So, am I done with homework? Nope, not yet. That said, my
brain is done for the evening. I may try it again later tonight…but for the most part, I’m back to the PJ to try to give my head a rest. I have gotten through the first section of my essay (8 ½ pages!), and so there’s only three more to go! The essay is about developing an ethical workplace within either my own company or another well-known public company. We then have to change the name of the company we choose, and not reveal any proprietary information (I guess if you were using your own company, this would be a concern). So, because of everything going on, I actually decided to pick Disney World! It’s kind of hard…because the essay wants me to talk about ways that the company can achieve ethical performance on the three platforms of “environment, people, and profits.” Doing some research into initiatives that Disney already has in place…they actually do a lot more than I thought! (At least in policy—not sure about practice.) It’s funny though, because the readers will 100% know the company that I’m using. I renamed the company “Widget World” after my cat. The CEO’s name is Richard Igor. LOL!
How can you tell you have Disney on the brain….? Yeah. I do know that I can 100% at least criticize some environmental failings of the company, based on my own experience in September. As far as we could tell, while you can “reuse” your magic band, if you stay on property the next time you come they still send you another band. It’s hugely wasteful. Disney should just allow you to “opt out” of a new magic band if you don’t want one so that you can just reuse the old one. Additionally, they won’ tallow you to pay to reactivate the RFID chips on your refillable resort mugs on your next trip. I understand the RFID chip usage to prevent soda theft…but really, Disney? I can’t come back with my mug to Disney, pay you another $20, and have you just reactive the chip in my old one? It seems hugely wasteful.
Okay…now that the rant is over, I wanted to dedicate a portion of my planning journal to discuss my photography and videography. I’ll do this in two sections, because I realize my writing style is long. I had briefly mentioned in one of the
early, early posts that I was using the Roots. I did want to go over why I made that choice though, and also, the portion of my planning session trip that involved them. Also, I wanted to go over my videography choice, since I’ve only really mentioned that decision in the main forum in response to other people looking for videographers. I am
so excited for my videography that I just hope they’re not too good to be true…and I felt like I needed to talk about them in this post to really give them a proper introduction.
Now, to begin!
Root Photography
Website:
http://rootweddings.com/
Blog:
http://rootweddings.com/blog (caution--super beautiful pictures. I literally have a Pinterest board dedicated to “Favorite Root Photos” from here.)
First off…the Roots. These guys have been 100% my first choice on wedding photography since Mitch and I got engaged December 2012. My step-sister (bridesmaid) introduced me to their photography by first introducing me to the planning journal of LurkyLoo (Carrie Hayward). LurkyLoo got married in Morocco in Epcot (which I initially didn’t even realize you could do—I thought you could only have the $10K venue rental in front of the castle). Everything about her wedding was so beautiful, and I can’t describe how “present” I felt reading her planning her journal and looking at the photos. While much of the credit can go to LurkyLoo herself for her writing style—I think the ‘experience’ of her wedding really came from her photos. The style utilized by her photographers (who I would later come to know as Root Photography) was so in-the-moment and observational. It was “real” and not cheesy. In other words—their style of wedding photography was
so different (In a good way) from the other types of wedding photography I had become so familiar with that I just can’t describe it. I was in love…and I wanted them for our wedding.
As we got closer and closer to trying to book our Wishes wedding (which we couldn’t do until December 2013), I think it was probably October or November 2013 that I started to
seriously consider our options. I mean, I’d looked around, but hadn’t made any serious inquiries until about a month before we could book. Knowing that the Roots were my top choice, they were the first people I emailed (Gmail says it was the end of November 19, 2013—right around the time Disney ‘penciled us in’ for Japan in Epcot).
The only problem with around this time frame was that I started to worry about whether or not we’d have enough money to really afford
both everything I wanted in a Disney wedding, plus Root photography.
Additionally, Disney has this stupid rule (but I can’t really blame them) where they try to “incentivize” you to use Disney Fine Art Photography by saying that if you use them for all your photography at the wedding, you can book your castle portrait session a year out from your wedding date. If you use outside photography, you’re relegated to 45 days.
At this point, I’ll admit I started to freak out a bit. I had already kind of decided earlier in the year that I wouldn’t use DFAP because of the luck LurkyLoo had with Disney for her castle portrait session. I had asked on the wedding boards about using Disney’s services (especially since they’re so pricey, and it looks like you don’t really get a ton), and if anyone was really impressed with them. Lurkyloo popped in with her DFAP castle pictures (she used Roots for her wedding, and then you’re forced to use DFAP for the castle photos). I’m only going to steal one of the photos for length’s sake here, to show just why I was hesitant to use Disney:
(Photo Credit: Disney Fine Art Photography, courtesy of Carrie Hayward’s Travel Babble website, and visual proof as to the hit and miss quality of Disney’s services).
