I'd just like to share my experiences at Cannes Wedding.
Realised that almost all of the comments on Cannes wedding so far has
been positive, other than the last few on photoediting. I have to admit that eventually, the pictures are
quite nice, but I am also pretty disappointed with the overall
experience and feel rather cheated.
My HTB and I got to know abt Cannes from their roadshow in Suntec. We were bought in partly coz of the photos, and also coz the
photographer said they'll have an extra person doing the casual shots
and make it into a proper album, and other than the selected casual shots, the rest will be given to us in soft copy.
Prior to the trip, we were given some options of the routes to take.
However, the description of the places gave no indication of the actual location. So it was almost impossible to plan the route as the
places I had in mind after looking at the pics were far apart, and it was impossible to cover the locations I'd wanted.
Then comes the logistics. We planned to arrive on D0, take a preview
of the dresses (as we'd be arriving at 6+pm), then do the actual gown
selection on D1, photoshoot on D2 and photo selection on D3.
However after we arrived at 6+pm on D0, we were kind of forced to look
at the dresses, and once we'd started, we had to choose all 6 gowns on
the spot (before dinner and tired from the flight). As I were unable
to choose all 6 then, (the selection was quite limited), I asked if I could come back the next day to choose the rest(maybe other ppl would
have returned some gowns and there might be more to choose from).
However they refused, and made sure I selected everything that evening
itself. In the end, I'd to select some dresses that I didn't particularly like.
Worse still, on the actual photoshoot day when I went to another level of their shop for make up, I realised there was another floor of
wedding gowns which I weren't shown on D0 for selection. When I asked them why I weren't shown those dresses (when my contract said there
were no limitations to VIP gowns), I were told that they selected from those range and brought the dresses they think I'd like for me to try,
instead of showing me the whole range for me to choose. And also, once the selection is done, dress alteration for all 6 dresses were
done in less than half an hour on the same evening of D0 and no changing of dresses was allowed. I was actually quite unhappy with
some of the selections I'd made (as there weren't anymore that I like), that I tried many times to ask if I could change my selection.
But all of them were pushing the responsibility to someone else and said they couldn't make the decision, and hence, no. I had to stick
with the choices I made on D0. Also, my HTB's suits were not chosen on the same day my dresses were chosen. They were just matched to my
dresses on the actual day of shoots and all he did was to try the size. No such thing as whether he likes or dislikes those suits.
In the evening of D2, we met our MUA and photographer to discuss the
route and style of make up/hairdo etc. So I specifically asked for a
few things that was present on their website. I too showed the MUA quite a few hairstyles that I prefer from the magazines that she showed me.
On D2. The make up was alright, they used the make up based I'd brought from Singapore. No complains on that. It also looked quite
natural, not overdone like some make-overs can appear. The first hairstyle was something I requested specifically for, so that was
alright as well.
Generally , the bulk of the photoshoots were fun and alright. The photographer, MUA, photographer's assistant and even the driver were
all very friendly and helpful. But there was no professional photographer to take the casual shots as promised to follow along with
us. The casual shots were simply taken by the MUA, photographer's assistant and even the driver. Basically, I could have done it too!
Good thing was they didn't stop my HTB from taking photos with his own camera. Ie, you can take as many own photos as you like yourself.
A few things I didn't like about the whole photoshoot process that I
think could have been done alot better:
1) Props: Their bouquet was the oldest and uglist I'd ever seen.
It's so black and dirty and some of the stalks were broken. I was so
jealous when I saw the bouquets of the other BTB at the photoshoot
sites. Also, we didn't have things like balloon, cardboards,
champange glasses , dining table (which I'd specifically asked for to
create the night scene), petals etc.
Also, in their website, they could create pictures of trains etc with
fireworks, when I asked for it, they said they needed a professional
to do it and they they couldn't. All they could do was circles and
letters. Err, didn't we pay for a professional?
2) accessories. As I specially told the MUA I didn't want those big
flowers and lacy stuff. Ie, I preferred the crystals, diamonds and more metallic stuff, they seemed to have ran out of accessories for
me! For more than half the shoots, there were hardly any head accessories, no necklaces, and no bangles/bracelets at all. I felt
kinda bare in terms of accessories.
3) Poses. Initially everything was new and fun. But by the time I
reached the 4th dress, I could almost memorise and predict what the
photographer was going to ask me to do. The poses at every sight was
the same. There's no variation at all! There were also almost no
funny shots. Ie, it's exactly the same style the whole day.
4) As I'm not going to have an indoor shoot in Singapore, and the person who sold us the package at Suntec specifically advised us to
have an indoor component as he said it's impt as they can play with lightings better to enhance certain features, we were planning to have some substantial indoor shoots in Taiwan as well. However, there was no communication of this pt across their staff and request for the indoor shoots seemed to be a shock to them. In the end, it seemed very adhoc that they were trying to take a few indoor shots to appease
us. Obviously it wasn't alot and we weren't too satisfied with it.
Finally on D3, the photoselection day. The photos did turn out pretty
good. There were about 380+ pic taken. Of course, selection with any studio is tough and would require top-ups per pic. So no real complain on that. But in regards to the casual shots, which was part of the reason why we even went to Cannes as that was what was promised
to us, the casual shots were generally of pretty poor quality and yes, we could only choose the number promised and the rest was to be
deleted.
One pointer, if possible, stay one extra night in Keelong for the day
of photo selection. If you've all the time in the world to wait and play and bargain, they'll eventually cut the price (of extra pics)
lower to reach a consenses. If you're in a hurry, you'll probably be on the loosing end as it's difficult to delete many photos you like in
a short period of time, and hence, you are more likely to buy the extra pictures at a higher price.
Hence in short, we both felt very cheated. Or maybe it was all a matter of miscommunication. There were things we assumed they knew we
wanted, but they obviously didn't. And things that they didn't understand from what we said, they just smiled it through and did not
bother to further clarify.
Of course, it was not all bad. The dresses were not too bad, their work was very efficient, the attitude of the photographer, MUA and
assistant were all superb, and the photos did turn out pretty good as
well.
now is the photoediting stage..We are facing some communication problems with them...hopefully it resolves soon...