Meet The Wedding Pro - Gary and Tracy with Four 2 North Photography

Join us as we sit down with Gary and Tracy, the inspirational duo behind the lens of Four 2 North Photography. Get ready to be captivated by their engaging stories of swapping a career in social work for capturing love stories through the art of wedding photography. We dive deep into their rich experiences and reveal the unique perspective that their previous careers bring to their photography, even when dealing with the occasional high-stress moments of a wedding day. With a commitment to their craft that’s as deep as their love for each other, Gary and Tracy are here to share their world with us.

From fielding inquiries and scheduling consultations to managing different lighting scenarios and venue types, they discuss the nitty-gritty of their process. They offer a first-hand account of the importance of showing a full gallery of their work to potential clients, providing a comprehensive understanding of their capabilities. As they recount their journey and share their process, you get a sense of their dedication that goes beyond snapping memorable pictures—they aim to create enduring experiences.

Gary and Tracy's passion doesn't stop at capturing the perfect picture or curating the perfect album. They strongly advocate for preserving memories through physical prints and albums, a tradition often bypassed in the digital age. They share anecdotes about the joy their clients experience while revisiting these tangible mementos, reminding us of the true essence of their work - to create memories that last a lifetime. Whether you’re planning your own wedding or just love a good story about following your passion, this episode is a must-listen.

Transcript

Introduction to 4-2 North Photography

Speaker 1 0:00

Welcome to Metropolitan Weddings. I'm Meg, I'm Dawn, and we are here to educate couples with information from wedding professionals in the industry.

Speaker 2 0:10

Our goal is to make the wedding planning process as seamless as possible by providing you with insight from industry professionals.

Speaker 1 0:17

Okay, couples, let's get this party started. Good morning or afternoon, listeners. We are here today with some photographers from the area. I'm going to let them introduce themselves and we're just going to kind of chat and hear a little bit about why they got into the business and their passion for the business. I don't know which one of you does the introducing, because there's a their team.

Speaker 3 0:46

We are a team. My name is Gary.

Speaker 4 0:49

And I'm Tracy.

Speaker 3 0:51

And we are 4-2 North Photography.

Speaker 1 0:54

Okay, so welcome to the podcast. 4-2 North Photography.

Speaker 5 0:57

Where did 4-2 North come from?

Speaker 2 0:59

That's what I was literally thinking.

Speaker 3 1:02

That is a very good, very good question. It does have meaning. So we were previously G&T Northrop Photography and we did a mentorship and we sat down with our mentor and he has a whole team around him and he's like guys, you need to change your name, okay. So we sat down with the team and we came up with 4-2 North, and the meaning behind 4-2 North is we have twin boys, so there are four of us as a family and there are two photographers and our last name is Northrop, so North for short, so 4-2 North.

Speaker 2 1:49

Okay, gotcha. Well, that makes sense. Now I know and I'll always remember it's very memorable, it is.

Speaker 1 1:56

I will say yeah.

Speaker 5 1:58

I didn't know what it meant. Yeah, other than North I assumed.

Speaker 1 2:01

North was short for Northrop, but that was really all I knew.

Speaker 4 2:05

Well, and before, when we had G&T Northrop, like on Facebook, you couldn't actually search for us until the second P in photography, so you had to actually make it through our last name. Oh, my gosh, which, unfortunately. Everyone asked how to spell it and so it became a search engine nightmare.

Speaker 3 2:31

It was way too complicated really. And hey, our first studio was on Highway 42.

Speaker 4 2:40

Another, so that was a fun coincidence.

Speaker 3 2:44

And we also live on Highway 42. Wow, there you go, meant to be.

Speaker 2 2:51

How long have you guys been?

Speaker 1 2:53

photographers. Is there a four and a two in there anywhere?

Speaker 3 3:01

42 years. Yes, there is, believe it or not, eight years. Four times two is eight. There you go.

Speaker 2 3:08

Look at that. So many signs.

Speaker 4 3:14

It at least worked for a year.

