2007 June » Tony Urban Photography – Senior Photo Art, Pittsburgh Wedding Photographer

Jun 25 2007

Yaron & Lisa’s Wedding

Posted in Weddings

On Sunday Sharon and I headed back to Pittsburgh to shoot Lisa & Yaron’s wedding. Our first stop was the breathtaking Renaissance Hotel which would also serve host to their reception later in the day. Virtually all of Yaron & Lisa’s friends and family were in from out of town, so we started shooting there early in the afternoon. After about an hour, we headed to Heinz Hall, home of the Pittsburgh Symphony for a lovely outdoor wedding in front of a waterfall. Before the main ceremony, I shot the pre-ceremony which included the bedecken – the veiling of the bride – by Lisa and Yaron’s mothers.

Though the skies were overcast, the rain stayed away aside from a few sprinkles and the day was great. As when I shot their engagement photos, Yaron and Lisa were lots of fun to work with. They had the 4 cutest flower girls/junior bridesmaids and I have to say, Yaron’s mother is one of the sweetest women I’ve ever met.

Posted in Weddings

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Jun 25 2007

Pete & Sandy’s Wedding

Posted in Weddings

Saturday Sharon and I were in Pittsburgh shooting Sandy & Pete’s wedding. Their ceremony and reception were held at the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall in the Oakland area and the day was beautiful. The ceremony took place outdoors and the weather was great. After the ceremony, they headed inside for the reception in the ballroom. I learned during the evening that the ballroom was also the location for the scene where “Hannibal Lector” escaped from custody in The Silence of the Lambs. Pretty cool!

Pete and Sandy were both extremely friendly and outgoing and they were obviously filled with joy on their big day. It was a pleasure to be a part of it!

Posted in Weddings

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June 27, 2007 - 7:50 am

Anonymous - are these all of the photos or just the ones selected for view by the bride and the groom

June 27, 2007 - 8:37 am

Tony Urban - These are just a couple of my personal favorites. We have hundreds of photos for Pete and Sandy.

Jun 22 2007

Planning – 2008 and beyond

Posted in Life, Weddings

Like most business-people, each year I reevaluate my business to gauge it’s success and growth. 2007 has proven to be a breakthrough year, as I exceeded my “wedding goal” by nearly 50% over my highest expectations. In 2006, that seemed fantastic and indeed, business has been very, very good. But, again like most business-people, I’ve realized that there can indeed be too much of a good thing. We have a wedding every week (sometimes 2, plus engagement shoots), and since I personally handle all post-production duties such as photo editing, album design, video editing, etc. I’ve been forced to accept the reality that I’m not going to have much of a life outside of work this year. And senior photo season hasn’t even started.

Wedding photographers typically book weddings 8-16 month ahead of the actual weddings. Sure, some book earlier and some later, but that’s a good average in my experience. Because events are booked so far in advance, a photographer has to plan equally far in advance when figuring out his or her schedule and goals. So, it’s that time of year for me to figure out where I want Tony Urban Studios to be in 2008.

After much thought, planning and number crunching, I’ve decided that I need to dramatically scale back the number of weddings we take on next year. This year we have about 35 weddings from May through November (I stopped counting early this year). For 2008, I’m capping the number of weddings we book at 20 for that same May through November period. We have 4 booked so far, so there’s only 16 to go.

This change, while cutting back on our income(our pricing will remain the same in 2008), will give us a much less hectic and stressful year and I really do feel it’s the best decision. Considering that in addition to the 35 or so weddings we did book this year, we turned away over 60 others because we were booked, I feel we’ll be able to meet our new goals and continue to grow the business at a more reasonable rate.

Anyway, we have 2 weddings this weekend so I likely won’t get to blog again until Monday or Tuesday. See you then!

Posted in Life, Weddings

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