Every week I’m gifted a moment where I know exactly what to write about.

That moment was just now, while stood in the Eurostar departure lounge at St Pancras heading for Paris where I’ll get another train to this weekend’s wedding.

Jet set glamour.

Or not.

I set off from home at 7am to get a train to London. I should arrive at the wedding venue around 9pm tonight but my Eurostar was delayed so now I might have to find a last minute hotel and travel down to the venue by train tomorrow from Paris. That’s a day to a day and a half of just travelling plus the faff and mild stress of the delay. I’ll shoot Friday evening, Saturday all day, and Sunday afternoon. Then I’ll be travelling home all day Monday getting home around midnight. Another “unpaid” lost day if you think of it that way.

So let’s talk about what people say, that destination weddings aren’t worth it because of all this travelling time that you’re effectively not paid for.

I’ve been shooting destination weddings since 2012. I’ve shot about 40 or so of them. Maybe more. I don’t keep count.

I’ve shot an 8 person wedding in Lapland, all the way up to a 1500 person wedding in Abu Dhabi.

Overall destination weddings are stressful, never straight forward, rarely if ever live up to the hype, and of course if you take into account all the extra travelling time, they’re absolutely less lucrative as an hourly rate than a local wedding.

But I love them immensely.

Destination weddings have enriched my life ever since I realised that the only reason to do them is for the love of travel and adventure and NOT for ego boosts, portfolio coolness or reputation.

As soon as I started embracing the adventure side of it I fell head over heels for destination weddings.

I’ve seen places and experienced nuances of cultures that there’s no way I would ever have experienced in my life without destination weddings.

I’ve been up close and personal with hippos, elephants and giraffes. I’ve seen the famous Avenue of the stars light show, I’ve watched the sunset from the infinity pool on the roof of marina bay sands at sunset. I’ve walked the souks of Rabat, camped in Yosemite, road tripped the Blues Trail, seen a second line on Bourbon Street, drunk whiskey sours in Haight Ashbury, seen the ghost of Elvis on Union Avenue, been soaked to the skin in a Phuket monsoon, met some of my life long friends, and had many more unbelievable priceless life enriching experiences all because of destination weddings.

I’ve never shot a destination wedding for free but there have been times I’ve discounted because I just can’t get enough of the amazing, sometimes ridiculous experiences they afford me.

My biggest destination wedding regret is that I turned down the chance to shoot a wedding in the Masai Mara because they wouldn’t pay my fee at that time and at that time my ego wouldn’t allow me to discount because I believed my own hype.

My point is this.

The ROI from a destination wedding goes beyond money.

If I include all the travel time etc for this wedding I’m on the way to, my hourly rate would be about a quarter of what I’d make from a local wedding.

I know some people say “but you could shoot two/three weddings this weekend instead” and yeah you could. I wouldn’t because I choose not to shoot more than one wedding a week, but if you’re a double/triple shooter in mid summer then yeah, you could.

If you don’t find travelling fun, and you’re not bothered about new places, cultures and experiences then destination weddings aren’t for you.

They also throw even bigger curve balls than local weddings. I remember one wedding in Thailand with the most amazing sounding grand plan for the bride to arrive down the river standing on a boat which would be pushed from underneath by scuba men, flower petals all down the river, she would step off the boat and walk down an aisle of flower petals to the ceremony with a beach backdrop at sunset.

What actually happened was the heaviest rain I’ve ever seen in my life, and the ceremony moved into a windowless hotel conference room with minimal decor and the bride on the verge of tears for the entirety of the ceremony.

So you can’t shoot destination weddings because you think you’ll make loads of money, get loads of fans and get “better photos” than local weddings.

In my opinion the only reason to shoot destination weddings is to see places you otherwise might never see, be in the midst of cultures you might never experience and see a lot more sunshine than the UK is able to deliver!

I charge a lot to shoot a destination wedding. I make sure all my expenses are also covered on top of my fee. This weekend I’m getting paid a full day and two half days, and all my travel and accommodation has been paid for directly by the couple.

So it’s absolutely possible to book destination weddings for good income if you insist on seeing it just a financial thing like any other “job”. I’ve not discounted a destination wedding in 5 years.

But if you’re a travel lover who gets a kick out of that side of destination weddings, the payment you receive becomes the bonus.

So now let me play devils advocate with myself here and tell you I’ve just turned away a well paid destination booking for next year at my favourite Italian venue and have no plans to book any more in for the foreseeable future.

Makes no sense does it based on what I just said? Well actually it makes total sense. To me anyway.

I’m in destination weddings for the experience only from here on in (although I’ll still be charging). Going to a place I’ve been to three times before isn’t going to be a new experience for me. I’ve decided only to entertain destination weddings in future which excite me because it’s somewhere or something new. Or if I can easily combine it with a family holiday or a trip with a friend.

Unless it’s New Orleans. I’d go there monthly if I could. What a place.

Anyway the lady sitting next to me on the Eurostar just fell asleep against my shoulder, better stop typing in case I wake her. Wish me luck that I can get all the way to the wedding venue today and not have to find a seedy hotel for the night. Although I don’t mind seedy from time to time.

Thanks for reading, let the good times roll!

Adam

PS thanks for all the well wishes for my 10 year old son for his cup final last Saturday… his team won!!! He was ecstatic, I was euphoric. It was very special. Two late goals just like Man United in ‘99.

PPS I shot the footballer’s wedding on Monday that I told you about and there was no banter about my name! Yes! I’m a football super fan as you may know and I was a little bit star struck early on but they were the nicest people and it was a tremendous wedding.

PPPS I’m still mostly off sugar but I just ate a blueberry muffin. For the blueberries obviously. They’re a superfood you know?!