What do you do when your bride (and everyone else) is HOURS late

happysmileylady · February 22, 2011

I think a wedding where everything is running on time is a rare thing.

But, what do you do when everyone is running HOURS late? Meaning while you are actually waiting, what do you do?

mr peas · February 22, 2011

That's a tough one. I'd get creative about it: let's say they were late 2 by hours (say you're suppose to start shooting at 9am, then you start shooting at 11am). You usually charge $100/hour for every additional hour you incur or asked to add to your normal hours. I'd offer either paying for that hourly charge period OR (here comes the kicker) ask that they pay the extra $200 but in addition, you will offer $200 in print-credit. This way, your client won't feel like they were necessarily ripped off, they're just being asked to buy more prints. Not a bad idea eh?

Qarik · February 23, 2011

make yourself a sandwich and clip your nails. do some push-ups as well.

heatherfeather · February 23, 2011

I look around for things to shoot. I shoot a block of time as agreed upon before hand (and is backed up by a solid contract), so if they are late, oh well. But there is usually something to shoot... venue, details, family... Then I drink coffee. And try to rest. Because when they do come, it will be a bit of a fun ride to make up for lost time.

However, I do a lot of preventative work way before the wedding so that they might be a little late, but hours and hours late doesn't happen. I pretty much back plan their day all the way to "start doing your hair at this time" and publish a schedule.

happysmileylady · February 23, 2011

The situation was that the bride was running 2.5+ hours late. She had no bridal party, just her kids, who were with her (and why she was so late.) She and I worked out the issue of any additional time to our mutual satisfaction so there was no problem there.

What I ended up doing for those 2.5 hours-I shot the cake, from like every angle possible. I did table decor, different angels. Some of the details of the location (ie stained glass window, gorgeous stairway etc) that weren't actually part of the reception ballroom they were using as well as the room itself.

And then, I decided to go ahead and offer the few guests that were there (really, EVERYONE was late

) to do some family portraits, since the location was so pretty. I ended up doing some quick and impromptu kid portraits, family portraits and even a maternity one. Gave them my contact info and told them I would make them available to them so that if they wanted prints they could them without having to pester the bride for them. And if they didn't want any prints, so big deal.

Barefoot and Natural · February 23, 2011

pray that YOU are at the right place!!! Ha Ha...

vivalaveritas · February 23, 2011

Wow, that sucks. But it sounds like you handled it very well.

dawssvt · February 23, 2011

Last time that happened, I just went down to Best Buy and killed time!

Matthew Saville · February 24, 2011

Yep, if there's nothing I can do, I just get out my tripod and start rocking some detail shots. Maybe get candids of guests if they're around, and/or I hunt down engaged couples and ask to take their picture really quick and give them my card. Hey, whatever works!

Usually though, I've never needed to kill more than a few minutes because I'm WITH the bride, from the very beginning of the day. I guess the hr+ situation could arise in other situations though, where you're not photographing any getting ready etc.

=Matt=

studio1972 · February 24, 2011

Barefoot and Natural wrote: »

pray that YOU are at the right place!!! Ha Ha...

That would be my first thought!

Matthew Saville · February 25, 2011

Barefoot and Natural wrote: »

pray that YOU are at the right place!!! Ha Ha...

Oh man, every now and then when I do a wedding at one of those "wedding mills" that has a ceremony every 30 minutes, (okay every 60 mins) ...I get there 15 minutes early, peek into the church, and see another bride and groom. SHEER TERROR, for a split second. Every time, never fails.

Either you see right away that they're not YOUR clients and you wonder for an instant if you've come to the wrong church, OR you just see the back of their heads and they look similar, so you wonder if they started the wedding without you. Either way, man your heart sure skips a beat.

Did I mention that I hate "wedding factory" churches?

=Matt=

Surfdog · February 25, 2011

Barefoot and Natural wrote: »

pray that YOU are at the right place!!! Ha Ha...

rofl

Agnieszka · February 25, 2011

heatherfeather wrote: »

I look around for things to shoot. I shoot a block of time as agreed upon before hand (and is backed up by a solid contract), so if they are late, oh well. But there is usually something to shoot... venue, details, family... Then I drink coffee. And try to rest. Because when they do come, it will be a bit of a fun ride to make up for lost time.

However, I do a lot of preventative work way before the wedding so that they might be a little late, but hours and hours late doesn't happen. I pretty much back plan their day all the way to "start doing your hair at this time" and publish a schedule.

+1 But I have to say ... hourS??? really?? Uhm wow, has never happened to me, I keep my couples on track

Think about it, if people are running late, which part of the day gets cut??

You better keep them on schedule or you'll regret it ... caus the bride WILL call you 2 months after the wedding and blame you that you didn't get any photos taken! You better find *something* to take photos of, even if it's candids of them wasting your time ... I'm serious! You better document what was going on / or take some amazing detail shots during that time, or they'll track YOU down!

VayCayMom · March 2, 2011

mr peas wrote: »

That's a tough one. I'd get creative about it: let's say they were late 2 by hours (say you're suppose to start shooting at 9am, then you start shooting at 11am). You usually charge $100/hour for every additional hour you incur or asked to add to your normal hours. I'd offer either paying for that hourly charge period OR (here comes the kicker) ask that they pay the extra $200 but in addition, you will offer $200 in print-credit. This way, your client won't feel like they were necessarily ripped off, they're just being asked to buy more prints. Not a bad idea eh?

I like!!

Pupator · March 2, 2011

Long waits are what God created iPads for

Pre-wedding Angry Birds sounds like fun to me!

If it's a long enough wait, the client would be buying the iPad.

tenoverthenose · March 2, 2011

All of my shoots are on an unlimited time frame, so this isn't that big of a deal to me. I shoot the site a bit and actively find things to photograph, after all it is my job

Next a phone call to the bride/groom whoever is running late to put them at ease. Chances are they are very aware of the fact they are late and are getting more and more stressed by the minute. Take advantage of this moment to help them out to get back on track. Then work out a plan to get the photos that you missed while keeping the rest of the day on schedule.

Glort · March 3, 2011

I wouldn't know what to do.
I have been shooting weddings over 25 years now and never had a bride run hours late. I think it must be a very rare thing.
It would sure lill the park shots if the wedding was in winter though. For most weddings I do it would be dark before we got to the location.

I have only been late to a wedding once because the bride gave me the wrong address for her house!! I was nearly an hour late but that was OK because she also gave the same wrong address to the florist , makeup artist and limos.

I managed to get her to the church only 30 min late and the priest comes storming out of the church, grabs me by the arm roughly and gives ME a serve for getting them there late!

Suffice to say my response was one that left him under no misimpression that the almighty was not the only one that could put the fear of god into someone! :heh

What do you do when your bride (and everyone else) is HOURS late

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