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Welcome to Wedding Day podcast with your host Sonja Babich, CEO of Iron Diamond Media, a leading wedding resource featuring seven localized wedding brands across the country and Dan Riggs, photography and videography expert and founder of Summit Hill Studios. Come along as they travel from state to state to connect with the most creative and well respected professionals in the wedding industry. Every episode will army with the hottest new trends, wedding date tips and details, and they'll show you all the joys of planning your perfect wedding day.
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Welcome to Wedding Day Podcast, episode one, powered by Continental Diamond, Linen Effects, and War Paint International Beauty Agency. Today we're in Minneapolis at Living Room Studios and our guest is Andrew Vick, who has celebrated over a thousand walks down the aisle with his happy couples. Today Andrew's going to share with us what you can expect when working with your wedding photographer, how color and style can affect your finished images, and how your wedding day photography experiences can last with you beyond your big day, and a whole lot more.
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Hi, I'm Jenna Culley, owner of LinenFX Minneapolis. I bet I can guess the third thing you did after getting engaged. Number one, you called family and friends to share the good news. Number two, you started a Pinterest board.
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Number three, you realize that you have no idea how to bring that Pinterest board to life. That's where we come in. Let the design experts at LinenFX take your ideas and bring them into reality. We have everything including floor length linens, charger plates, table settings, centerpieces, candles, pretty chairs, lounge furniture sets, and more to make your event picture perfect. Go to our website at linenfx.com to schedule your appointment today. That's linenfx.com
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come to life.
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and setting aside time to get to know each other. And quite literally and figuratively, we get to Fika today. So cheers to you. Cheers to Fika. Hopefully I'm saying that correctly, Fika. I knew when we had you on the first episode that we would learn a lot. And learning Fika is the very first thing that.
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that we can all take away from that. Little Nordic roots, man. I love it. How about the name Sonia? Yeah. Right, I had to kind of start with a little Scandinavian player for sure. Well, we're in Minneapolis today. Yeah, Minneapolis. Yeah, yay to Minneapolis. We're excited to be here in the living room studios of that one Andrew Vick. And we're super happy to have you on our first episode, the pilot episode, I guess you would say.
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It's historic, so thank you for being part of our history. Let's drive the plane, guys. Let's go. Let's drive it. Let's go. So, Andrew, you grew up here in Minnesota, right? St. Peter? Yeah, born in St. Peter Augustavuses. Some people know it for other things. It was a desolate land. Then we moved up here to the big scary city when I was in elementary school. But yeah, that's where it all began, was taking pictures of stringers of fish on the boundary waters and golf courses I was playing.
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But we went from there. Well, going from there, what brought you here? What made you a photographer? Well, I got to go to school. I got to study photo and business in San Diego, California. And my earliest photos out there were photos of friends coming off the surf, off the waves, and friends getting into agencies, modeling agencies. And so they were always looking for a new head shot. And I got to use pretty light.
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sunset on the cliffs of the ocean is you can't beat it. It's gorgeous. Pretty unreal. As we know with California wedding day. Absolutely. So I got a little Cali mixed in with the Minnesota thing and it was choice to come back here. But I do give a lot of credit to my beginning to what I learned out in the West Coast and the openness and the transparency of wedding professionals and friends I got to know in there.
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bring a bit of that here back here to the Midwest. You know, going off of that, being part of the seven brands, you really see that we all have something in common as wedding professionals. We're all the same. We all love what we do and we love making each day perfect, right, Andrew Bick? Perfect. Perfect. It is the most overused word in our industry. It is. Are you sure? Amazing? Amazing has to be... No, perfect. Number one, if we were playing Family Feud, the number one pick would be...
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Perfect. I would love to be a family feud for wedding terms. Oh we would win Andrew Vic was my wedding photographer and that wasn't that was not by mistake I mean, you know, I haven't even before we met and I didn't know you then. Yeah, so I chose you out of just Pure talent. Thank you. Yeah. No, your work is your work is incredible And it as such you do get to travel to all these cool places. So thank you for
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My wedding. I don't know how I knew that was when I was scrolling the real wedding selections. Oh, in Minnesota Bride magazine? Yeah, for Minnesota Bride, I was like, oh, Andrew did Dan's wedding. Yeah. Perfect. It was great. Yeah, and we didn't know each other then. No. And so, you know, I think that's important to mention. Like, I chose you on just your talent. I mean, you're so incredible. We still love looking at those photos, but, you know, tell me about your travels. Travels. I really want to know where you've been. What brought you there? Sure. I've been to Camrose Hill.