Speaker 1 3:15

At least worked. Yeah, this year only. Yeah, I like it, that's right.

Speaker 3 3:21

After this year we're screwed Time to change the name.

Speaker 1 3:29

Okay, so you've been photographers for eight years.

Speaker 3 3:34

In what area?

Speaker 1 3:36

Or do you go everywhere. What's your favorite?

Speaker 3 3:40

Okay, we are based here. Yeah, we are based here at the Lake of the Ozarks, missouri. However, we've shot weddings in Iowa, arkansas, wisconsin.

Speaker 2 3:53

Ireland All over.

Speaker 3 3:53

Missouri Ireland.

Speaker 1 3:55

Mexico.

Speaker 3 3:59

Puerto Rico. I mean we Florida. We shot wedding on a Disney cruise, so we go anywhere and everywhere.

Speaker 1 4:07

Sounds like it. Love that. That's fun. It is a lot of fun. So you have a vast portfolio, you travel all over. It's your husband and wife team. We are, and you've been married for 48 years 18 years. 18 going on 42. 18 going on 42. Congratulations. So what led you, after trying to do the math, 10 years, into a photography business together?

Speaker 4 4:51

So essentially we my brother was diagnosed with cancer and he was getting ready to go in for a procedure, and my dad and he had a whole conversation. One thing led to another, which led to my brother expressing that he always wanted to go to Alaska, and so my parents gifted his family so our family and my parents An Alaskan cruise. And leading up to that, we were like holy cow, like we need to document this. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity, like who knows if we'll ever get to go back to Alaska. And so we bought what we thought was a nice camera and Gary doesn't do anything halfway. There's no toe depth.

Speaker 4 5:58

It is straight into the deep end of the ocean and all the things.

Speaker 4 6:03

And so in came all kinds of photography, books, and we discovered creative lives, and we were each night after our social work job, we were putting, you know, get the boys to bed, and then we were doing training, and then we were practicing and just fell in love with it. And so that was, I mean, really, that's how things kind of started. And then eventually, after doing little mini sessions here and there and whatnot, a friend of ours was like, hey, my daughter's getting married. I want you guys to shoot the wedding. And we were like, oh, we've never shot a wedding yet. And she's like, I know you're going to do amazing. And we just we fell in love with the joy and the laughter and the connection that occurs during weddings and documenting it. And at that point, like we hadn't even left the venue yet and we looked at each other and was like we have to do that, we have to make this what we do. And so we just we go deep and here we are.

Speaker 1 7:26

So I have a few questions. One when you very first started, was this a one camera and you guys are just taking these classes and sharing back and forth? Or did you like, full deep into the ocean, double down on all the equipment and you had a pair of everything?

Speaker 3 7:45

Were you both when we, we started off with just one camera and then when we started doing, when we went into the wedding photography, it was funny and on all these back to four to get on. So, anyway, one of the creative live instructors that we watched was actually our mentor. So he became, he came, he became our mentor later on. So, but no, we bought two cameras. Okay, and Tracy had, I believe it was the cannon mark two, and I was shooting with the cannon five D mark three.

Speaker 1 8:30

Wow. So you did dive in, we did, yes, we did dive really, really deep.

Speaker 3 8:36

Yes, went down the rabbit hole, but one of the things you know that we really enjoyed about the wedding photography is storytelling. We loved the fact that we were able to tell the couple's story and then put that into an album for them, and we got such great joy and excitement, you know, when we were delivering the album and watching them look through it. It was just amazing experience for that first time.

Speaker 4 9:08

Absolutely 100%. It always felt like Christmas day Aw, and it wasn't even us opening the gifts, you know.

Speaker 1 9:18

Here's a gift I've gotten you. I mean, giving is the best, so you're just addicted to giving gifts.

Speaker 4 9:24

Yes, indeed, oh yeah.

Transitioning Into Wedding Photography

Speaker 5 9:28

It's interesting to hear because that kind of kind of answers. The question I was going to ask you guys is what it? What it? What are you kind of drawn to during the process? And it sounds like storytelling is a really important thing to you guys. A lot of people like dramatic photos or they like portraits or they like these little independent moments between everybody, but it sounds like for you guys it's the whole thing, it's all the storytelling of the whole day.

