Feeding the photographer!

We did, the venue said they would lay on sandwiches etc for all of our suppliers. We paid for sandwiches but they all got actual dinners off our menu so they were all very happy. I do think that they dont expect to be fed its their normal job etc.

Bets person to ask is your photographer as everyone has slightly different policies on this.

If we are there all day (i.e. if we are staying through the meal into the evening) then we do ask for a light meal to keep us going and this is indicated in our contract. The reason for this is that quite simply, trying to co-ordinate bringing our own food is hard. We photograph weddings all over the country so will sometimes have stayed in a hotel the night before so we can't simply pack a cool box with sandwiches and food on the morning. Also, sandwiches left in the car on a hot August day (I know we may all be wondering what one of those is!!) are not the most appetising!

I know from experience that we just have more energy in the evening if we have had something filling to keep us going. However, we absolutely don't expect to be seated with the guests or receive the same treatment as them. We are happy to be served in a side room/ the bar and obviously don't expect a 3 course meal! What we often say to our couples is to discuss the food option with the venue - often you have to confirm the guest numbers at least a week before the wedding and pay for the food for that number of people. I have frequently know 1 or more people to drop out from that number with less than a week's notice (sometime for legitimate reasons such as illness but not always!!) and if so you have already paid for their meal so we suggest couple just ask the venue to serve us the main course of that as you have already paid for it rather than having to pay for something else.

My H2B is a wedding photographer, and they don't get fed at most of the weddings they attend. He always takes some sandwiches with him as he wouldn't expect to be fed, but it is nice if its provided.

So I don't think you'd have to, but it would be a nice gesture if you can! xx

Not a silly question at all! ours has it in the contract that a meal should be provided (I thought this was a bit cheeky TBH as he only lives up the road and could bring a packed lunch-plus another £30 for a meal is a bit of a sting). don`t kniow where he`ll eat it either, as we`re in a tipi... (mm another thing for the list)

Definitely ask your photographer. Some insist on being fed, some don't, we prefer to take a short break and get something ourselves unless there is not anywhere local we can get a quick snack. We never expect to be sat with the guests, we prefer to be in a bar where we can relax and rest for a short time before the speeches and evening reception kick off.

I used to do a bit of waitressing for a catering company often at weddings. It was quite common to plate up some extra main courses for the band, bar staff etc, as well as the catering staff, but it was more a case of eating on the hop for us - it gets faily busy behind scenes as you can imagine.

Your caterers will have experience of this and should be able to advise you.

What the others have said really. Our photographer is with us all day (from at least 10 am - 8pm) so I'm arranging for her to have sandwiches with us for lunch (before it all kicks off properly!) and the main course of our wedding breakfast while we're eating that. She did say she was happy to bring her own sandwiches but I think it's a really long day and I'd like to give her a hot meal.

I'm not 100% certain where she'll eat it - certainly not with us and all the guests but I'll find a side room somewhere for her to sit quietly for a bit and have it.

As said above definitely ask your photographer.

We never expect to be feed but it always ncie to have a plate of sandwiches away from the guests during the meal presuming we are staying all day.

Joanna

We're feeding our tog and his wife - they're friends of friends and we've been out with them in a group a few times although I wouldn't ay wwe know them well enough to class them as friends yet - we're seating them with the friends we know them through. I have offered a meal to the barbershop quartet (also friends) but they would rather go home and eat with the family - I'd ask your photographer what they are expecting!

We're feeding ours. He wasn't expecting it and when I told him we'd ordered him food he said we didn't have to do that but i reckon it's the least I could do - it's such a long day.

I hadn't thought of where or when he'd get to eat but as long as he manages to I'll be a happy bunny! Mind you, we have a bar and a piano bar in the suite of rooms we hired for te reception so I guess he'd probably sit in there.... I have no idea!

We do have a clause in our contract stating that the clients provide light refreshments. We are not expecting a seat at the top table + bottle of wine! Generally the couple just have a tab on their room and we just order a bowl of chips and a burger from the bar. To be honest most couples are happy enough to provide something and if we get a meal off the wedding breakfast menu then its always a nice surprise! (its not rare to get the whole 3 courses served up, but as Snapdragon said, thats generally when someone from the wedding party has cancelled at the last minute and the meal has been paid for anyway...)