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all the way over to your wedding day. Yeah, and still water. And still water, yep. Yeah. And but when people ask, hey, do you travel? And they start asking about like Wisconsin. And I said, oh, we can do that. That's easy. I've documented weddings and events in 12 different countries all over, from Europe, Italy, Germany, to the Caribbean, all over Mexico, Costa Rica, Guatemala.
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At the end of the day, I did say it'd probably be smart to have a family sometime. And whenever I can work out our back door and take care of Minneapolis and surrounding areas, it's also a big joy. You can go home in your own bed, you can be more present as a dad. I got two little boys at home. And so with that, they love seeing dad as much as we can. So with all these travels, of course, I would love to know your first wedding day. Oh, man. Okay.
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The first wedding is incredible. Before I jump into that, probably my favorite travel story from a wedding. I might just jump into that first. So I got called by Becca and Becca said, Andrew, I bought one of your first ever photos at the Dina Art Fair when you were just trying to get your stuff out there. I had traveled the world and been photographing landscapes and before I fell in love, that's when I started doing love stories and landscapes.
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And she said, I bought one of your very first pieces. And ironically, and it's from Ireland, it's a beautiful castle, I knew the exact photo that she's talking about. And she said, 16 years later, I found the person I'm gonna marry. And his name is Donal, and he grew up about two miles from that castle that I've had on my wall for my whole life. And she said, I just thought it'd be super fitting for you to be able to continue telling our story in that. And so,
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We did it here locally in a vineyard. And Donal afterwards said, this was amazing. It's too bad you can't photograph our Irish wedding. And I looked at him and I said, well. I don't, I just talked to him. Why not? So Donal schemed with me in a separate bank account to find a way to get me out there to photograph their Irish wedding. And Becca didn't see it coming.
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And the time that she knew that the day arrived, she was getting ready in the house and there's a knock on her door. I got picked up at the small little airport on the West Coast of Ireland in Clarnie. And I said, hi, Becca. She goes, Andrew, what are you doing here? I said, well, we've set aside the whole day to celebrate you and tomorrow we're gonna go around the ring of Carrie and we're gonna get to celebrate again tomorrow. And wherever you guys had fallen in love, we're gonna get to go. And so we did a whole day, day after session with.
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Some of my favorite memories of some of my travels for. I just sometimes I feel, well, I know a lot of couples don't realize how I'm like magic. They make a relationship with their wedding photographer, you know, before, during and after. That was one of the biggest wake up calls that I had on my wedding day. It's like, you're with me the whole time. The whole time. There's a lot of time with that person. Yeah. Either they blend or they don't. I get asked often if I'm a cousin.
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or how long we've known each other. And so I always see that as a compliment of saying, hey, we've done a great job of blending into the scene. And I think one of the common questions I do get asked is like, is more better? And whether that be bringing on a second photographer on the day? And I think to try to find the best fit for that, you know, either you, if you're gonna add video and you're gonna add photography and if you're gonna add a second photographer, many times video crews come out with one, two, three, and...
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at times it might sometimes feel like you're traveling with paparazzi. And the way I've traveled in the culture of the world, I've been able to access it by being just a very inquisitive and curious, a single person. And you respond differently one-on-one and welcome them to culture differently one-on-one and you get more intimate photos. You get to be blended into the party a little bit more. And so if you start looking at a wedding party at like 300 guests and you really want all those guests covered.
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You can add a photo station or you can add a second photographer. I do love shooting with my team, but I think you do. You spend a lot of time with a lot of time, a lot of time. And you just and then you become best friends. Like you said, they invite you to sleep on the couch sometimes right after the wedding. I've slept on a couple of couches. Is this true? True story. But, you know, it's just so like the lifestyle, like you said, even after the wedding, like I still use my wedding photographer.
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for my maternity photos and now our family photos. So it's like you really create a special bond with your wedding photographer. It's a belief I have that, that's an old school mindset of saying, hey, we have a photographer in our family, a family photographer to document our story from the roots up to the trunk, to the branches and beyond. And so that's something that is a new ask that we're getting to see more and more in our photography community is people wanting to start the journey with you.
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and then continue life and the journey with you and to be able to have art that matches the edit and the aesthetic and be able to build upon that, that their kids get to know you. Still to this day, I have stories of friends being so excited to get back together so I can meet their little one or their newborn one. I did a wedding for a couple in Keys and I came over to photograph the newborn photos for their little son. And I walk in the door.
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And a little girl greets me at the door and says, hi, I heard you helped write Mommy the Princess book. And I said, I just might have. She goes, do you want to see it? I said, absolutely. So she grabs me by the hand and walks me over to her bunk bed. And the parents kind of follow suit. And she sits me down and pulls out this little book about like this big.
