We are Seattle Wedding Photographers

How long have you been wedding photographers? We both shot our first weddings in 2008 separately, but really hit our stride together once we found each other in 2013. 2020 will be our eighth wedding season together. We have photographed over 250 couples, so we’ve seen A LOT. But we still get excited for each and every wedding!

How did you meet? The story goes like this… Darryl Ann had just moved to Manhattan, Kansas, and joined a local photography Facebook group that Joe was a member of. He posted looking for an assistant for his summer weddings and Darryl Ann threw her name in the hat. They met for an “interview” and hit it off. Darryl Ann was hired and invited to a local bar for trivia night with Joe and his friends. The rest is history!

What is your style? Wedding photographers wear a lot of different hats on a wedding day. We’ll photograph parts of your day in a more photojournalistic way, while others we’ll set up and pose people (like family photos). We pay attention to your priorities and expectations with exactly how much of each you prefer. Our overarching goal is to remain authentic to your wedding day, never interrupt or ruin a moment, or make your day feel like a photo shoot. The split is usually 75% photojournalism/candid (or, we prefer the term “moment-driven”), 25% posed, or less.

Do you only photograph outdoor or adventurous weddings? Definitely not! Sure, we love the outdoors and Washington has a ton of venues that highlight their greenspace or oceanfront. But that isn’t the only thing we shoot! You might be having a wedding in downtown Seattle because you love the city, or it makes sense for your guests, or you found an industrial space or unique venue that you just love. We photograph plenty of indoor, or mostly indoor weddings and receptions and we love the change of pace and unique creativity we can use in these spaces.

Where do we go for our engagement or adventure session? Do we have to do an intense hike? We go all over the state (and sometimes even further) for sessions with our couples! But no, you don’t have to do any hiking. We live in such a beautiful state and access to amazing places is so easy. We have a lot of location suggestions - and find new ones through our own exploring all the time - that strike a balance between being accessible but not too crowded. And we are so ready to put on our hiking shoes for a grand adventure if you are!

Can I see a full wedding? Absolutely! We love the photos on our website but it is just a small portion of our full body of work. We are proud of the consistency of our work and would be more than happy to send over a couple of full wedding day galleries to you once we meet! (This just helps us get an idea of your style so we can send a similar wedding day to you, as well as respects our client’s privacy).

Do we always get the two of you? How do you work together? Yes, you always get Joe and Darryl Ann! On a wedding day, we will split up if there are two things happening at the same time (like getting ready, or signing a marriage license during cocktail hour). The rest of the day, we are photographing everything simultaneously from two angles. One of us taking the “safe shot”, the other doing something more creative or risky. Sometimes, we help each other with posing, crowd control, or light - all to make a single perfect image. While we’re working, our couples love our playful banter and competitiveness. We have been working together our entire relationship, so we function a bit differently than other husband and wife teams. Neither of us is the “lead” photographer. We agree, disagree, and agree to disagree - both of us want what is best for our couples always! Behind the scenes, Darryl Ann does most of the emailing, daily social media, and other writing. Joe handles images, technology, and the website.

When should we book you? When you know you want to work with us! We typically book dates 9-12 months in advance, and potentially as far out as 18 months, but we never know exactly when an inquiry will come in for a specific date. Dates are booked on a first come first served basis.

How do we book you? Send us a message via our contact form or email info@saltandpinephoto.com! We’ll set up a meeting via video chat (or in person if it works with our schedules) and get to know each other, answer your questions, and chat about wedding details. After the meeting, we’ll send over some additional information along with a contract. A signed contract and retainer officially reserves your date.

What is your retainer? We require a 50% retainer for portrait sessions, $1000 for elopement coverage, and $1300 for wedding packages.

What if we contact you but you are already booked for our wedding date? We hate when this happens, but we want to be as helpful as possible! Sometimes, we’re lucky enough to be one of the first vendors booked, and we’ve had couples change their date to work with us! We understand that isn’t always the case, and we would love to refer you to another wonderful photographer who has the same philosophies as we do. We can even make sure they are available for you!

How many hours should we book you for? We want to tell the full story of your wedding day, not just be there for bits and pieces. We would highly encourage investing in coverage that will start at least 3 hours prior to your ceremony (for getting ready, a first look, and formal photos) and end after sunset and well into open dancing. We don’t expect you to know your full timeline when you book us, so the exact number of hours you need us can remain flexible until closer to your date.

What does All Day Coverage mean in your Pinnacle package? Literally, just that! There is no hourly cap on All Day Coverage. We’ll be there from the moment things are happening that you want photos of, until the end of the night. Just remember, we’re humans, not robots!

Do we provide a shot list? No, but also yes! Let us explain. We don’t need a list that includes things like; bride walking down the aisle, bride and groom looking at camera, Maid of honor toasting. You hired us to capture your wedding day, and we’re pretty much never going to put our cameras down! So whatever is happening, is being captured. What we do ask is that you complete a Wedding Planning Questionnaire for us that includes questions like; “Who are your VIP’s”, “What other group shots should we make sure to capture at the reception”, and “does your day have any special additions we should be sure to be aware of”. Your priorities and expectations and ‘must-have’ shots are important to us! However, we also want you to trust us to get it done!

How far do you travel for weddings? We’d go to the moon if someone was getting married there! On a serious note, we love traveling and that’s one of the most fun parts about this job. We will travel anywhere by any method to photograph your wedding, elopement or adventure session. (Some of the most fun have been by landing craft, gondola, and snowcat. But we’ve also gone on foot, car, plane, bus, ferry and our own converted camper van). 

What are your travel expenses? There are no travel expenses for weddings within 250 miles of Silverdale, WA. Except in some cases where your timeline might have us arriving before 8am or leaving after 12am, in which case we ask for you to cover a night of accommodations for us. Weddings outside that radius are quoted travel expenses on a case by case basis including (but not limited to) mileage, airfare for two, rental car, and accomodations. If we are able, we will travel in our converted camper van. We always keep travel expenses reasonable because we love to travel!

What about back ups? This is so important! We bring 5 cameras, and multiple lenses, flashes and other equipment on a wedding day. Each of our cameras saves your photos to two memory cards while we are shooting as an instant back up. Don’t forget, we’re also kind of redundant of each other! When we get home your images get uploaded to our computer, the cloud, and a memory card from each camera gets dropped in a fireproof safe.

How long will it take to receive our photos back after the wedding? Wedding photos typically take us between 4 and 6 weeks to deliver. We will give you a more precise timeline to expect the day after your wedding based on our current workload. Engagement and other portrait sessions are delivered in 2 weeks.

Do we get any sneak peeks? Yes! We love providing our couples with a little sneak peek. Typically within 24-48 hours we will email over 5-7 photos from your wedding or session.

How many photos will you deliver? On average, couples receive 100 unique images per hour of coverage. This is not a guarantee nor a limit! Every wedding day is different. You will also receive about 10% of your photos as black and white duplicates.

How will we get our photos? You will receive your photos digitally in a password protected, online gallery. Your photos are fully edited and delivered in full resolution. You have a print release included in your contract from day one to make sure you’ll always be able to print to your heart’s content wherever you want to! 

What if we want more editing? We have to say, this is super rare! We put a lot of effort on a wedding day into not only capturing the moment, and making you look your best, but also on lighting, backgrounds, distracting elements, and catching any wardrobe or hair malfunctions. If there is something that we obviously missed, we will usually catch it in post production (just remember, we’re human!) However, we will not do any body or skin editing without being asked. We are proud of the authentic, true-to-color style of our edits and we hope you love them too!