Atelier
Two photographers, a short calendar.
One standard, applied in twenty-eight places. That is the entire proposition, and it is harder than it sounds.
We are two photographers who take a limited number of weddings a year, in the United States and in Europe, and photograph all of them ourselves. There is no roster of associates working under the name and no version of a commission here where the people you meet are not the people who arrive.
That is the whole shape of the business, and every other decision follows from it. It is why the calendar is short. It is why we arrive two days early for a destination wedding rather than the night before. It is why we will tell you, on the first call, if we think you would be better served by someone else — because a wedding we are lukewarm about is a wedding somebody else would have loved.
How we photograph
Available light wherever the room allows it. Two cameras, prime lenses, and no flash on a stand in the corner of a dinner. We are looking for what is actually happening rather than arranging what should be: the family list is agreed in advance and photographed in half an hour, and beyond it we do not interrupt the day.
The single technical decision that matters most is not equipment. It is the hour. A schedule read backwards from sunset produces photographs that a schedule read forwards from the invitation cannot, and most of the planning we do with a couple is about moving one ceremony time by forty-five minutes.
What we do not do
More than one wedding in a weekend. A schedule with no portrait window in it. Re-staging a first kiss for a camera that missed it. And publishing anything — anywhere, ever — that you have not written to say we may.
How it runs
A commission, start to finish.
01
The conversation
An hour, usually a year out, usually on a call. What you are planning, where, and what you want to be able to look at in thirty years. We will tell you honestly whether we are the right people for it.
02
The plan
The schedule is read backwards from sunset rather than forwards from the invitation. We establish the hour your venue actually loses its light, agree the family list, and walk the rooms before the day.
03
The day
Two photographers, from the quiet of the morning to the last car. Available light wherever the room allows it, no posed group beyond the list, and never a request to do anything again for the camera.
04
The plates
A preview set within seven days. The complete set, graded by hand in one consistent pass, within eight weeks — with full-resolution files, a private archive and a print release that does not expire.
The standard
What is guaranteed.
We have no testimonials to show you and no press page, and we would rather say that plainly than assemble one. What we can put in writing today is how the work is done and what happens if something goes wrong.
Nothing is published without your consent
No blog post, no portfolio entry, no social post, no submission to a publication. Your wedding is private by default and stays private unless you write to say otherwise. A non-disclosure agreement is signed on request and at no cost.
Every frame is written to two cards at once
Both cameras record to two memory cards simultaneously, so a card failure during your wedding costs you nothing. This is the single most common way photographs are lost, and it is the easiest to design out.
Off-site backup within twenty-four hours
The day’s files are copied to two separate drives before we sleep and to off-site storage within twenty-four hours of the last frame. Nothing exists in only one place at any point after the wedding.
A named second photographer, briefed in advance
Every full wedding is covered by two photographers, and you are told who the second is before the day. They have read the schedule and seen the venue. They are not a freelancer who learned your names that morning.
Insured, with certificates issued to your venue
We carry public liability and professional indemnity cover. A great many venues require evidence of it before they will admit a supplier, and the certificate is sent directly to them on request rather than left for you to chase.
A preview in seven days, everything in eight weeks
A preview set within seven days of the wedding, and the complete hand-graded set within eight weeks. Those are commitments rather than estimates. If we are ever going to miss one, you hear it from us before the date passes.
Your archive is kept, and it is yours
Full-resolution files, a private online archive, and a print release for personal use with no expiry and no territory limit. You are never asked to buy back your own photographs.
What we decline
More than one wedding in a weekend. A schedule with no portrait window in it. A request to re-stage the first kiss. And any commission where we would be the fourth photographer quoted on price alone — we would rather say so now than be the wrong choice expensively.
Tell us the date and the place.
We reply to every enquiry personally, usually within two business days. We take a limited number of commissions each year, and we would rather say so now than manage a waiting list.