Speaker 4 9:53

It's the laughter, it's the happy tears, it's the like smiling so hard that you can see that their cheeks hurt, you know, and the intimate touches. Like we had a wedding recently that it was the grandparents and unfortunately later we found out that the grandpa has cancer and it's rather advanced, and like we were able, like capturing those two together and just their love. That is amazing.

Speaker 1 10:31

Yeah, it's nice to be able to be a part of things like that and to know that you're giving, you know, giving them the gift of, of having that imagery to look back on. And those moments and I mean, you provided them for yourself, right, that was. That was one of the Jumping on factors, for was was being knowing, knowing going into something, that this was going to be a memorable moment in your life, a remarkable time that you would want to always remember, and that you were going to do your darndest to make sure that those were remembered to the best of your ability, so much so that you guys Jumping into the ocean, buying all the equipment and A new chapter of your life through that.

Speaker 3 11:22

Yeah, we both. We both had social work jobs, you know, before we went into photography full time.

Speaker 1 11:30

That's crazy. So when you guys decide, when you went to the wedding, this was still, you were still doing your social work jobs and then someone asked you come to the wedding and before you even left, you said this is what we want to do. Did the pair you just both like would you call in on Monday and just start? You know?

Speaker 3 11:56

It was a slow, gradual process. We you know what we built our portfolio up and we got busy enough to where I went full time with the business. And then, you know, at that point, not too long after that, tracy, she started cutting back her hours and thankfully she was at a job that allowed her to, you know, gradually cut back her hours.

Speaker 4 12:28

It was such a blessing because, I mean, I went to my director and was like I need to be able to hire somebody for my being a supervisor, like we need to do that, and so at first she didn't believe me and then she realized I was serious and so I was able to help throughout the entire process and whittle my hours down literally to like six hours a week.

Speaker 4 12:55

And it, but it was a gradual, it was. Yeah, it was amazing. I was able to do about every quarter. I dropped about 10 hours and so, yep, it was huge blessing, huge blessing.

Speaker 2 13:14

I love it that they supported you in doing that too.

Speaker 4 13:18

They were incredible and even when I was like, okay, guys, this is going to be my last day, they were like, are you sure?

Speaker 3 13:25

You could just have like one family every other week.

Speaker 4 13:29

I love you guys so much, but I it would be a disservice, like I don't want to be a disservice either direction. Right? So and that's you know, that's one of our biggest things. You know within our business is we want to be able to make sure that we're able to be a disservice and do everything to the best of our ability and we don't want to halfway anything.

Speaker 1 14:00

Well, it sounds like that was a testament to you as you know your your job in that industry that they were willing to give. They were like we'll take anything we can get.

Speaker 3 14:11

You're that important to us.

Speaker 1 14:12

Like please don't leave, that's adorable.

Speaker 4 14:16

So well, I've been there for 15 and a half years, Wow, so it's. I definitely had seen a lot of changes and been through a lot of transitions and whatnot, but thank you, yes.

Speaker 5 14:32

So it's always a it's an interesting thing to see the different facets of people and how they become wedding professionals. There's people who started a very young age and it's like what they've done, and then there's people who did careers before and then get into being a wedding professional. Do you guys feel like your career that you had before was able to help you in serving your clients in the wedding field as well?

Speaker 4 14:57

Oh 100%.

Speaker 3 14:58

Yeah, no doubt, no doubt and that's what we feel like we're doing with our clients and our couples is helping them. Yeah.

Speaker 4 15:13

And there's times where people will, unfortunately, on a wedding day, be a little bit distressed and we're able to help diffuse it and problem solve. And both of us had seen very stressful situations beforehand with our social work positions and you know we're we're good problem solvers and so we're able to do that on the fly.

Speaker 5 15:42

People stressed at a wedding. No, never, no they're just sunshine and rainbows right.

