Some Hartford Flavor

Savannah and Andy had originally planned to go to a local park for their engagement photos, but the late October weather had other plans. Instead, Savannah was able to get us into the Hartford Flavor Company's tasting room.

I'm actually really glad for the change, as I think the photos came out great and are much more unique to this couple.

One of the staff on hand made some cocktails for Savannah and Andy and told us a bit about the company.

When we had exhausted our picture ideas inside, we popped outside for a few rainy photos.

It was a really fun day, and the bottle of birch liqueur I brought home was awfully tasty.

Play It Again

I started Angie and Ryan's wedding at Angie's family home, where she and her girls got ready.

I also got to meet the Most Interesting Man in the World.

We moved to the Lodge at Maneeley's for the rest of the day. Unlike my previous wedding here, the weather was perfect, so the ceremony was held out by the Gazebo with a backdrop of amazing fall foliage.

Immediately afterward we finished up posed photos...

...including lots of fun photos with this beautiful couple!

The reception was a blast! 

Aside from the normal stuff - first dance, toasts, etc. - there were a few fun surprises, like the groom performing a few numbers.

An all around amazing day. Congratulations, Angie and Ryan!

Boots Made For Walkin'

I met up with Megan and her girls at Fox Hopyard, the site of all the day's festivities. They were busy getting hair and makeup done, plus trying on their boots with their matching robes.

When Chris arrived, we let Megan get a look at him, though he would have to wait till the ceremony.

The ceremony was held out on the porch (thankfully the rain let up in time!) with a beautiful view of the golf course behind.

We headed down to the pond (much easier to do when your bridesmaids are wearing cowboy boots!) for posed photos, which was a lot of fun with this group. It's kind of surprising no one got thrown in.

The rest of the night was the reception, in the biggest gazebo I have ever seen! The food and music were great, this group was hilarious, and there were some fun surprises along the way.

Congratulations, Megan and Chris!

Couples Choice 2018

I just noticed that I was awarded a Wedding Wire Couples Choice award again this year!

As I think I said last year, these awards are a pretty commercial thing and given out a bit indiscriminately.

That said, it is a reflection of the truly amazingly kind reviews my clients have left me, and for those I am always grateful. It means so much to me that people take the time to share their experiences. They mean more to me than a thousand Wedding Wire awards.

Thank you!

Coming to God

I was so excited when one of my wife's coworkers, Emily, asked me to photograph her and Josh's wedding.

The whole day was held at Emily and Josh's church. I started with some getting ready shots. A detail I loved - Emily's dove hair clips, her "something borrowed". 

It was apparent what a huge role their church has played in their lives, and it was great to see them surrounded by such a loving community on their big day. Plus, the stunning building made for a wonderful backdrop!

After the ceremony, they had a fun reception in an adjoining hall, with their first dance, touching speeches, and delicious food.

Congratulations, Emily and Josh!

Miami Maternity

I recently spent about a week in Miami visiting family, and I brought my camera, because I knew some of my extended family were expecting.

I met up with Victor and Joyce on a stretch of South Beach. As soon as a very, very small wedding cleared out, we had the beach mostly to ourselves despite the weather being beautiful. (By Connecticut standards of January, anyway...)

The rocky pier, smooth beach, and grassy dunes made for a beautiful backdrop, and the overcast sky produced a beautiful, soft light.

It was such a treat, and I'm glad that the timing of our trip worked out so perfectly.

Plus, since I had my camera handy, we took some family photos. The old ones were starting to show their age and embarrass the children, so... It was time.

Back in CT, and back to work!

Winter Wonderland

Emily and Ed (adopters of my former chinchilla, incidentally) reached out to me for couple's portraits. I was so excited because they had a really fun, different idea: we waited for a good, solid snowfall and then met at Bancroft Castle. 

It's a beautiful location - cool ruined building, surrounded by beautiful rural New England vistas. And the snow was fresh and bright. Couldn't ask for more.

Unfortunately, we also managed to do it during a stretch of record-breaking cold, so it was an unusually bracing photo outing. Not that it slowed us down!

Every wedding, engagement, and portrait shoot has its own unique flavor and challenges, but it's really fun to do something so unusual. 

Thanks for being so game, Emily and Ed!

State of the Business - 2017 in Review

It's time again. Every December, I like to take a moment and look back at the year gone by. 

BIGGER AND BIGGER STILL

2017 was Zack Wussow Media's best and busiest year so far. I said the same thing last year and the year before that, which is all very exciting of course! The biggest change was in weddings - more on that to come.

