Listen to the Podcast About imagery.LIFE
Podcast Summary
Warren Caracciolo, the talented photographer behind the brand imagery.LIFE, sat down with Joel Gerlach of Felix and Fingers for a captivating interview. As an SEO-friendly reference, in the course of the interaction, Caracciolo offered exclusive insights into his workflow, editing process and commitment to prompt deliverables.
Contrary to popular photography practices, Caracciolo makes it a point to edit almost all his photographs by hand, intentionally avoiding AI for the task. Known for his speedy turnaround time, he emphasizes delivering wedding photographs to clients at the earliest, ideally when the essence of the event remains fresh. Despite dealing with hectic schedules during peak seasons, his endeavor to deliver likeable outputs is undeniably commendable.
Warren’s attention to detail sets his work apart in the crowded space of photography. He believes that even the subtle tweaks can make the most significant impact and often spends hours perfecting a single image. This attention to minor improvements might go unnoticed by viewers, but for Caracciolo, it’s what perfects the visual narrative of his work.
Interestingly, the interview also delves into the personal anecdotes of Caracciolo, revealing lighthearted moments of his encounters with Gerlach at a dueling piano gig. This personal touch adds to the authenticity and charm that Warren brings to the table, making this discussion an engaging conversation rather than just another interview.
In conclusion, the one-on-one interaction with Warren Caracciolo gives us an insider’s perspective into the operational aspects of imagery.LIFE. The interview is a great blend of professional and personal anecdotes, making it a must-read for photography enthusiasts and followers of Caracciolo’s work.
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This interview was provided by
Felix and Fingers Dueling Pianos
Podcast Transcript
Felix And Fingers (00:23)
I’m Joel with Felix and Fingers. And with me, I got Warren with imagery.LIFE Warren, how’s it going,
Warren T Caracciolo (00:29)
going bro it’s going it’s cool to talk to a human i’ve been editing photos all day so. yeah.
Felix And Fingers (00:35)
have you really?
What are you working on right now?
Warren T Caracciolo (00:39)
Just a wedding from two weeks ago, trying to get them done, trying to get them out like in the early season, get them out within like a week or two if I can, right? Once we get into peak season, like September, October, I’m pushing like a month or two, but I still like to get them out as early as possible because there’s a lot of photographers out there that are like, oh, get your photos in about six months. And I’m like, you have to get it to them when they still love each other. You know I mean? Like, like.
Felix And Fingers (01:04)
There’s a very short
honeymoon window.
Warren T Caracciolo (01:07)
Yeah, no, but it’s like it’s like people are riding that high of the wedding, you know, and they’re going to want to get those photos sooner than later. So we always try to put a sneak peek together like a couple days after the wedding so they at least get a taste of what they’re going to get and then obviously try and deliver everything within a couple weeks.
Felix And Fingers (01:25)
So yeah, so your turnaround’s like crazy quick. You’re…
Warren T Caracciolo (01:28)
Try to be anyway, try to be. We still edit everything. I should say mostly everything by hand, which a lot of people are running everything through AI nowadays. I’m just like a madman when it comes to Lightroom and Photoshop. So I’m just like speeding through. I should film my screen one day and let people watch it. This is actually what I’m doing.
Felix And Fingers (01:46)
You know, there’s probably, you know, that’s sort of like a TikTok rule 34. You know, there’s gonna be a niche audience for that. I personally know that I go into those rabbit holes. I would love to see behind the scenes of like, you know, like a time lapse of here’s my editing process. ⁓ You wanna be social media?
Warren T Caracciolo (01:52)
I
Editing in.
Yeah. And how many times they
change one thing, one thing, and it’s like, no one’s ever going to notice this one thing I’m fixing, but it’s like, ah, I’ve to get this one little thing, you know?
Felix And Fingers (02:13)
Do you find that when you’re doing that editing, those little tweaks, even though they might not notice them, do you think that sets your work apart a little bit? Like your eye might subconsciously go, why is that picture so good?
Warren T Caracciolo (02:28)
Yeah, so there’s times where I’m literally working on an image and then I was like, I’m just going to leave it and then I’ll put it on the website. And then every time I see it, I’m like, you, oh, I hate that one spot right there. His hair sticking out. Oh, I should have got that. You know, like whatever. So yeah, there’s always those moments, you know.
Felix And Fingers (02:37)
Something’s not right.
Yeah.
Well,
you know, again, I think it really reflects in your work too. I showed my fiancee when, by the way, I guess I’ll let you explain where did we meet?
Warren T Caracciolo (02:52)
Thanks, man.
