I bet THIS has never happened to you!

joshhuntnm

Ok, so the hired my son and I to shoot a wedding -- photo and video. We arrive at the house and do a photo shoot. Everything is going great. Then we go to the hall where the ceremony and reception are to be held. We get set up. We wait. And wait. And wait. Rumors start to circulate: the judge, who is supposed to do the wedding is not here. I think somebody talked to him. I think he is on the way. Not sure. We wait some more.

About 40 minutes after the ceremony is supposed to start, I say to the bride's father, "Listen I don't know if you want to explore this option, but in my other life, I am a minister. I have done lots of weddings. I can do your wedding if you want."

They have a family pow-wow. A few more phone calls. Wait some more. Dad comes back in a few minutes and says, "We are on; let's do it."

So, look closely at this photo. The officiant is me!

To top things off: I think there were about 3 white people there--my son and I and one other. Many did not speak English at all. I don't speak a word of Spanish beyond Taco and Enchilada. So, we had to work through a translator. The guy holding the mic is the translator.



Here is the follow up question: what wild and crazy things have you seen happen at weddings?

zoomer

Yep that is one to remember.
Of course you have that clause in your contract right to cover it if you should have to be the minister and the photographer hahahaha

So when the minister showed up did he catch h&LL?

joshhuntnm

zoomer wrote:

Yep that is one to remember.
Of course you have that claus in your contract right to cover it if you should have to be the minister and the photographer hahahaha

So when the minister showed up did he catch h&LL?

He never showed.

heatherfeather

OH MY!

That is a convenient skill for a photographer to have! I usually end up pinning on the Boutineers, but that is nothing compared to officient!

That is a doosey. I did have one wedding where the person who was supposed to play the wedding march didn't show up. They had the crowd "hum" it. Pretty funny, but it worked and they are married!

Another where the brides father forgot his tux at home (an hour drive away) and he had to go get it. Same wedding one of the bridesmaid's dresses didn't get finished (mom was sewing) So they quick had to go to the dress shop and find a new one. That particular bridesmaid was very plus sized, so she ended up with a gown that was waaaay to small and had to work up something with shawls and pins etc to make it work. That wedding started 2 1/2 hours late. Crazy

elizabeth_Luna

wow that is classic but I am not surprised, god sure has a sense of humor... you were pre- destined to be there - that sure broke a ton of mindsets that day I bet. Good job kudos to you for stepping up!

elizabeth_Luna

heatherfeather wrote:

OH MY!

That is a convenient skill for a photographer to have! I usually end up pinning on the Boutineers, but that is nothing compared to officient!

That is a doosey. I did have one wedding where the person who was supposed to play the wedding march didn't show up. They had the crowd "hum" it. Pretty funny, but it worked and they are married!

Another where the brides father forgot his tux at home (an hour drive away) and he had to go get it. Same wedding one of the bridesmaid's dresses didn't get finished (mom was sewing) So they quick had to go to the dress shop and find a new one. That particular bridesmaid was very plus sized, so she ended up with a gown that was waaaay to small and had to work up something with shawls and pins etc to make it work. That wedding started 2 1/2 hours late. Crazy

wow - I have not ran into anything that crazy yet! - knock on wood

sherijohnson

wow! that is a crazy story!

Shima

Crazy that the minister just *never* showed up... but awesome that you were able to help them fill the need... besides as we know it's the photos before and after that are by far more artistic and fun than the few shots you need to take during

ChatKat

Not unheard of...there are a few photographers that have been ordained over on one of the wedding forums because the minister hasn't shown up. More frequent the photographers don't show up. And at today's wedding the groom's brother was teasing his mom that the groom might not show up.

Agnieszka

Wow!! Haha .. nope, didn't happen to me (yet), haha! Hilarious. But wait ... where is your camera?? Haha ...

Your story also reminded me of this image I saw recently ...

pwp

That's definitely one to remember! Yesterday I ended up playing weather-woman and dressing most of the wedding party helping with ties, cutting out tags, etc. Maybe I should get ordained, just in case.

joshhuntnm

pwp wrote:

That's definitely one to remember! Yesterday I ended up playing weather-woman and dressing most of the wedding party helping with ties, cutting out tags, etc. Maybe I should get ordained, just in case.

just a by the way. In many states, ANYONE can perform a wedding ceremony.

coldclimb

At my cousin's wedding, the 9/11 attacks stopped the tuxes from getting shipped to AK. This event was in Homer, AK, a small town where many of the old inhabitants are still quite unrefined. My uncle went down to the hardware store and bought complete sets of Carhartt pants, shirts, and suspenders for all the guys in the wedding party. Made sense to me, they're probably STILL wearing those outfits.

sweet caroline

The minister for my wedding got the time wrong, so my uncle (who was a minister in training) performed the ceremony for the crowd. When the ordained guy showed up, we did the official stuff with just a few witnesses.

Caroline

joshhuntnm

coldclimb wrote:

At my cousin's wedding, the 9/11 attacks stopped the tuxes from getting shipped to AK. This event was in Homer, AK, a small town where many of the old inhabitants are still quite unrefined. My uncle went down to the hardware store and bought complete sets of Carhartt pants, shirts, and suspenders for all the guys in the wedding party. Made sense to me, they're probably STILL wearing those outfits.

I'd like to see a pic of that.

squiddy

I haven't been to a ton of weddings but i know at my own wedding my cake lady forgot the 2nd cake. Thankfully my BFF/Maid of honor DIDN'T say a word and she showed up [1hr drive back to the cake shop and hour back to reception] only 10 minutes before serving cake. If i know i would have wigged.

My sister also started a phyical altercation with my husband the night of at our afterparty. Nice eh

Blurmore

When I worked in DC, I had a wedding that by the end involved the FBI, Metro police, a really worried groom's family and a really pissed bride's father. But alas the details of that one are too specific and not long enough ago to tell in the googleable, traceable, indexible forum of interweb board post. I do tell the story to people I meet in person though, and I assure you...it is as hilarious as it is absurd.

Back in the day, maybe my first solo wedding, I did have something really funny happen. The couple was older, both of their second weddings. The Bride's limo pulls up at the church and the Limo driver gets out to let the bride out, meanwhile a SECOND limo driver gets out of the passenger side and gets into the driver's side. Once the wedding party is away, the second driver leaves with the limo, leaving the first driver at the church...Curious...but hey I hadn't been doing it too long, and maybe the company had another local p/u or something. So the wedding ends, bride comes out we did pics, and the limo is there waiting with just the first driver. So we go to the reception location which fronts on a very busy city street. I was parking my car across the street, when I saw the limo pull up in front of the location and.....immediately get pinned in by like 3 tow trucks which appeared out of the ether. The driver jumped out, and one of the tow guys caught the door and jumped IN. The bride thought she was getting car jacked, when in actuality her limo had just been repossessed WITH HER IN IT! Yes I got pics, NO I don't have them. This was in the bad old Hasselblad days and the guy I worked for didn't keep negatives, and wasn't the kind of person I thought to bother for a print of it. It was just a shot from across the street of a white limo boxed in by 3 wreckers, still would be funny to have. The bride was cool with it once she realized what was going on, and all was well, cept for the limo guys.

hendie

Ah great story indeed, one to remember for sure. This thread reminds me of a video I saw a while ago and I sure hope this has and will not happen to anyone of us. Watch here on YouTube.