Speaker 2 15:49

I love it. They hire you and they not only get photographers, but they get social workers to manage all the problems for the day you guys don't have to answer that.

Speaker 5 15:59

You don't have to answer this, but are you ever at a wedding and the social worker hat comes on and it's like I need to talk to you.

Speaker 4 16:07

Don't answer that. I had one situation where there was a family member who was kind of ring leading some not wanting to go up to the ceremony and location, and the bride insisted on wanting to do a first look with her bridesmaid and she was adamant she was going to do this before the ceremony begun and the family member was kind of heels dug in and so we just very politely got things taken care of and they scurried up to where the ceremony was located and the bride got to do it and the ceremony still started on time.

Speaker 2 16:54

So yeah, no, knowing how to manage that right is huge.

Speaker 5 16:59

And your previous, your previous job has to have such an impact on the ability to do that, because we've observed a lot of younger photographers who just kind of start in the wedding world and it's almost like if you've had a career before. Especially where you're dealing with people like that in conflict resolution and everything else. It just allows you to handle those situations so much better for your couples.

Speaker 4 17:27

Oh, yeah, yeah. And you know, even though there's ups and downs throughout the wedding day just because it's, you know, so many moving parts, right, I know for sure, aside from being on your feet all day. So my feet still, unfortunately, hurt, but so do my cheeks. My cheeks, from smiling so much throughout the day, they're always aching. There's just, there's just so much joy and it's hard not to smile.

Speaker 2 17:59

Aw, aching cheeks. I'd never thought about that before.

Speaker 3 18:04

Yeah you get those quite a bit.

Speaker 4 18:06

We do, we do that's funny.

Photography Process for Couple's Wedding Album

Speaker 1 18:08

That's fun, so obviously offer a very unique perspective and a very qualified background for, like, transitioning into photography and wedding photography no less, like even more. So your guys' background is a great jumping off point for that. So what is the process like when you start with a couple? How do you like to delve into what they're looking for and whether you're a good fit?

Speaker 4 18:39

So if we get an inquiry, when we get an inquiry, we hopefully, within that inquiry they give us their date, of course. Then we go ahead and make sure that we're available and, either which way, we let them know and usually if they you know, they provide just a phone number. But are you know better, if they do an email and a phone number, we go ahead and reply email and then send them a text and just let them know hey, this is who I am. I sent you an email, super excited to chat more. So within the email, we let them know a little bit about our services, that we are full service. So you know we help them throughout the process of what their photography timeline is going to be. We have a list of resources to be able to help them figure out different vendors and different questions to be able to help them guide them throughout looking for their vendors. So we're very hands-on in that regard and that, aside from hours of coverage and two photographers, and you know USBCs and things like that, they also are going to get a handmade designed album and that there's different sizes for that. So after we schedule a consultation with them, it will either be in person or with Zoom, because you know, like, we've had couples that are three plus hours away, so unfortunately being able to come to our studio is not an option. So we do Zoom with a couple and during that time we get to know them, we get to learn what kind of photography do they like, what they like to see, what makes their hearts happy, and also, on the flip side, what they do not like, what can. They just roll past very quickly Because we want to know, like you know, the bookends, and we learn as much as we can about what they know about their wedding day at the time, and sometimes we will put together a mock timeline for them right then. So then they do have at least something to help them moving forward and show them a full gallery. So if somebody is getting married in the spring and they're having a, you know, mixture of outdoor ceremony and indoor reception, we'll show them an entire gallery so they get to see all the different lighting situations, all the different movements, all of that, because at the end of the day, that's what they're going to be getting to and we find that to be very important. And at that point, you know, sometimes couples are like, yes, 100%. Let's do the retainer, let's book it, let's do this.

