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ironsickel
2nd of July 2006 (Sun), 19:29
With apologies to Jeff Foxworthy, if, during your wedding reception, the mother of the bride intentionally nails a guest in the privates with her walker because he's being overpossessive of the maid of honor, you might be a redneck.

I don't know how to begin to describe this wedding. Everything that could possibly go wrong, pretty much did, with the exception that I actually did get good pictures.

We had the above mentioned altercation at the reception, which later erupted into a brawl.

Additionally, the wedding was to take place at 2pm with 12pm dress up and formal shots. At 1:15pm the first person arrived (the groom) undressed. Nobody else (including the bride) arrived until 1:40pm.

Apparently the family is known to "take what they can get" and stiff people on the bill...and they hadn't paid the minister or organist for their time/services. So...after a 2:30pm wedding start and 3:00pm wedding finish, I'm hurriedly taking formals, since I got nothin' before the service.

At 3:15PM, the organist (representing the church) began forcibly trying to kick us out of the church. She then publicly (in front of 50 family members) belittled and ridiculed the bride for "not paying for her time and her overtime" (she wasn't happy about the late wedding start either).

At 3:20PM, after I attempted to reason with the organist, she screamed at me that she needed to set up the church for tomorrow service. And then promptly got on the alter (behind my bridal party DURING THE SHOOT) and began taking down flowers and rearranging things for the service.

There's more but that's the jist of it. Unfortunately, a few pictures were ruined by the presence of two cranky old church people in frame, but over all, considering what I had to work with, I got some decent pictures. Just not a whole lot of poses.

Much of what happened was the direct fault of the negligence of the bride and groom (and/or family), but the church lady just sent it all over the edge.

Sorry, just needed to vent and figured I could commiserate here.

All's well that ends well. Will be posting pix later for C&C.

tim
2nd of July 2006 (Sun), 21:23
Got any tips on how to avoid this type of customer? I hope you were paid in advance!

ironsickel
2nd of July 2006 (Sun), 22:19
Got any tips on how to avoid this type of customer? I hope you were paid in advance!

I was paid in advance (to be honest, the family does have a "rep"), but to be honest, I would not trade this experience for the world. I was able to keep my composure throughout and thankfully, keep the b&g focused on allowing me to take great images of them. An overall great (if not painful) experience.

The third time the organist interrupted us I took her aside and privately demanded she leave *my* wedding shoot and to respectfully air her dirty laundry at any other point in time that didn't involve me.

I guess what really torqued me off is that I had met with the minister 4 hours prior and asked if there were any time constraints or concerns and he was totally cool with everything, even going so far as encouraging me to take flash during the service "if it helps take better pictures." Apparently he and the organist were not on the same page and I could not find him after the service.

On a lighter note, the most difficult decision I had all day was whether or no to take pictures of the altercation/fight outside the reception hall. :rolleyes:
I chose not to and politely removed myself from the incident.

daclozer
3rd of July 2006 (Mon), 01:16
Ah, the life of a wedding photographer... We could write a movie in here about being a wedding photographer, kinda like the wedding crasher.. It is good to see that you are taking a positive slant on the whole experience and using it as a learning tool.