I love to meet with clients, and talk about what their big day will be like! Let’s get the most popular questions out of the way, so you can begin to learn a bit about our studio…

~ Jonathan Chicot
production manager

What will our wedding with studio nine look like?

We will begin our coverage with any of your pre-wedding events.

Coverage of the Mehndi parties can include one photographer or one shooter for both photo and video, typically for about two hours. This is a great opportunity to have the team meet your family for the first time!

The Grah Shanti and Haldi ceremonies can be combined as a couples event or be separate with distinct times and locations. We will usually allot 3 hours of coverage for these events.

2 to 3 hours of coverage

Day 1:
Pre-Wedding Events

The Sangeet and Garba nights are always a great event for your two families to meet, mix, and become one! We will start our coverage about 30 minutes before guests arrive, and get the evening couple’s and group portraits out of the way. This way once your guests arrive you can focus on mingling and meeting people.

From there, we will cover all your performances, skits, dances, or rituals you have planned. Once the party gets started we will shoot about 30-60 minutes of the dance floor before calling it a night. There is a big day ahead!


4 hours of coverage

Day 2:
Sangeet / Garba

We will begin our coverage of your big day right around the time the Bride’s hair and makeup are completed. We can shoot some quick touch-ups and then you can begin to get dressed. We like to shoot a lot of bridal details so you can have all your jewelry, shoes, and even stationary with you for us to capture.

Once you are completely dressed, we like to take a few minutes getting solo portraits and formal portraits with your bridal party and family.



3 hours before baraat

Day 3:
Getting Ready

The very first time the couple sees each other on their wedding day is always a special moment. We try to keep this time as free of distraction as possible. Just you and your partner taking it all in and preparing for life’s journey ahead!

We will move from the first look directly into couple’s portraits. We always will scout great locations and backgrounds ahead of time so we can move quickly and get a lot of variety. Our photographers know how to get great poses without making things awkward or stiff. Most importantly, we want to keep things fun and stress-free. If you feel great, you will look great!

We can wrap this session with group portraits of your immediate family and bridal party, before the main events of the day begin. This can take 30-45 minutes.




2 hours before baraat

Day 3:
The First Look

The groom’s time to shine! We will follow the party from the parking lot all the way to the mundap. We know this time can be chaotic, so our shooters are trained on how to stay ahead of the action, making sure they are always in the best position to get amazing shots!

The Baraat will end with the Groom’s side and Bride’s Mom coming together to begin the Ceremony.


9:00 am

Day 3:
Baraat

During the Ceremony, each person on our team has a defined role to play. The first photographer will focus mainly on the couple, the Mundap, and all of the rituals going on. Our second photographer will mainly focus on getting reactions and candid shots of your friends and family. Those photos can be some of the most touching to see after the wedding.




10:00 am

Day 3:
Ceremony

Now comes the transition from the Mundap to the post-ceremony rituals. We know there are a lot of different kinds of traditions here and every family is a little bit different. Whether the groom has to buy his shoes back, the couple has to fish for their wedding rings, or the family has to say their goodbye’s before the groom whisks the bride away at the Vidaii, we’ll be ready!





12:00 pm

Day 3:
Post ceremony

To complete the morning’s coverage, we like to take this time to do some bigger group photos of your extended family and friends. We typically take about 3-5 minutes per group portrait. This way you make sure you have a photo with every guest who attended!

Once that is completed, our team will begin their break. This time is off-the-clock, and does not count against your coverage hours. We’ll rest, recharge, and prepare for the evening festivities!






12:30 pm

Day 3:
Group Portraits

Our evening coverage begins with couple’s portraits and immediate family photos. We will take advantage of the time we have to show off your beautiful reception decor. We can also take this session elsewhere in or around your venue to get good variety. We often will finish with this in time for our couples to attend cocktail hour if they choose to.







6:00 pm

Day 3:
Evening portraits

Our team of second photo and video can begin to capture all the details of your reception decor while you are finishing your evening portraits. Then they can make their way out to the cocktail hour and get lots of candid and informal group photos of guests mingling and enjoying themselves.








6:30 pm

Day 3:
cocktail hour

The reception program will begin with your formal introduction, one of our favorite moments of the day! We relish the high energy of all your family and friends showing their love and support.

We will talk through your reception program in detail before your wedding to make sure the team is ready for every nuance. We consider our placement of cameras during this time extremely important, both to make sure we’re always getting the best angles but also to make sure we are as unobtrusive as possible to your guests.






7:30 pm

Day 3:
reception program

Finally the party begins! This is your chance to let your hair down, take your jacket off and dance the night away.

We will typically cover about an hour of the dance party before we say goodnight, and head home.







9:00 pm

Day 3:
party 

How long will my films be?

Do you need hotel arrangements?

Can I have the raw files?