Speaker 4 21:56

Other couples need a little bit of time, which we give, and then we follow up with them Approaching their wedding. We usually have their engagement sessions and we send them tips to be able to prepare for that. During the session we bring a changing tent so no matter where we're at, they can change their clothes, bring music, have laughter, have a fun time and then, roughly two-ish weeks, they get to come into the studio or Zoom. But if they're in the studio, I have light snacks and drinks and they get to view all of their images. We talk about edit styles, they select wall art and then we you know next point would be helping with their timeline finalize it for their wedding day and then we shoot their wedding. And then, after their wedding, they come in, they get to view a pre-designed album that Gary does, and again, we love our food and drink, so they get to enjoy more and pick out all the details that go into their album and then any additional wall art that they want.

Speaker 1 23:11

So there are several things that I heard you say in there that I think are really important One entire gallery. I know I remember hearing from Adam and Dawn previously that you know when you're at a wedding show or you're looking through a magazine, obviously as a photographer you're going to put your hero image in there and you want someone that is going to get those hero images. You do. You've got to find, you want the one piece of wall art that's just like stunning anyone in a stare at forever. But when it comes to your wedding, you also want that full, that full scope of from beginning to end.

Speaker 1 23:45

In the lighting changes, the venue changes, like everything changes throughout the day and being able to like accommodate that as a photographer Isn't isn't a novice. A novice thing to do like that takes some talent and some hard work and stuff. So I should let the photographers weigh in on that rather than me.

Speaker 2 24:04

But well, just because you see amazing pictures out in the field, or a whole a whole bunch of hero shots, does not know that they know how to manage the lighting in a dark area where they're getting ready, or you know, in in in a church.

Speaker 2 24:23

You know there's, there's you know, kingsway church in Springfield is a perfect example. It is so dark in there and if you don't know how to manage it, you're it's going to be hard. You know and they don't know. Yeah, they don't always want flash. It's going off in the church. So you've got to have the correct equipment. You've got to know what you're doing. You've got to know what lenses you're using, how to get the shot how not to miss the moment.

Speaker 2 24:44

So yeah, having having photographers that are experienced and know what they're doing and then just start photography yesterday with a really nice camera that takes pictures outside and fields, it's really important that people view an entire gallery and also an entire gallery of a similar. If they can view a gallery with you know that they have shot in that same location, that really helps, but something similar if not. So you know, tracy and Gary may not have shot in your location before, but they can show you something similar because they've shot everywhere, right?

Speaker 4 25:26

Right. Well, in a lot of times too, like we, we know a few people who they have their go to location and that, and I say it, it's probably their safe location.

Speaker 2 25:41

Right.

Speaker 4 25:42

You know they, they know what to expect in those spots, whereas we get excited when we get to actually go somewhere different.

Speaker 2 25:52

Absolutely.

Speaker 4 25:54

We love seeing and you know it just helps all the creative juices flow.

Speaker 3 25:59

You know, in the in the challenge, we love a good challenge, shooting in those difficult places, because one of the things that we pride ourselves in is, you know, finding that light. Or photography, because, basically photography, the most important thing about it is the lighting, whether it's natural light or whether you bring your own light.

Speaker 4 26:23

Right, or you bounce light you bounce light.

Speaker 2 26:27

Yeah, Knowing how to handle the lighting good or bad?

Speaker 1 26:32

As a listener. You don't need to know what any of that meant. You just need to hire someone that does.

Speaker 4 26:36

Absolutely. So what are the other things oh sorry, go ahead. I was just going to say as a listener, if you're inquiring about photography in general, being able to ask a photographer to show you different scenes where it's brightly lit, dimly lit, dark, standing still, and emotion, dancing dancing is a great one. Or walking.

Speaker 2 27:07

Yeah, absolutely, and also at your, you know, at your reception. One thing I know Tracy and Gary do really well is is their off-camera lighting, and at a reception I've seen some photographers that are beautiful outdoors but you get to the reception and they light the whole thing up, it all just kind of falls apart. Yeah, it looks like. It looks like your reception was in the middle of the day, because they light the whole thing up so much that there's no, there's no mood.

Speaker 5 27:38

You don't get the feeling of what it was. It doesn't feel like a reception. It may be a beautifully bright photo but, it's not a reception.

