Services in Detail: Hours, Film, Engagement Photo
Travel and Meal Requirements
Options
Frequently Asked Questions
General Album Info

Services in Detail

HOURS: The hours offered with the day-rate begin when the photographer walks into a venue to begin set-up and ends when breakdown is completed. For example, a typical wedding day in Manhattan in one location might begin with a 2:00PM set-up start, 3:00PM getting ready, 4:00PM ceremony, 5:00PM formal pictures session simultaneous to cocktails, 6:00PM dinner reception until the end at 11:00PM with breakdown to be completed at 12:00PM. This schedule would add up to a 10 hour day. Larger venues, multiple locations and second formal sessions, often require more setup or more shooting and therefore a longer day. We offer a 12 hour rate for all of our photographers. By submitting your schedule to the studio at least four weeks in advance we will be able to assess the hours and explain to you exactly how this time will be used.

FILM: The number of film rolls is designed to cover the average wedding. When there are more than three locations, a long list of formals, an equal ratio of B&W to color, or over 200 people, additional film may be necessary. Once we see the schedule of events and the formals list we can assess the probability of additional rolls of film and obtain your approval. We never discourage our photographers from missing great photo ops, but we do ask them to inform you when they are over the limit. Additional rolls of film are $50/roll with film, website inclusion, proofs, and negatives.

ENGAGEMENT PHOTO: A Central Park or outdoor hour long photo shoot of the bride alone and/or the couple together, shot by your contracted photographer is included in our service. These shoots include 3-4 rolls of Black and White Film and one 5x7 print for publication. All other prints related to these shoots are to be billed separately. Simply submit a NY Times write-up to them within their timeframe and put a note “photograph to follow”. Please plan to have engagement photographs taken six weeks in advance of your wedding. We will hand deliver your photo to the Times.

FORMAL BRIDAL PORTRAIT: A formal portrait of the bride in her wedding gown shot at a New York bridal salon is a service we offer to brides who have a fitting scheduled, and a pre-wedding deadline to submit their wedding photo to their local paper. This service is considered a separate service to the engagement shoot.

WEBSITE: Included in our contract is the scanning of all the negatives, and posting them for six months on an easily accessible password protected website that you control. Guests can order photos from the site preventing the bride and groom from becoming their friends local Fotomat.

OVERNIGHT ACCOMMODATIONS: Overnight accommodations are required the night before an event when the location is more than two hours travel from NYC and the photographer-assistant team must begin setting-up before noon on the day of the event. Overnight accommodations are required on the evening of the event when the event ends after midnight and the event location is more than two hours travel from NYC.

PHOTOGRAPHERS MEAL REQUIREMENT: A hot meal is required for each member of the photography team. This meal should be timed with the guests' main course so that no photo opportunities are missed while the photographer and crew eat for 15 minutes. Meal penalties of $150 per crew member will be charged when this courtesy is ignored.

ENGAGEMENT PHOTOS: A Central Park or outdoor hour photo shoot of the bride alone and/or the couple together, shot by your contracted photographer is included in our service. These shoots include 3-4 rolls of Black and White Film and one 5x7 print for publication. All other prints related to these shoots are to be billed separately. Please plan to have engagement photographs taken eight (8) weeks in advance of your wedding if you plan to publish them in the NY Times. Another option, a formal portrait of the bride in veil and wedding gown shot at a fitting would be considered a nominal add-on to the aforementioned service.

DESTINATION WEDDING TRAVEL: When travel to and from your locale is necessitated on the two days surrounding the wedding day due to air travel, weather uncertainty, customs issues, or sheer practicality we add a nominal fee for our crew’s time. This fee serves to compensate the photographer(s) and assistant(s) for time spent traveling. Any event that requires airfare, hotels, travel days etc. will be estimated for you in a written proposal for your review.

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Options

ADD A SHOOTING ASSISTANT: This can cost an additional $2,000 and will include 4-5 hours, and an extra 12 rolls of film. While this photographer may not be as experienced as the Gruber Photographer covering your event, it is a cost effective way to expand the coverage at a large event.

USE TWO GRUBER PHOTOGRAPHERS: Photographer "teams" are a perfect idea if your wedding is large (greater than 250 guests), you would like pre-ceremony pictures of both the bride and groom at the same time, the ceremony and reception are in different locations or far apart, or if extensive reception coverage is desired. A proposal that takes into consideration your specific needs and requirements will be generated for you on an individual basis.