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And she starts narrating it. She opens it up and says, once upon a time, mommy became a princess in Key West. And married dad, the prince in Key West. Oh, I love this. And she goes on to tell the story as she's kind of filled in the gaps. Meanwhile, the parents are poking around the side of the door with tears welling up in their eyes. And they look at me and they go, Andrew, we read this every night before we go to bed. And that's her book.
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And so it's given me beautiful motivation to say, I want others to have that legacy and that experience for people. And so, yeah, that's given me a little extra fire to say, we're gonna do an album line, let's do it really well, and let's make sure it's beautiful. I have one, and I love mine, and I loved my parents too. Like going and looking at your mom when she was beautiful on her most beautiful day. I'm like, I wanna look like my mom on her wedding day.
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And just seeing that love story and then continue to share your love story with your littles. Totally. I think it's so awesome. It's tangible. Voted Minnesota Bride's best jeweler every year since 2010. Continental Diamond has an amazing selection of diamonds, engagement rings, wedding bands, jewelry, and timepieces. Providing the best experience possible, their team is friendly, knowledgeable, and there to make the process fun and easy. Trust the reviews. They're top rated on Google. Visit Continental Diamond.
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The jewelry store Minnesota adores. Online at cont Are you asking if engagement photos are important, Sonya? They are important. Why are they important to you? Well, important- Because you've been through this. Well, you get to see how they capture you. Like, you have to like how you look in your engagement photos, because if you look good in your engagement photos, you're gonna look really good in your wedding photos. And also, as a photographer, you get to understand how the couple,
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how they picture, how they're captured. They may be darker under the eyes, they may have hidden shadows on their faces, or what angles do they like? Yeah, feedback is important. I think I learned that early on in my days of studying where the business and the photo merge made me unique in the world. I really viewed myself, in my art classes, people were saying, I'm this artist, I can't wait to profess to the world how great my expression is, or I can't wait to show you what I'm seeing.
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I started seeing life a little bit differently than everybody else in my class. I realized, why can't we see ourselves as commissioned artists? And at the core of what we do, we listen, we take feedback, and then we create around someone else's story, and vision, and mission for that. Because then you can show up, and you're just having fun with them. You are. And in the engagement photo process, it is a very important process for people. Even if it's a sample session, we have something that we offer that's called our Get Acquainted session. And it fits everyone. And it's just.
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time with Andrew instead of meeting with me or having a beverage or raising a glass of fika that we get to go out for 20 minutes locally and laugh and play. And then I ask for their favorites in that gallery. And sometimes people come at the day saying, well, I know I love photojournalism. Oh, I really love portraiture. And many times they come back and they pick all photos looking at the camera. So then I know as a creative to say on the day, I'm going to make sure that we ask for your eyes a little bit more, just so you have more of what you like.
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That's really good. Yeah. And that's part of that commission art is like, great. The more feedback I can get to get it perfect. Perfect. That's amazing. Yeah. And it's awesome that you have that opportunity to perfect it. Yes. Right before the day. You asked earlier, like off camera, about like some trends I'm seeing. And I think experiences are really important for people. And this season, we've been booking airline tickets.
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to go out and fly to people and where they live in whatever part of the United States. And so instead of booking two flights for them and come home, they realize it'd be easier to use miles or something to have me come out to Kansas City or we've done Charleston, we've been out to San Diego and to say, hey, this is our life here, our dog's here, we'd love to kind of introduce you to our favorite cafe, our favorite experiences, and we know that we'll bond just by introducing you to our world for that. And so...
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Whether it be the cabin, we have a drive to you, the fly to you has been extra fun just to absorb into a different culture. But it's something that I've seen kind of pick up on the trends. Or even a vacation that someone's on. Anything, anything. When people, you know, they're giving up a weekend. I hate to say it like that, but their guests are coming to celebrate this love story. And they want to say, thank you that you're part of our lives. My grandpa called it happy money. Weddings are happy money.
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because it's a way to say thank you for being a part of my daughters, my sons, their love story and I want to thank all my friends and family for supporting our life and our daughter's life or son's life. So they want to make sure it's a good time when they come and be proud of this life they made. So in the world of experiences, I've got to be able to photograph a couple of pilots and one pilot.
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We came up with this concept of flying in with his groomsmen to Flying Cloud Airport and then driving across the street to Greenacres for his wedding. But she's waiting on the airstrip, flagging him down, and he lands the plane and come out and there's this giant embrace. And for them, they fly together. And that's part of their story. And we thought, let's do a first look on the runway. Oh, my God. It was awesome. Wow. It was awesome. I also got asked that I've heard a friend get married up.
