Why use a Professional

In a Valley where there are two Colleges kicking out photo students, and in an Era where allot of people have a good or even great camera, it begs the question of why do I need a professional to shoot my wedding.
My thinking follows this path. Allot of time and energy goes into planning for a photo shoot. Whether it is a Commercial shoot, a Wedding day, or a Family sitting. The time is valuable and cannot be reclaimed. The more people you have involved, the more important it is to get it right the first time and with a great consideration for every ones time involved. It is not a time for someone to be learning. That is what internships are for.
The process that I put my clients through to fine tune their particular tastes has been shaped by allot of things. Mostly from my work at the Church Magazines. There was a particular designer that was notorious for ordering a photo and not coming to the shoot to communicate the ideas that he had. This lead to much wasted time and allot of frustration, not only on my part but the volunteer models, and even himself. In short he would use the shoot as a proofing and conceptualizing session. More than half of the time he would order a re-shoot.
Well with the People work I do now, I have formed processes that put the Client into a collaborative environment so they can be part of the creative process.
My goal is to get to know the situation well enough so that it runs very smoothly from the start.
I do not want to be an energy extractor at a function or event. This is especially true of Wedding photography. When a couple walks down the aisle, or comes out the Temple doors it is too late to ask what kind of things they want to work on.
That is what the prep work is for.