no choice!

To put this into very practical terms. In early 2003 a bride that used Peter to do the photos had a relative get married. According to the bride, that relative decided to go with a photographer that was $200 cheaper, but when they got the proofs back, they received 3 (yes - only three) photos of the bride and groom alone. And this was supposedly a "professional" wedding photographer. Well, I guess technically the term "professional" means that they were paid money for their work, but this certainly is not professional quality.

We have several packages to fit most budgets. However, the packages are only guidelines, please feel free to request any deletions or additions that you would like – this is your day and Peter will be as flexible as possible to accommodate you. With any Wedding Photos by Madman packages, you will get all the “normal” poses, plus photos taken in the Photos By Madman Natural style.

To get all the details with no sales pressure, please contact Peter by your favorite method (email, phone, fax, mail), provide your mailing address and ask for the "Wedding info in the large envelope that tells the whole story" (actually, if you just say "Wedding info" that is enough to get the appropriate info.) And as always you won't be pestered or receive any high pressure sales. The most "pressure" you will receive is a courtesy call (or email if you prefer) to confirm whether you received the information. And if you don't want even that, just tell me in the email/phone/fax/letter and I will happily honor/honour your request.

If you want your wedding done in the Photos By Madman style, let me know as early as possible. As of this update (late spring 2004), there were no slots left for 2004 and only a few left in 2005.

With every package you'll get our list of suggestions customized for you to help achieve the best photographs on your wedding day.

FAQ: (Frequently asked questions -- and a few that have only been asked once or twice.)

There are several good reasons. The first is that your wedding pictures are designed to last a lifetime. The Formal style has been popular for decades, for a decade the Photo Journalist style was "the" popular style. The Natural Love Style™ has been popular with Peter's customers for decades and having a few "just for fun" poses brings happy memories for decades to come. As people get older, their preferences often change - why not have a selection of all the popular styles? Instead of being limited to a few pictures in one style, Peter pefers to give lots of pictures in multiple sytles - it gives a Wedding by Madman a timeless value and beauty. I know many (most) photographers recommend going with one of the two predominant styles: Formal and Photojournalistic. Some will try to sell you on the timeless proven record of the traditional alone. Others will point to how popular the Photo Journalistic style has been. In contrast to most, Peter believes that both of these (and his third primary) styles are valuable for almost every wedding (even an unusual  wedding). Better photographers will add to their one (or two) styles, a fun photo or more but virtually none add the "Natural Love Style™" or anything like it. To summarize then, Peter provides three major styles, the Formal, the PhotoJournalistic and the Natural Love Style™ along with looking very hard for a few of the "just for fun" style photos because it provides a better record, timeless quality and better choices for you.

So why do most wedding photographers only provide one style?

There are several reasons that we have seen. One is that most of the "books" and training courses recommend picking one style and aggresively pursuining it. According to these training materials restricting the choices you are offered gives the photographer a higher profit margin and lowers by many hours the time the photographer has to spend before and after the wedding. (Peter chooses to do fewer weddings and instead commit the time before during and after the wedding - often for a lower total price - after the cost of enlargements is added.) Another reason given by the books "Your profit comes from the enlargements, not from shooting the wedding itself. The more choices you give people the longer they will take to decide, and that means you have to wait longer for your profit."

Another reason is inexperience. Obviously for most people, if they have a friend shoot the wedding, the friend may simply not have the experience. Even professional photographers may not have been around long enough to learn more than one style (look for ads in magazines that tell people how with a weekend course they can become a professional wedding photographer) 

Another is training and practice. It is sad, but many photographers may have been around for decades, but never taken (found/made) the time to further their learning. Ask your photographer "How many books/magazines on photography have you read completely or mostly in the last 6 months? In the last 10 years? Ask how often they experiment for their own purposes. Peter has been doing photography for several decades, and Peter has for that whole time actively sought to improve and grow. He reads several photo magazines every month, an average of one photo book a month - and he has been doing this for years! He also takes regular opportunities to experiment and improve - regular means weekly or more often in most cases!

Are you absolutely strict on the # of hours in each package?

No. They are guidelines. Talk to people who have used me, you will see the goal is to make your special day special and as hassle free as possible.

Can I request special poses/groupings/etc.., and will it cost extra and is there any limit?

Yes you can request and I will be very flexible in trying to achieve the shot(s) you want. There is almost never an extra cost for these. The only time there will be extra cost is when there is an extra cost to me - for example, if you want to have a shot of you riding an old steam locomotive and you want me to pay to book it or there is a huge increase in time - 2 hours driving each way to get the picture on the locomotive! There is no preset limit to these special poses. If you ordered the Standard or Deluxe they will be done in addition to any that I was going to do. If you want a lot of special poses and you ordered the basic or budget package I will simply make adjustments in the other shots you are entitled to, but I will tell you in case you want to pay a little more to get them all. Although I am happy to accept these requests on the fly as we are doing the photos, but, for the ones you know in advance, let me know and I'll write it down on my sheets. This way we are not likely to forget them!