Worst Guest Experiences I've Had Photographing Weddings (Don't Do These at a Wedding!)
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- čas přidán 27. 08. 2024
- Worst Guest Experiences I've Had Photographing Weddings. Sometimes guests don't realize they are being inconsiderate and sometimes they are flat out disrespectful to wedding vendors. In this video I share some of the worst and most frequent annoying things guests do to photographers.
Cavin Elizabeth Photography is a modern, luxury wedding photography studio based in San Diego, serving worldwide. Published wedding photographer with a focus on candid images and making you look and feel beautiful.
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Music: Joakim Karud
extreme disrespect!!!! 🙌🙌🙌 GIRL! I'm a nurse and being grabbed or insulted by people at work is sooooo frustrating! I can totally relate
ugh I can't imagine how hard it must be to deal with bad patients and their visitors!
Lol the "Uncle Bobs" just drive us crazy. You're right...enjoy the wedding, stop worrying about taking photos!
exactly! I love being a guest and not even touching my phone. It's one night only and I want to soak up every moment without my camera!
Thanks for this! I’m now having a “cell phone/camera free” wedding and reception to allow my photographer the peace she needs to work!
It will definitely make your photos so much better!
OMG THANK YOU!!! I wish more brides would take these things into consideration! I've been a professional photographer for years and there are always these issues!
:)
Most of this behavior doesn't bother me when I'm shooting events. What does bug me is when guests jump in front of you with their stupid camera phones.
This would frustrate me so much. How can people be so rude
Poppy Graham seriously! Thankfully it’s pretty rare for me or else I’d go crazy!!
It's so funny that this video showed up in my feed. I know this from 2019. It's interesting, and I think being a woman can be more challenging in many ways than male photographer. I miss San Diego! I try to use humor at every turn when covering a wedding, the types of guests you're describing are on point. When I see someone with "a huge camera" as you mentioned, I make it a point to go over and talk with them before things get going. I ask what they will be doing? And remind them that if they go (gesture to the area of interest) they will be the center of interest and how bad that's going to be. Guests with cameras, also often shoot their strobes/speedlights during the ceremony. My greatest concern there is that others may think it's coming from me. If someone comes up during the group shots and tries to stand next to me or shoot over my shoulder, I step away and wait for them to finish... That attention tends to shame them away. I'll share one favorite guest annoyance. I was doing the in-between ceremony and reception photos, the boyfriend of one of the bridesmaids stopped me and said "hey, just so you know, the only reason you're doing this wedding is because I was busy" (';')... Oh, you're a photographer? Yes I am... so I said, well I'm so glad you made it! I'll let the bride and groom know that you have it from here. I have no issue with giving them back the photographer they prefer. He panicked and said he didn't have his equipment. When I later asked the Bride about him, she didn't even know he took photos. I just try to find humor in everything. People don't grab me on the dance floor. Part of that issue may also have been that some photographers do engage with guests near the end of a wedding reception and that can set the tone for others. Your images are beautiful! I wish you every success with your photography.
I love your points and that's funny about the bridesmaid's boyfriend. He sounds like he has a big ego. It's always an eventful time at a wedding ;)
I also had someone grab my shoulder hard too
It’s annoying when people are shooting with there phones right next to you getting the same pic got eyes looking everywhere but you, I tell them you can take the photo first that sometime doesn’t work so now I just say okay all eyes here
Ugh, I don't understand why anybody thinks grabbing someone is ok!
These are great tips, I can see these being a really hard points for photographers. Thank you for making this content.
Glad you like them!
Ugh. I have an "Uncle Bob" that I'm anticipating. I'm making it very clear in signage and on the wedding website that the ceremony is unplugged and no cameras are allowed
Oh no! You can always tell him that you want him to relax and not worry about taking photos on the day of ;) Maybe that will inspire him to leave the camera at home!
That's an excellent idea! I'm sure we'll have that discussion before the event 🥰
I'm so glad you mentioned this, I'll definitely be watching out for this and taking care of my photographer at my wedding!
they will love you for it!
Same here! I’ll be watching like a hawk when she’s eating LOL
Hey! Where should I seat my photographers if not at a regular table? It was my understanding that there should be a clear view of the head/sweetheart table so nothing is missed at speech time or whatever. Our wedding and venue is small, so there isn't much more space in the actual room where dinner will be happening, but I could seat them in an adjoining room.
Missing speeches shouldn't be an issue if there is a set timeline and the DJ/band/planner makes sure the photographers are back and ready for them. Usually a vendor room is provided for vendors to eat and store their bags.
