This is aside from the B/G dance, mother/son/father/daughter dances. Are you capturing a few songs with dancing in their entirety, or small interesting clips of dancing throughout the whole night?

First dance. That's it... outa there! :)

http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/wedding-event-videography-techniques/519679-how-much-dancing-do-you-supply.html

Montage the three major dances (first, mother, father) together to the music track of the first dance. Start on the couple, then do a minute of father/daughter, a minute of mother/son and back to the couple for the finale. Also, I don't do real-time cuts most of the time, I just find my favorite clips from the whole dance and cut them together.

As for other dancing, I stay for one or two songs at the most. Get a few fun shots and call it a night.

Unless something else is requested, of course.

Unless something else is requested, of course.

From a bridesmaid? :)

Hi Guys

First Dance and then about 2 songs after that and like John I'm outa there. It seems so pointless staying past that point and you end up sitting doing nothing between 9:30pm and midnight. If they do a father/daughter and mother/son then I substitute that for the 2 songs after the first dance.

I no longer wait for the bouquet toss and garter unless they do it straight after the first dance. It makes a massive difference to get home around 10pm instead of crawling home closer to 1am ..I guess I'm getting old but starting with bridal prep at maybe 11am thru to after midnight is too long a day for me!

Chris

Hi Folks

Officially I stay for the first dance and then any bride/father dance etc and if people get up straight away I'll stay and film for a few songs and then I'm off :) I don't however hang around waiting for people to dance (unless I've been paid to do so - which has happened very occasionally)

On the DVD I have a chapter where I intercut shots of people dancing with general evening reception mingling.

Pete

We are usually first dance & father/bride dance plus 10 minutes, UNLESS they book our photo booth (another 90 minutes) or if I'm the MC for the reception. Then we can catch some great stuff, like this one. Open dancing starts at 15:00, but the part we wouldn't usually catch is after 16:16 and goes for about a minute. Plus some amazing stuff that ended up in the outtakes/blooper reel like the pastor singing "I Believe in a Thing Called Love" (which is after the 20:30 of this video).

I know that isn't typical, but sure is nice to catch when you do.

Olivia and Lewis' wedding film on Vimeo

What does one do between the 3 hours from the opening parent's dances and speeches to the cutting of the cake that happens near the end of the evening ??????
Or perhaps you convince the couple/maitreD to have the cutting done early so you can leave early ???

We try to get them to cut the cake either as part of the speeches or just before first dance.

I am moving to the UK.

What's the point of cutting the cake late since most people want to eat it at the reception…..? OK, some take it home, but really……. it's a cake for the reception.

OTOH, there are so many things about the US weddings that make us want to move to the US ;)

I dunno about U.K. weddings (maybe you guys dance like crazy as soon as the reception starts), but I end up waiting to get good dance shots later in the night because a lot of receptions don't heat up until the drinks have been flowing for a while. There is often a lull between the first dance/speeches and dinner, with the cake cutting, garter/bouquet and crazy dancing happening later in the night. Around here, if I left after the first dance, I'd end up with a pretty unfulfilling video.

Maybe this is why my long forms are ending up around 2 hours.

We shoot the first dance and continuing shooting till it dies off a little. Usually 2 songs, 3 at a push, unless the bride books for extended evening coverage.

People can start to look a bit worse for wear due to the alcohol a little later on, so we call it a day at that point and hit the road.

What does one do between the 3 hours from the opening parent's dances and speeches to the cutting of the cake that happens near the end of the evening ??????
Or perhaps you convince the couple/maitreD to have the cutting done early so you can leave early ???

Arthur, the schedule is very regional. For instance, here in the midwest a typical schedule is:
Arrival
prayer (possible welcoming speech by parent)
dinner
cake cutting
video slide show if applicable
cake served
toasts
first dance
parent dances
open dancing with dollar dance, bouquet, garter usually happening 30-90 minutes after first dance

I dunno about U.K. weddings (maybe you guys dance like crazy as soon as the reception starts), but I end up waiting to get good dance shots later in the night because a lot of receptions don't heat up until the drinks have been flowing for a while. .

Well, for us it seems the average time for first dance is about 9pm and with typical ceremonies being 12noon to 1pm the drink will likely have been flowing since 2-3pm. I think 7 hours is plenty ;)

Well, for us it seems the average time for first dance is about 9pm and with typical ceremonies being 12noon to 1pm the drink will likely have been flowing since 2-3pm. I think 7 hours is plenty ;)

May I ask what goes on for the seven hours til the dance?

Around here it's straight from the ceremony (4 or 5pm, usually) to the reception where dinner is served quickly, then the dance starts. 200 guests is pretty typical, but I often work weddings with 300 or more.

May I ask what goes on for the seven hours til the dance?

