Bahamas Wedding Tips?
 

We have a wedding this month in the Bahamas and we've never traveled there for a wedding. Anyone have any tips to offer? Especially anything specific to the Bahamas as I know some locales have restrictions on equipment and so forth.

Hey Travis,

Try to add extra weight to your camera rig when on stabilizers or tripods, its pretty windy there.

Louis

Hmm, to pack sandbags or just make them there. I think I'll just bring some empty bags and rig up my own sandbags when I get there, rather than pack my nice sandbags. Thanks for the tip.

Travis,

I have shot weddings in the Bahamas a couple times and have been there on other occasions as well. It rains a lot in the Bahamas...sometimes just for a few minutes at a time but the rain WILL come. It is also extremely humid. Going from shooting indoor to outdoor or the opposite can cause moisture build-up on your lenses and the viewfinder.

I shoot a lot of beach weddings here in California but the sand in the Bahamas seems to be finer...like a fine grain salt. Perhaps gaff tape up any seams on your cams/audio gear prior to shooting.

The wind was not an issue for me.

I had a full steadicam rig and two tripods NOT make it to one of our Bahama shoots due to TSA. That had nothing top do with the Bahamas but traveling with gear in general.

PS. If you get sweaty while shooting now in your home town, you will sweat 10X more in the Bahamas.

Best of luck to you!

Thanks for the info, Joe. Why did TSA hold up your steadicam and your tripods?

...you're welcome.

It was strange. We had 2 tripods plus steadicam gear packed into one case. Yes, it was heavy but not "crazy heavy". Anyway, the TSA agent grabbed the bag and walked away with it.

The dude who was shooting with me is an airline pilot and said TSA will hold back large bags...basically stuff that makes their job any harder than it already is to inspect with more detail.

From then on, when I travel for shoots I Fed Ex tripods and any other large gear (besides cams) that I can't carry on with me.

We were using bamboo as monopods! It worked though.

Where exactly you headed in Bahamas?

What I found was troublesome is what you wear. I know it's a wedding but I am sure if you explain to your client they will understand that you have to wear what's right for the shoot. With a steadicam especially, running on sand is no picnic in park if you are not wearing proper clothing.

Wind didn't become an issue for us but it can for audio purposes. Just have back up in case.

So they just held it at the airport until you returned from your trip?

I've often considered using FedEx to ship our gear when we travel for destination weddings, but it's just so expensive compared to checking it at the airport. I'm assuming you carry on your cameras? That's what we do. How do you handle the situation where your FedEx'd gear arrives before you do?

We're headed to Marsh Harbour, which is located on Abaco Island.

Luckily for us the bride is a wedding photographer so she is going to be understanding of our clothing choices. But even then, I've filmed in 105 degree weather wearing all black and survived. d;-)

Audio shouldn't be an issue either, as we're quite used to filming in windy situations. Thanks for the info Jawad!

Tip #1
 

Take me with you.

Travis, apart from wishing you good luck the only thing I can add is an endorsement about the humidity. I've worked in many places around the world but nothing is like the Bahamas for humidity. I stepped off a DC-3 there in 1963 and thought I'd walked into a Turkish bath. No words prepare you. Incidentally, I'd won a month's employment with Bahamas Airways, the general agents for the airline I worked for then, BOAC. All history now.