nightmare wedding

ford1

ford1

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kevin
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nightmare yesterday had a wedding to do and was told that they had another tog doing the brides makeup ..so thought thats ok less work for me ..until she decided to try and take over the whole wedding ..getting in the way of the church pics and even waiting outside the venue then whisking them both off while i was inside doing the venue shots ..livid wasnt the word ..ive never had such a arrogant photographer just cut int shots like that ..asked her to move out of the shots and was told no i want these shots to ..i ended up saying to the bride and groom that im going until i get a text saying shes gone ..so ****ed off ..:bang:
 
ford1 said:
nightmare yesterday had a wedding to do and was told that they had another tog doing the brides makeup ..so thought thats ok less work for me ..until she decided to try and take over the whole wedding ..getting in the way of the church pics and even waiting outside the venue then whisking them both off while i was inside doing the venue shots ..livid wasnt the word ..ive never had such a arrogant photographer just cut int shots like that ..asked her to move out of the shots and was told no i want these shots to ..i ended up saying to the bride and groom that im going until i get a text saying shes gone ..so ****ed off ..:bang:
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Sounds like it was a lot of fun for you :shake:
 
PSILVERMAN said:
What do you have in your contract?
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nothing about third togs me and my wife work as a husband and wife team but this will change ..she even had the priest asking who was the main tog ..i had everyone saying to me that they noticed i was getting very annoyed with her ..i walked out about 1 o'clock after i found that shed gone off with the bride and groom got a text from the mother inlaw begging us to come back.. she was a friend of the bride and she just let her get on with it :shrug:
 
ford1 said:
thats a good thing then lol :clap:
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The was one time as a student union party where we were booked and there was uncle bobs little nephew DJ Robby playing but he was using the single use camera equivalent of DJ Gear :D soon drowned that out :naughty:
 
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MWHCVT said:
The was one time as a student union party where we were booked and there was uncle bobs little nephew DJ Robby playing but he was using the single camera equivalent of DJ Gear :D soon drowned that out :naughty:
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lol i wouldnt of minded if she at least have said can i slip in behind you and snap away but the worse thing was she was trigger happy so the photos i did get were so over exposed that im going to have to do major editing just to get decent pictures .but told the bride its her responsibility and if the photos arnt good then its her own fault for letting that tog even be there :shake:
 
That sounds shocking. My last wedding the brides friend, a girl studying photography at college, wanted to watch me etc.

Wasn't best pleased when the day after she tagged the bride and groom in photos and said 'I really enjoyed being assistant photographer yesterday' and used lots of photos if posed and she'd shot over my shoulder.
 
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I don't understand this :thinking:

She was supposed to be doing the brides make up only but and you were told that, so why did you let her get involved at all with the other photos which you had a contract to do?:shrug:

also, did you go back after the text from the mother in law or not, it's not clear.
 
Are you sure you should be doing paid for weddings as you sound very unprofessional?

Over exposed pics are some other togs fault?

You walked out on them?
 
Mike.P said:
It would be if they were using flash at the same time.
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More likely that the flash being triggered by another flash. The probability of a flash being triggered at exactly the same time as the other photographer is tiny (in fact almost impossible). Just look at pro photographers all firing flashes and not affecting each others photo's.
 
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supersammy said:
More likely that the flash being triggered by another flash. The probability of a flash being triggered at exactly the same time as the other photographer is tiny (in fact almost impossible). Just look at pro photographers all firing flashes and not affecting each others photo's.
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It happens more than you'd think.
 
supersammy said:
More likely that the flash being triggered by another flash. The probability of a flash being triggered at exactly the same time as the other photographer is tiny (in fact almost impossible). Just look at pro photographers all firing flashes and not affecting each others photo's.
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Happens all the time. Though the flash is extremely brief, your shutter is open much longer. Extremely unlikely for your flash to be triggered by another photographer's flash, why would you have it set to optical slave in that situation?

