A picture is worth...thousands of dollars? Oy.

Photography is one of the most important components of our wedding in our minds. While we originally budgeted low, we ended up blowing that out of the water and splurging because we knew that we would have these pictures forever and great photography is well worth the sacrifice to us. That being said, we did not have unlimited funds and had to stay within a certain price point. I'm confident that even if this wasn't the case we would still have ended up with our photographer.

I started my search by looking at the photographers listed on our venue's preferred vendor list but while the photos were great, they didn't make me feel anything. We really wanted someone who was going to capture moments and emotions, not just pictures. Next I turned to my good friend WeddingWire to browse through vendors on their site. We really wanted two photographers and to stay below $3000 so this helped somewhat in our search. After pouring over pages and pages of vendors and reviews and vendor websites/blogs, we finally narrowed it down to just one studio to meet with. Before I reveal who, I'll show you two of the stunners at the top of our list.

First up, R Schindler Photography:

R. Schindler Photography

R. Schindler Photography

I love love love all of his work. I'll also let you in on a little secret: Russell, the photographer is a friend of Kyle's and one of our classmates from college. His work is phenomenal and I love his style of photography.

Next, we looked at Red Apple Tree Photography

Red Apple Tree Photography

Red Apple Tree Photography

These guys are awesome. We loved their style and how great they were at capturing details and emotions at the weddings they shot. They're a two person operation which was also a plus.

What was your wedding splurge? Who do you think we chose?