Lake Tahoe Wedding Photographers Monique And Scott Sady - ISPWP Member Spotlight

Hello my name is Monique Sady, and my husband Scott and I are Lake Tahoe wedding photographers who love capturing each couple’s unique wedding day story. I sat down recently with a fresh cup of coffee in our home office and answered the following ISPWP member spotlight questions so that you can get to know us a bit better. 

How did you get your start and why did you chose wedding photography as a career?

Scott and I were newspaper photojournalists before we started our wedding photography business. We loved our careers in the newspaper field, but in the early 2000’s we realized that the industry did not have a reliable future. While I built up the wedding business, Scott continued to work for the local newspaper until 2007 when he joined me full time. We are among just a hand full of wedding photographers in the Lake Tahoe area that actually have working professional backgrounds as photojournalists.

How has your extensive experience in wedding photography helped you in difficult circumstances on a wedding day?

I think it also goes back to the foundation of our news photography backgrounds that has carried into our wedding photography: we work well and efficient under pressure in a fast paced environment and can quickly accommodate to unforeseen changes, like the weather, a late timeline, and difficult lighting.

Tell us about some of the more unique weddings you've shot.

Working in the Lake Tahoe area has given us a lot of opportunities to photograph weddings in extreme outdoor conditions. Some of our favorites are winter ski themed weddings with the bride and groom skiing in their wedding dress and suit. We are also located just a few hours away from the Burning Man event and have captured a few extremely memorable ceremonies on the playa over the past 18 years as participants.

What are some of your favorite local venues? After photographing over 500 weddings in the Lake Tahoe and surrounding areas, we have worked at almost every venue. We have a lot of favorites mostly based on the natural Tahoe backdrop and the venue buildings themselves. Our top 5 favorite lake front venues are: Edgewood, West Shore Cafe, Valhalla, Thunderbird Lodge, and the Hellman-Ehrman Mansion. Three of these are historic sites and offer unique 1920’s era venue space.

What's your favorite part of the wedding day to photograph?

This may sound cheesy, but really it is the whole day because we see the whole day as the story of the wedding, so each part of the day is an important element of telling that story. 

What kinds of weddings do you love to photograph?

Because we are based in the Lake Tahoe area, we do get a lot of outdoorsy, adventurous people who are willing to scramble up granite boulders, walk through fields of wild flowers, and really put themselves in the environment, which is what we love. We also love any wedding that requires a ride on a chair lift, gondola or tram.

How important is it to hire an experienced wedding photographer?

Extremely! Professionals know their equipment inside and out, they know the venue spaces, and they know how to handle the tight timeline of the wedding day. In our high sierra area specifically, dealing with the harsh mid day sun on and off the lake is a reality for almost every single wedding, and hiring someone who knows how to work with this light is essential. 

What are your top tips for brides to help them get great photos on their wedding day? 

To answer this completely, this would require it’s own separate blog post. But one of the most important tips for our couples is to be present in the moment and truly enjoy the experience of the day. And part of this is also asking your guests to be present as well. Consider having an unplugged ceremony. At the very least, ask your parents and family who are sitting in the first few rows to put away their phones and cameras so that we can capture their faces and emotional moments as they experience the ceremony.

What do you do for fun when you're not shooting weddings?

We really enjoy spending time outdoors skiing, kayaking, hiking and back packing. We also have a little A-frame style pop-up trailer that we take on road trips to state and national parks to do landscape photography, which is a whole different business that we do through our other website tahoelight.com I also enjoy yoga and am a certified teacher through the Yoga Alliance.

How would you describe your style of photography? 

Candid, documentary, photojournalistic, with an ability to also capture creative, natural portraits.

Do you offer albums? If so, describe the albums you offer and why you think it's important to provide albums. 

We offer a variety of album styles and sizes that can be added to any package. You can see a few examples of them here: wedding albums. We also always include a set of 4x6 prints in a presentation box with every package. I have always felt it is very important to include photographic prints and have been doing this since the day I started this business over 15 years ago.

What future plans do you have for your business for the next year?

We recently got a DJI Phantom 4 Plus drone and hope to add it as an option to our biggest package.

What's the best photography-related advice you've been given? 

Don't become a dinosaur, meaning: keep up with the trends and continued education in our business. And always embrace and strive for improvement in our craft.

What would you say is the biggest reason for your success?

Our Lake Tahoe area has become pretty saturated with other wedding photographers over the past 5 years or so. But we still survive and thrive because of our experience, our style, and the relationships we have built with many of the other local wedding vendors and venues over the years. We truly love weddings and feel honored that our couple’s trust us to document one of the most important days in their lives.