San To

Published Packages for Weddings in Vaud

San To is a photographer whose site, photographysanto.com, covers weddings, businesses, outdoor and interior shoots, couples and engagements, families and children, and animals, alongside hair, makeup and eyelash-extension services. The wedding pages are aimed at couples in French-speaking Switzerland: the site's keywords name Morges, Vevey, Pully, Nyon, Lausanne, Geneva and Martigny, and its wedding gallery shows weddings at the Mirador, at the Château de Nyon and in Sion. The site does not publish a studio address.

What sets it apart for a couple planning from abroad is the wedding packages page, which lists 4 packages with prices, hours and photo counts. Few couples will need to ask what a wedding with San To costs.

The Four Wedding Packages

Every package includes meetings with the couple before the wedding ("Rencontres avec les fiancés"), a set number of retouched photos, and all the photos of the wedding on a USB stick. Video can be added to any of them, at extra rates given only on request.

• Pack « Un Peu », CHF 499: 2 hours and a half of coverage, 5 retouched photos, and all the wedding photos (200-300) on USB.
• Pack « Beaucoup », CHF 779: 4 hours and a half, 10 retouched photos, and all the wedding photos (350-400) on USB.
• Pack « Passionnément », CHF 1299: 8 hours and a half, 15 retouched photos, backstage photos of the wedding ("Backstage du Mariage"), and all the wedding photos (500-600) on USB.
• Pack « A La Folie », CHF 2299: unlimited presence, the bride's hair and makeup at home, backstage photos, 25 retouched photos, a wedding photo album with 25 photos, and all the wedding photos (700-1,000) on USB. The same package without hair and makeup is listed at CHF 1989.

Retouching, as the page defines it, covers cropping, saturation, contrast, skin, dark circles and whiter teeth. The rest of the photos are not described as retouched, which is worth knowing: the headline number of retouched pictures is small, and the bulk of the delivery is the unretouched set.

Extras

The page lists a few add-ons with prices:

• a complete hair and makeup session at home by a professional hairdresser and makeup artist, CHF 349
• a photo album "Book" with 25 photos, CHF 239
• a single printed photo in postcard format, CHF 4
• a single extra retouched photo, CHF 20

Having hair and makeup from the same business is practical for a bride preparing at home: the "Futurs Mariés" section of the services page pitches exactly that, memorable photos of the day enhanced by makeup that shows the bride at her best.

Engagement and Couple Shoots

The homepage also lists photo-shoot packages, outdoors or at home, which suit an engagement session before the wedding:

• Pack « Express », CHF 99: 30 minutes, 1 outfit, 3 retouched photos, all the photos (75-100) on USB
• Pack « Mini », CHF 149: 1 hour, 5 retouched photos, all the photos (250-350) on USB
• Pack « Standard », CHF 258: 2 hours, 10 retouched photos, all the photos (450-550) on USB
• Pack « Medium », CHF 599: 3 hours, hair and makeup by a professional, 15 retouched photos, all the photos (650-800) on USB

The page adds a CHF 50 supplement for shooting in the studio instead.

Choosing Which Parts of the Day

The weddings page explains the flexibility behind the hourly packages. Each couple is unique, San To writes, and will choose the moments of the day when the photographer is present: for example the preparations (hair, makeup and so on), the civil and/or religious ceremony, group photos, the apéro and the dinner. The same page says that choosing a wedding photographer is an important decision and that the couple must feel they can trust the photographer's seriousness and professionalism beyond the pictures.

For a couple with a short civil ceremony and a small lunch, the shortest package covers the essentials. For a full day from preparations to dinner, the Passionnément or unlimited packages are the ones to compare.

About the Photographer

The about page tells a short personal story. A great traveler, San To took up photography on journeys in order to keep them. Losing loved ones brought the realization that over time we lose memories and details that are precious, and from that came the conviction that moments should be kept in pictures, whether a baptism, a birthday, a party, a memory shared with someone dear, or a day to remember such as a wedding. Photography, the page adds, is also a way to escape, meet new people and places and share memorable moments. The site quotes Martine Franck: "La Photographie, c'est un fragment de temps qui ne reviendra pas" (photography is a fragment of time that will not come back).

Booking and Language

Booking runs through a form on the wedding packages page: the couple gives full name, email address and the package they want, and can use the message box to propose a date and describe their plans. A contact email address is also printed in the footer of every page. The site also sells gift vouchers.

The site is in French and does not say which languages the photographer works in, so a couple who does not speak French should ask about English when they first write.

What the Site Leaves Open

The packages page does not state how long delivery takes, whether the full set on USB is delivered in high resolution, or whether there are travel costs for weddings further afield, such as in Valais or Geneva. It does not name the hairdresser and makeup artist or say whether they also look after other members of the wedding party. Video prices are only on request.

Who It Suits

San To suits couples in Vaud and French-speaking Switzerland who want to know the price before they write, and who like the idea of photography and the bride's hair and makeup coming from one booking. The entry package at CHF 499 makes a professionally photographed civil ceremony affordable, and the upper packages cover a full day with an album included.

The caveats: the site is in French only, delivery times are not stated, and the small number of retouched photos in each package means couples who want many fully edited images should budget for the per-photo retouching price or ask about it.