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Like they're pilots at some country and they were able to get a flight up and want to do their vows up in the sky and then land for the reception down below. And so my favorite right now that we're working on with a couple is two pilots got married at the Semple Mansion and they said, well, we love to fly together. We always wanted to do something in the air. Why don't you come out for a one year anniversary shoot to Oregon?
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And we'd love to go flying with you and see what you can create using some of our favorite passions and hobby for it. And this is work. This is work, man. This is your work. This is your job. My office is not terrible. It's not terrible. And it's like going, like, how we know these details to show how much wedding professionals are a part of your story. Yes. Right? Dreaming is important. Yeah, dreaming the whole nine yards to get to know each other so we can have fun with you on your wedding day. One of the tricks to our trade is
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at least here at Vic photography, we'll ask for people to submit images that they're inspired by, because I always kind of want to see what their eye is gravitating towards. Oh, for sure. Their Pinterest board. Pinterest board, exactly. Everybody's got a Pinterest board. And it's okay to share your Pinterest board to your wedding professionals. Yeah, that's what I'm getting at. It's completely fine. It's really great. I mean, I love it as feedback. And when I do see the images, there's a couple things I have to kind of coach people through a little bit, is number one, could that be on your wedding day? You have to ask yourself, could that be?
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be on your wedding day. Like ocean waves in Minnesota. Well, like I'm gonna give you an example. Like I had one couple, like they flagged this gorgeous photo of this bride floating in a canoe at twilight with candlelight and cascading petals behind her, like awake under a weeping willow tree. Under a weeping willow tree, yeah. And she's like, I just love this. And I said, well, you're getting married at the machine shop.
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The nearest Weeping Willow is about- Which is downtown Minneapolis. 15 minutes away. The floral budget alone for this is probably three grand. The setup is probably another half day. And so if you love the concept, we can do that. Maybe just not on the wedding day itself, but maybe let's take that concept and say, do you just love how peaceful she is? Do you love the time of day that she's getting married? And so I-
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So number one is like, can this be an actual photo from your wedding day? And most people's boards, I find 70 to 80% of the stuff that they flagged or tagged are style shoots or model sessions. And again, and style shoots are working with wedding professionals to create a new hot trend or theme that is, you know, the hot topic right now in the wedding industry. They're staged. Yeah, they're staged. Yep. So usually they can have two models in it or no models, sometimes just to show the details.
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in a reception hall or whatever. So in the setting expectation, I think that is one thing that I think is really important for us to do. And the second, the third thing I think that's really important in this journey is also to, if an image is speaking to somebody, sometimes it's because of the edit that's applied to it. And I've been celebrating, I think we celebrate over a thousand weddings of people coming down the aisle. That's something that I get to kind of do. Congratulations. So I've gotten to see some trends come and go.
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And an edit is one right now that is, it's hot and it's important to understand what you're looking at in an image. And so either you're aware of the emotional content, the composition of the image, or sometimes people are really drawn to the like, the look or style or feel of the edit. And we're purists in our camp here at Vic Photography where we believe in full color, honest color, true color, punchy color, because you can never get back that if it's been.
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on Edit Applied. So a couple of edit styles that are coming through from the West Coast with some of those golden glow of California is that bronze look that is kind of making everything look a little tinted or a little bit orange or a little bit golden. Those two colors are really hard to get back after you get a full collection of that back, number one. The other one is a desaturated, almost like a Hunger Games inspired a little bit of coming from Seattle market. And you're seeing the greens almost becoming blue green. And so
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You know, it's also another one to kind of be aware of. And the third is this blown out, washed out, very pastel-y look and feel where it's low contrast and everything's real whimsical and airy for that. And I'm sure you've seen that as you look through images. That's an important thing to think about when you're selecting your photographer. What is the tones that you gravitate to? Yeah. Right. Because.
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If you're not those tones, Andrew Vic, like you're not the right photographer for them. And skin tones get altered and changed when you do apply a lot of this. So if you can tell an image has been filtered, it will date itself before the actual style in that. And if you talk to any of your wedding planners, floral to linens, they say, please stay as true color as you possibly can, because this is the palette that you've chosen. If you pick jade as a color for the girls' dresses,
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And if that palette gets augmented, it's gonna look much more teal. You know, and so I think all those things are important. Even within the magazine, you can tell through the real weddings what kind of style each photographer is with each published wedding. So this is a good educational tip to our engaged couples to pay attention to the coloring. That's the question. So would you say that, because for me, the shots are very important, right? Oh yes. The style, your approach to taking great photos.
