My Wedding Photographer: Efjay De Leon

One of the hardest part in wedding planning and preparation is looking for a good and trusted photographer that is within your budget.  Our initial budget is only Php 60,000 that includes videographer, album, SDE, and prenup.  Too small?  Well, I'm not so sure since I haven't been married before.  Good thing, there's the ever reliable GirlTalk forum where cheap wedding photo and video suppliers is one of the major topics under Weddings and Engagement.  I listed down all their recommended photo and video suppliers and I tried to check out their profile and sample works, one by one.

Searching for a photographer, I really don't have any idea what to look for or what type of shots that my (then) fiance and I wanted.  But for videographer, we somehow have specific shots that we want and do not want to see.  For the videos we initially watched, they all seem the same.  Same concept, same flow.  Even for some of the well known photographers out there, their videos were not consistently have that wow factor.  So we had a hard time looking for which one will suit us or maybe which could assist us in coming up with nice ideas for a nice photo and video.

One of the famous photo/video supplier mentioned in GirlTalk is God's Grace Productions.  Their works were ok and from the posts in the forum, one of the owners, Ms. Raiza, is very kind and easy to talk to.  So we decided to set a meeting with her.  That was about 5 months away before our wedding day.  Yes, we were already rushing that time and God's Grace was the first photo/video supplier we met.  The meeting went well.  We were somehow decided to get their package and luckily, even if they were already famous in GirlTalk, they are still available on our wedding day.  A few days after the meeting, Ms. Raiza had another meeting with a client who incidentally have the same wedding day as us.  Unfortunately, she has to give the slot to the other client since they were able to give downpayment fast.  I told Ms. Raiza that I can also send downpayment the same day just to reserve them but it will be right after I finish my meetings and errands at work.  Well, the other client went ahead of me so we were "bumped" off.  Ms. Raiza was apologetic but it wasn't really her fault.  She's just in demand that's why clients are racing to get their services .  Because Ms. Raiza was really kind, she recommended other photographers to me, one of them was Efjay De Leon.

I was glad to have met Efjay.  I like his works as it was mainly natural, candid photos.  It took us about a month before we personally met him.  Actually, we met other photo/video suppliers prior and my (then) fiance thought that we will already get them.  Something tells me that they were not "the one" yet that's why I insisted in scheduling a meeting with Efjay.  This supplier I was talking about (I will no longer mention the company name), it was their account executive whom we met and discuss our requirements.  For me, it would be best to meet with the photographer or videographer personally so that in an instant they will have an idea on what shots you really want.  And since I had initial conversations with Efjay, the photographer, I did not have second thoughts of scheduling a meeting with him.  Besides, he has full of ideas which was really helpful.

It was mid August already when we met Efjay and Darly (videographer), only 3 months to go before our wedding.  Efjay suggested several videographers but I chose Daryl John Santos because of cheaper rate but acceptable videos (see our SDE videos here from Daryl). So both of them met us which I totally look forward to since we were meeting the actual photographer and videographer.  They were young, slightly new to the business but still professional.  They shared lots of ideas on how our wedding photos and videos can look great.  That was a plus point for me because (of course) it is our first time to get married so somehow what they shared gives us a picture on what to expect.  And because of this meeting, my (then) fiance and I was able to determine what particular shots we want to see in the photos.  They helped in bringing out our thoughts and ideas as well.      

Because the meeting went really well with casual conversations and lots of ideas and suggestions both from Efjay and Daryl, we did not have second thoughts of getting their services.  People from GirlTalk was right.  You will just feel it that you met the right photographer and videographer when you personally met them.  That's what I feel and my (then) fiance agrees with me.  

I will share in my next blog our prenup AVP and onsite or SDE photos.

You may get in touch with Efjay De Leon and Daryl John Santos from their FB pages.  By the way, Efjay is also doing freelance photos to God's Grace Productions.

Efjay De Leon (photographer) - https://www.facebook.com/fjdeleonphotography/?fref=nf
Daryl John Santos (videographer) - https://www.facebook.com/djphotographystudio/

Happy wedding preps!