Oh My Gosh what a 'different' day

[Terri400D]

Hi,
I have been shooting as a second shooter to a primary for 2 years, I had my first paid solo wedding last weekend. I have never experienced anything like it!
Wedding was at 1pm i got to the brides hotel at 11.30 which gave me enough time to get all the prep shots she wanted and get to the church. My partner was at the church getting the guys who were totally oblivious to all the chaos!

at 12.30 the bride was still having makeup done!. at 12.55 she is not dressed and the mum is still ironing the wedding dress.

The car (a white london taxi) had to do 3 trips from hotel to church 15- 20 minutes per trip!
The original taxi she ordered had been in a serious crash 2 days before, the guy is in hospital with head injuries, she had a screaming fit as it was not the car she ordered (the only difference was the gearbox and engine size)

she got to her wedding over and hour late, so that was an hour of my photo time lost! got back to the reception and half the guests are missing. she then said she didnt want photos of her and the groom together as she doesnt like having her photo taken and could i do 'reportage' throughout the rest of the day.
she then decides when it is dark she wants some photos done so we go to a couple of locations turn around and she has disappered chatting to friends, me the video people and groom are getting a bit 'annoyed' by now.
then as we have packed up and are walking out the door she decides she wants pics done with all her family!!
video people have never done anything like it and neither have I! has anyone else experienced this for a first wedding or at any wedding?

And to top it off her dj was taking pics as well as the chocolate fountain people and they have to supply all the pics on cd to her also.

Phew what a day, and if you got this far thanks for reading!

[picturecrazy]

That sounds like a budget bride. The more they pay the less of a pain they seem to be. I remember long ago shooting like 20 of those kinds of weddings in a row. blah!!

[tim]

What Lloyd said 100%.

Things to learn from this:
- Qualify your customers, talk about the day in advance.
- Help plan the time line well in advance. People have no idea how long things take.
- Don't give them the option of not having group photos, they take 20 minutes and are "must have" shots IMHO.
- Make sure your contract gives you the right to ask any other photographers in your way to move, and to discontinue photography if you can't. Also have something about being the only professional photographer. You should never actually leave the wedding because other photographers are around, it just gives you leverage.
- Planning, planning, planning. Plan everything.

[Terri400D]

Hi,
Luckily i did plan it all and had a timeline, i went through it with them at their meeting. She also had a copy sent to her and i had a copy printed in my pocket on the day!.
I will be looking at having the no other photographers clause in my contract though. That way i dont get a throng of people shooting over my shoulder when it is just them alone.
We left on a good note with the couple, we stayed to the end as we didnt want to seem unprofessional, she just seemed oblivious to all the chaos during the day.
We have learnt some lessons from this one though. I making sure they understand the plans for the day, luckily having been a second shooter for so many weddings I am used to working to a plan, so it seemed like second nature to me to have one!

Terri
xxx

[tim]

There's nothing you can do about the throng except quickly and politely explain why it hurts your shots if they're there. That or step out of the way until they all get the hint.

[PMCphotography]

What Lloyd said 100%.

Things to learn from this:
- Qualify your customers, talk about the day in advance.

- Make sure your contract gives you the right to ask any other photographers in your way to move, and to discontinue photography if you can't. Also have something about being the only professional photographer. You should never actually leave the wedding because other photographers are around, it just gives you leverage.



I learned that lesson the hard way when I did a very, very high-end wedding (which i generally don't do.) and the bride had hired two separate photographers and two videographers. Needless to say, we were ALL jockeying for position throughout the day and the group photos were a complete mess. It was one of my first weddings and it was quite traumatic!

I had my lawyer add a clause that states that I am to be the sole professional photographer, and if any other are present i retain to the right to leave and keep any monies paid to me so far. I've never had to invoke it, thankfully.

I find that generally, if you tell the throngs of friends and family who want to snap over your shoulder that they can take a few AFTER you have the shots you need, and to take a few steps back and hold off since their camera flashes could possibly affect your metering.

While they are doing that, you can send someone to find the "aunt mildreds" and the like for the next group shot anyway.

[madhatter04]

The last wedding I shot was similar. The biological father of the bride showed up, who was not supposed to be there, and drama erupted. Then, they found out 30 people over the RSVP list showed up, and the bride threw a massive fit. THEN, the biological father made a toast at the reception. The bride was insane all day and even apologized for being dramatic. She cursed like a sailor for, more or less, the entire time. Ugh. ;)

[PMCphotography]

The last wedding I shot was similar. The biological father of the bride showed up, who was not supposed to be there, and drama erupted. Then, they found out 30 people over the RSVP list showed up, and the bride threw a massive fit. THEN, the biological father made a toast at the reception. The bride was insane all day and even apologized for being dramatic. She cursed like a sailor for, more or less, the entire time. Ugh. ;)

Definitely ugh.

I did one a year or two ago, and one of the grooms ex's showed up (whom he had a restraining order against) and caused all sorts of trouble. The police had to be called to remove her. She then showed up at the reception drunk.

Ugh!!:mad:

[Terri400D]

oh my!!
Im so glad I am not the only one then. welll on the bright side I said things can only get better and the next on on saturday was brilliant. And then on sunday i had to go and do a charity event which was a tour of woburn abbey safari park with the duke of Bedford! What a wicked day out

Terri
xxx

[EmmaRose]

Sounds like all these poor people has terrible wedding days! Glad mine was over quickly, no planning done whatsoever :D (no photos either though lol)

[Mrsjperry]

Dear Heavens.....Tim said the DOUBLE B WORD

BUDGET BRIDE....translation.....THE BRIDE FROM HELL!!!!!!!!!!!

Noticing a lot more of them coming around now-a-days. Just calling or emailing asking for price information, discounts or creating their OWN package out of thin air....if they don't like what they hear I don't budge or sacrifice my time/service...just let them go to the next one.