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is always going to be more important than whatever kind of edit or preset or color that you put on there. So would you say that our couples maybe should be open to even though you may not, you know, maybe the couple wasn't looking for true color from Vic photography. They were looking for, you know, they were looking for a different tone. Yeah, we can make that right. I see where you're going with that. Yeah, that's exactly. We've custom made over 350 presets.
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in our lab here so that if someone is inspired by a look, we can take their favorites, we can make it a certain social look for them or an insect that matches. And so many times you can come to them and ask, at least for us, they can ask, here's an image I really love, I love the look of this, could we do this whole series in black and white or this whole series in this de-saturated look? I really love that. So I think it's a great thing to always ask of the capabilities of the studio. Also, like...
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these teams like your team, you have editors, right? Sometimes, like I would have just thought my photographer was my editor, and sometimes that is the case. So it's good to really know who's on board when you pick your photographer. Is my photographer being the editor, or does he have a team? It's just knowledge. I think it's knowledge, and it's also nice to know if you do have support system, if like, I do get asked, you know, what if you're sick, and what happens? So for us, it's very important. We kind of have a Avengers.
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group. We are real. We get sick, right? Right. Well, we, and I've never had to do that. Not kind of would. Thank you. Not for you. Thank you in all of my time. But I also, it's, people are, they're very at peace knowing that I also have a speed dial with a team of super high quality photographers that I have friends and also on my own staff and team too that shoot with me. And just jumping off of that, if you have a very highly
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and they become ill and they're a one person show, they have a Rolodex. Don't worry, they're gonna take care of you. They know it's your wedding day, can't get rescheduled. And they have a Rolodex available if something happened to a solo team. Because us wedding professionals are actually friends. We want everybody to be successful and have great experiences for their couples. So you need to know that there's a Rolodex if anything happened to anyone.
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wedding professional on your wedding day. We all have each other's back. Yeah. Another thing I thought about when you were talking about teams is I'll get questions like, okay, well, if you are going to shoot our day and someone else is going to edit it, is it gonna look like what you have on your website for your samples for all of that? Yeah. What's your answer to that? Well, let me clarify that. I think there's a number of days too that we will sit down with the aesthetic and the highlights. And so what I'll do is I'll get to still be very involved in picking the highlights for the day. Here's the direction.
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that we would like to kind of see that day or that engagement shoot or even a corporate shoot, some of the other pieces that we do of like, here's the look and the feel that either is being requestered or what we want to do. For me, I see value in having two different people's perspectives to pick up on. Wow, for me, I'm a male photographer getting to go out there and photograph from that perspective, but then I also have, I like to have other gender, other people's eyes on it to make sure that, ooh.
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She's not gonna like that veil that way. Well, let's tuck that back behind the shoulder. And so by the time the final production comes, we've had at least three sets of eyes looking over these photos and saying, yes, we feel like this is gold. And we feel like they're gonna feel absolutely their best in this. And so I see it as an asset, and I think that that's part of what you're getting at. I absolutely see it as an asset. How do you feel about the world of video, Dan? Yeah, I mean, you definitely have this cohesive look, this team who sits down, our team sits down, we sit at...
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you know, this conference table and we watch tape and we're, you know, we roll video of weddings that we filmed and we look at them and we go, ah, maybe, you know, next time we could do something different like this. And it's just, it's a, it's a collaborative effort where we're all on the same page. Specialists are important in this industry. And I think, uh, I always use it at my sister's a doctor and she goes, Andrew, you're like the creative specialist on the day. And I wouldn't send someone with a hand problem to a general doc.
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Like I want somebody who just knows this and does it the best. And so within our team, we do have areas of specialty, but we also love to collaborate together and be able to make it all come together as beautifully as possible. And I think it's important for consistency in the work over the years that things are delivered on time or early. We've had seven years of.
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beautiful delivery and if not early for everyone. And so it's something we're really proud of. I was gonna say you are a business. We are all businesses, right? And you have to know your brand and how you wanna treat your team, your clients, and how you wanna communicate to the world who you are, right? Warpaint International Beauty Agency, a team of onsite award-winning hair and makeup artisans that bring the beauty to you. Onsite beauty whenever, wherever. They understand how valuable your time is and the importance of looking your best.
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Their team of vetted professionals design exquisite hairstyles and makeup applications for corporate, editorial, weddings, headshots, special occasions and more. All in the comfort and convenience of the location you choose. Warpaint International, the ultimate symbol of luxury and excellence in hair and makeup artistry. Sony, do you know what wakes me up in the morning on a Saturday and...