We met
at a dueling pianos gig and I kept requesting crazy songs. I wanted to see if I could stump you but also get good songs that people would want to hear. I think I stumped you once with a Panic at the Disco song. But yeah, yeah. But it was a good one. yeah, no, so you guys did great. I loved.
Felix And Fingers (03:17)
Hallelujah. Yeah, that was it.
Warren T Caracciolo (03:23)
the whole energy of it and the vibe. You guys were going back and forth, battling pianos, playing beatboxing, everything. So from my chemical romance to something corporate to Queen, I requested all those. Big Guy was my, Big Guy, hey Big Guy. So that was my nickname for the night.
Felix And Fingers (03:30)
Yeah, was beatboxing too, yeah.
Pig guy, baby.
Yeah, think
as soon as you came up, well, I loved your energy all night, but as soon as you came up and you said that you were a wedding photographer, was like, ⁓ I mean, proverbial wedding bells right there. I was like, this is the dude, I already love this guy. And if his work reflects the dude that I’m hanging out with right now, I think this is gonna be a good connection. So I’m glad we followed the instinct. ⁓
Warren T Caracciolo (03:53)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Thanks, man. Thanks.
Felix And Fingers (04:13)
So I guess what I would like to talk about a little bit more, I don’t usually do this with photographers. I usually do it just like venues and planners. But again, something told me that you’ve got some serious insight and you’re like a guy to know. And if I was gonna learn more about kind of how this, you know, if I was gonna come to you,
Maybe not even as, because I just got engaged. ⁓ And by the way, for the audience, if anyone’s listening, I just closed on my house yesterday with Beyonce. So everything is moving. So we might be needing a photographer. But it’s good, I think, and I lost my train of thought, to just kind of.
Warren T Caracciolo (04:43)
Brats, bruh.
Nice.
Felix And Fingers (05:00)
learn more about what to expect when they’re working with somebody who is as hands-on as I think you are. Because it seems like you’re very client-based, very individual.
Warren T Caracciolo (05:13)
Yeah, absolutely.
Yeah, so our company, like when we sell a service or product or anything, I always tell people we’re selling the experience first and then you get awesome photos and video out of it. Right? So we’re going to hold your hand throughout the whole process. We’re going to like, so you’ve never gotten married. You know, most people have never gotten married. So this is the first time they’re doing this. Right? So we’re going to.
Felix And Fingers (05:24)
Mmm.
Warren T Caracciolo (05:39)
make sure you have enough time for all the things that you wanna do because the worst is when someone tries to cram 12 hours of stuff in an eight hour day. You know what I mean? And then next, true, and I personally am guilty of doing that in my own life, of being like, yeah, I can do that, I can do that, I can do that. And then I over promise, I’m like, ah, ah. But no, on wedding day, I really wanna make sure that we set the expectations properly. So.
Felix And Fingers (05:47)
Right. In life, in general, yeah.
right.
Warren T Caracciolo (06:07)
everyone knows what they’re getting themselves into because sometimes they don’t realize, you know, family photos is long. It takes longer than just click. OK, we have to pose everybody. We want to make sure, you know, grandmoms not picking her eye or something or whatever, because there’s always something. You’re right. Or maybe like Uncle Bob’s out getting a drink, you know, and he’s supposed to be in the picture. These are all things that like take time and we have to factor that in. So like, you know, I always want to make sure we set expectations properly and.
Felix And Fingers (06:35)
My eyes are watering thinking about Uncle Bob already. Yeah.
Warren T Caracciolo (06:36)
Make sure the excuse. How about it? We
always call in the wedding industry. Uncle Bob is is typically the guy that shows up who’s not part of the photo crew, but he’s got this big bird watching lens and he’s taking photos from the second row in the ceremony. And it’s like. Hey, I’m here for a reason, it’s OK. OK, but you’ll get all these photos. In fact, it’s you know that.
Felix And Fingers (06:54)
You’re like, dude, I’m here. We got it. Relax.
Warren T Caracciolo (07:03)
They get unlimited downloads so she can send it to you and Aunt Judy. You know what I mean?
Felix And Fingers (07:07)
And you can just sit and just be, yeah.
Warren T Caracciolo (07:10)
in the moment. But a
lot of times they want their own photos so they can see, yeah, I’ve shot weddings before, this is my niece’s wedding. You know, that’s a lot of times.
Felix And Fingers (07:17)
How,
now let’s give a little inside baseball. How often do you think people actually go and revisit their phone pictures that they took at somebody’s wedding?
Warren T Caracciolo (07:28)
I would say never, but there’s that 1 % of the time though, because me and the wife go to concerts a lot and we’ll like, she’ll do the video of like her favorite song or something. And like, we don’t go back to it, but like maybe once every couple of years we’ll be going through, remember that show or remember that, but it does. looking at your iPhone photo from the middle of the aisle where like, you know, a couple of people’s heads are in the way and you can’t even see the bra, you know what I mean? It’s like,
Felix And Fingers (07:29)
Yeah.
