Photog Review Jean-Marcus Strole

[IslandLover]

Hey all,

First Congrats to all of you and have FUN planning your destination wedding….we made it fun and it was a BLAST!

 

Our wedding was May 9, 2009 in St. Thomas. It took me so long to write a review b/c we are about to do a 2nd honeymoon in Italy in 5 days, AND just bought a house…we have been so busy, and I wanted to make sure when I write this review that Jean-Marcus (JM) gets all the credit he deserves….b/c

HE ROCKED!

 

Just talking to JM here on the forums and with planning things out, I felt like I knew him forever, he is very outgoing, friendly and has a great humor.

 

I had a wedding planner in St. Thomas, and she was awesome, but I wanted a photographer who had a little more artistic, photojournalistic and unique style than what came in the package. At first, I was really hesitant to have a photographer come from across the country (Seattle to Caribbean) and thought it was really unrealistic. I struggled with it for weeks!

 

I was looking around and I just kept going back to JM’s photos, I was just so impressed. At first, I said “no we can’t do that, it would be crazyâ€â€¦.but then after 2 weeks of seriously thinking about wanting JM as our photographer and how much I loved his work, I couldn’t sleep one night, I woke my FI up (who I had been constantly telling about JM for weeks)….I said “I just have to have JM as our photographerâ€â€¦Ron said OK immediately…prob b/c I kept talking about how much I loved JM’s work and seriously Ron loved his work too!

 

Pre Wedding: JM is so fun to work with, very laid back. And he always responds to emails very quickly…I never had to wait days to have him answer questions. Even a few months b/f the wedding, when I was freaking out, he always responded right away…I swear he carries his computer on him all the time! He totally put my mind to ease.

 

When you book JM he comes for as many days as you want, and photographs as much/little as you want. It is basically unlimited photos.

 

Day 1: We didn’t have any plans but dinner, JM came out, met the family and really just got to know everyone. He is so outgoing that everyone just took to him and love him right away. At first my family was like “your photographer is from where? And why?†That lasted until they met him…they LOVED him…

 

Day2: Pre wedding welcome lunch at the hotel and dinner on a boat. It was awesome…again, we wanted really laid back, and wanted everyone to have fun and they did…JM was like a part of the family…he just fit right in and got along with everyone.

 

Day 3: Wedding Day- JM met me early for me to get hair/makeup, had awesome ideas for a ‘first look’ with my FI so we could do pre wedding pics at the Ritz. As Im getting ready, he was SO much of a help… Im not kidding you…he helped out so much..my wedding was super small and last minute things that needed to be done, he was such a great help and eager to do so

 

We did pre wedding pics, then drove to the ceremony at the beach. It rained but JM took all the chances he could get to get great pics when the sun peaked through

 

At the same time, he was always helping out, either with me or the guests….totally awesome…I seriously don’t know what I would have done without him there.

 

Keep in mind, as outgoing as he is, he was totally professional the entire time.

 

Day 4: TTD

Well, we didn’t plan to do a TDD, but the day b/f the wedding decided to buy a ‘used’ dress from the Wedding Coordinator. SO glad we did….OMG it was amazing. First I must say JM insisted he be there for him to help me pick out the best dress for the TDD shoot…..he didn’t have to do this, but he did. He met us at the hotel room, I tried on dresses, he examined them, gave his opinion, and it was so cool he took the time to do that….he wanted me to have the best dress for the shoot….shows how much he really cares about his work!

 

We had the TDD on St. John, Trunk Bay…which was a special place to JM anyway b/c his father had visited there many years before and had such great things to say about the beach.

 

The TDD was awesome…I was WAY more relaxed and they are such AWESOME Pics…the sun was out, and he is so artistic, he had so many ideas….aside from the Posed shots that most photographers do…, just so unique and artistic!

 

JM came up with an idea, he wanted to do a pic with umbrellas, and we searched long and hard for some white ones, but only found blue….the blue of our wedding…so we used them.

EVERYONE, I mean EVERYONE LOVES the umbrella pics…I have had people ask if they could have them to just put up in their house b/c it is so amazing….Im not kidding!....but I won’t tell you the secret of how he got this awesome shot

 

JM was amazing, he was like a photographer, wedding coordinator, supporter, friend throughout the entire time, while still professional. He was kinda the life of the party at times, so engaging to all of our guests…when we didn’t know what to do at times b/c of the craziness, he was there to direct us during the wedding…he has had so much experience that he just KNEW what to do and when to do it!

 

At the end of the wedding Everyone said “JM was great†they just loved him and wanted his contact info right away! They at first questioned why I would send a photog across the country to do the pics before the wedding, then they said “we know exactly why you picked himâ€!

 

Our pics are awesome….so awesome I don’t know how Im going to choose a photo book…Im still trying to pick out thank you cards….I am in awe of the pics…it is going to take me some time.

 

One last note…since JM lives in Seattle and we live in CA…we are actually thinking about having him come and photograph our first childs Bday…no plans for preg yet but I feel like he is “MY†photographer for any event we do in the future. I also know I gained a friend during this… But for those of you who just want ‘a photographer’ and no personal relationship, JM is up to that too…he Is so versatile and very professional…but a Hell of a lot of fun to be with!

 

Im too tired to post pics…I hope JM can respond and post pics… Night shifts are tough so I really want you to see some pics and see how awesome he is….but Ive been up over 24 hours and need to sleep.

 

JM…we love ya!

 

Manda and Ron

[ehegwer]

do you have a link to your gallery? I know everyone wants to see them now.