Craziest 24 Hours... Ever!

[PeaceFire]

And I learned a very, very important lesson that I'd like to share...

If you ever do a Destination Wedding be sure the bride and groom fly you in AT LEAST two days before the wedding. I am now making this mandatory. Before now I just recommended it (and mentioned in my contract that if I was not flown in 48 hours before the wedding I hold no responsibility if I miss it), but after 20+ destination weddings this has never even been an issue... until now.

I was scheduled to shoot a wedding in Aruba tonight. I DID make it to the wedding, but literally with minutes to spare. All because of a broken toilet. Seriously, TONS of things went wrong with this trip. I was supposed to be in Aruba yesterday evening but didn't make it in until 24 hours later, minutes before the wedding started. It was extremely stressful for both me and the bride and groom. Not worth the stress, IMO. So from now on, I will require an extra day, just in case. Because crap does happen (and in this case, it was literally crap that happened).

[tim]

Um... how did a toilet delay you by 24 hours?!

[miniphotog]

I think you're right to require it.

Birds are another reason. Just send your clients one of these links and I they should see the benefit of not taking a chance.

http://www.jettimes.com/bird-strike-emergency-landing-jetblue-flight-jbu757/

http://www.jettimes.com/caribbean-airlines-flights-stuck-on-newark-tarmac-6-hours/

[PeaceFire]

Um... how did a toilet delay you by 24 hours?!

Apparently, flights can't leave the ground if there's a broken toilet. Because a clogged toilet grounded my flight long enough to make me miss my connecting flight.

[PeaceFire]

I think you're right to require it.

Birds are another reason. Just send your clients one of these links and I they should see the benefit of not taking a chance.

http://www.jettimes.com/bird-strike-emergency-landing-jetblue-flight-jbu757/

http://www.jettimes.com/caribbean-airlines-flights-stuck-on-newark-tarmac-6-hours/


It's so funny that you posted this! That first report happened today and the bride's brother was on that flight! He made it just in the nick of time, too!

[miniphotog]

Apparently the brother doesn't rate an extra day either...lol

Actually, he has a lot to be thankful for. It could have been a lot worse than a delay.

[PeaceFire]

Apparently the brother doesn't rate an extra day either...lol

Actually, he has a lot to be thankful for. It could have been a lot worse than a delay.

Yeah, I'm not sure why the brother wasn't here already. Everyone else came down on Thursday. Maybe he had to work. And yeah, it sounds like JetBlue took care of their passengers. Getting 104 onto other flights right away has got to be quite a challenge! I can't imagine they have too many Aruba flights daily. So... props JetBlue! They sound nicer than American Airlines.

[miniphotog]

Actually I think they just transferred the passengers to another JetBlue plane. I tracked that flight and it departed a few hours later. JBU757 did arrive today. If the brother wants to fill me in from a passengers perspective PM me.

[suecassidy]

I would think most clients would balk at flying a photographer in "at least" two days ahead, on the rare chance that a rare flight mishap might occur. If in over 20 destination weddings, this has never happened before.... to not have made the wedding would definitely have been a disaster, but to get to every wedding two days in advance because of that? I could be wrong, but I wonder if many brides would willing to buy an extra day of my time and hotel, food, and transportation expenses, for something that statistically won't happen....

Sorry that happened to you, it must have been very nerve racking!

[siddr20]

Extra 2 days might be a bit extreme for the client. Maybe 1 day before is ideal. Unless the client are rich and able to pay for the extra two days.

But glad you made it to the wedding.

[Your Story Photoart]

a simple solution (and this is what I do) is to just to build in an additonal night at the hotel, into the cost of your quote to the client. They're paying for my flight no matter what day I fly in on so that doesn't matter. All I require is for them to pay for 2 nights at the same resort they're at. Again, it doesn't really matter which two nights those are.

Then all you have to do is build in that extra $50-$100 into THEIR wedding package.

I will always fly in 2 days early for that very reason and also to scope things out, see how sunset looks etc.

I don't think you'll have a problem with it when you put it that way. I've not had a problem with it yet.