Busy Year

Beside work, this was a huge year for me personally. I got married in April, and bought a house in August! Needless to say, it made for a very exciting and hectic year!

Very Busy Fall

As with the past four years, I spent my weeks September-December taking yearbook photos all over New England, and most weekends at weddings, editing weddings, and booking more weddings. As in previous years, more couple chose to move their weddings into autumn. In September, I had eight!

Which brings us to the exciting bit...

THE NUMBERS

WEDDINGS: 26 (UP 7 FROM 2016/2015/2014)

I felt so busy this year, but it wasn't until recently I actually tallied up all the weddings and just... Wow. That's an extra third more weddings. Which is very exciting! Lots of you lovely people have been passing my name around and it's showing.

It's also an odd position to be in, though, because until people start getting married in the winter, this is close to the max I can realistically do. Something I will have to think about going forward.

My career total now comes to 117 weddings!

ENGAGEMENTS: 8 (SAME AS 2016)

As with last year, the majority of my engagements were sold as part of wedding packages. I'm still really glad that it's becoming a popular option - its great getting to meet and work with couples before the big day, and I really enjoy doing portraits.

OTHER PORTRAITS: 6 (UP 1 FROM 2016)

This includes headshots, maternity photos, and family photos. Headshots are down 1, family photos up 2, and maternity unchanged. 

I've been making an effort to expand this part of the business, especially the maternity side. Unfortunately, I tracked down a lot of maternity folks this fall... and pregnancies take 9 months. So expect to see lots of spring maternity sessions on the blog. Can't wait!

As before, a lot of return customers this year.

CORPORATE GIGS: 6 (DOWN 2 FROM 2016)

This includes product photography and events. Or did, last year, when I did some product photography. It's a field I've never been particular excited about, but worked with some family friends on. This year we dropped it altogether.

Corporate events, meanwhile, are great. Very similar to weddings, but lower stakes and spread more evenly through the year. If memory serves, this year I did exactly the same events as last year, which is great. If they wanted I'd happily book for the next decade!

COMING OF AGE/MISC. EVENTS: 2 (DOWN 3 FROM 2016)

I can't say this section makes me especially happy. I did no coming of age ceremonies this year. That's something I would like to do more of, but I admit I'm at something of a disadvantage. I don't personally come from a culture that celebrates any big coming of age events, so I'm a bit in the dark when it comes to where people find their photographers, what they are looking for, what they expect to pay, etc. We will see where it goes next year.

The misc. events category was, as usual, an odd assortment - one wedding rehearsal (a substitute for package engagement session), and the other a first birthday party. Though perhaps I should count that as a coming of age event!

TOTAL: 48 (UP 3 FROM 2016)

I love how much this number hides the actual change in my workload. Since I traded four little jobs for weddings and then added another three weddings. It was a crazy year. 

OTHER STUFF

I drove about 13,000 miles for work this year, split about 70/30 between my yearbook season and everything else. Because naturally the year I have eight weddings in September is also the year I have mostly out-of-town and out-of-state schools! Luckily, I also bought a new car this year before most of the travel, so I got to travel in the relative luxury of a Subaru Imprezza. (I do genuinely love that car!)

I also flew to Chicago for a wedding, which was an amazing trip and supplants North Carolina as the furthest place I've traveled for a wedding. (If you want me to travel to your wedding, drop me a line, we will make it work!)

My wife, Heather, was my second shooter for eleven(!) weddings this year, up four from last year. It's really fun having her along, and it helps pay our mortgage, which is important me to.

I also read 45 books, and watched 83 movies. If I had to pick the best of those that came out this year, I'd probably recommend Thor: Ragnarok and Turtles All The Way Down by John Green respectively (if you like to get your recommendations from wedding photographers). Also, it appears I neither watched nor read anything about photography or photographers. Oops. 

COMING UP

Next year's looking pretty good so far - I've booked around fourteen weddings, a fair number of engagements and events, and have hopefully lined up a handful of maternity sessions.

January actually has my first wedding, a trip to Florida (pleasure, not business), and the eagerly anticipated moment when I am totally caught up on editing for the first time since mid-August.

I'm sure this spring will bring a fair amount of work on the new house, and Heather and I are trying to, finally, get away for our honeymoon sometime around the one year mark.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I might take a week off as I start to update my portfolio here on the site, but otherwise we'll be back to regular blog posts soon. Hope you had a great holiday season, and a very happy New Year!