Weddings

Wedding Packages begin at $2,500

All packages include photographers John and Vida and a minimum of 6 hours coverage on the wedding day, engagement session, full resolution edited images on DVD with print permissions and private online gallery for proofing and the following deliverables:

- 10X10 Custom Reception Album with a collection of photos from the engagement session

- 16X20 print of your choice from the engagement session suitable for framing

We offer a full array of additional items and options including press printed custom designed Save-The-Dates, invitations and gallery wraps.  Please contact the studio and let us personalize the perfect package for you.

what type of photography do you do?
John|Vida cover weddings in a very journalistic style.  While we are very hands-off and unobtrusive in our coverage of the day we do believe that there is a time and place for gorgeous, casually posed images of the bride and groom together. So while we won’t stop you and make you pose while cutting the cake, we would like about an hour (or more!) alone with you both (if possible) sometime during the day to create some images of you without your wedding party or guests looking on. We also believe strongly in preserving all of the details of the wedding; from your cake to your shoes, so our work is very flush with detail images. Our images of the guests at the wedding are almost 100% journalistic and we won’t stop entire tables at the reception and make them pose for “table shots”, preferring instead to capture them laughing, smiling, dancing, drinking, and having a great time.

do you still take posed family images?
Absolutely. Those images are very important, as they are records of your entire family at an important time in their history together. A few weeks before your wedding we will send you a questionnaire covering the details of the day and among the other questions is a list of posed images – these are the family groupings that we traditionally photograph at each wedding. You will have space to write in your own additional groupings. PLEASE bear in mind that the hallmark of our coverage is journalistic and real-time, so a very long list of posed images will hinder our ability to cover the event in a documentary manner.  We provide you with nine groupings and strongly suggest your final list include no more than 12 or 13 total. These groupings are quick, easy, and largely informal.

where DO you live? you travel? right?
John|Vida live in Buda, Texas… but don’t let that throw you off, we spend a large part of time traveling all over Central Texas to shoot.  If you live outside the Austin, Kyle, Buda area please contact us for a travel quote.  Typically we only ask that you book and cover our lodging and mileage.  We take care of the rest such as meals, etc.

how many photographers will cover my wedding day?
Two. John|Vida shoot together and all packages include two photographers.  This ensures we won’t miss a moment of your special day.

how long does it take to get our products and images?
Online galleries are posted within four weeks of the wedding date.  Album layouts are ready for proofing within six weeks and upon final approval of album designs most albums are ready for delivery within four weeks.

how many pictures will we get?
the number of photographs taken depends on many things – the number of guests, hours of coverage, types of events.

do we get to keep the negatives?
We provide the high-resolution digital files (the digital equivalent of negatives) with all of our packages. When the files are released to you we do retain the copyright to the images and the right to use them for promotional purposes, competition, professional review, and so on.  You will get a written release that will allow you to make unlimited personal reproductions and copies for your friends and families.

do you come to the rehearsal?
Rehearsal dinner coverage is available if you’d like to add it to your collection; otherwise we do not attend the rehearsals.

how does the album design process work?
We give you up to six months to select the images for your album, should your collection include one. If you don’t select your images within that time frame we will make a first draft design for you. You do get to preview your album design and make changes. Once you approve the layout you’ll sign off on the book and it will go to print. All of this process can be completed online simply and easily. Once you choose your images it takes about four weeks to produce your first draft and changes generally take four business days to complete.

Some of our clients trust us to pick all the photos for a first draft and then we begin making changes from there.  It can be overwhelming to select from so many pictures.

what will my album look like?
You have two choices – in a traditional style book your images are printed on photographic paper and set down in mats. The pictures and the pages are separate from each other. We also offer press printed, lay flat albums, which are much more economical and just as beautiful plus this option is custom designed digital layouts with much more creative options.

what is the online gallery?
The online gallery is a private, password protected section on our website where all of your wedding photographs will be placed online for you and your family and friends to view. It is also a secure shopping cart – which allows you (and your family and friends) to order prints and cards and select album prints online. All you have to do is provide the password to anyone who you want to be able to view the images.

can you hold the date for me?
I’m sorry, but we can’t hold the date or pencil you in. To be fair to everyone we can’t “hold” a date without a retainer and a signed contract.
what is your payment schedule like?
A booking fee/retainer of approx. $500 is due to reserve your date. 50% of your balance is due 90 days before your event with the final amount due 30 days before the wedding. If booking under thirty days before the wedding the entire contract amount is due at the time of signing.

can we pay you part of the amount after the wedding?
No, I’m sorry, but we do require full payment thirty days before the event.

i have to cancel my wedding. can i have my retainer back?
No. The retainer fee and all monies paid are non-refundable. The retainer guarantees that we will hold the date exclusively for you and once you’ve signed the contract we do turn down all other commissions for that date.

if we decide to commission La Vida Studios for our wedding, when should we book?

ASAP. Since we cannot “hold” dates or “pencil you in”, dates are booked when…well, when they’re booked.

do we need to feed you at the reception?
It would be really lovely if you did. It doesn’t have to be the same as your sit-down meal (many caterers offer “vendor meals” as an add-on option) but feeding us ensures we stays cheerful, mobile, and that that we don’t faint from starvation.  We prefer to be fed when YOU are fed, not afterwards, because when you are eating you’re not at your most photogenic. And when you’re done, we want to be done as well to continue your coverage.

can our family and friends take pictures with their cameras? will that bother you?
Of course they can and it doesn’t bother us in the least bit! We do request they not swarm the family photographs right away because we’d prefer all eyes facing us in your images, but we don’t mind at all if they snap away from the background. We do not allow family or friends to come along for the bridal images or the images of you two alone for privacy purposes and because, frankly, other people can be distracting! We welcome other cameras during dancing, cake cutting, and other events just ask politely if people could please not push us out of the way.