I booked Sascha in April 2010 for my July 2011 wedding.  Yes, I booked him RIGHT after I booked my wedding at the Royal PDC.  I compared at least 10 photogs in the area and built an excel spreadsheet to "evaluate" them.  I was a photog blogs stalker for months...checked at least 100+ wedding slide shows, reviews, blog pics, wedding magazines..websites. 

Of course, every bride LOVES their own wedding pics, even those who got ugly pics or very generic pics.  I understand that is like the "no mom would find their own kids butt ugly" syndrome.  However, by browsing thru..thousands of weddings pics..I know what I like and what I don't like.

LOCAL vs BRING YOUR OWN PHOTOG FROM UR VILLAGE

Of course, a lot of brides went thru this question, but for me the choice was very clear.  Even tho..I did found photogs in Montreal who are willing to just shoot my wedding plus other days if I pay their stay.  It is a win-win, for $2000 max, I can have several days of coverage, and they can build their folio with nice DW pics with nice backdrop. However, from what I ve seen, I didn't find the foreign photog got the color, the exposure right, and don't goto the nice local spots for TTD pics.  The pics were still beautiful, but there was smth missing.

Local photogs have an edge over the foreign photogs..since they know where to go, how to shoot under different local weather condition, light...etc.  They also know the normal sequence of a DW, so they know when those precious moment and details pop out.

STYLE

I wanted photojournalist style for my wedding day, nothing too cheesy, nothing too common.

Some photogs always got the same pose, same shooting angle...for me, that is too generic.

Some also just shoot the couple directly instead of from another reflection point or different angle, for me those pics are so uni-dimensional or so...1980s style!

GEAR LIST

My god brother is also a professional wedding photog, but he is afraid of flying...so he couldn't come to mexico and be my photog.  He did help in the selection process.  He checked the candidates' techniques, gears, photoshop skills...to narrow the list down.

PRICE

I wondered if I am in the wrong industry and studied too much and too hard when I saw how much photogs charge!  That is true for both local or Montreal photogs.

To be fair, the most expensive photogs in the Cancun/Rivera Maya area really deliver, their pics are amazing, those who are a heiress or marrying an investment banker or whose' dad is an investment banker or a law firm partner, please hire them.  Unfortunately, I had a limited budget, so the fancy ones were out of my range, and I didn't want to hire them for just 2-4 hours, I wanted a whole day coverage, so I wouldn't miss any precious moment pics.

I picked Sascha because his price was within my budget, and his style fits my taste.

Communication:A+

Easy, straight forward!

Punctuality: A+

He arrived on time and started taking pics asap!  Don't assume that every photog is like this, I did heard some horror stories like the photog arrived late with no assistant!  Imagine, how stressful is that!

During the day: A+++

Sascha and his assistant were working so hard, clic clic clic..getting all the details and I didn't realized it until I saw the pics.  I was so stressed or into the moment that I didn't notice anything around me anyway!!  Therefore, hiring a good photog like Sascha is VERY IMPORTANT, and please don't cut corner or ur budget on it.  It worths every penny. 

When I noticed that it was cloudy and worrying about if it was going to rain, Sascha checked the satellite weather pics for me to try to calm me down...it didn't really work, but still the effort was appreciated.

Capture the moments: A++++

my wedding was a very emotional event.  Sascha and his assistant captured all those aw...and all those moving/teary moments.

TTD:  A+

Sascha brought us to some fancy golf course, a ruin and back to the beach for TTD.  My TTD pics are beautiful, and I got so many compliment from my friends and colleagues.  Even tho I got eaten alive by muzzies, Sascha's photoshop skill is AMAZING, I got almost flawless skin in the pics!

Overall: A+++++ to infinity and beyond!