How many images do you deliver?

What are my deliverables?

How many people will be in your crew?

What is the difference between your photographers?

What kinds of wedding do you do?

How many coverage hours will we need?

What is your style?

frequently asked questions

Q:

A:

You may have noticed our portfolios feature more than just formal stylized couple’s portraits in front of some epic background. That’s by design. Sure, we love to take a beautiful portrait, but there is so much more to a wedding day than that. We love candid moments of real emotion.

Our goal is to truly capture the inner beauty of your relationship, your family, and your event. We make sure we are meticulous in our planning with you so that we anticipate every special moment that you care about the most.

Finally, we strive for timelessness. Wedding photography has seen a lot of trends come and go, so we avoid chasing whatever is the photography fad of the moment. The first time you open your gallery and look at your images we want you to be blown away and overcome with emotion, but we also want your photographs to look perfect on your 10th – 20th – or 50th anniversary.

Generally, our wedding day coverage is between 10-12 hours of coverage time. With a Hindu wedding, we begin our services a few hours before the Baraat to shoot detail and prep photos. We also like to do all of your formal portraits and group photos before the main ceremony gets underway. This way, you look your best and can enjoy the rest of your day. After your ceremony, we can spend up to an hour doing extended group photos with family and friends. This block in the morning is typically around 5 to 7 hours total.

In the afternoon, we can take a break and recharge for the evening. This is time we aren’t shooting and you are not being charged. Note that any break in our coverage needs to be at least two hours long.

Then, we can restart our coverage and take your evening formal portraits while the other half of our team covers candid photos at cocktail hour. After the main events of the reception are completed, we typically stay for about an hour or so of the dance party before we head home. The evening block is usually a bit less time than the morning, around 4 to 6 hours.

After booking, you can always add time to your package as you need. If the day comes and we need a bit more time, we are always flexible to work out an overtime rate.

We do weddings of all cultures and religions! About 80% of our clients are either Northern or Southern Indian, but we also do a ton of Sikh, Jewish, Greek, and Muslim weddings. We especially love to shoot fusion weddings – It’s so great to see two different cultures come together as one happy family!

Between our main associates, our Staff photographers, and our cinema team, we typically shoot between 30 to 50 events a year. We are busy, but not too busy to treat each client with the individualized attention they deserve. We have been in business since 2001, and have shot more than 800 events.

Fundamentally, all of our photographers take the same philosophical approach to your day, but each have distinct styles when it comes to posing and editing. While they all have dozens of weddings in their experience, we price them according to their seniority at the studio. You can get a sense of their styles by viewing their individual portfolios in the “Photos” menu above.

For photography, we always have two photographers for the wedding day. They are able to split up in the morning to cover the getting ready process, even if the bride and groom are in two separate locations.

For the Sangeet and other pre-wedding events, we are always okay using just one photographer.

For video we use two cinematographers for the Sangeet and Wedding day, and one for all other pre-wedding events.

All of our packages include electronic delivery of your photographs and films via private galleries where you can view everything online, share with family and friends, and download all media directly to your computer for safe-keeping.

We also pledge to keep all your media online indefinitely, so you don’t have to worry about losing anything if your computer crashes. It will always be safe in the cloud!

We will take thousands of pictures at your event. After the wedding, every image is downloaded and securely backed up to redundant hard drives. Then, your main photographer will go through everything and cull out any photos that aren’t desirable, like blinking and redundant poses.

From there, each photo is developed, color corrected, and enhanced to look its absolute best. We typically deliver around 100 images per hour of coverage.

All raw video content can be delivered to you on a hard drive after the editing is completed.

We do can provide raw files of the images for an additional fee.


An initial quote from us will almost always include all travel expenses, including hotel if needed. Our production manager will take the lead on booking all logistics for your coverage team so there is one less thing to worry about during your wedding planning!

In some circumstances, like destination weddings, we may specify that our quote does not include travel costs.

We include a 10-15 minute highlight film as the main deliverable. Our goal is to use the best footage from your entire event, along with custom music and audio from your friend’s and family’s speeches to tell your story.

We also commit to delivering “Extended Edits” of the Sangeet program, Wedding Ceremony, and Reception speeches. These are real-time full length documentary style films of each of the most important parts of your event, shot with multiple camera angles edited together. They serve as a great record of your event and are great to sit and watch if you want to relive the day moment by moment!

A:

How long will my films be?

Do you need hotel arrangements?

Can I have the raw files?

How many images do you deliver?

What are my deliverables?

How many people will be in your crew?

What is the difference between your photographers?

What kinds of wedding do you do?

How many coverage hours will we need?

What is your style?

frequently asked questions

Q:

A:

Begin your experience

Contact Us

16 North 3rd Street
Philadelphia PA 19106

609-202-8177

info@studionine.com

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@studioninephoto