Right, and that kind of sparks the memory.
Warren T Caracciolo (07:57)
Are you really good? Is that really bringing back the memories or is the magical photo that we took bringing back the memories? know, so. Exactly.
Felix And Fingers (08:03)
Right, the whole reason why you exist and yeah.
Is there anything that you’re seeing right now, like currently in the industry that are like, I don’t know, trends or shifts back to things that people, know, cause things come and go in fashion. So what are you seeing right now? Like April, 2026 going into, I think you said October’s you’re really busy.
Warren T Caracciolo (08:29)
Yeah, so I’m noticing a lot of people are ditching the whole old school events, you know, like, it’s really hit or miss when people doing a bouquet toss nowadays, ⁓ doing like, you know, bouquet and garter, you know, that’s a thing that other paths, you know, the whole garter thing is kind of creepy to begin with. But ⁓ but we’ll keep that there. It’s a different podcast. This is for Felix and fingers after dark. No, but like cake cuttings.
Felix And Fingers (08:39)
That’s a great.
for different podcast.
Warren T Caracciolo (08:56)
Cake cuttings is becoming a thing where they don’t want everyone standing around and watching the whole thing anymore. Some people aren’t even getting cakes. Some people are just getting donut stations or ice cream stations and stuff. ⁓ Yeah, I love it. I like creativity. I’m a big fan of tradition, but it’s your day, so do what you want to do. Maybe take those traditional moments and then put your own spin on it, whatever.
Felix And Fingers (09:05)
Oh yeah. Well, that’s a great idea.
Yeah, that’s exactly what we do too. mean, what you saw on Saturday, you that was kind of the bar version. You know, when we’re working with our clients too, it’s the same methodology. We want to work with you. Forget tradition, you know, unless that’s important to you and you want it, you know, whatever you want, that’s what we’re doing. So it’s sort of like…
Warren T Caracciolo (09:29)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Felix And Fingers (09:45)
I don’t know what’s the best metaphor for it. I’m looking for some flowery language, but it really is like you’re getting a specialist with you. You’re getting somebody who’s going to be in the trenches and they know the deal and they’re going to get your vibe and exactly what you want. If you want to kick, hey, maybe you’re weird. You want to do a garter and you want to really a good boudoir picture of the garter shot. I don’t know. That could be kind of cool. Maybe that’s what you’re into. so since we’re talking trends,
Warren T Caracciolo (10:06)
Yeah. ⁓
Felix And Fingers (10:12)
and boudoir photo shoots of the garter ceremony. What do you think, since you’ve probably seen it all, what are some things that couples should not do and like some serious cringe like, dude, don’t do that, please.
Warren T Caracciolo (10:31)
I don’t know
if I have any cringe moments, but I feel like a lot of times they want to be traditional and don’t see each other until the ceremony, right? But then they also, they want to their cake and eat it too. So they want great photos, they want family photos, they want a lot of family photos, but then they don’t want to see each other until they walk down the ceremony, right? So for me, as a photographer, videographer, we like to plan a first look.
So ahead of time, they can see each other, have a private moment that’s intimate with them, and then do a bunch of the photos. So that way, after the ceremony, we’re not doing 23 family configurations. We’re doing maybe two, right? And then you guys are going off the cocktail hour. So now you can enjoy yourself. Because nowadays, know, these back in the day, the events used to be way different. Nowadays, it’s like, you know, you have four hours at your venue and out of those four or five hours you have,
how many hours do you wanna spend with a photographer who’s like, all right, now smile, now kiss, now, right? Like, let’s get a lot of that stuff out of the way early in the day and then maybe go to cocktail or dance on the dance floor and then we can sneak you out for sunset or maybe nighttime photos. That way.
Felix And Fingers (11:30)
Sure.
You’re like, come on, let’s go out real quick.
There’s a great sun. Let’s go do it. Yeah.
Warren T Caracciolo (11:43)
Yeah, or like get a breath of fresh air instead of like dancing for three hours straight. Some people want to do that. Some people need a break because they’re overstimulated, you know, and now that’s your perfect opportunity to kind of step away. Right. But that’s one thing is like a lot of people are trying to, you know, they want to make it special, which it will always be special the first time you see your spouse on wedding day. Right. But, know, don’t feel like you have to wait till the ceremony for that to happen. Right. Because.
Felix And Fingers (12:08)
Right. Right.
Warren T Caracciolo (12:10)
you’re wasting a lot of valuable time in that day that you’re going to now you’re paying for that venue for a certain amount of time, right? So utilize it, you know.
