John while I understand what you're saying I'm afraid I have to take umbrage with what you are saying. I've been in this business for 27+ years and beside weddings I've done TV, news, seminars training vids and just about every other kind of work there is in the business and frankly I have worked just as hard as any trademan around. I have many many friends in the trades and they constantly ask me how I do what I do, it seems so much harder than what they do. So it's all relative. BTW I've worked 20 hour days without eating and it's not only not healthy but frankly you also lose concentration so that's not good either. Also I don't know any trademan that doesn't at least get a lunch break after about 4 to 5 hours. There have been time in the past when I'd go 10 before getting a break then suck a sandwich and do another 10.
Point is it's all relative and I don't anyone is telling a sob story, at least I know I'm not. It just a human consideration. After I've worked for you for about 6 to 8 hours how about feeding me it the least you can do.

Imagine you're watching everyone getting fed at a reception, and you're deciding what to do. Should you run off to grab something? Suddenly the wedding coordinator taps you on the shoulder and says "hey, help yourself to the buffet, there's a vendor's table for you guys there in that corner. Rollup napkins and forks are coming out now. What do you want to drink?"

How would you feel? Well, this is how we get treated for 95% of the weddings we do here in Hawaii. For the other 5% where we don't get fed, the brides are usually not from here. It's all about aloha!

Don, I admit my hackles rose a little when I read John's comment though I'm not sure it went as far as umbrage.

Like Don I've done over 30 non-unionised years in this game and loved every minute - it was much better than working and certainly better than painting houses.

And it included tours of just post-Soviet Russia, a BVW507 over my shoulder and a Vinten 10 under the other arm, sitting in the aisle on a box of batteries each of which weighed the same as a fully kitted Z1 for a three hour flight in an old Aeroflot plane, with just a sound man carrying the SQN mixer and mics in one hand and and my colour monitor in the other.

But that's not a complaint John, just a description of the job I was, and am, privileged to do. I've seen the world including some pretty grim bits, and was paid for doing it. If people at a wedding I'm covering offer food or a drink, great; but expecting it or building it into the retail contract is where I draw the line.

I have to agree with John on this. I also think that we are taking the painter comparison too literally. John's main point is " people tend to feel better doing his/her job when treated properly". I guess this encompasses all people wheter as Videographer, Painter, Waiter, etc. See what a tip to a waiter did to one of our videographers here, they were taken care off better than the guest.

We all have different business models, some thinks asking a courtesy meal is a big no. no. Some videographers like myself feel it is okay. At the end of the day, whatever works and whatever makes us happy.

My 2 cents.

As a videographer, I work much harder than a builder does in a day. Not even close. I'm actually having a 1,000 sq ft studio built on my property as we speak, the builder didn't show up today. Imagine if I didn't show up for work?

Hi Noel, John's response was to my comment about a business model.

It wasn't the asking for a meal that I thought to be bad business practice, as you say some do ask some don't, no big deal, it was the implication in a prior post that he would do a lesser job of editing for someone who didn't feed him,- and I'll quote from the post:

"If I come away from a wedding feeling valued and appreciated, I put much more effort into the edit and final product compared to a wedding where I am ignored, unfed and made to feel like hired help."

That is what I consider to be a poor business model.

Surely a professional should be able to rise above such things. If it's so important that you won't do as good a job as you could if not fed then perhaps it should be a condition of the contract and then he'd know he was going to be fed and not feel aggrieved by being made to feel like hired help. Which, after all no matter what we think of ourselves, is what we are, talent for hire.

How does it work in the editing room some days later, still brooding over not being fed.

I bring a protein bar and apple in the car. Usually have something to eat at cocktail hour. I'm kind of sick of Filet Mignon so sometimes I don't eat the dinner even when it is supplied. ha.

So true. I don't know if I can face another lobster.

This probably has more to do with my disconnect from the world of catering! :) I've had two kids get married so far, and the meals at their weddings were between $6-$10 per plate.