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What wakes you up on a Saturday? Your kids? Is it your two kids? It's besides my two kids, which I love them. And as you know, as a mom, like every day there's sacrifice and we give up the best in Minnesota here. We give the best of Minnesota summers to go out and surf. And we really, I really take to heart the heart on the shirt sleeve. We are in the service industry and I'm paid to care more than anybody on that day about any of the moments that happen, because if...
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once the reality is, is those people won't be all in the room together. And if someone gets sick or we lose somebody in that crew, they're going to care 10 times more than I ever did about those photos. And I do know that I'm a heavy shooter. Rachel can attest to that. I shoot about twice as much as anybody that I've met, but I love the action reaction. I love having material to pull from. I love having all the nuances, the perspectives from the little flower girl down the aisle to the bride looking at her groom.
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to the first row of guests, to the auntie in the back row looking at things. And so I think I don't mind being the sweatiest on the day. I don't mind leaving my family. You usually are. I usually am. And I've worked with Andrew, he is extreme. No, he's not. No. But you're moving and your photographers are moving. They're trying to get all the pictures in that lens, right? My belief is something I see through the lens on that day.
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will stitch someone back together on the hardest of days that they have together and make them believe they can go one more week together, one more month together, one more year. And it's like the mountain tops of our life are very few and far between. And that we have a guaranteed mountain top peak on the wedding day, it's a kickoff party. The Vic family secret is like, we love the kickoff party, but we can't wait to see the impact you're gonna have in the world going forward because we believe that love makes a difference in the world. My goodness.
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It's actually one of my favorite tips for young photographers getting into the industry is human touch really brings eyes alive. And so I'm always trying to get down at the table level at their perspective at a dinner party and framing people off through glassware and sweaty glasses and the person who's toasting, and then who's emoting to that toast. So you're getting the action, the reaction. But in the family portraiture, one of the best pieces that I love to give people who are...
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getting into the photography world is just allow touch to be a big part of the communication. It's not where you want them posed, because that's posing and positioning, but how you want to feel. And so you look at them the eyes, you're like, aren't you guys excited to be together as a family? Oh, you know what? I'm going to have you hold his hand like you guys are on a date. And I'll say that to a couple that's married for 40 years. And we're like, you guys still date, right? And they go, Oh yeah. I go, well, good. I can see it in your eyes.
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And what a great lesson you have to teach these guys right here. Sometimes they just need to be reminded. Yes, be reminded. Grandparents, I make grandparents kiss. I don't know the time I've ever seen my grandparents kiss. And so I get to like say, these are our gold on our day. And I'm like, you know what, a little smooch on the cheek, or if I allow them on the lips, usually he comes back in for another and I joke about his ticker going a little bit and she starts giggling and the couple gets to see what 50, 60 years of living together and in life looks like, and they have something to emulate. I have it now on record.
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and we'll shoot through those moments and give them some of that gold for it. You know, I'm gonna be honest with you. I have never heard a photographer speak the way that you speak. When you spoke to Michelle and I, we had our, I don't know what you would call it, like we hired you, we already hired you, you're already our guy, and we had like a Zoom meeting.
31:54
You know, you asked us questions about us, things that we care about, things that, and I've never heard any other photographer do that, and you really got us to open up a little bit. I mean, that was- Thanks, man. Well, I've been working really hard and it's an intentionality on how we do relationships, and I think it's really important. I've learned it within this wedding community, and I feel like we enter into conversations with usually thinking about the answer of what we wanna say next. And it's been very important to me to create a space.
32:22
And I've been calling it kind of like, how do I discover my superhero power of curiosity? And it's a mantra. It's I kind of try to take it into my life. And it really starts at the table hearing about people's stories for it. But I think the first question that we ask in conversation is polite. So if I ask, you know, how was your Thanksgiving, you know, that's a nice polite lead in, right? You respond, you know, you know, hey, we had 20 people at the table. Well, great. Second question is I've labeled it authentic.
32:50
And the second question, I was like, great. Well, tell me about your grandma. Oh, my grandma. And if I sit in that pocket, so that's the second question in a row. If I ask a third question about maybe a favorite relationship she's had or memory with the grandma, why that was extra impactful, we're starting to tap into the superhero power of curiosity. We're not getting there, but it's like JV level, right? As soon as you hit that fourth question, it opens the door up for so much goodness in the world. And...
33:18
I do have a theory that if you hit five, six, seven questions and beyond and it doesn't come back your way, it's a bit of maybe what lawyers will do or there's an interrogation side of it, so you have to be careful. But I think the smartest people in my life are really good question askers. And so yeah, the first is polite, second is authentic, the third is tapping into that power and the fourth is hitting your cape and being able to realize that there's something really special in the world.