Felix And Fingers (12:19)
Um, wow. Yeah, that’s, I like that you transitioned that. What should they never do to like, you know, that’s, yeah, that you totally embodied. Like you got me all the warm and fuzzy now I’m thinking about. Um, all right. So since we’re going warm and fuzzy, then what do you think? I’m again, seeing it all, uh, give me like maybe top one, two or three, like coolest off the beaten path.
Warren T Caracciolo (12:25)
Yeah, that’s what I’m…
Felix And Fingers (12:49)
thing that you saw as a seasoned photographer you were like whoa that’s a cool I can’t wait to shoot that.
Warren T Caracciolo (12:55)
Man.
Fireworks are always cool at end of the night. I love to get good fireworks shows. Cool. But I think one of the coolest things was when we had a bride and groom zipline from the ceremony into their cocktail hour. So that was pretty cool.
Felix And Fingers (13:11)
Let’s give a
moment of silence for a moment for the zipline idea. Dude, where was that?
Warren T Caracciolo (13:16)
Right?
So there’s a place called the barn at Walnut Grove. It’s in the Lehigh Valley, closer to like the Kutztown area, but they have a huge property. So you go all the way up to where the ceremony is at and then you zip line right down to cocktail hour. And then all your friends and family are waiting at the bottom. So they’re watching you like come down and over the over top of cocktail hour and everything. So the first time we ever did that, I hired an FPV drone guy to follow them around, like zoom around the water.
Felix And Fingers (13:22)
Okay.
No way.
Warren T Caracciolo (13:48)
Yes, we had to do that, you know, that was one of those moments.
Felix And Fingers (13:51)
Okay.
Well, that’s the end of the podcast, everyone. Thanks for hanging out. That’s, that’s no, no, no. That’s this, that’s just a serious, that was good. That was just a serious mic drop. How can you beat a drone shot of zip lining down? I mean, maybe like rappelling in from the Burj Khalifa or like, like squirrel suiting in.
Warren T Caracciolo (13:52)
Pretty cool, right?
For real? That’s it?
I’ll tell you, there was a,
we did a wedding up at the Poconos at one time, Lake Wollum, Palm Pack, and the bride and groom ran down the aisle, got onto a speedboat and drove away, which was cool too. But yeah, that’s kind of cool stuff, know, like make it your own. And that’s one of those things where it’s like, have fun with it, plan, you know, stuff that’s different, you know, for you, you know.
Felix And Fingers (14:26)
taking notes.
Bye.
Yeah,
that’s that’s and that is exactly kind how we do with the dueling pianos too is when we when we do our thing, you know, we do the dueling show. But again, we’re working right with the client and making sure we play the music for you. We also do DJ services. We give all we bring all the lights. We do everything. So cocktail hour. That’s all included. And it’s all can be as hands on or as hands off as possible. ⁓
Warren T Caracciolo (14:58)
Now, you
guys have like other configurations like with a drummer, with a bass player and stuff? Cool, that’s real cool. I know where you guys were playing the other day was like a smaller venue. So I could imagine if you had a whole kit in there and everything. Cool.
Felix And Fingers (15:01)
Yeah.
At scale, mean,
we have three packages that we start from, and each of those, as you go up, gives you more things, cool things that you can do. But the great way that we’ve kind of worked our system is that it is sort of like a cart blanch.
You know, if say you want to do the lowest, lowest, the most economical tier, but you want to add a drummer and a saxophone player, then we’ve got our people, we throw that in, give you that process. Hey, that’s what it’s going to be. Say you want, you know, a full band or you want really intimate, small, like what you saw on set, kind of just two pianos set up and anything.
So, you know, I’ve got my people all around, all my musicians and entertainers that, you know, we suit everything right to you.
Warren T Caracciolo (16:01)
So just curious, would you guys, when you’re giving your brides the song list or letting them pick, I always found it beneficial when I did band stuff back in the day where we would send them our song list and tell them, let us know what you don’t want to hear as opposed to what you do want to hear, because then that can get cumbersome.
Felix And Fingers (16:20)
negative, like going, going, tell me what you don’t want, I think is is such a great. I also find that that philosophy in in when I’m playing shows, when someone comes up to me and requests a song, I know exactly what to do if they come up and say, hey, what songs do you know, suddenly?
Warren T Caracciolo (16:40)
That’s harder.
Felix And Fingers (16:41)
I know no songs. I have never played piano ever in my life.
Warren T Caracciolo (16:41)
Yeah.
Felix And Fingers (16:44)
so I think that’s a great, that’s great advice. I think when you’re dealing with your entertainment, I think when you’re dealing with your photographers, your venues, figure out what you don’t want, know, ⁓ hey, please don’t play any country music and definitely lean more towards earth, wind and fire or something.
