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?