Once we was actually given a couple of places sitting with the guests, and obviously we felt it rude to turn it down, although I did feel rather uncomfortable trying to make polite conversation with total strangers whilst trying not to get soup down ones shirt!

It is also a "cultural" thing....for example most Italian weddings in the UK expect the vendors who are working at their wedding to be part of the day. They will usually supply a vendors table for the band, videographer, photographer etc. Often its a like for like experience with the rest of the guests, although tbh, I find this slightly embarassing and do not partake of the wine offered.

I also know many of my local venues and for non Italian weddings, they supply something to me free of charge. Most venues cook more than is really needed and only the greedy ones charge for a photographer/ videographer that stays to cover the later events. If venues in Herts can do this, why can't others?

TBH I think it is cheeky when photographers stipulate in their contracts that they should be fed and watered! Do I get this paid for when I go to work? No - have to pay for lunch myself! Ordering chips and burgers and putting it on couples tab, I don't think so and wouldn't entertain employing anybody who 'expected' this! Argh, makes me cross!

Thanks so much for your replies. There's nothing in the contract which asks for food, so I think a bit nearer the time, I'll check with him to see what he needs and then arrange something with the caterers.

It's mad how these little things worry me!

I had booked ours a meal but it was a good job I spoke to him beforehand as this had to be changed to a sandwich platter because during our meal he was working on our photographs to be shown on screen in the evening, so always best to check directly with photographer.

We always bring sarnies if it's a long day. We don't sit down the whole time the meal is on, we do various things such as photograph the building, if there is a separate reception room we'll go photograph that etc. Then we like to back all our pics up on to laptops.

I thought it odd when I found out other photographers asked for food in the contract. When I used to work in a regular job I didn't expect my boss to feed me, so I feel the same now with the couple who hire me. Weddings are expensive enough without paying out for extra food. This is probably worse as there are 2 of us, so it's would add to your bill to provide 2 extra meals!

If it's not in your contract then you've not said you will provide food, so the photographer should have mentioned it. So I would assume they are not expecting it. They wont mind if you give them a quick call and just check. I've been asked several times, but I always tell the bride and groom not to worry about me, I'll sort myself out. Of course some bride and grooms absolutely insist on it, and we'll take them up on their offer, but we would never expect it.

There's no need to worry, I'm sure your photographer has been asked many times before and a quick call will sort it all ?

But most people have a choice of where they want to go for lunch when they are working. It's your choice whether you go to Boots and spend £2 on a sandwich or go to a bar and spend £10 on a burger and chips. You don't have that choice if you are at a wedding venue, miles from a shop.

add to this that a lot of venues won't serve any other food during the wedding breakfast as the kitchen is busy with the wedding, or that there isn't even an extra bar to go to as is the case in my castles, barns, ... or venues that don't allow you to bring your own food.

and that you are often over a hundred miles from home, starting at 10am on a Sunday morning and not finishing until 11pm (after finishing at other wedding at 11pm the day before, when would one have time to pack their own lunch?).

And at work you actually get a proper lunch break and a normal work day usually isn't more than 10 hours. Plenty of weddings where we don't get a proper break!

I totally agree, but togs do have a choice - whether or not to pay for their own meal at hotel bar, bearing in mind they are getting paid to work, or bung it on the couples tab!! By some of the togs comments on this topic, it seems that the majority don't expect to be fed and watered but it angers me about those who stipulate in their contracts that they require a meal!

We married abroad and asked our 4 planners, photographer and videographer to join us for the reception meal. None of them expected it, we were in the middle of the village where they all could have eaten elsewhere, but we liked them as people as well as loving the service that they provided for us, and it seemed natural for them to stay on at the reception with us. They actually all seemed shocked to have been asked, and to make it so that they didnt feel awkward sitting in with our family, we had the restaurant set up another table for them which was a bit away from us, but close enough that they were in the same courtyard area and could listen to the band. They even got up and danced when we had some greek dancing with our band. Yes, it's true that it is a job, and maybe we were lucky that we felt like ours were friends, but we felt that asking people to be such a big part of our day and then expecting them not to join us didnt feel right.

that's the thing, they don't always have a choice. Many venues don't have a seperate bar or restaurant, or don't serve meals during the wedding breakfast. Many venues only do the wedding breakfast on the wedding and won't cook anything else. Take for example the Tithe Barn in Hampshire, gorgeous venue, but only serves the wedding breakfast, no option to buy anything else at the bar. Also, nothing nearby to quickly go and get a meal.