Warren T Caracciolo (16:54)
Yeah.
Right.
Whatever. Yeah, whatever. Yeah, that’s totally that’s the way to do it. I think because if you don’t then it’s harder to find out what you do want. Right. And that’s when most people know what they don’t want. Like they don’t want cotton I job. They don’t want the electric slide or they don’t want YMCA or whatever. Right. So
Felix And Fingers (17:11)
Right.
Yeah. Yes.
Yep, yep. then through that conversation, you find very quickly what they’re into. I mean, again, as a photographer, I’m sure you get their vibes the second you meet a couple. You’re like, I know what to do with them.
Warren T Caracciolo (17:27)
Yeah.
for sure.
What’s the best is when you have a couple that’s like, we want more candid photos, but they don’t do any candid stuff. You know what I mean? So it’s like, so they’re just like, they’ll pose together and it’s like, I you wanted candid photos. And they’re like, okay, what should we do? I go, just be you and we’ll capture the moment. You know I mean? And that’s the candid stuff, you know, have fun, play with each other, bump into each other, like, you know, do the thing.
Felix And Fingers (17:40)
They’re like
Right.
You, there was a picture, I’m actually gonna pull it up right now. When I was looking at your website. That you, man, mean dude that, by the way, you have to go to their, his website, imagery.LIFE is the website, by the way. And look, it’s so good. There’s your business card. Where is that? There was a candid one that was just rad. there’s one, like a hero shot of the guy.
on the other dude’s shoulders looks and that’s wonderful not planned at all. the shot the father daughter dance is beautiful. The bubbles man you know what you’re doing dude. Anyway that’s
Warren T Caracciolo (18:20)
⁓ yeah.
It’s a wave
of 12 person team. like there’s, there’s, you know, we have, I think five different photographers, you know, so, and the cool thing is, like, if you look at everything, all the style matches, right. And everyone seamlessly like works as, you know, as the same person almost it’s weird. But with the whole point is to capture, you know, those moments, you know, as they’re happening, you know, and, and
Felix And Fingers (18:51)
Yeah.
Warren T Caracciolo (18:57)
I think that the hardest thing as a photographer is preemptively catching those things, right? Planning them. Right, planning what’s gonna happen.
Felix And Fingers (19:02)
Do you think working with your wife
helps with that? Because you have that bond with your wife that you guys kind of share that creativity. Like she might pick something up that you might have missed or you know.
Warren T Caracciolo (19:09)
For sure.
for sure. She’s she’s actually one of the ones that’s always like, this is going to happen. Look for it. And I’m like, ⁓ she’s right.
Felix And Fingers (19:20)
She’s got
that little psychic bit, yeah.
Warren T Caracciolo (19:23)
She
does have the radar sometimes, it’s crazy. You know, the Spidey sense.
Felix And Fingers (19:26)
Sure. ⁓
What’s some advice that you would give? Let’s do it in two lanes. Somebody who’s just starting, like getting ready to plan ⁓ and say they are just looking for venues, photographers, music, whatever. What would be like a good general?
Warren T Caracciolo (19:36)
Thank you.
Felix And Fingers (19:47)
Let’s start there like a good general like what’s some advice that you can give them?
Warren T Caracciolo (19:51)
I think the first thing you need to do is figure out what your budget is, right? So a lot of people go into this, they start planning, they find a venue, and then they realize, how am gonna afford $300 a person, plus a photographer, plus videographer, plus a band, plus a DJ, plus a, right? So I think figuring out what you’re comfortably are able to spend and break it down like, okay, so on a monthly basis, how much more can I afford
and not go beyond my means, but also like, you know, my rent is this, my food’s this, my electric’s this, right? And then you figure out, okay, well, I have X amount of discretionary funds, right? How many more discretionary, how much more discretionary funds do you have that you can put towards the wedding every month? So if it’s $500 a person or $1,000 a person or whatever, but I would figure out who can help you, right? First and foremost, see if mom and dad are available to.
give you some money or if you have an aunt or a grandma or someone that loves you a lot, see if they’re willing to help you out. And then figure out what that budget is and then stay within that budget and make sure you know whatever is important to you budget that first. So if the venue and food are important, perfect. And then obviously photography, if music is important to you, whatever, you know.
Felix And Fingers (21:10)
literally had a piggyback and it went out of my
Warren T Caracciolo (21:13)
budget.
Felix And Fingers (21:15)
budget that was what it was thank you that might sound kind of I don’t know unsexy and daunting and like it takes but absolutely not but I think I think this is great advice because once you knock all of that out in the beginning and get all the planning and you know exactly what you’re working within then it becomes fun
Warren T Caracciolo (21:25)
Definitely not sexy.