My guests even have any sort of camera equipment or phone or anything taking any photos before or during ceremony/reception will be punched in the face, cameras and phones will be confiscated and given back at the end of the night. I'm paying good money for my 2 photographers to do their job, not for them to be disrespected and ignored whilst doing it. I have said from the start of my wedding planning I don't want to be a bridezilla cause when I'm angry I'm shit scary to be around, but my God if anyone brings that inner bridezilla out in me cause the people I'm paying can't do there job, this girl here can run in heels, block,stilettos what ever heel I'm wearing, I will hunt you down and beat you up. My family and my fiancé family can be very rude, more so when they have been drinking, but trust me when I say, if people knows what's best for them then they will let my vendors do there job.
My worst in your topic are these off the top of my head:
1. The drunk guy who kicked my back light, which thankfully slid across the floor a bit before falling over, only breaking the mount the flash was attached to... a 15$ part.. which I had a spare in my car.. I had the guy give me 100 bucks on the spot for it, because he had that coming!
2. People who take cell phone shots over my shoulders, after I asked them to take their photos and then allow me to take mine..
3. Recently married people who just... know everything... ;-) and try to direct the shots, but come up with poorly conceived ideas, because they don't understand logistics, nor lighting..
4. Yep, Uncle with the Big Camera... Seriously... put it away... nobody needs a 600mm closeup shot from across the room... go shoot your birds, not the bride..!
5. Photographers who don't get hired to shoot their wedding, but instead of offering help, they go out of their way to make my stress level higher, by doing things like talking smack about my style.. etc.. One was a brother of the bride, who told her that I was "doing this all wrong"... He then spoke up and said that he went to school for this.. I looked him up ion Linkedin afterwards, and didn't see anything in his education that backed that up.. hmmmm.... She was thrilled with my work before... and after the wedding..
6. Videographers in general... I just shot one on Saturday, where a dumb guy with a video camera, had a Sony in a stabilizing rig, who walked around the couple from L to R... in a "C" shape... totally ruining many of would be great photo moments... just so he could get slow-mo video, with his only camera he was shooting with, of the entire length of the dances,..from about 3ft away from the couples for most of their formal dances..The rest of the time, he was a good 7-8 feet away.. I had another who showed up with a 5D3, 50mm f1.4, and nothing else, pretend that she was a professional videographer who didn't have any finders, external mics, lenses.. supports, etc... everything was hand-held with her elbows out,. the lens hood reversed... and shooting wide open for everything at 24fps.. She obstructed many important moments... the B&G informed me that she does nice video (& is a family friend) and that I needed to "figure out how to work with her"...Well, she had no interest in working with me, and I hope they were happy with their video... I was hired via an agency client, and I just turned in my images, along with my report.. and I didn't have to hear from them ever again.. :-)
7. (edit) I forgot to mention the time when I was taking a family group photo on a 95º day, with high humidity.. where my flash didn't fire.. I immediately looked for the malfunction and just before I located it.. I hear the (real) FOTB, who has some serious issues with the MOTB... shout out.."We have an untrained photographer here"... He did pretty much everything in his power to ruin his daughter's wedding, later having one of his guests harass me and mock me...yell disparaging things in my direction...all while I'm busting my butt for the couple.. They had a harp player at their wedding, and while I was taking pictures of the couple through it, and framed the harp in a creative way around them, with the empty seats where they had just been married as the background, the FOTB starts screaming... "Hey moran!! Go over by the water!!" His guest buddy then tears into me about how "stupid of an idea it was to shoot with all those empty chairs in the shot when there was water just 150 yards away... in the heat and humidity of that terrible location with no shade between that and us... The bride... was was pretty much a "zilla"... the whole day..... (rotten apple didn't fall far from the tree!!)...then looks at me and questions why I was shooting them there with all those empty chairs....and then grabs her hubby and marches over to the mud puddle... which didn't exactly provide much reflection that time of day, but it did provide us with a lot of bugs... Of course, I thought of that, and tried to convince her of that on the way there... and asked her to go back to that shady spot to do some more, and better quality photos there... Oh no...! She believed her jerk Dad... and his friend, and then told me to make the water reflect them in it before she got eaten alive... I've shot well over 600 weddings... I should write a book on the many lessons I've learned over these years.. Thankfully, few of them were eventful like this one.. ;-)
Omg people can be so rude! Taking notes to advise my family accordingly
Oh my goodness! This happened at our cocktail hour. I wanted to scream at my husbands family. My goodness!