If you are local, we can arrange a meeting and sign the contract and you can pay your deposit.  If you are out of town, you can print the contract and standard terms, complete and sign, and mail it in to the address indicated along with the deposit amount.  We can also send you an online invoice that you can pay online. If you would rather not pay online, the invoice will have alternatives for payment by personal check, money order or cashiers check.

We realize that it can be difficult to contract services and make plans when you are out of town, so we have tried to make it as convenient as possible for you.

Cancellation or Date Change: 
If the wedding is cancelled for any reason, the deposit is forfeited.    Once your date is booked and reserved with a deposit, we must decline all other photography requests for that date and time, therefore the deposit is non-refundable.

We support and want to extend our appreciation to all military personnel.  If orders are changed requiring a change in the wedding date, the deposit will be applied to your new wedding date, conditional upon whether we have the date available.

How an Alabama Beach Bride wedding works:  
Once you book and reserve a date with a deposit, we will send you, by regular mail or by email attachments, more information, and and someone will contact you to get the details of your wedding.  Provide the details to us as far in advance as you would like, but at least 3-4 weeks prior to the wedding date.  Once we have the information we can plan your wedding timeline, and inform everyone involved of what to expect.  We will forward you the wedding plan, and then call you prior to the wedding date to discuss it and make sure we have all of the correct information.

When you arrive at your Gulf Coast destination for your wedding, please call the office (904-687-0642) and let us know you are at your destination, and please provide a cell phone or other phone number where you can be reached once you leave home for your destination.

You can schedule your wedding for any time of day you want, morning, noon or evening (before dark).  If you want the closest time possible to sunset, we will look up the sunset time for that date, and determine the starting time by which wedding package you have purchased, along with how many people are involved in your wedding (attendants, family, and events, such as reception events).  We must start early enough to be finished before dark. 

If you purchase a wedding package with a cake reception included, we can have the wedding outdoors and the reception portion indoors, or on the beach.  Your rental house, condo or resort might have a good area for this, and many condo/resorts have meeting/banquet rooms you can rent for this.  If the cake reception portion of the wedding is moved indoors, it must be an adjacent area. 

If you are purchasing a wedding package, and plan on incorporating the reception portion with a catered meal, you should consider upgrading your package to include either the Value Photography Package 1, or the Value Photography Package 2.  This will allow for more hours of coverage to cover the additional time needed for the dinner, and the additional photographs of the longer reception.

If you are planning a dinner for your guests at another location after the wedding, and want to have your cake cutting pictures on the beach, we can set everything up so that you can have your bride and groom champagne toast and cake cutting.  We could then pack up the cake and everything that goes with it (napkins, plates, cups, forks, beverage, etc) and just send it with you, so you can serve it after your dinner.  Be sure to let us know this is your plan so we can bring appropriate packaging materials.

Timeline:  Generally, the timeline for your wedding is as follows: 

• Ceremony

• Formal Portraits

• Champagne Toast and Cake Cutting (if included)

• Bride and Groom informal beach stroll with photographer, while cake and beverage is served to guests

The actual time it takes for a wedding is determined not only by the particular package you choose, but by the number of people involved in your wedding (attendants, family, and guests).

We will have a number of people providing services at your wedding, including the professional photographer, minister/Officiant, director of wedding services, and a general assistant.  The director of wedding services will be available to instruct everyone involved in the wedding where to go, stand, and direct the processional.  We will have everything planned according to the information you provide us, so please be as detailed and specific as you can.

Please read the Terms of Agreement for the appropriate service. The Terms of Agreement has precedence over the information presented above. If you do not understand any portion of the contract, please contact us.

Photography and Proofs: 
The number of proofs you receive for your photography is determined by the package you purchase.  The packages are designed to generally cover the amount of photography needed for the amount of time included in the package.  Please review the packages carefully and book the package appropriate to your wedding or event.  If you need to discuss exactly what will be included, please speak with us ahead of time to make sure you book enough time for your event.  

Overtime hours can be added to your package if necessary; however it is best to plan for this ahead of time, as the photographer may have another booking before or after your event and cannot accommodate you on short notice.  Overtime hours include additional proofs for that hour, and the rates can be found on the standard price list.