Felix And Fingers (21:39)
Then you know, you’re not doing these lofty things like, I wish we could have this or I wish we could, but it’s not in our budget. Or maybe we could make it, if you do it and stick to it, then the possibilities are like, now we can get creative and fun and find what we want. ⁓
Warren T Caracciolo (21:55)
Sure. And
know where you can cut corners too. Some brides are okay with having flowers from the craft store as opposed to getting actual flowers, right? Because sometimes the cost of that.
Felix And Fingers (22:06)
or like you said,
the cake and donuts or cupcakes or something.
Warren T Caracciolo (22:11)
Yep, that’s
another example. That’s great.
Felix And Fingers (22:14)
I remember my mother went to a wedding once and she still talks about it to this day. And she said she had never seen it done before. For the little party favors or goody bags that you would give at the end of the wedding, they did a candy bar.
and it was like, you know, old school, like, you know, bulk candy and you get a bag and everybody had, you know, you would go and fill up your candy bag at the end and that’s what you got to take. And she was like, that was just so them and so unique and different because how many times do you get a little, you know, you get a candle and a thing and you light the candle, you throw the candle away. But there was, you know, they had little bags and you could use them for travel and
Warren T Caracciolo (22:29)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Felix And Fingers (22:55)
They had a little logo printed. got it. It was just stuck with her. This was 20 years ago, probably. And I think that was a great.
Warren T Caracciolo (23:01)
Sure, we went to a wedding that had
that. loved, I love a good candy bar. I can’t stress a good candy bar enough. Gummy bears, Sour Patch Kids, let’s go. Dude, all of it, all of it, you know?
Felix And Fingers (23:11)
Root beer barrels.
We went to, this last year my fiance and I went to Europe and we were in Croatia. Was it Croatia? I think it was Croatia, it doesn’t matter. And out of all the places we went into, we found a little old school bulk candy place and we were just like, my God, we have to go in there and get, you know.
Warren T Caracciolo (23:29)
Well…
Felix And Fingers (23:33)
We called it old people candy. Get old people candy from Croatia. And it was just wonderful. But anyway, that’s neither here nor there. And then I guess the other question about that would be you specifically. What are you looking for when you’re dealing with, when you’re working with a client? What helps you in your communication process to make it as easy as possible for them?
Warren T Caracciolo (23:36)
Hahaha.
I mean, sometimes, you know, talk about people, you know, it’s hard to know what you want right off the bat, right? We were talking about that. So I love it when people have a good solid vision that are confident, outgoing, know what they want, you know, or know what they don’t want. Do you know what I’m saying? I love that. That makes everything easier. But ultimately, what I look for in a client is somebody that can match my energy or
that matches like the vibe from our team, right? Because some people, I’ll put it this way, sometimes you’re just the hired help and it’s like, just take my picture, thank you, goodbye. And then other people are like, we love you guys, your family, whatever. We kind of lean towards more like the family vibe because it’s one of those like, you know, we wanna take care of our clients. We want people that appreciate what we do, right? As opposed to people that…
Or just like, yeah, you’re a photographer. You were in our budget. We just hired you. Thank you. Bye. ⁓
Felix And Fingers (24:53)
And there’s
no right or wrong, like we said earlier, there’s no right or wrong way. It’s what’s important to you. That might be where somebody would maybe be okay with cutting a budget. But for you, you’re more towards that ⁓ boutique experience. Yeah, that’s fantastic. All right, well, let’s talk a little logistics just in case. you said you were booked.
Warren T Caracciolo (24:58)
Right.
Experience. You want that.
Felix And Fingers (25:21)
You’re starting now October, so what’s your availability look like and how far in advance? mean typically we said April, it’s October. What do you say, like six months do you usually book in advance?
Warren T Caracciolo (25:32)
We have, let me put it this way, we have 31 weddings for next year already. So, and we do about 80 to 100 weddings a year. correct, correct. do headshots, family portraits, senior portraits, all that kind of stuff in between. So, imagery.LIFE, right? Covering all aspects of life, right? So, that’s what we do.
Felix And Fingers (25:39)
In addition to other things too, right? Not just weddings.
Busy man.
Warren T Caracciolo (25:53)
But yeah, typically if anybody is wanting to work with us or inquire, have availability. We still have availability for this year, right? Which is fine. But typically people reach out within a year or more to book photography or a venue because that’s the stuff that goes first. You know what mean?
Felix And Fingers (26:11)
So
that’s a bit longer of a timeline than I was thinking.
