Story telling is the core of our inspiration. With a strong focus on authenticity, a sense of adventure and an eye for big moments and tiny details, we are framing your wedding day in heartfelt photos & film.
We are Melli & Shayne, a couple coming from vastly different worlds but have been inseparable ever since we met in Zanzibar. We have been passionately capturing love stories since 2014 and have loved every step of the way. We are all about the unstaged moments, the relaxed vibes and the good times, and we cannot wait to meet and tell your story!
We completely understand that sometimes things take a bit longer to happen than what is planned. In that case, we offer additional hours that don’t need to be pre-booked. We can decide on the day, at the moment whether you want us there longer or not. Keep in mind though that we will stay a max. of 2 hours extra.
We understand that a wedding is a very intimate part of one’s life and while our business can only survive if we show photos and videos we take to future couples, we also want to respect your privacy and your requests. If you do not want us to show / market with any photo (or video, or both), then we will 100% respect that. Once we’ve delivered your pictures, they are stored away and never shown to anyone.
Not a problem! We understand that at this point it’s a bit hard to tell how long you may actually need us for.
So, in this case – we recommend just taking our base (smallest) package to secure your date. Later on, we can upgrade and customize your coverage.
Your date is not saved / booked until we have received 50% of the order value and the travel costs in full.
In peak wedding season, it can take around 6 weeks to deliver everything (video included). But on average, it’s within 4 weeks.
You can do what you like with your photos; we only ask that if you do decide to edit them to please not upload or share them online. The reason being that if you edit the photos, they are no longer a representative product of ours and could negatively impact our small business.
We take great care in our editing and we hope you book us not only for the way we capture moments but our overall style too.
This allows you to use your images however you like (Sharing them online, passing to friends etc…) so long as it is not commercial (Selling the images, using it for advertising your own businesses, etc…). If you require a commercial license for whatever reason, just ask us. We’ll be happy to chat with you about it.
We understand that n elopement is a very intimate part of your life and we respect that you may not want us to share the photos on the internet. However, this is our only real means of advertising our small business. So, we do offer exclusive rights.
Exclusive rights cost an additional 25% of the contract value and means that we will not ever share, upload or use your photos anywhere. Once they’re delivered to you, they’re stored on our hard drives and never touched again.
We love to sharing our images with any vendors you may have on your elopement, but we won’t do so until you’ve received them first. That way you get the enjoy them before anyone else.
If any of the vendors do reach out to you and ask for the photos/videos, the only thing we do require from them is a link back to our website (melliandshayne.com) or our Instagram handle (@melliandshayne).
If the vendors reach out to us, we will create a very curated selection of images.
There’s a good chance we will share something of your elopement somewhere, as we’re always proud of what we do. However, we cannot guarantee that this happens nor do we want you to feel that your elopement didn’t make the cut to a featured blog post.
We either don’t have time to blog every elopement or we simply have to keep things as strict as possible in order to not overload our website & viewers.
To be completely honest, the sooner the better. We are often booked out 1 -2 years in advance. If your elopement date is during summer, there’s a very high chance we have another person looking to book us for that same period. In the end, it comes down to whoever decides to pay the deposit first.
In the very unlikely event that we cannot make it (even less likely with 2 photographers), we have a large international network of competent wedding photographers and filmmakers that we would send an “emergency” call out for. We will handle everything for you and make sure that someone of equal skill and style is there to capture your wedding day.
The terms & conditions listed out below are a few points from the terms & conditions in the contract which you will receive when we send the order confirmation.
Our philosophy is based on transparency and it’s important to us that you are aware of the basic rules of our wedding photography. If you have any questions about or beyond what’s written below, we are always happy to answer them.
From your first inquiry up until the confirmed booking it can take a few days or even weeks. We usually arrange a preliminary meeting via Skype or on the phone, to help you make your decision.
We understand that the process of choosing the right vendors for your wedding day can take some time and that’s why our offer is valid for 10 days.
During this decision-making process, we cannot reserve your date but we rely on transparent and honest communication with you. Securing your wedding date will be ensured by maintaining a booking commitment from you and receiving the first payment of 50% of the contract value.
The post-processing of your wedding pictures and film is an essential part of our work. We don’t offer the delivery of RAW files. The final electronic files will be delivered to you as high-resolution images and in JPG format. We supply a minimum amount of photos (depending on the package of your choice) that increases by 25 pictures / h with the extension of the time we are booked for. If the amount of beautiful images of your wedding day exceeds the minimum amount, these will, of course, be edited and delivered to you as well.
The digital files are delivered in a password-protected online gallery to view, share and download as well as on a USB stick in a beautiful Heirloom box.
It will take us 4-6 weeks turnaround time to have your pictures and Highlight film ready for you.
We always explain this in advance as it is one of the main topics that get a little bit confusing at times. As the photographer, Melli & Shayne owns the full copyrights to all photos. However, you will receive an unlimited non-commercial right to use your wedding photos.
This means you are allowed to copy the photos for friends and family and use them for your private purposes. You’d love to show your photos on social media channels? That’s absolutely fine and an honor for us. All we ask is for you to leave a copyright note (i.e.. Photos by Melli & Shayne, or www.melliandshayne.com) with each image that you post.
Please don’t change or edit the photos (filters, cropping, …) when you publish them somewhere. Also, if you want to use them for commercial purposes, you will need our explicit permission in writing to do so.
We may use your wedding photos for our own advertising. This means, we may be showing them on our website, on our social media channels and they may be published on wedding blogs, in magazines, partner sites, etc. Please do not worry about this. Our photography business lives by showing our work to you and other future wedding couples.
However, we are very careful and respect your privacy by selecting the images for our purposes. We also don’t publish any full names or sensitive information.
On our blog, we will show the highlights of your wedding day, just enough to tell the story. Our motto is always ‘less is more’. We value your privacy and after all, if there is anything to chat about, we are always happy to find solutions.
In case you are still concerned, we offer optional exclusive rights at an additional fee.