Speaker 2 27:45

It doesn't, it doesn't represent what time of day and what was actually going on. Because they don't know how to handle lighting, so they just, they just put so much light that it's bright.

Speaker 5 27:57

I love that point that she just made, like ask for these certain things.

Speaker 2 28:01

Yeah.

Speaker 5 28:02

That's like such a great checklist.

Speaker 2 28:03

Well, you guys are so good at what you do. I mean, you were very, very talented, so anyone who hires you is lucky to have you.

Speaker 5 28:10

So talk to me more about do you guys offer albums with everything that you do, or is it only just in select packages, and what is kind of your approach to those albums?

Speaker 4 28:21

So in all of our wedding collections unless there is a couple that's adamant that they don't want an album we still strongly encourage. So all of our wedding collections do include albums. So we have different sizes 8 by 8 all the way up to 12 by 18 or 14 by 14 acrylic front. So it just kind of depends. We have different lines that we love to carry, which of course offer different features within the album company and themselves. And yeah, you're the one who does that.

Speaker 3 29:12

Yeah, so, yeah, I design the album.

Speaker 3 29:17

So the process for designing albums when I pre-design an album I will grab about 300 of my favorite images from the entire day and we normally shoot around 1000, or well, we shoot around 4 or 5000 images, but we cool it down to about 1000 images for the wedding day and so I grab about 300 of those images and I have a design professional designing software that I use and I just kind of go and see how the story unfolds.

Speaker 3 29:55

Really, you know, from kind of start the finish, the beginning of the day, with the finishing touches of hair and makeup, all those little details you know, like the bouquet, the rings, invitations, the dress, all those little details in. Then we go just you know the the that's kind of the time line of the day. You know, from the first look, getting on the dress, first look, then the ceremony, then the reception it just kind of laid the story out and see where it goes. Sometimes it's 30 pages, sometimes it's like 50 or 60, 70 pages, you know. So our couples do get kind of that option on whether or not they want the pre-designed album or do they want to pick those images themselves.

Speaker 4 30:54

So each collection already comes with a variety of pages.

Speaker 1 30:59

Right.

Speaker 4 30:59

Within their wedding collection, and so, if they do not want to go through the thousand pictures or thousand plus, and select all of their images themselves and they absolutely love which I would say about 80% end up loving the pre-design and they're like, yep, I want to upgrade it's on. And sometimes they will have a couple of pictures. They're like, ooh, I really like this one family picture more than this one, which is totally fine. Then they can go ahead and swap that out and that's not a big deal. We give them options on, you know, the background colors and all kinds of different things.

Speaker 3 31:51

And you know, even, even the editing. So we we pride ourselves on our editing and our colors are true to life. But we also do advanced edits. So we go in and we've had couples who want their entire album, all the images retouched, and so I've done retouching on every single image for them. So everything is just kind of flawless.

Speaker 4 32:20

Cause. Unfortunately, even on a wedding day, you can wake up that morning and unfortunately have a very large boil. You know sit on your 10 and who wants to stare at that? And so that's for the grandkids.

Speaker 1 32:35

No one in the album. Yeah.

Speaker 4 32:38

There it was. You know, or because you laugh or you're, you're in, your smile is so big, everyone gets crowsky. You've had brides who are like that needs to be minimized, and so you know. All of those are part of the advanced edit because they're done by hand. It's not just a click, click and magically poof.

Speaker 2 32:59

Right, right yeah.

Speaker 3 33:03

And you know so, when I, when we were first starting out, that's one of the things that I recognized where we could, you know, stand out and differentiate ourselves from a lot of different photographers, is our editing. So I, I would spend the most gracious countless of hours at night when the boys would be asleep. I would be up until 12, one o'clock. You know, editing, just practicing, practicing, practicing or watching trainings on editing, and just, you know, just kind of diving deep in that as well, not only that, but in photography. So I am pretty passive when it comes to those types of things.

Speaker 4 33:46

I would agree.

Speaker 5 33:47

Well, it sounds like would you agree that he's pretty obsessive? Is that what you're saying? Yeah, I would agree.

