Ricardo Martins

Ricardo Martins is a wedding photographer whose site, martins-photographie, presents him as a "Photographe de mariage à Bulle", a wedding photographer in Bulle, in canton Fribourg. The contact block on every page gives his address as chemin de la Bergère 2, 1661 Le Pâquier-Montbarry. The site is short and to the point: a wedding page, a price page and a handful of example galleries. Its main value for a couple is that the prices are published, so the budget question is answered before the first message.

How he structures a wedding day

The wedding page sets out the day in four steps under a heading that says every stage matters, each with its own example gallery:

1. Photos de couple. The couple portraits, which he lists as the first stage.
2. Cérémonie. The ceremony.
3. Apéritif. The drinks reception after the ceremony.
4. Souper. The dinner or banquet, which he calls the last stage.

Each step also has its own page in the menu (Photos de couple, Cérémonie, Apéritif, Souper/Banquet), plus pages for online galleries, photo shooting and a short bio. The page headline is the line "Pour que ce jour reste gravé à jamais" (so that this day stays engraved forever).

The order is worth noticing: the page lists the couple portraits as the first stage, before the ceremony. Couples who want to see each other first at the ceremony should ask how he adapts that.

The published packages

The price page (Tarifs) lists four packages:

• Forfait Relax. Ceremony and apéritif, CHF 900.
• Forfait Passion. Couple photos, ceremony, apéritif and dinner, CHF 1600.
• Forfait Folie. Getting ready (préparation), couple photos, ceremony, apéritif and dinner, CHF 1900.
• Forfait Photoshooting. A 1-hour photo session at a location of your choice, CHF 150.

The structure is simple: each package adds a stage of the day. Relax is for a couple who only want the ceremony and the drinks afterward covered, such as a small civil wedding. Passion covers the day from the couple shoot to the dinner. Folie adds the getting-ready in the morning and is the full-day option. The photo shoot package works for an engagement session or a session after the wedding, and at a location the couple chooses.

The price page also states how images are delivered: "Toutes les images prises, vous serons confiées au format numérique et libres de droits. Sauvegardées sur un support physique ou sur internet." In English: all the images taken are handed over in digital format and free of rights, saved on a physical medium or online. So couples receive all the images, not a selection, with the right to use them freely, either on a physical storage device or via the internet.

Choosing between the packages

Because the packages are built from stages rather than hours, the choice comes down to which parts of the day a couple wants on record. Moving up from Relax to Passion adds the couple portraits and the dinner; moving up from Passion to Folie adds the getting-ready in the morning. A couple with a civil ceremony on one day and a larger celebration on another could also combine packages, for example Relax for the civil ceremony and Passion or Folie for the celebration, and should ask whether he offers a combined price.

When writing to him, it helps to give the date, the addresses of the ceremony and dinner venues, and the rough timings of each stage, since his packages do not state hours and the gaps between stages decide how long he will be on site.

Website design as a side line

The menu and the price page also list website creation (Création de site web), on request, from CHF 900. This is a separate service rather than part of a wedding package, but a couple who wants a wedding website for guests could ask whether he would build one.

Contact

Every page carries the same contact details: Ricardo Martins, chemin de la Bergère 2, 1661 Le Pâquier-Montbarry, phone 079 906 04 37, email ricardomartins@epost.ch. There is also a contact form on each page. The site is built on Wix.

Language

The site is in French only, including all the package names and the price page. It does not say whether he works in English or German. For couples from abroad this matters: the first message should ask whether he is comfortable planning and working the day in English.

What the site does not settle

For all its clarity on price, the site leaves several things open:

• It does not say how many hours each package covers. The packages are defined by stages of the day, so a long gap between ceremony and dinner could matter.
• It does not say whether images are edited, or how many a couple can expect.
• It gives no delivery time.
• It does not say whether he works alone or with a second photographer, or whether video is available.
• It does not say whether he travels beyond the Bulle area or charges travel costs. The page description lists Suisse romande, Fribourg, Bulle, Gruyères, Vaud, Valais and Neuchâtel, but that is a keyword line rather than a stated service area.
• It gives no booking steps, deposit or cancellation terms.
• It shows no testimonials, and the wedding and price pages say nothing about how long he has worked as a photographer (there is a Bio page in the menu to read).

These are the questions for the first contact, along with a request for a complete wedding gallery rather than the short examples on each stage page.

Who he suits

Ricardo Martins suits couples marrying in the Bulle area, or elsewhere in French-speaking Switzerland if he is willing to travel, who want a clear price up front and all their images with free usage rights. The entry package at CHF 900 suits a small ceremony and apéritif, and the full-day Folie package costs CHF 1900.

The caveats are the thin information and the French-only site. Couples who want a detailed description of coverage, editing and delivery, or reviews from past couples, will need to ask for them, and couples who need an English-speaking photographer should confirm that before anything else.