That said, I'd probably come away with maybe two or three frames affected from a media wall at an event. With one other photographer at a wedding - regardless of how much they were shooting - I wouldn't expect it to be a problem.
 
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You walked out and there is nothing in your contract about being the only photographer? I'd prepare your self for a refund request, not saying you were wrong or right but contractually speaking you haven't got a leg to stand on!
 
ford1 said:
nightmare yesterday had a wedding to do and was told that they had another tog doing the brides makeup ..so thought thats ok less work for me ..until she decided to try and take over the whole wedding ..getting in the way of the church pics and even waiting outside the venue then whisking them both off while i was inside doing the venue shots ..livid wasnt the word ..ive never had such a arrogant photographer just cut int shots like that ..asked her to move out of the shots and was told no i want these shots to ..i ended up saying to the bride and groom that im going until i get a text saying shes gone ..so ****ed off ..:bang:
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If you're shooting professionally you need a proper contract and the ability to manage your clients. This sounds a bit of a mess to be honest.

Alex is right, if you walked out where no clear Contractual term has been breached by the client, then you become the one who is in the wrong.
 
It's difficult because at what point during what is supposed to be the most stress free part of the wedding do you step in and tell the bride and groom that they need to sort the other photographer out?

Was the additional photographer (the friend of b&g) an actual wedding photographer or has she piped up after you were booked asking if she could do it, or a part of it to gain experience or something?
 
connersz said:
It's difficult because at what point during what is supposed to be the most stress free part of the wedding do you step in and tell the bride and groom that they need to sort the other photographer out?
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Ummmmm at the point it becomes a problem surely? :shrug:
 
Before the wedding i always let the bride & groom know that i would need time with them by myself.
And i made sure this alway happen.

:)
 
ford1 said:
nightmare yesterday had a wedding to do and was told that they had another tog doing the brides makeup ..so thought thats ok less work for me ..until she decided to try and take over the whole wedding ..getting in the way of the church pics and even waiting outside the venue then whisking them both off while i was inside doing the venue shots ..livid wasnt the word ..ive never had such a arrogant photographer just cut int shots like that ..asked her to move out of the shots and was told no i want these shots to ..i ended up saying to the bride and groom that im going until i get a text saying shes gone ..so ****ed off ..:bang:
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When wedding photographers put clauses in their contracts about no other photographers, non-pro's think they're being self important and prima donna's. :wacky:

Welcome to life in the world where you need to be explicit about your services. If a bride comes to me and says someone else is shooting the prep, my answer isn't "thats ok less work for me", it's "I'll be shooting the prep as specified in the contract, if your friend wants to tag along, you should get her to ring me and we'll discuss her role'. If the response is that the bride's in charge, my response is that it'll be breaching her contract. The hard fact of life is that it's to prevent situations like this.

As the dodgy meerkat bloke says 'Simples...'

I too believe you handled this very badly, you should have been assertive up front, instead you're now in a place where you could end up sued for not fulfilling your contract.
 
So if its not covered in your contract then your contract is sadly lacking as you now know. Why you didn't say something to the other photographer quietly on the side is a mystery to me and others evidently. I think it's now a case of damage limitation if this is at all possible. I don't even know how you're gonna go about this to be honest. Others may have some ideas for you, please tell me you're insured.
 
Phil V said:
When wedding photographers put clauses in their contracts about no other photographers, non-pro's think they're being self important and prima donna's. :wacky:

Welcome to life in the world where you need to be explicit about your services. If a bride comes to me and says someone else is shooting the prep, my answer isn't "thats ok less work for me", it's "I'll be shooting the prep as specified in the contract, if your friend wants to tag along, you should get her to ring me and we'll discuss her role'. If the response is that the bride's in charge, my response is that it'll be breaching her contract. The hard fact of life is that it's to prevent situations like this.

As the dodgy meerkat bloke says 'Simples...'