Speaker 1 33:54

Hearing, just hearing this podcast so far. I think I would be willing to bet that he's spent as many hours practicing, practicing practicing as you know some of us do our entire career, so I would be willing to bet you're pretty stinking good at it. But one of the words yeah so, when you were talking about your process, one of the words that you had said that triggered me also was was albums and just a shout out to albums versus the people who don't want to like. I think that's an important part of a package that a couple thinks they can do without, and I think that they. I would like to caution them on that and I would like to remind them of just how technology changes so quickly.

Wedding Photography and Preserving Memories

Speaker 1 34:39

And just because you've got a batch of photos digitally doesn't mean that you're. There's so many things that can change, disappear, corrupt, get lost, random, and there's a difference between surfing through a thousand great photos and surfing through the 300 best photos. You know so you're not going to as often just pull up that file and, you know, go down the rabbit hole of clicking through every single photo. But if you've got an album sitting there, there's a great chance that you were a family member or someone that couldn't make the wedding or a lot. You know what I mean. It's just an easily accessible, timeless way to have those at your fingertips. I think it's very important.

Speaker 1 35:24

I think in the digital age, we've forgotten a little bit about the importance of having those at the ready to look through and remember that day and when you fell in love and how you commemorated that moment and all of those things, and being able to just revisit that quickly is important to even to a relationship, as well as what you were talking about, like the grandkids and the fun parts and all of those things.

Speaker 5 35:48

So, meg, how much do you charge to work their booth?

Speaker 1 35:54

It's free. Today, You're hired man.

Speaker 2 35:58

You're hired.

Speaker 5 35:59

So I would say come sell this to the couple.

Speaker 1 36:03

So anyway, you need that.

Speaker 4 36:06

To like we've had our kids walk in. You know, we would walk into the living room and there would be our boys hanging on the sofa looking at our wedding album and they're like who's this? And I'm like that's your grandpa. And they're like what? He was young. He has dark hair. You know, it's fun. It's fun and there's no technology required.

Speaker 3 36:29

Yeah, that was back when I had hair too.

Speaker 4 36:31

Whatever. I married you all, oh my goodness. But you know and that was something else that you had flipped on to, probably without knowing so a couple of months ago, gary received a phone call from a bride that we had back in 2019. And she had recently moved. She had her album, she had her prints, she had her wall art, but she could not find her USB. It was MIA and she was at a straight up panic, and Gary was able to send her her images.

Speaker 2 37:19

That's amazing. So here we are in 2020-30.

Speaker 4 37:24

And we were able to send her her wedding day images from 19.

Speaker 3 37:28

Yeah, See, we don't delete, we when we fill up our backup hard drive, right, it goes. It goes in a safe place. So we feel like we're the keeper of people's memories, as long as that technology doesn't fail.

Speaker 1 37:49

Right. Well, I think that's amazing, I think that's worth all the money is just to know that. You know you guys are working hard to get to know them, to tell their story, to take, take those images of storytelling and put them together in a fashion that will get to you know, let them relive kind of that day and that moment and when they commemorated that moment and fell in love. And I think it's amazing and I've seen your work and it's awesome, thank you. Don and Adam have also said that.

Speaker 2 38:23

Yeah, you guys are so good so thank you.

Speaker 1 38:27

Yes, it's been a good day. I don't know if there's anything. Is there anything that you, that I didn't ask? That you wanted to say to the couples before we go I shouldn't ask Gary, because he'll he's probably got a list.

Speaker 4 38:48

You know, I we always ask our couples how they want to remember their wedding day. Five years, ten years, thirty years down the road, and at least 90% of them do not say that they're going to be scrolling through Facebook trying to find images from their wedding or sitting at a computer they're. They're talking about looking at their wall art, talking about prints, talking about an album, being able to cherish those moments. And so when we have couples and, like I said, not all of them say that, but majority do and we know that we're the right fit for them, so we do everything that we can, all the way down to payment plans, to be able to be within their budget and at least to make it easier on their budget.

