What it is like
Here is how a wedding with us goes, from the first note you send to the day your gallery arrives.
01
Tell us your name, your email and your wedding date, and we'll check our calendar. You'll see right away whether the date is open, and Cydney writes back herself, usually within two business days.
It doesn't commit you to anything.
Inquire about your date
02
You reserve your date by signing the contract and paying a 25% retainer, which counts as your first payment. The rest comes in up to three payments, spread evenly across the time you have, with the last one due a month before the wedding.
How far ahead couples book varies more than people expect. Some book a year out, some book a month out. If your date is close, ask anyway. It is often still possible.
03
Before the wedding we work through the timeline, the light, the family list and the drive times, so the day has a shape without being over-planned.
Planning together
Once you book, you get a private place where we plan your day together. It holds your questionnaire, your wedding-day timeline and family photo list, a free wedding website with online RSVP, your seating chart, your vendors and your payments.
Try the Planning HubPlay with an example wedding, or start blank with your own. Nothing you enter is sent anywhere.
For you Plan from your phone or your computer.For us We see the same pages you do.
These are the hub's own pages, shown with an example wedding. Press any one to see it large.
It comes with Signature and Complete. It is also the easiest way to get used to a camera before the wedding day, which is most of why we suggest it.
We've photographed weddings across every major Black Hills venue, and our notes on each one are written from experience, not a brochure.
04
On the day we give simple direction when it helps, keep portraits moving, and step back when the real moments are happening.
Most of our favorite frames have come from difficult weather. We scout alternate locations in advance and carry backup cover for gear. We do not cancel for weather.
05
You'll usually see a sneak peek within a week, and the full gallery in six to eight weeks, edited to look like your day rather than this year's trend.
For a sense of how much a full gallery holds, Carlee and Tayven's came to 1,035 photographs in 11 chapters. Open all of it →
Every gallery has a shop in it, opened from the gallery itself, with the photographs you marked as favorites already in place.
Questions
Yes. We photographed weddings in Washington State for ten years before we moved to South Dakota, and we still travel for weddings. Travel is billed at cost, with no markup.
Seventeen in 2026, and the number moves year to year. What never changes is that we photograph every wedding ourselves.
You'll usually see a sneak peek within a week, and the full gallery within eight weeks, usually in six to eight. If you order an album, it takes another six to eight weeks.
Most of our favorite frames have come from difficult weather. We scout alternate locations in advance and carry backup cover for gear. We do not cancel for weather.
Yes. The Complete collection includes a second photographer and the Signature collection includes an assistant, and that's usually Jason. You can also add a second photographer to any collection by the hour.
You reserve your date by signing the contract and paying a 25% retainer, which counts as your first payment. The rest comes in up to three payments, spread evenly across the time you have, with the last one due a month before the wedding. If your wedding is less than two months away, it's all due when you book.
Next
Inquire about your date
We answer every message ourselves, usually within two business days. Email me the collections