Photo/Video.

I'm a little concerned about this. I've sent two messages to Chin, the guy that took our engagment pictures, on Facebook and he hasn't replied back with a yes or no yet. I really want him to take pictures for the wedding because I really like his work. I also asked if he might know someone to do video.

I think it's time I start looking for plans B-Z for this one. =/



Update
I found a company called LA Color through yelp.com, where the single reviewer gave an excellent review and mentioned their familiarity with Chinese weddings. Visited the website and was quite impressed so I e-mailed them.

Got a reply to that e-mail quickly, and ended up on the phone with the videographer Taky. He was a great guy to talk to, and gave me lots of information about his and his partner's services for photography and videography. Their pricing seems to be on the high end, but after talking with him and browsing the website, it seems like they might well be worth it.

No matter where I read, people say not to skimp on the photo and video. But I'm not sure if we can handle $2300ish each (so $4600 or so total). He did offer a good amount of incentives, including extras and discounts. They also offer something called a magazine instead of an album, which I've never heard of before (probably because I'm way behind the times). So all the pictures are put in the correct orientation printed in magazine quality.... and you get a magazine of the pictures instead of an album stuffed with individual 4x6 pictures. Plus a disc of the pictures in case you want to print more on your own.

The other reviews I found outside of yelp were also really good. They pride themselves on excellence since most of their business is by referral. Since I'm unable to meet with them, he arranged to have more of their work e-mailed to me so I can see what a final product would be like. For one thing, I'm already really impressed with his customer service.

As I continue my search, the huge thing that's drawing me back to LA Color is their familiarity with Chinese customs. It's something I feel I just can't trust to an American. Heck, Taky can even refer me to an MC that speaks Cambodian, Chinese and English... all the languages I need!

So we'll see how this goes. I really need to get on a budget about now. I don't want to get my hopes up about things only to find out we really can't afford it. I mean... we can only rely on the income from the restaurant so much. Really, we shouldn't rely on it at all. We have time to save up, but I know I need to reground myself.

Hopefully going to this Wedding Expo will help us figure out what general pricing is on things -- help us make sure no one's trying to rip us off about anything.