Wedding Cakes (Again)

We've seen a lot of pretty wedding cakes lately; the one below is a definite favorite. Many couples choose to decorate their cakes with real flowers for spectacular results.


In this instance the cake was made by Chandler's Bakery in Charlottesville, VA, with flowers from Artistic Florist in Harrisonburg, VA. In our opinion, natural flowers are some of the prettiest decorations possible for a wedding cake - while you may have to place the flowers yourself, it's definitely worth a little effort.

Color, Black and White, or Sepia?

All BlackBird Images photographers shoot digitally, which by default means in color - that way we can convert any image to black and white, sepia, or any other tone our wedding photography clients request. (Sepia is a brown tone meant to approximate old-fashioned photos.)

Which should you choose? That's up to you. Here are three examples of the same photo to give you an idea of the difference in each format. (We used it in a previous post since many people commented how they liked its natural and unposed look - which makes sense, since it was in fact unposed.)




The photo above is a fairly strong sepia - it works well with her natural skin tone If you have a darker complexion, depending on the contrast in the photo a weaker sepia tone may be a better option.

Which is the best version? Any of the three - it depends on your tastes.

Choosing a Wedding Photographer

We're often asked for advice on how to choose a wedding photographer - which you have to admit is a little odd, since in theory any advice we give should lead you through a process that causes you to choose... well, us.


What do we say? Instead of giving advice, we discuss how we explain our services to clients. For example, most wedding photographers have an album of their best photos, or display their best photos on their website. If you've done more than a couple weddings, and you're any good at all, you better have ten or twenty great photos or you shouldn't be in the business. Anyone can show you their best work.


At BlackBird Images we take a different approach: When possible we show prospective clients all the proofs from a recent wedding. (If we wanted to get a feel for the photographer's skill, that's what we would ask for.) While we can't show photos from every wedding we shoot, since galleries are confidential, some couples give us permission to share their photos with clients. We let our potential clients look at as many photos as they like - because that's the only way to truly judge a wedding photographer's skill and style.