Depending on the season, it takes about two-three weeks for us to get the proofs to you.  Many times it is earlier than this.  If you are local, we can arrange a meeting to deliver your proofs to you; otherwise we will mail them by insured US Priority Mail to the address indicated on the contract.  Be sure to keep us updated of any address changes.

Your proofs are photographs provided to you from your wedding, portrait or other photography session.  These proofs are provided so that you may select your enlargements and reprints, they are not considered final prints.  If a proof is not perfect, don’t worry, we will make any corrections before printing your enlargements or prints.  If you have questions about a proof, please ask us. 

Premium wedding proofs are individual 4x5 prints and do have the studio name printed on the bottom front and copyright information on the back.  Individual 4x5 proofs have a pebble finish texture and copyright information on the back. 

Value package, wedding package, and portrait proofs are printed in an 8.5x11 bound portfolio, with six proofs per page, and a customized cover designed by our designer from selected photos.  All proofs are protected under federal copyright laws, whether delivered via print, portfolio, CD-ROM, online gallery, or in any other manner.  Proofs are yours to keep.

Wedding Packages (complete weddings including Officiant, professional photography and other items dependant on which package you choose, or we tailor for you):
An Alabama Beach Bride wedding is a wedding package complete with everything you need to have a destination wedding.  It can be as simple or as elaborate as you like. 

Marriage ceremonies are as varied as the brides and grooms, and we want you to have the ceremony you desire.  It is impossible to list every ceremony option or wording here, but we will be happy to discuss with you and tailor your ceremony so you can have just what you want.

You can write your own vows or recite readings or poetry during the vow portion of the ceremony.

If you would like a non-traditional ceremony, just discuss it with us.  We want to understand what you want and do all we can to make that happen, just be sure to communicate with us so that we have a clear understanding of the type of ceremony you want.

There are many ways that friends, family and children can be involved in your marriage ceremony.  Let the Officiant know how you want them involved, or if you aren’t sure, we can discuss it and come up with something.  Children’s vows can be included in the ceremony if you wish.  These are all things we will discuss in detail once you book a Alabama Beach Bride wedding with us.

If you have booked one of our Alabama Beach Bride weddings and wish to bring your own Officiant or minister, there will not be any discount for using your own minister or Officiant.  We are able to keep our package prices affordable because we do everything in-house, and since we do not have to hire an outside minister, there is no cost-savings to us.

Our Ordained Minister is a female, age 53, and has performed hundreds of beautiful, personal ceremonies.  Our minister will contact you prior to the wedding date to discuss your personal ceremony.

We realize you may have a preference for a male minister.  We do not currently have one on staff.  It is perfectly acceptable for you to procure your own minister, or we can do it for you.  The common rate for ministers performing a beach ceremony is approximately $250.00.  If we book your minister, this amount would need to be paid at the time of booking the non-staff minister, and is non-refundable.

Outdoor weddings and weather: 
If you are local, you should have another location planned, just in case it does rain at the time of your ceremony--your home, or a friend’s home, or a hotel if you are staying at the beach.  If you are from out of town and staying at a hotel, you should consult with the hotel (resort/condo/house owner/manager); many have a place indoors that could be used for a few minutes for a ceremony, however, any fees for this are your responsibility.  In case of rain, we will be happy to work with you to rearrange the ceremony or other portions of the event.  For example, if we have to move indoors for the ceremony because of rain, we would be happy to do the beach photography the next day, or at another time convenient for all of us.

Locations: 
We can set up your Alabama Beach Bride wedding at a site you have available, at the house or condo you are renting on the beach (inform the owner/management first), or we can use a public beach area.  Some public beach areas do require a permit.  Obtaining the permit, and the payment, would be your responsibility; however we will get all of the details and information you need to do that.  Some parks also have pavilions and other facilities require a separate and/or additional permit to reserve the pavilions for use, such as for the reception portion.  This also is your responsibility, but we would help you in obtaining this. 

We will not knowingly set up a wedding at a site that we know to require permits if you do not have one.  We will abide by all the rules and regulations of the public areas where the wedding is held.