33:44
me going off of that is that your conversations are experiences, right? I was a beverage car girl. Yes, now it's a good one, but you can only talk about the weather so much. Right? And that's being the polite, polite. And I'm like, okay, guys, I'm going to give you curve balls. How's your round going? Where are you at with your scorecard? Right? Cause it's, well, who wants to have a Doug conversation? So you got to have going back to experiences.
34:11
Gotta enjoy the people that you're working with on your wedding day. Yeah, and it's getting into the why. And I think you can hire the what. People know what they do, they put together flowers. But when you kind of understand people's why, I think it's general business practice across the board. Some of the most successful entrepreneurs and business owners I know really hone in into their why, and they know their why. And so it keeps you having fuel. So as a creative in this industry, it's easy to go hard and not have fuel by the end of the season.
34:39
And so for me, I just realized how important tapping in to motive, purpose, vision, and know the why that we get up every morning and having gratitude. You can tell an energy in a wedding room when people are excited about this couple getting married and they want to celebrate their love story, loud and proud. I would say that there's a first look moment that I think people...
35:03
ask all the time, like, should we, are we candidates for a first look or aren't we? And I think it speaks to the energy of the couple and even just where they draw their energy from. And so the majority of the people who choose a first look moment, it's traditionally like in a Catholic church, earlier ceremony start time, and they've saved a lot of these traditions to this moment and this time. And that's important to them. And they have some time on the back end to...
35:31
be able to celebrate and get the photos that they need. And so I think there's a give and take for it all. And then there's a couple that want that first look moment to build the day intentionally, where I just want to see them, then I want to add in my friends, then I want to add in my family, and then I want to leave the ceremony and go right into the party and not have it feel like we're pulled away from anything that I'm going to be missing out on anything. And historically, one, if not both couples tend to be a little more introverted.
35:59
then that first look moment is really important. I think when we say I want to have the first look at the altar, that usually one, if not both, are extroverted and a bit more in a traditional church. And they also have an earlier start time for it. But it's something that they've had in their heads since they were a little person and said, I can't wait for that day. Going back to my wedding planning years, there's pauses and negatives to both of them.
36:28
If you're waiting till the ceremony, you are hiding the whole day, hiding the whole day, right? You're staying away from your partner in crime, who you're marrying. And sometimes you're sitting in a closet for a long time. So you gotta think about like, what do you picture your wedding day? Are you sitting there waiting for that two o'clock, four o'clock time? Or if you do that first glance, you can see them maybe at 10 or 11.
36:51
and have fun a full day together. That's what I tell every one of my couples is, you're gonna be super nervous. You're gonna be more nervous than you would if you see them earlier, because really, that's your best buddy. Like once you're together with that person, you can conquer the day together, right? Yeah, and you have that five, 10 minutes of just one-on-one time with your photographer, not knowing that they're there, but they're there capturing that lovey time, or maybe private time. But then you're like, let's do this.
37:20
I'm right, let's have a great day. Yeah, the couples that I hear who wait to the altar to see each other, they love that they built up that moment. They do say that they lock eyes with the groom, the bride and groom, and they kind of miss the perspective of all their friends coming down the aisle, and they just want to tell them how hot.
37:36
each other alone and be like, Oh my gosh, you look amazing or how are you feeling or what's going through your head right now? And so they get into the program and there is a bit of theater that goes into the day and it can be a lot, but there's this big moment. And so it either is something that they love and cherish or they love the idea of like, if you do a first look, you get to take in a bit more of your guest perspectives coming in. I know my best friend's watching this and she waited, she waited to tell us she walked on that aisle and it was powerful.
38:04
and watching, oh there was bagpipes, no. Maybe country music, just kidding. No, but it was actually more teary for us because we were embracing that moment too. So it is very powerful to wait, but it is, there's always a catch. There's that powerful moment, but then you're not with your best friend. You know, one of the biggest mistakes I think that people make in their wedding planning journey is that they plan their dinner hour.
38:32
in the middle of winter here in Minnesota for a summer wedding. So like, oh, we've been eating at like 5.30, 6 o'clock, so we'll probably eat at 5.30, 6 o'clock in the middle of the summer. And I have to go, well, okay, summer solstice is the 21st of June. And so if you're getting married on either week of those, you're getting married on the third or fourth longest weekend of daylight of the entire calendar year. So we tend to be cabin folk and Nordic folk in Minnesota, where we run to the cabin and tend to eat a little bit later when that sun starts going down.