Speaker 3 40:05

Yeah, you know, in granted. We understand that we're not going to be in everybody's budget. However, we still want every single couple that we talk to, we want them to have the best wedding photography that their budget can afford.

Speaker 4 40:22

Yeah.

Speaker 3 40:24

And so we, you know, give them tips. Even if they don't go with us, we still give them tips on what to look for in wedding photographers, you know, to make sure they ask to see the full gallery, to make sure they understand what is in the collection, whether or not there's an album or no album, and to make sure that they have contracts, you know, in place. The photographers have contracts in place because that's going to cover not only the photographer but them as well, the couple.

Speaker 1 40:53

For sure.

Speaker 4 40:55

You know we we see and hear a lot of different wedding day horror stories and we just don't want. I mean, it would make us extremely happy if there was a day that there was just no more especially photography horror stories. It would be delightful.

Speaker 2 41:18

That's why, you're a higher professional.

Speaker 4 41:20

Yes, yes, so, but we just, you know, we help educate our couples, you know the difference between a hobbyist versus a part-timeist versus a full-time and what all of those things mean. And you know, unfortunately, not all of any category understands editing, and so there's a lot of, I think, misnomer misnomer, whatever the word is that just because you understand how to work your camera, that automatically means that you know how to edit, and unfortunately that's not always true.

Speaker 2 42:00

Yeah.

Speaker 5 42:02

So, in essence, full-rounded, that's what they are, full-rounded all the way.

Speaker 2 42:10

They know their craft.

Speaker 5 42:12

Yeah.

Speaker 2 42:12

They know what they're doing. Yeah, absolutely, and you have great people skills. I mean, you're getting a couple of past social workers. I mean it's definitely the full package.

Speaker 1 42:26

So if they're ready to hire the full package, how do they get a hold of you today?

Speaker 4 42:33

So you can do a link of our website, which is 4tunorthcom, and that's F-O-U-R the number two, and then northcom.

Speaker 3 42:47

Or they can call me at 573-216-1683. They can also text me and they can email either Tracy or I at gary at 4tunorthcom, tracy at 4tunorthcom and that's again F-O-U-R number two, northcom.

Speaker 4 43:09

Perfect and Tracy is the traditional spelling.

Speaker 5 43:14

What is the traditional spelling per se?

Speaker 4 43:17

T-R-A-C-Y.

Speaker 2 43:20

Okay perfect. I have a sister and she's an E-Y, so I knew exactly what you meant when you said traditional, because everyone got her name wrong.

Speaker 3 43:32

You don't see the E-Y too much.

Speaker 2 43:34

No, unfortunately.

Speaker 1 43:36

What about an IE? Is that out there?

Speaker 4 43:38

Yes, IE is out there, I is out there. There's, I think, five different ways to spell Tracy.

Speaker 2 43:46

But just throw a couple E's on it. Tracy Northrup is spelled correctly T-R-A-C-Y. No offense to any of the parrots of a non-traditional. Tracy out there. I'm sorry to my sister. I'm sorry.

Speaker 4 44:02

I often say it's a traditional or classic or non-fun way of spelling it.

Speaker 1 44:08

It's the old school way. Thank you for spending your day with us. We've had a good time.

Speaker 3 44:13

Same. You guys are welcome.

Speaker 2 44:17

Thank you.

Speaker 5 44:18

Have a great day.

Speaker 2 44:20

Talk to you soon. Bye, guys, bye.

Speaker 1 44:27

Thank you for joining us for Metropolitan Weddings Engaged podcast.

Speaker 2 44:31

Be sure to click subscribe so you are notified when our new episodes drop.

Speaker 1 44:35

For more information and to get connected with Merchants for your wedding, visit Metropolitan Weddingscom. You'll find information on upcoming wedding shows, access to our blog, facebook and IG.

Speaker 2 44:46

Also look for the latest issue of Metropolitan Weddings on newsstands near you.

Speaker 1 44:50

Email any questions or suggestions for topics to hello at metropolitanweddingscom.