But hey, the fanciest venue we have in town in the Holiday Inn...

Before I was wedding videographer, I was a commercial lobster fisherman!

Chris, you win ;-) I have never heard of any reception venue in the greater Chicago area at that kind of price. Wait actually there are but I heve never worked them. Mostly those fall into the far far far south or west suburbs or might be a resturant that has a "banquet facility". When my younger son got married about 8 years ago again on a Sunday the cost was $65 per plate, now these prices do include the open bar with 2nd shelf liquor and they did get the chair covers thrown in. That may not seem like a lot but around here chair covers can be $4 to $10 per chair and with 225 people that can add up quick. Man am I glad I wasn't paying for that one.
Anyway, once again it makes my point. Different areas, different traditions, different expectations and different prices. Long live differences!

I just ask in my "wedding questionnaire" that I send out 2 months before the wedding, if I'm being fed. I don't require it, but I always seem to be given a meal. I just love the email where they ask, "Filet Mignon, Chicken, or Salmon?" I'll have the meat,... thank you!

I see these problems exist all over the world, no matter where you live. In Greece, the above matter is not even for negotiation. The bride and groom consider it as a fact, that we will eat at the reception, it's not something we don't even need to discuss (thank God for Greeks that feel ashame if any guest leave the place starving :) ). The real problem though, is not the food here. The problem is that the reception venues never have thought about a place for the videographers to sit and rest, a table at the edge of the venue. Now don't tell me that it is also unprofessional to require a seat to rest and put down the PLENTY of equipment without a problem. This is what we ask, this is what we require at the contract, this is what we don't get.

Of course we clearly state that we have the right to leave the venue if there is not a place to sit, but most of the times (not every time to be honest), nobody seems to care. The B&G forget about it, the venue management don't even care etc etc. Truth is we never annoy the couple with that, it's not our job to disturb them during that day, although some times it may be their fault. We usually try to solve it with the venue management, often with unhappy (for them) results.

But I wonder, is it so hard for any venue in the world to think about a standard spot for photographers/videographers?

I know the feeling, here also never a seat for me but I allways ask the managment to provide me with a chair and that has allways worked.

About considering it a fact that you as a videographer will get something to eat in Greece, I have covered a Vietnamese wedding last year and not sure if that is somewhat the same tradition when it comes to eating but they practicaly pushed my to a seat. They insisted I would sit with their family members and during dinner they constantly were encouraging me to eat :)

We dun get dinner at the reception most of the time in Singapore. This is partly due to the 5-6hr breaks between lunch and dinner as we have it here. However at the times where we do have to edit on site between lunch and dinner, we do not get dinner most of the times. So I now insert a clause to have a simple dinner included to remind them.

On my last wedding, I rejected the B&G offer for a three-course meal dinner and agreed with a simple rice in a take away box... I must be out of my mind....

My very first 'big' wedding was for a friend. Not a close friend, but someone my wife and I knew from another arena. Anyway, because we knew then bride and groom already, we expected to be treated as a guest. The seating was assign and you guessed it, we were not saved a seat. The catering people were from a restaurant that was having it's first go at doing a wedding. They informed us they had a vendor table. We made our way to the table and... no chairs. They handed us our food and walked away. It was the kind of meal you needed to sit down for. Fortunately, we didn't park far so we just ate in the truck.

The couple hired a well known photographer from our area. I watched him. After the guests sat down, he just grabbed an empty seat and fit in great. I learned then to not be so shy about getting fed.

Now I bring some backup food incase there isn't any food. If there is a buffet, I get in line directly behind the wedding party, before they start calling tables. I do this because if I leave it up to the the catering company we will get fed last. That doesn't work for me. If I eat last, I might miss what the Bride and Groom are doing after they finish eating. Usually it's nothing, but sometimes weddings are pressed for time, and they might start the formal dancing after the last table is served.

