Wedding Photography Spend

[kiwi]

did you get to see his early efforts from the day ?

[Sobriquet]

People are digging up some really old posts, they must have really slow internet

[KeeFy]

Yeah. I was at the wedding as an invitee and it went as expected. The old fella was running around the chapel during the ceremony shooting everything, with the built-in flash going nuts. Trouble was he had taken so many photos that morning of the bride getting ready and the cars, etc that his camera battery died before they even left the chapel. He didn't even realise it was flat and was looking at his camera wondering why it had turned off. Was actually quite funny watching him and the stupid look on his face.

They then left the chapel and were supposed to wander off into the vineyards to take some photos and he had to tell the bride that his camera "had stopped working". A desperate call was put out for everyone with cameras to take photos of the bridal waltz and cutting of the cake and email pics to the bride.

She then cam and asked me if I'd brought my camera with me. I told her all my gear was in the boot. She asked why I had brought all my gear and I told her "because I knew this was going to turn to shit". I told her I could shoot the formals and the rest of the day and the reception but that as she knew, I was not "free". She didn't care at that stage and was desperate.

I grabbed all my gear, including stands, umbrellas, off-camera flashes and we headed into the vineyards to take some shots. Old mate who had shot the first part of the day tried to follow us, obviously hoping to learn something, but I turned to him and said "I don't need you here so you need to leave". He got the message.

We actually got some really great shots. It was an overcast day and the wireless flash units helped me to underexpose the sky so that it looked really dark and threatening. I also shot some soft portraits of the bride as I anticipated the stuff he'd shot earlier in the day would be no good.

They even paid me before I'd even processed the shots and given them a disc. No apology, but I think they knew they'd screwed up.

Part of me wishes I hadn't taken my gear. I agonised over putting it in the boot of the car when I was heading to the wedding. Torn between wanting to leave it behind to punish them when it all went south. In the end I felt too guilty and threw it all in the car.

IMO. You did good for both the couple and yourself. You got to rest for the a part of the wedding, took photos for them which they will appreciate and got paid (hopefully the same amount). Poor Uncle Bob. LoL

[tompics]

That was very nicely written Arthur........a fancy wedding means diddly squat and as we grow older we realise it more and more.....

I agree, seems today it's become more about " putting on a good show" and the commercial side certainly talk it up. Me thinks it is no wonder so many marraiges fail, borrow for engagement, the wedding, the honeymoon, the house , the furniture, the cars. Ah yes I'm a silly OLD coot from days gone by.
My two bobs worth. tompics

[Tarryn]

FYI

Australian couples are splurging more than $36,000 on their dream wedding, business analysts IBISWorld say.

- Average wedding spend $36,200, up 6.5 pct on 2010/11
- 119,000 couples expected to get married in 2011, up 0.8 pct on 2010
- Average age of couples is 29 for women and 32 for men
- 60 pct of couples blow their wedding budget
- Australia's wedding industry worth $4.3 billion, expected to be $4.7b by 2016/17

Breakdown of wedding industry:
Percentage of wedding expenditure Revenue generated
Venue hire 33.4 pct $1.44 bln
Wedding dresses, clothing 21.9 pct $942.3 mln
Food 15.5 pct $668.3 mln
Photography, filming 11.6 pct $498.3 mln
Flowers, stationery, etc 17.6 pct $758.3 mln

Source: IBISWorld

.................. hence why i am becoming a wedding planner!