I too believe you handled this very badly, you should have been assertive up front, instead you're now in a place where you could end up sued for not fulfilling your contract.
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I think this is good advice.

I do think people are being a little harsh on the OP though as the situation clearly caught them off guard and they will learn from the experience. I can understand that they didn't want to kick off too much and cause a scene as it wouldn't have looked good and possibly ruined the wedding... taking the other tog to the side and explaining the situation and not taking any crap would have been advisable, but hindsight is a great thing
 
ajax_andy said:
I think this is good advice.

I do think people are being a little harsh on the OP though as the situation clearly caught them off guard and they will learn from the experience. I can understand that they didn't want to kick off too much and cause a scene as it wouldn't have looked good and possibly ruined the wedding... taking the other tog to the side and explaining the situation and not taking any crap would have been advisable, but hindsight is a great thing
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I don't think we're being overly harsh, although I could see how some would read it that way.

I do feel sorry for the OP, we can all get caught out by the unexpected. But then there's the BUT;
1 we've all read enough horror stories about 'Uncle Bob' at weddings to be on our guard, the OP shouldn't have read the warning signs rather than accepting the 'rest'. Personally, I'd feel my product was lacking if I wasn't delivering the whole day (and the customer was filling it with someone else's images)
2 the measure of our professionalism is how we react when the pressure is on. I'm afraid the OP was caught out twice here, by being unprepared and then by dealing with it really unprofessionally.
 
My daughter , living 400 miles away from me booked her photographer but did warn him that her mother would be there with her Pentax.

He and I met up at the make up and dressing session. We chatted for a bit and I showed him some of the stuff I'd taken of her before he arrived. We gelled and I assured him I would not get in his way - and I didn't. He made sure I got the shots I wanted and encouraged me to shoot things from a different angle from him. I'd a brilliant day and he and I exchanged discs afterwards . I think because I spoke with him and he saw I didn't get in his way it worked - I also learned a lot from him regarding angles and composition of shots.

Would I consider myself fit to do a wedding solo - NOT ON YOUR LIFE.

We had a Registrar who told us before the Bride and Groom came in that only the Official Photographer could take shots during the ceremony - and he was well to the side at the front - centre stage were the Registrar and the Couple . I got a few shots - the 'Tog looked across at me and nodded at me to take some at various points.

I'm really sorry for the B&G in the video - the whole things was handled appallingly - everyone was at fault !
 
connersz said:
It's difficult because at what point during what is supposed to be the most stress free part of the wedding do you step in and tell the bride and groom that they need to sort the other photographer out?

Was the additional photographer (the friend of b&g) an actual wedding photographer or has she piped up after you were booked asking if she could do it, or a part of it to gain experience or something?
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I agree Jamie, the last thing any right minded person wants is to be a part of a row at someone else's wedding.
For those people who say the OP should have managed the situation better - how would you have achieved that? There is no way that you can stop someone taking photographs, particularly if they have a bad attituded anyway.
This looks like a pretty grim situation for the OP, and next time he will have to have a contract drawn up, which contains certain rules and do's and dont's.
Although none of us really know the situation in detail, it sounds to me like a "bridezilla" trying to get the job done for free, and I would not mind betting that she would have tried to avoid paying for the OP's images even if he had stayed to the end.
Unfortunately nowadays, the amount of people trying to cheat others is on the increase. I have seen how this affects friend's businesses.:(
 
andy700 said:
I agree Jamie, the last thing any right minded person wants is to be a part of a row at someone else's wedding. For those people who say the OP should have managed the situation better - how would you have achieved that? There is no way that you can stop someone taking photographs, particularly if they have a bad attituded anyway. This looks like a pretty grim situation for the OP, and next time he will have to have a contract drawn up, which contains certain rules and do's and dont's. Although none of us really know the situation in detail, it sounds to me like a "bridezilla" trying to get the job done for free, and I would not mind betting that she would have tried to avoid paying for the OP's images even if he had stayed to the end. Unfortunately nowadays, the amount of people trying to cheat others is on the increase. I have seen how this affects friend's businesses.:(
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The answer is actually simple, at the point the bride suggested her mate shoot the prep.