Just back from a wedding yesterday. The groom is a stand-up comic he had award winning DJ and musicians and a chart singer and top London photographer and team, They all were fed, but nothing for me. As I said previously I don't ask for or expect but after this I'm going to take a leaf out of your books and now make it part of my agreement that food is provided.
I did feel somewhat like the outsider having to sit in my car behind the tent (actually a marquee in the grounds of a Stately Home) eating my sandwiches. I don't often feel peeved but at that one I did.

Just off to today's wedding so maybe I'll fare better there, but just in case I've got my sandwiches,

That top London photographer probably had it in his contract that they expect to be fed.

Too bad for the poor video guy. I don't blame you for feeling peeved at the one. I would have felt the same.

its in my contract, but yesterday we got the dreaded vendor meal. I hate that. like that cant spare food
from a buffet?

You have the right to set your own terms. I keep water and sandwiches in the car, but a cooked meal and drink might be the way to go.

What a difference a day makes. After Friday's wedding when everyone but me had food provided, Saturday's could not have been more different. It was a similar reception, marquee in the grounds of a listed country house. I was told as soon as I arrived that the farmhouse kitchen was at my disposal. I could leave kit there and use the power, toilets, even shower if I wanted to. A girl who usually worked the teashop made food and would have made endless cups of teas if I'd wanted. There was even wine and champagne (though I never drink at weddings). This was laid on for the "workers" photographer, chauffeur, DJ, band etc. The best man even came over at regular intervals to check if we were okay. The speeches were before they sat down so it was a real luxury to be able to relax until the after the meal and the band had set up.

Working in this environment means that we work up against deadlines and often great pressures. We're much different then painters. We're filming the beginning of their new lives together. We just can't take breaks every 2 hrs or whenever we feel like it, impossible. We also can't leave for an hour lunch. We have to be alert and with our equipment all day.

Yet we're easy to forget because we're just 'one day'. But in reality our 'one day' comes 3/4 times a week (including corporate work). I definitely require to be feed. My worst work comes on an empty/tired stomach.

I also do a lot of union work and we have meal penalties after 5 to 6 hours. It is absolutely AMAZING how when it cost them just a little bit more money in penalty they can find a way to feed us.

With bride/groom, they have a lot going on and it's an honest mistake not to think not to feed us. Once done explaining the full day we incur, there's always a meal waiting.

Being fed
 

In my contract I ask if we will be fed and if there will be a place for us to sit - so far every one has said yes and at the event I am always reminded to eat - sometimes there is too much going on for me to remember to take a break.

I usually bring a few energy bars or whatever and get something from the bar to keep me going just in case I forget.

I believe it is not the client's obligation to feed me, but I appreciate it nonetheless. I would also think that as a professional you are responsible enough to ensure that you take care to provide yourself with enough energy to complete the day.

My 2 cents.

Re: Meals at wedding, do you get fed?
 

Just wondering if someone could post the exact language in your contract about meals. I have wanted to put something in mine, but did not want to risk being to forward and putting them off.

Thanks

Re: Meals at wedding, do you get fed?
 

"We asked that you provide a courtesy vendor meal for the videographer/photographer (s)."

Never had any push back from the client about it.

Re: Meals at wedding, do you get fed?
 

We don't have it in our "terms and conditions" per se, but rather just a quick question under their package selection...

"Will a meal be provided for us? Yes or No (You are not obligated to provide us with a meal, but we would just like to know in advance so that we can make necessary arrangements)"

Only once did we have someone say no, simply because she booked us THE week of the wedding last minute and already had numbers into caterers and didn't know how they would handle it...it wasn't a big deal, we just stashed some snacks with us to eat throughout the day.

Re: Meals at wedding, do you get fed?
 

Hey Katie

Yours is probably the politest way to go too!! It's not the end of the world if you don't get fed...I think once I had a big MAC after the wedding as they forgot to cater for me.

It's not in my contract but it is on my website and here, we find that even if the bride has omitted you (accidentally or on purpose) a nice word in the venue staff's ear usually produces a plate of something!!!

I don't think it's worth making a big fuss over!!

Chris