Do you attend the wedding rehearsal or not?

[Patrick Jenkins]

I'm at the rehearsals with camera in hand. I'm also at tastings, fittings, planning sessions, whatever else the B&G have going on. It's part of my documentary style.

[Craig Seeman]

Originally Posted by Yi Fong Yu

craig, i wasn't asking whether or not the client is asking you. i was asking let's say you did 100 weddings. have you (as a statistic) gone to 50? 1? none? THAT'S what i need to know. statistics.

I've never gone to a rehearsal. My rate is based on the approximate amount of time I work on a wedding (shoot plus edit). I can't give away a day I'd use for other work. No one should. If I did it as a practice I'd have to raise my rates. If a customer asked, I'd charge them for it. I obviously don't charge for a potential customer meeting which is why I mentioned that above. I would not consider a rehearsal as a meeting.

Simply put, if I went to rehearsals it would be part of my rate (which would be higher) or I'd charge for it, if it were a requested extra.

The statistic, without context doesn't mean much (to me). If you charge $5000 (or some upscale rate) a wedding you might include it in your package. Some even include a honeymoon video. If a client was willing to pay for another day for me to go to one, I certainly would consider it.

Patrick, I assume you're charging for that work.

[Patrick Jenkins]

Yep, the only difference between any of my wedding offerings (3) are how many 'special event' coverage days are included (well, also the significant additional editing time). Remaining features are all the same.

As someone else pointed out, once you've done 100ish weddings you probably don't need to be there, you'll know how things operate blind. But in general I do think it's a good idea to attend the rehearsal (adjust your rates accordingly) simply because you can't afford any mistakes the day of. $.02