39:01
Suddenly seven o'clock isn't an absurd time to start a dinner hour. No. It all affects lighting, it affects photography, the longer the shadows, the more comfortable guests are in the day. Yeah. Any other thing about if I'm doing dinner at five, five thirty, you might be doing your first dance at seven and it could be very broad daylight out. You envision this, you know, smoky nighty first dance picture, but it's bright at seven in June 21st. Very much so. Yeah. So I'm always a fan of building that day backwards to forwards.
39:30
and really take into account leaning into your wedding planner that you've hired from the day to really start with the dinner and the type of buffet or if you're being plated, all those different foods take different amounts of time based off guest count to come out. And it takes time to serve food everybody. It takes time. What? It takes time. Good food. Speaking of trends, that is a trend I've been seeing more and more of is, number one, grooms or the partner in the relationship actually
39:58
caring about more as we go forward, which is fanned up from style and things catered to the groom more than I ever have, which I think is encouraging. One of which is craft cocktails, beverages, and even the quality of the food, because people want a culinary experience on the day. You remember food if it's terrible and you remember if it's wonderful. Then there's a lot that kind of happens right in the middle where it just gets people fed.
40:24
Well, again, every couple has different importance on their wedding day. It could be the most important thing could be hiring a photographer or it's the meal or it's the dance, entertainment or it's their wedding dress or the decor or it's all of it. Yes. So that's a conversation you have to have as a couple. What is the most important thing to you on your wedding day? Totally. And they may be different. Right. The decision-making of this is it's a journey.
40:51
Outside of like a home remodel, probably making decisions on our wedding was one of the most challenging things for us. And it's some advice I give to every couple, but you tapped into the decision making and how you make those calls. But my wife and I have been married 14 years and we got married in Duluth and people usually ask, you know, who shot your wedding as a photographer? What was that thing like? And you can find me a site. I'll be glad to tell you at another.
41:17
podcast. We all have stories. But we both are very like opinionated people. And we realize like just because you have an opinion doesn't mean you want to make the decision. And so with a couple in the middle of making decisions on your wedding day, I think it's important to figure out how you go about that respectfully. And it's a it's a skill and it's actually a trial that I think you get served in a beautiful way that will take you further in life than you ever expect. And so we developed something in our wedding planning journey that we care
41:46
we call Who Cares More. And so my wife and I will say, hey, let's play Who Cares More. And it started with DJ versus band. And so I got to say, Janelle, why does it matter to you if we have a DJ over a band? And so she got to state her reasoning for that. And then she said, all right, Andrew, your turn. Who Cares More, I want you to say, why does it matter for you if there's a DJ or a band? And it's gonna be really obvious in that conversation that someone's really thought through.
42:15
The verbals and non-verbals, you're gonna read it all over. You know your partner. Right. And so you get to then say, wow, babe, because you love me and us so much, I would love to give you over the power to make that decision. And I can't wait to see what you come up with. And the only rule is the same person can't care the most about everything. And so we've used that on date nights on whether to have sushi or burgers or where to plan our next travel and things. But we're like, all right, let's play Who Cares More. We know what that means. And it's been one of our...
42:42
secret sauces of figuring out how to stay married for 14 years, but it all started in our wedding planning journey. And maybe just a little nugget, I'll bounce pass over to anybody watching. Yeah, it was just- Try it out. It's been really great in child raising too. Well, this is why we're here. Your relationship is insanely healthy.
42:56
Oh, we just have a lot of words, maybe done some therapy, we've done some work around it, you know, you have to have coaches in your corner at all time. It's really important. Good money spent. Well, I think today was very successful. Thank you, Andrew Vick, for joining us today. Thank you so much, man. My pleasure. And of course, with all this, we'll be publishing this on MNBride.com. So feel free to replay this or read the article recapping today's great interview with Andrew Vick.
43:25
And of course, to utilize mmbride.com for any research with planning your wedding day from trends to educational topics, wedding planning, and of course, to find the perfect wedding professional for your wedding day. They're all on there, all the wedding professionals. They are good ones, professional ones, you know, that will take great care of you. Like this guy right here. As an added resource, if you guys get curious in finding a perfect venue of your choice, you can stop by our website, vicvotarie.com and our
43:54
We're running blog has a tile of venues with keys of key vendors that are contributed to those venues. And you can get inspired in your planning and trying to plan the perfect wedding locally here in Minnesota. And of course, see Andrew's beautiful work as well. Yeah, that's a bonus. That's a bonus. That's the main thing, of course. Andrew Vick, thank you very much. Thank you, Andrew. Pleasure. Let's do it again soon.
44:16
That's great news because we're going to stay the night. All right. Well, thanks everybody. Well, Dan, you're the client. You already got a parking spot in back. It's guaranteed. Awesome. Well, thanks everybody. We'll see you next time. See you. Bye.