I had a tough wedding on Tuesday. I’ve just written about 10 versions of this newsletter and they were all either ranting, waffling or being negative so hopefully this is the final version and is none of the above.
I’ve sat and thought a lot as I usually do. Why was Tuesday so tough? And it’s because honestly it felt like I was ‘just a vendor’, the most annoying one, and nobody cared about the photos.
And that got me thinking deeper, again as usual. And I think this is often why our enjoyment can fluctuate from wedding to wedding.
Some are made to feel like a job because you’re treated as just another vendor by the team ‘running’ the wedding. In this case there were 4 planners and a venue co-ordinator, and none of them cared about how I work or why, or cared about the result I was trying to achieve for my couple. The venue co-ordinator straight up did not like me, or all photographers maybe.
And I was left kind of feeling like nobody wanted my photos to be any good.
Except they did.
The couple did.
They really, really did.
So the two most important people at the wedding cared deeply and passionately about what I was there to do, and I cared deeply about what I was there to do for them.
I’m not saying other suppliers didn’t care about their element of the wedding – food definitely cared (it was delicious), and decor/lighting definitely cared, hair and makeup definitely did too. But there was also a lot of chaos, a lot of selfish ‘content creation’, a lot of telling me where to go and what to do, or just straight up telling me off for delaying things… at a wedding that was already delayed 90 minutes before the ceremony and that wasn’t even a little bit my fault!
Ranting again, sorry!
So overall I just had to strap myself in, claim the driver’s seat, and graft through the chaos that surrounded me.
And I’m delighted with the job I was able to do through that level of stubbornness.
I know we’re all lovely people. I know we all care about fostering positive and strong relationships with our fellow wedding suppliers and being a team…
But first and foremost is always the job we have to do for the couple. And if I have to ruffle a feather or two in my quest to make sure their photos are as good as they can be, so be it.
And I didn’t really ruffle any feathers. Ok, maybe one.
Anyway that’s all for this week.
In a world where overall respect for photography seems to diminish by the week, remember on the whole we’re being booked by people who absolutely frickin love what we do, how we do it, and we’ve just got to go headfirst into the storm of all the things pushing against us and give it everything.
That’s why we burn out too, but that’s for another issue.
Thanks for reading.
Adam
PS – You want to know about the feather I ruffled? Ok, well, the videographers – at first there was 2 of them, then three and then four. They were multiplying like Gremlins in the rain. The 3rd one was taking photos, not video. I’m totally couldn’t-care-less cool with that as long as they don’t encroach on my job, especially when I’m solo. But then they tried to take over the running of the group shots (because I’m not bossy at group photos even when the wedding is running 2 hours late) and I just reminded them that I was the only official photographer of that wedding. So nothing major. But it annoyed me and I had to say something. I wasn’t rude, I just stood my ground. Again, for the couple.