Warren T Caracciolo (26:14)
Yeah,
for sure. Because we have to start planning about six months to three months out, you know, and that’s like getting everything ready to go for them, making sure they have a proper timeline for the day. Are they doing a first look? Are they not doing a first look? How many family pictures? So then that way we can judge how long we need to be there, what time we need to start. So then hair and makeup knows what time they have to start. So yeah.
Felix And Fingers (26:37)
today. it sounds, I mean.
Warren T Caracciolo (26:37)
It is a day. Typically
about 10 to 12 hours we’re working.
Felix And Fingers (26:42)
Yeah,
that’s a lot. And I think with all those moving pieces, it’s so important to have somebody like you that is like one less spinning wheel that you have to worry about. Like, hey, I got it. Go have fun. I might call you to take a picture outside at sunset, but otherwise, we got it.
Warren T Caracciolo (27:01)
Yeah, for sure. And that’s the biggest thing I’ve been telling people lately is, find a photographer that you want to hang out with, that you can hang out with because you’re going to be spending eight to 10 hours a day with them, you know, or more, right? And if you don’t like them or want to be around them, then it’s going to make the day very cumbersome and hard, right? ⁓ You know, so there’s that. And then also, you know, find somebody that, you know, you, you
Felix And Fingers (27:18)
Embersome is a good word, yeah.
Warren T Caracciolo (27:25)
feel like you can connect with, know, who knows what they’re doing, who can kind of help guide you and make the right decision. Because this is the most expensive and the biggest party you’ve ever thrown. So you should probably go enjoy it, you know, so yeah, for real.
Felix And Fingers (27:37)
Yeah, and make it perfect. ⁓
Well, you know, I will do this too. But that was a great ending note, I would say. just for dot and I’s and cross and T’s, do you have a deposit that you accept usually in like a cancellation policy, you know, if you were booking?
Warren T Caracciolo (27:54)
Yeah,
yeah, so deposits typically 50%. You know, whatever the packages that you want saves the date 50 % and then pay it off as you go. You know what I mean? There’s no rhyme or reason as long as everything’s paid up 30 days before the wedding, which that gives us enough time to make sure all the checks cleared and we could pay our team. Yeah, cancellation policy. Unfortunately, if you cancel the wedding, you already paid. It’s not refundable because we.
Felix And Fingers (28:17)
I mean.
Warren T Caracciolo (28:18)
We secure that day. can only do so many dates a year, right? There’s only 52 weeks in a year and we only do weddings typically on Fridays and Saturdays. So if you reserve that day, that means we told other people to, you know, go kick rocks.
Felix And Fingers (28:32)
Yeah,
typically, you know, talking about cancellation policy is, you know, for a wedding is, you have bigger things to worry about if you’re discussing cancellation policy. But good to know anyway, going into it just in case.
Warren T Caracciolo (28:46)
We’ve
had a couple of brides get pregnant this year and reschedule. Yeah. Yeah, well, they did. They did. was just came a little earlier than expected. But so we helped them. worked them out. didn’t charge them a full rescheduling fee or whatever, because it’s one of those things. Right. But sometimes you get family dynamics where like, know, mother-in-law wants to reschedule the wedding. And it’s like, well, now I’m charging you full price for rescheduling fee because
Felix And Fingers (28:49)
Well, that’s a good way then. Well, if they wanted a kid, then it’s a good. Good, good.
Sure. Sure, sure, sure.
Warren T Caracciolo (29:14)
you’re just being a pain in the butt. You know what I mean? So I try
to be flexible with people and I have a heart, you know, an empathy for real life situations.
Felix And Fingers (29:23)
Yeah.
So I assume you would be the dude to contact?
Warren T Caracciolo (29:29)
Most of the time most
of the time. Yeah, I mean, it all depends on the on the wedding and if we are if we’re already booked, I typically let people know if I’m not going to be there. But yeah, we have, like said, we have a huge team. Everyone’s trained by me under me and the wife, you know, so everyone has the same style and vibe and like I said, we only match people with the proper energy. Yeah.
Felix And Fingers (29:43)
Yeah.
right yeah
we do that too in our with our weddings we we have bios excuse me bios and little video clips and stuff of all our players and if you want you know say you see somebody that you really like and say you saw me at another show and you wanted me you can request your individual players too and ⁓ that’s
Warren T Caracciolo (30:02)
Yeah.
Cool, love that.
Felix And Fingers (30:12)
I think that’s, or if you trust us, can, you know, we do that too. Again, that’s the carte blanche boutique kind of thing where I get your vibe and I’ll make sure that the players that are in there are gonna be the ones that are right.
Warren T Caracciolo (30:25)
Typically what we do too, I’m not gonna put a loud photographer with a quiet subdued bride. You wanna take that loud, boisterous bride and put her with another person who’s gonna be able to match the energy or keep up with her. You know what I mean? So.