Step in, be friendly and take control.
The OP has learned the old lesson 'the road to hell is paved with good intentions'

For most of us the situation would have been diffused at that point, I can't stop the brides mate from taking pictures, but it's easy to stop her taking over by calmly and nicely being in control. The biggest factor here is the photographer not taking control of the situation, believing he was getting an easier job. Everyone should know that the easiest jobs are those you control, the hardest jobs are those where lots of people are vying to control you.

As I said in my previous post, it's not difficult to predict this type of situation, and it's difficult to diffuse once the ball starts rolling. So take the easy route and make the first move way before you get to the brides dressing room.
 
connersz said:
It's difficult because at what point during what is supposed to be the most stress free part of the wedding do you step in and tell the bride and groom that they need to sort the other photographer out?
?
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personally I'd approach the brides parents or the best man if an uncle bob/auntie roberta is being a pain in the arse - the happy couple don't need the grief
 
andy700 said:
I agree Jamie, the last thing any right minded person wants is to be a part of a row at someone else's wedding.
For those people who say the OP should have managed the situation better - how would you have achieved that? There is no way that you can stop someone taking photographs, particularly if they have a bad attituded anyway.
This looks like a pretty grim situation for the OP, and next time he will have to have a contract drawn up, which contains certain rules and do's and dont's.
Although none of us really know the situation in detail, it sounds to me like a "bridezilla" trying to get the job done for free, and I would not mind betting that she would have tried to avoid paying for the OP's images even if he had stayed to the end.
Unfortunately nowadays, the amount of people trying to cheat others is on the increase. I have seen how this affects friend's businesses.:(
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Surely just continuing to take photos would have been the obvious solution. I'm sure she was annoying but it wouldn't have stopped him getting the shots he wanted eventually. Just ignore her if nessersary. Also I thought it was common to get payment before the wedding to stop people not paying after ?

I'd certainly be a bit upset it I'd payed a pro who had walked off without talking to me personally and allowing me to resolve the situation.
 
andy700 said:
Really?
I would have thought a deposit, but surely not the whole lot.
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I'd usually take the whole lot

Deposit on booking, balance a couple of weeks before

venues, caterers, registrar etc all want payment upfront so why should the photographer be different
 
andy700 said:
Really? I would have thought a deposit, but surely not the whole lot.
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Yes indeed we do, it's not universal, but as near as dammit.

From this I conclude:

You're not a wedding photographer

You've not hired a wedding photographer.
 
Phil V said:
Yes indeed we do, it's not universal, but as near as dammit.

From this I conclude:

You're not a wedding photographer

You've not hired a wedding photographer.
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Phil it's a fair enough assumption to make. For most services you pay after you have received the service. It wasn't until you or another wedding photographer explained the difficulties of obtaining money from cash strapped newlyweds, once the friends have okish photo's that it made sense to me. Six months ago I would have thought a photographer was having a laugh if they expected me to pay before I had seen a photo.
 
From experience any charges to do with a wedding normally have to be paid up front, whether it be caterers, venue, photographer etc, sometimes even bands and DJ's. Probably something to do with protecting their income, should the bride or groom get last minute jitters and do one. :)
 
yeah and also because everyone else gets paid up front - if you leave it til afterwards and they have money worries you'll be the one not getting paid (and also because on the day you'll incur travel costs, wear and tear on your kit etc , and its good to have these covered)
 
would you think the caterer was having a laugh if they wanted payment before you'd eaten a meal, or the baker before you'd cut the cake, or the DJ before you'd heard a song ?

Do you think amazon are having a laugh when they take payment before your goods arrive ?
 
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