Capturing the moment

When a couple looks back on the day they made the choice to spend their lives together, the photos of the event are what evoke their reasons for being together.

There are many photographers in the southwest Iowa area, but Taycey Post and Jeanine Lynam are just two who focus on engagement and wedding photography.

“I would like to do photography in any town, to be right honest. I’ve always loved it,” Lynam said.

Taycey Post Photography

Taycey Post of Creston owns her own business, Taycey Post Photography, and has for the past five years.

“It was a hobby long before it was a legitimate business,” Post said.

After two years of doing photography as a hobby, mostly for her children, she turned her hobby into a way to make people happy and earn money at the same time. Now, Post shoots engagements, weddings, boudoir, children, family and the occasional newborn.

Post has shot about 100 weddings since her first one in 2009. She mostly covers the southwest Iowa area but has also done photography in other parts of the country, such as Illinois and Florida.

“I love and hate weddings at the same time because they are very, very stressful, and I’m a perfectionist,” Post said. “My favorite weddings are when the bride allows me to do what I love to do, and that’s basically just to spend time with them (the bride and groom) alone.”

Post, who works full time and cares for her family, shoots around her already busy schedule. She has engagement packages of one hour for $300 and 1.5 hours for $450. Her wedding packages are separate and start at $1,600 for four hours. She also has six- and eight-hour options available, as well as hourly. She has payment plans and other options available as well.

“I meet with the couple right then, and, generally, if I’m shooting their wedding I’ve shot their engagement,” Post said. “If I didn’t do their engagement photos, I’m talking with them continually.”

After discovering how the bride and groom have mapped out the ceremony and reception, Post will be able to plan for photos during the most important moments. Once her hours are up at the event, Post will preview photos within several days. She edits the photos and returns them to the couple after no more than 45 days. She also includes unedited photos in the wedding packages.

“Most of my stuff is so good straight out of camera that I don’t have a whole lot of bad shots,” Post said. “At a six-hour wedding, I generally take 3,000 shots, but I’m unique in that you can look at my unedited and like it just as much as my edited.”

Post has other options available as well. She has done several staged wedding shoots in the past and already has several lined up for the future.

“I did a staged wedding for MaKenzi and Brandon Vonk, and that was just a specialty package I can offer any bride,” Post said. “(MaKenzi had) two different wedding dresses, two different bouquets, two different looks. She asked me, ‘For my traditional wedding dress, I want very light and airy, and for my black wedding dress I want very “American Horror Story: Hotel,” Gothic type of vibe. Dark, scary almost.’ That was fun. That was probably my favorite to date because there was no pressure of an actual wedding.”

The most important thing Post has learned for the bride and groom to decide on is venue. Without a good venue, Post said, it’s hard for her to take the best photos she can for the ceremony and reception.

“Photography, it’s just always evolving,” Post said. “I’m not into the totally staged, tea party hipster whatever. But, I’m always into trying new things.”

For more information, call 641-745-0255 or visit Post’s Facebook page by searching Taycey Post Photography.

J’s Images

In the cool brick basement that is her studio, Lynam tells of her most memorable moments as an engagement and wedding photographer.

Lynam, a photographer in Lenox, shoots all sorts of moments in a person’s life, including prom, maternity, newborn and senior photos, alongside engagements and weddings.

Lynam started out doing photography in the 1980s on a part-time basis around her job as the Lenox city clerk. She left that job and became a paraeducator at Lenox High School, then in 2004 began taking her photography more seriously.

While Lynam photographs mostly in the southwest Iowa area, she has traveled elsewhere to shoot events. She has quite a few clients out of Des Moines.

“That’s what I love about these weddings,” Lynam said. “Many times I’ve already done these kids’ senior pictures, and then it’s their engagements and then their weddings. Then it’s maternity, and then it’s babies and families.”

When it comes time for Lynam to discuss the photography aspect of a couple’s upcoming wedding ceremony, she prefers to do the engagement photos as well to get to know the couple.

“When you do an engagement, you get to know the couple. We do a sit-down and discuss what their wedding is going to be like, what I can expect out of the day and what they can expect out of me that day,” Lynam said. “As a general rule, by the time the engagement session is over, I feel very comfortable that I know them.”

While visiting with the future bride and groom, Lynam shows them portfolios of her past work to get an idea of what they want.

“One of my favorite engagement photos was a one-shot, and it was a one-shot because I could never have held the camera still to do it again. It was a couple who are really big into four-wheelers, and they’re in competitions and stuff,” Lynam said. “The groom had a brother and he, his fiancé and the brother all are very active in this. So, I went out to their farm, and the parents had built a track for the kids to practice on. The couple laid on their stomachs, and the brother jumped over them in the four-wheeler.”

Lynam said she always likes to give the couple and the others a chance to do something interesting if they’d like to.

“If you have a fun idea, share it. We’ll do our best,” Lynam said. “Once for a wedding, the church had steps, about six steps, and the groom stood at the top and jumped into the arms of the guys underneath. It was, like, holy buckets.”

Lynam photographs the bride and groom getting ready separately, the ceremony and the reception from the beginning to garter toss.

During the wedding, Lynam also prefers to take individual shots of relatives such as the grandparents as part of the couple’s package. Lynam charges about $500 for the engagement and wedding photo sessions together. Photos can be purchased separately.

“I always tell them not to sweat the small stuff, because there will be plenty of small stuff,” Lynam said. “At the end of the day, as long as you can go home knowing that you are married, you’ve done what you set out to do.”

For more information, contact Lynam at jlynam@lenoxia.com, 641-333-2344 or 712-370-6035 or visit her website at www.jlynam.zenfolio.com.