Some public areas also require a vehicle or per person entry fee.  These regulations differ for each park, so once we determine the best place for your wedding, I will contact the public site to find out what the current regulations are.  You and/or your personal guests, and anyone entering the site for your wedding will be responsible for their entry fee.  Alabama Beach Bride wedding staff will pay their own entry fees.

Beach Access:
For all Alabama Beach Bride weddings (except the Sand Between Your Toes Wedding) we must be able to park a truck and trailer close enough to the site in order to unload and transport all of the decorations and the reception supplies and equipment.  In extreme circumstances, there may be an additional fee for those weddings where equipment has to be carried a long way because we cannot get close enough to park the trailer to unload the equipment at a reasonable distance.  If you think that your desired location might be difficult to get the equipment and supplies to, please let us know so we can check the location out further.  Please see the wedding description page for locations that we know require an additional surcharge to deliver the wedding equipment.

We must be able to legally access the wedding site; we will not trespass to get to the site, or will not set up a wedding on private property without prior permission.

The above also applies to areas other than the beach.

Enlargements and Prints:
Enlargements and prints should be ready within two weeks after you get the order to us. This may vary due to the fact that our professional lab may be extremely busy during peak times (wedding season and Christmas holidays), and we may also have a heavier workload than usual during those time periods.  We will process enlargements orders in the order received, and payment received if enlargements are not included in your package.  If you order includes an album, we try to have the materials available to build the album, but because these are so varied due to enlargement sizes, etc., we may have to order the parts for the album, and this will take some extra time to get the shipment from the manufacturer.

You can order your enlargements online at our storefront.  Please see the instructions at the store for ordering.  If you have credits from a package, we will provide you with a coupon code to use at checkout for your included credits.  Credits provided with a photography or wedding package must be used within 180 days of wedding date, and the coupon should be used on your first order, and only on one order.

Instructions for ordering enlargements will be included with your proofs. 

When using the shopping cart feature to order your proofs, you will be asked for payment during checkout in the form of a debit or credit card (Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover).  There are two ways to pay by debit/credit card:  Online Payment--you will enter the card information and it will be processed by our credit card service provider (PayPal), and we will never see the credit card information.  We will receive the notice that the payment has been made and a copy of your order invoice.  If you use the other option, Offline Payment, you still have to enter all of your credit card information. The difference is that the card information is sent to us (we will have your credit card number, etc.) and we input the information into our terminal for approval (again, we use PayPal for our credit card processor), and your card information remains in the system.   The easiest and most secure way to pay is to use the Online Processing option.

Another tip:  If you wish to mail a check for payment of your enlargement order, there is no option for checking out with check payment, so use this work around.  Enter the credit card number: 1234 1234 1234 1234 with a made up expiration date and security code number.  Then immediately send an email to: kopperhead@cox.net providing the order invoice number and let me know that you are mailing a check.  The enlargement order will not be filled until payment is received.

We do try to fill enlargement orders as soon as we receive them, however, due to workloads during certain seasons, we are very busy.  Most orders will be filled on Tuesday.  If you submit an order on Wednesday through Monday, we are busy getting ready for weekend weddings starting about Wednesday; we usually have a wedding on Friday, Saturday, and sometimes Sundays.  Otherwise, we do try to take Sundays and Monday's off since we work most evenings and weekends.  Therefore Tuesday is the best day for us to process your order and get it sent to the lab.

Shipping:
We ship by insured US Priority Mail.  No shipping charges are added to ship your proofs, however there are shipping charges, according to the order total, for enlargements and other items ordered.  These charges are on the storefront.  Any coupon codes issued for enlargements included in your package will include the shipping for the amount of the credit.  (Example: if the credit is $50.00, the actual coupon code will be in the amount of $56.00, which includes $6.00 shipping required for orders of $50.00.)  Some orders may require a delivery signature.

Orders of regular enlargements or prints sized 11x14 and smaller will be shipped directly to you from the lab.  Please let us know if anything is damaged in shipment, so we can instruct you on returning it to us.

Any enlargements with special treatments (mounting, sealing) and larger than 11x14 will be shipped directly to us.  We will inspect the item and send it to you by US Priority Mail.

Our Guarantee:
We want you to be happy not only with our services on your wedding day, but with your prints and enlargements also.  We guarantee our enlargements for quality.  If there is a problem, just contact our office and we will let you know how to proceed.