If anyone wants to go see more of her photo shoot, just to prove that this isn’t just one “off” photo, visit her page at:
http://disneytravelbabble.com/trip-reports/wedding/day-6/ and behold the splendor of awfulness.
Those photos upset me so badly, I seriously had to have a meeting with my consultant and DFAP. They were all very nice, answered all my questions…but for all I asked, could not guarantee the finished quality of my photos. And, to a degree—I
get that photography sometimes has factors that you can’t control…but these photos really were unacceptable. If you read the blog, LurkyLoo was treated with such disdain when she brought it to their attention, that it even made me nervous to continue dealing with DFTW at all. They should have taken responsibility for the photos, owned it, and given her a new session. I guess they tried, but that was after ignoring her for months and not addressing the problem. That was really disconcerting to me.
As I further investigated DFAP and received feedback from others on these boards, Lurkyloo's experience was not unique. And, apparently, there are a couple Disney photographers that ARE good and are the ones responsible for the spectacular castle pictures you see on the Disney photography website (i.e., Cricket)…but they can’t guarantee your photographer. If they've got only one or two photographers that you can really trust, and they can’t guarantee you’ll get them—then as far as I was concerned, there was a huge chance of jeopardizing some of the most important photos I would ever take in my life.
Not happening.
In addition to this…I was just really concerned about money. Could I get someone as good as the Roots, for less money and get more product? The Roots were on the spendy end of all the photographers I looked at, and it freaked me out. Plus, there were one or two “shots” I wanted that I saw frequently in the portfolio of former DFTW photographer, Regina Hyman, that I thought I’d want (shots uncharacteristic of the Roots' style, so I was pretty sure I wouldn't get the shots through them). When I contacted Regina for pricing, her prices were extremely competitive, and it really felt like I could get more product for the cost, and the quality was also good.
Almost, but not quite the same though. And I could find myself saying that about a bunch of the photographers we looked at that are really popular on these boards. All the photographers were awesome and beautiful…but something was just missing. And maybe "quality" is even the wrong term to use here. All of the photographers we see the work of in Disney weddings are absolutely
gorgeous. Perhaps "style" is a better term. And the "style" I wanted just wasn't with anyone else.
I was literally two days away from booking Regina Hyman when I looked at the Roots’ blog again and almost burst into tears. Mitch knew I wanted the Roots, but was conflicted on price. He assured me that it should be the least of my worries, and that we knew we wanted them…and so we should just do it. That’s always been a hard thing for me to do—get the best, even if it costs more—because I grew up counting my pennies and just praying that I never ended up poor. I have anxiety issues…so I think that has a lot to do with that. Mitch, on the other hand, is very laid-back and never really that concerned about anything. He spends more money on spendier products because he believes that the quality is generally (though not always) superior—and therefore, worth the price. He felt the Roots' services were one of those times where the quality justified the costs.
It was hard for me to get on board with that way of thinking (because why spend more when you don’t have to?)—but ultimately, he was right in this case. My heart ascends to the heavens a little every time I look at a new entry in the Roots’ blog. That’s the only way I can describe it, even though I’m aware that it sounds like a massive exaggeration. Their photojournalism style, their use of light and color…all of it was worth more than the “one or two” stylized shots I thought I wanted that other photographers could give me. One or two shots, versus
every shot? Their style just resonates with me. And, for what I wanted to walk away with from my wedding—photos that appeared to live and breathe as vibrantly as the day they were taken—it was a done deal.
We booked the Roots.
I stalk their blog regularly and just hope that my wedding pictures come out just as well as these. I felt compelled to share my favorite of all the ones I’ve seen thus far over the past (nearly two) years I've stalked the blog, of a bride and her father at the altar. I find it truly mesmerizing. The photo itself tells a story:
Before I finish out this entry…I will say that we had the pleasure of meeting them for the first time on our trip to WDW for our planning session in early September 2014. We met up at the Boardwalk Bakery and shared a few sweets, stories, and asked general questions. They are sweet, kind, genuine people with a true talent. I
cannot wait for them to shoot my wedding. My planner and I discussed my choice to use the Roots in our planning session, and she totally blessed the choice. Apparently, despite the "official" Disney position, the planners all have a crush on the Roots anyway.
Tiffiny
That said, I do not regret the experience for anything (except for the massive debt I have for a degree that won't really get me a job 