Felix And Fingers (30:30)
Right, exactly.
Amplify. Right, right. ⁓ fair. Yeah.
And then I guess the last thing I will say, is there anybody that you tend that you like to, well, you named what was the the zip line was the barn.
Warren T Caracciolo (30:57)
Yeah, the Barnet Walnut Grove.
Felix And Fingers (30:59)
That is, I have to check that out. That sounds incredible. I’m gonna have to shoot them an email. Because I’d love to chat with them too. And maybe just go zip lining on their property.
Warren T Caracciolo (31:04)
Yeah, for sure.
Yeah,
they might give you a quick trial run. Maybe do a free podcast.
Felix And Fingers (31:12)
Yeah, yeah, I’d like, hey, just really got
to make sure that my clients know what they’re getting into. So hey. What about any other vendors that you work with that you like?
Warren T Caracciolo (31:24)
Absolutely. So we love working with Vault 634 in Allentown. I don’t know if you’ve ever been there, but it’s a retro style, like speakeasy style wedding venue, has that 1920s real classy vibe. The team that works there is probably the best team I’ve ever worked with. And I’m not just saying that. They…
Felix And Fingers (31:29)
Okay.
Warren T Caracciolo (31:44)
Are well old machine and I’m sure you notice in the wedding industry you go to a venue one time and then you go back to a venue. It’s a whole different staff because this industry. Seems a lot of it the thing about the fall is that vault 634 in Allentown is that they have pretty much the same staff they’ve had since. I started working there 5, 6, 7 years ago right so a lot of the people that are still there it shows the.
Felix And Fingers (31:54)
So much turnover.
that’s.
Warren T Caracciolo (32:13)
The how well the management does as well, right? Because it’s all systemic, you know, if management is not good, then your employees are not good and then you lose employees quicker and so on and so forth. So. They do a great job and then also, I don’t know if it’s a, you know, up your alley, but we work with a lot of DJs, wedding DJs.
Felix And Fingers (32:25)
and the product.
Warren T Caracciolo (32:35)
And there’s a wedding DJ company called Sonic Entertainment in the area that does really good work. They know how to work with the crowd and anticipate moments and get the energy going, wordplay with songs and everything else.
Felix And Fingers (32:50)
That
sounds very similar to what Felix and Fingers does.
Warren T Caracciolo (32:53)
I’m sure I know I guess I didn’t want to like, you know, put you under the bus with that one. But those are those are two favorite vendors, guess, wedding vendors. Yeah, we love working with so.
Felix And Fingers (32:57)
No, no, but…
Yeah, there,
you know, again, that is, I never ever want to like discredit or downplay other options because that would be negating my own personal philosophy and our philosophy is like, we want to make sure the day is right. You want an EDM wedding, you don’t want to hire dueling pianos. I think if you want buttoned up AI generated
Warren T Caracciolo (33:09)
for sure.
Yeah.
Correct. Correct.
Felix And Fingers (33:25)
perfect Pinterest wedding where everything is, you then you might not be the photographer for them. Right. ⁓ Or, you know, one of those wouldn’t want to go to a woodland fairy farm with, know, just got to match the people up. So what you so vault say the two again. Well, we have the barn. Yeah. Six thirty.
Warren T Caracciolo (33:30)
Not hiring me.
Correct. Yep.
Right.
A vault 634. Yep.
at Walnut Grove. Zip lining. Pretty cool.
The Vault 634 in Allentown on Hamilton Street, and then Sonic Entertainment DJs. Those are some top vendors for the wedding industry. Honorable mentions, I would say we have Makeup by Roxy, which is a makeup team in the Valley that does a lot of great work. She’s got a big team and they cover a lot of ground. And then Amy’s Cakes. Amy’s Cakes is one of those classic cake designers.
Felix And Fingers (34:17)
yeah, I’ve of babies.
Warren T Caracciolo (34:18)
and so good. It doesn’t just look good, it tastes freaking good. Sometimes it looks good and tastes like trash. Sometimes it tastes great but looks like trash. She’s got the best of both worlds and yeah she’s got a good team as well so yeah man.
Felix And Fingers (34:34)
guess that’s dude that’s about it I think. Warren thanks for hanging out thanks for talking with me
Warren T Caracciolo (34:38)
Yeah, no worries. Thanks. I appreciate you.
Felix And Fingers (34:42)
other than that I’ll see you hopefully soon at another show and we’ll chat and keep hanging man. Warren, thanks dude. Alright bud, see ya.
Warren T Caracciolo (34:45)
Hopefully.
Yeah, sounds good. Appreciate you. Cool. Take care, man. I’ll talk to you.
Bye.