ADD A TABLE PICTURE PHOTOGRAPHER: If your family has their mind set on having each table photographed (over five tables), we suggest adding a "table photographer". A designated photographer (or two) come to the reception with the sole task of taking table photographs. The benefit is that your photographer will not be taken away from their job of covering the moments of your wedding. This option is priced at $500 per ten tables (i.e. 20 table shots would cost $1,000 plus NYS sales tax). This option is available on jobs that are located within the 30 minutes of NYC.

ADD REHEARSAL DINNER PHOTOGRAPHY: This is a great way to begin recording the wedding festivities. Not only will your wedding weekend photographs tell the whole story, the rehearsal dinner allows the photographer to discover who the most important people are. Our rate for this service starts at $1,500 and depend upon the location, number of hours, photographer, number of guests, and rolls of film included. There will be an option for this service in your Agreement.

ADD A SELF-PORTRAIT STUDIO: A self-portrait studio is a fun alternative to stiff Table Pictures. We let the word out that the self portrait studio is open and your friends will get a kick out of squeezing the shutter to their own group pictures with an assistant standing by to help. This option can run from $1,250 to $2,500 depending on how carried away you want to get with the studio set-up. Options include life-size bride and groom cut-outs, painted backdrops or giveaway photographs for each guest.

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Frequently Asked Questions

DO WE GET TO MEET THE PHOTOGRAPHER?: We consider it essential for you to meet the photographer before we shoot your event. You must feel comfortable with them because you will be spending one of the most important days of your life with this person.

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THE AGREEMENT IS SIGNED? After the client has filled out an "Agreement Details Form" and a 25% retainer has been paid, a Photography Agreement is drafted and sent to the client. This agreement should be signed and returned accompanied by the remaining 25% deposit. The balance (50%) is to be paid one week prior to the wedding. The payment options include checks, MasterCard, Visa, Discover or AmEx. NY State sales tax will be added to all jobs performed in New York State.

WHAT ABOUT THE NEGATIVES? There is no additional cost for your film negatives. Ownership of the negatives is included with the contract. You simply sign a release and take them. Gruber Photographers Inc. retains the right of access for presentation purposes. After three years we charge a nominal fee to retrieve negatives from storage.

WHAT IS LIGHTING? Photographic lighting is set-up, modulated, and disguised before shooting begins. This "flash only" low level lighting is triggered by a photographer's electronic flash and does not change the mood or atmosphere of the room.

WHAT IS SET-UP AND BREAKDOWN? Set-up is the preparation at the photographer does at the venue to get ready to shoot for the entire day. It includes formals and reception lighting, unpacking and loading cameras, placing all empty cases in discreet locations before meeting up with the bride in her getting ready location. Breakdown is dismounting and packing everything when the event is nearing completion. Some exceptionally large venues such as the Metropolitan Club, The Plaza, The Pierre or Cipriani require extra set-up time.

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General Album Info

ALBUM POLICY: We supervise the entire process of making your album and review all prints with you before sending them to the binder. From the day you deposit it takes four to six months to produce your album(s).

ALBUM DESIGN: Your wedding album should reflect your individuality. Gruber Photographers, Inc. will show you the different albums available. Ultimately, there are two decisions that you need to make: 1) the type of album, 2) your favorite images. Our production staff will closely guide you and help you design your album.

ALBUM PRICES: You have complete freedom of choice and are not bound to any limiting package. For example, a 12x12 album with 50 images up to 10x10 will cost approximately $2,500 and a similar album with 80 images will cost about $4,000. Parent albums with 20-25 images up to 5x7 cost approximately $750-$1,000.

THE CAPRI STYLE ALBUM: This is the most common album. This leather-bound book, comes in flush or reversible styles. Each photo page is a 1/16" thick board sewn together into a leather binding. In a 12x12 flush album, one to four images are printed on one piece of photo paper and mounted to the board. In a 12x12 reversible book, each photo is printed to size and is mounted with a white matt around the image.

THE CUSTOM ALBUM: The custom made archival wedding album is constructed by a book binder according to your personal specifications which will include the page size, number of pages, cover material and type of paper. The book binder will mount your photos into the book.

NON ALBUM PRINT ORDER FULFILLMENT: It takes three to four weeks to make a modest number of loose prints.

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