[PeaceFire]

Well actually, this is the first time I've ever been flown in the day before. Most brides have flown me in 2, 3, up to 5 days before the wedding. It's never been an issue before. It's not like it costs that much more to add an extra day onto the room. In this case it would have only cost them $171 more. I'd say that $171 is a small price to pay to have a photographer when you could pay over $2000 to NOT have a photographer due to a stupid plane delay. I would have completely missed this wedding if they had it any earlier. Thank goodness they went for the 5:30 ceremony time!

[Eiro]

Just curious, don't private charters fly to Aruba ?

[SMP_Homer]

fly in with the couple - that way if you're delayed, so are they!

[miniphotog]

Just curious, don't private charters fly to Aruba ?

Private charters fly anywhere....... that's why they are called private charters.

[jukas]

Private charters fly anywhere....... that's why they are called private charters.

And generally cost WELL beyond what it would cost the couple to pay an for an extra day at the hotel for the photographer, especially considering they should have gotten a group block and a group rate at the property.

[miniphotog]

And generally cost WELL beyond what it would cost the couple to pay an for an extra day at the hotel for the photographer, especially considering they should have gotten a group block and a group rate at the property.

Very True!

[Big Mike]

It's not just toilets.

I unexpectedly spent the night in Salt Lake because there was a problem with the seat belt on the co-pilot's chair.

[PeaceFire]

It's not just toilets.

I unexpectedly spent the night in Salt Lake because there was a problem with the seat belt on the co-pilot's chair.

I fly A LOT. And I've had a lot of crap happen. Let's see...

-A bird dented the front of the plane causing me to get to Kona 14 hours late once.
-Someone stole an exit sign (why!?!) which caused my MSP to San Diego flight to be grounded completely (I flew out 16 hours later on another flight)
-A broken latch on the plane door made it so it wouldn't shut. We got another plane pretty quickly but still had a 3 hour delay.
-Two incidents of passengers going crazy. One we were still at the gate and were able to just boot them off, the other time we were already in the air and had to turn around.
-Passengers missed their Jamaica to Miami flight and we had to sit there for over an hour while they found their bags.

And those are just the ones I can remember. All happened on either American or Delta, too. Never have I had a problem with Southwest, Sun Country, US Airways, or United.

[Peacefield]

I travel often for my "day job" and for this reason will not allow myself to be out of town the day before a shoot. Too much can and will go wrong.

[tfizzle]

This thread does not sound fun to me. I fly out Saturday morning from my sisters graduation and get back to my destination 2 hours before I have to be setting up for a prom shoot. I have a backup on call though.

[iggybytes]

fly in with the couple - that way if you're delayed, so are they!

this is a great idea :lol:

[PeaceFire]

Get married and have kids. You might want to charge a LOT more than just $150 (or whatever the hotel night stay was) ;)

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Come on the next one Dec 1st-14th 2011!!!!!

That's not what I would charge, it's what would cost the couple to pay for an extra room for the night. I charge my photography rate only and then the clients have to pay for my flight and room on top of it. It's up to the client how long I stay. Usually it's 3 nights (2 nights before, 1 night after) though, as I said before, I've stayed as long as 5 nights (3 nights before, 2 nights after). It just depends on the bride and groom and their budget. What I'm saying is that I will no longer have them fly me in the day before (i.e. Friday for a Saturday wedding). It's too stressful for me and for them.

And when I get married is when I can stop charging anything all together. It's called "Marrying Up". :)

[PhotoMatte]

"And when I get married is when I can stop charging anything all together. It's called "Marrying Up". "

Tried that...didn't work out for me ;)

[PeaceFire]

"And when I get married is when I can stop charging anything all together. It's called "Marrying Up". "

Tried that...didn't work out for me ;)

It's working out great for me! Wedding is fall of 2012.

[jblaschke]

Well actually, this is the first time I've ever been flown in the day before. Most brides have flown me in 2, 3, up to 5 days before the wedding.

The Wife is slowly getting into destination weddings. From our research, 2-3 days ahead of time seems to be standard. 1) the photographer gets to familiarize themselves with the area and 2) more photographic opportunities, including rehearsal dinner. I've seen some photographers insist that no. 1 above is very important if you've never visited the destination before.