Somebody who works normal office hours in an office has the option to bring a lunch, get a sandwich from a shop, have lunch at the canteen, go out for meal and choose to how much to spend it on it. If you had to work unsociable long hours over the weekend (our days are on average around 10 to 12 hours) at places where 90% of the time you can't even order a meal, you might start to think otherwise. This past summer we've only worked at 1 venue where it was possible to get a meal of our choice at a seperate bar in the hotel.

Hello everyone. Thanks so much for your replies. Very interesting reading, particularly all the differing opinions. I'm going to liaise both with our photographer and the venue to see about feeding him, as there's nowhere else he can get food, and I think it will be nice to try and feed him!

Thanks very much once again!

Ali x

Hi MrsK,

Thanks for pointing out how you find it annoying that photographers put a clause into their contract asking to be fed.. As I am one who is always looking at ways to keep my potential clients happy I may look at ways to revise the wording in my contract so it says whilst it would be nice to be fed (not with the same meal as the wedding breakfast), it is not obligatory. Its feedback like this that goes a long way to heling me achieve customer satisfaction and for that I thank you!

As a subnote, where I say I get a bar-meal on the couples tab, I dont just put it on without asking, its always agreed beforehand, and I only order half a bottle of cognac with my meal.

Warm Regards, Mark

www.eyecandyphotographic.co.uk

We didn't feed any of our service providers - because we were paying them to do a job.

I know it might sound a bit harsh but my employers do not provide me with a lunch when I'm at work and when you pay for a photographer or whatever for that day you are the employer.

Any wedding service provider should be professional enough to know not to expect or ask for a meal to be provided! As for stating it in the contract personally I find this rude and I would have looked for another photographer!

As most have said speak to your photographer and ask directly as both my videographer & photographer went home during our meal and came back before the evening reception started.

Luv Victoria

xx

Am afraid I have got to agree with NeoShoegal on this. We don't actually stipulate that we have to be fed in the contract. What we offer is the option to provide us with food or indicate that if not provided we will go out and get food for ourselves. As has been pointed out many venues don't offer the option of food or if they do it requires you to take out a small mortgage to pay for it.

We are happy to go and forage for ourselves elsewhere but the couple need to be aware that this then becomes our 'lunch break' and there is a risk that if something happens while we are out we won't be there to photograph it. With this in mind most would prefer to provide us with a snack.

Yes, I appreciate that we do have a choice (as I have indicated above), as NeoShoegal has already said, this isn't straightforward. When I worked in an office I worked sociable hours and got a lunchbreak when I could go out and get lunch from a range of places and budgets. At a wedding we just don't get that option. Photographers who only cover their local area may find this easier to manage this easier than those that take bookings all over the country.

I work in an office and in the past have had to do some pretty unsocial hours, working until 10 or 11 at night, weekends, coming in on a Saturday night and working from 7pm until the early hours and in all these instances, my employers have provided a meal whether it's been from the staff canteen or takeaway pizz/Wagamamas etc. I don't see providing a meal for a photographer as any different, they are working long hours and usually in somewhere with limited food choices. Just my view anyway.

I just want to point out that working in an office doesn't always mean you have access to food. When temping in the past I've been on building sites 20 mins walk from a supermarket (lunch break of 40 mins) and on an industrial estate with nothing but a kettle and no where to go at lunch at all, let alone anywhere to eat ... I still didn't expect to be fed!

This is just me being picky because not all offices are in city centres!

HOWEVER! I asked our venue to provide a main course only for our videographers and OTDC (photographers didn't stay for meal). The venue had a small restaurant at the front and they had a table in there, the main party taking place in the function room behind, and asked the venue to provide soft drinks for them too.