I found Thumbtack by chance (or fate, whatever you want to call it!). My fiancé and I got engaged on Thanksgiving and quickly began planning our wedding, which will be on November 15th, 2014 in San Diego.

Since we’re paying our own way (which we quickly found is a humbling experience), we knew we had to think out of the box and be savvy when it came to finding our anchor vendors like photographers, DJs and caterers.

Our first step was getting engagement photos taken. I stumbled across Thumbtack on my search and decided to give it a shot. It was so simple. I just put in my budget, location, what I was looking for, and hit submit. Within an hour I had five quotes from local photographers.

One of those photographers, Mickey Strider, really peaked my interest. He’s a brilliant photographer with incredible landscape shots in his portfolio. He had never never done engagement photos before, so we came to a mutually beneficial arrangement to help with his portfolio in exchange for a reduced cost.

“I had exhibited across the country and sold prints of my landscapes previously,” said Mickey, “but I have started mixing in portraits and wanted to find more opportunities. I came across Thumbtack and thought it would be a great opportunity to offer my services in a different style. Thumbtack did not disappoint.”

Even better than the price was meeting a new friend, Mickey! We had our photos taken last weekend and he was great. We all had fun, especially since he brought along his wife and daughter as his “helpers”. The next day Mickey sent us a few sneak peeks of the photos, which was more than we had ever expected!

And the feeling was clearly mutual. Mickey said “Amanda and Eric were wonderful collaborators. I couldn’t ask for a better couple to photograph. Great on camera and a lot of fun to spend time with. We had a really good time during the session which definitely comes through in the final photographs.”