Typically (very rough and does vary)

09.00 onwards could be Bride and/or Groom then travel to church
13.00-13.45 Ceremony (could easily be 12noon, so bring things forward an hour or so)
13.45-14.15 B+G greet guests and photos at and around the church
14.15-14.45 Travel to reception venue (assuming it's church + venue)
14.45-16.30 Official Photos & reception while guests are served drinks and canapés
16.30 Receiving line (B+G meet all the guests as they enter the wedding breakfast)
17.00 Bride & Groom enter
19.00 Speeches - typically father of the bride, the groom, best man
20.00 Generally a little bit of a lull where everyone goes to freshen up or have more drinks. Depending on the venue they may 'turn the room around' ready for the evening
21.00 First Dance

For comparison, here's a normal video schedule round here. Bear in mind Sydney is sprawled out.

9.30-10.30: groom
10:30-11: travel to bride
11-12: bride
12-1: travel to ceremony
1-2: set up for ceremony
2-3:30: ceremony and congratulations
3:30-4:30: travel to photoshoot
4.30-5pm: photoshoot
5pm-5.30pm: travel to reception
5.30pm-6pm: set up for reception
6pm-6.30pm: canapés for guests
6.30pm: guests seated
7pm: bridal party entry
7pm-8:30pm: entrees and mains
8.30pm-9:15pm: speeches, cake cut, bridal waltz
9:15pm-11:15pm: general dancing
11:15pm-11:30pm: bouquet, garter, farewell arch
11:30pm: bridal party depart

[2-3:30: ceremony and congratulations
.....
6.30pm: guests seated

Remind me never to be a guest at an Australian wedding. That sounds like the nearest thing to hell on earth :- ( Having survived a 1.5 hours ceremony its then a full three hours till you sit down and ANOTHER half an hour till you get fed and at the end of the meal you have to endure 45 minutes of speeches etc. How the heck do Oz couples get any guests to attend?

I know that Oz photographers have in the past been notorious for taking the couples off for two hour fashionista photoshoots - which they really ought to be doing on a separate day not the wedding day - and in the process leaving the guests high and dry. Gosh......

Anyway, my coverage whether its stills or video or both, usually ends shortly after the 1st dance and any accompanying parent dance (rare in the UK). The exception being that if there are special events later such as fireworks or a live band etc. Shots / clips you shoot half an hour after the 1st dance are not going to be a lot different to shots / clips you shoot 2 hours or three hours later. You are just repeating yourself for no good purpose. And - as I often point out to the couple - you risk antagonising the guests and wrecking the ambience if you're just shooting for the sake of it to fill the contracted hours. But when have videographers ever been aware of the effect of their own presence :- )

From a purely business viewpoint - although it may be an easy sell to say to prospective clients that you never watch the clock or that you are there to the bitter end - do consider the effect a late finish has on your ability to shoot a full wedding day the following day and the day after that. It can cost you a LOT of revenue.

p.s. I reckon Dave's UK timeline example is not that typical in that most weddings now take place in civil venues rather than in churches and there is no travel time or other lost time involved in having two or even three venues (including a getting ready venue. I've shot many civil weddings where the latter stages of getting ready through the ceremony, cocktail hour, formal photoshoot, and speeches (at the start of the wedding breakfast and no receiving line) has all fitted into little more than 4 hours. 2pm would be a more typical ceremony time than 1pm or 12pm; the earlier times tend to be in the winter when couples want to make maximum use of daylight, but others give up on that idea entirely and have a 4pm ceremony. Civil venues also mean that you don't have the multiple setting up and breaking down of equipment to deal with :- )

Pete

p.s. I reckon Dave's UK timeline example is not that typical in that most weddings now take place in civil venues rather than in churches

Last year's weddings produced around a 60/40 split for civil / church, so yes 'most' were civil, but there were still a substantial number of church weddings.

Add to that a couple of the were civil followed by a blessing prior to the reception and things get a little more blurred because that really screws with the timing!

The civil weddings didn't run that much out as far as timing. Maybe a 2pm ceremony instead of 12 noon or 1pm, but they typically still sit down around 4:30pm - 5pm, so after that it doesn't make much difference.

Hi Pete

On the West Coast we are slightly better but still have a gap between ceremony and reception! Our norm here is the ceremony at 3:00pm or 3:30pm which runs for 20 -30 minutes and then congrats and normally group formal photos so the guests would often head back to the reception around 4:30pm and most venues supply pre-dinner drinks and "nibblies" at 5:30pm and then we have bridal entry at 6:00pm and dinner around 7pm which is fine ...speeches are after dinner at any sane wedding in Perth and the photog here is lucky to get an hour at the most to do not only formals but also take shots of just the bridal party.

They don't really starve here at all as their tummies are full by 7pm in the evening which makes speeches more bearable! I have however had some crazy weddings where we only ate at 9pm and as I recollect, the guests were pretty upset about that too!!

Chris

Over here in New York and New Jersey it is mostly like this:

Ceremony if at Church around 2-3 PM
After ceremony there is about 2 hours at the park or somewhere that they go to to kill time because reception does not start until cocktail hour 6 to 7 pm
and the main reception is always 4 hours till 11 or 12 PM
They ALWAYS cut the cake near the end, like an hour before the end.
You cannot talk anyone to cut that cake any earlier, or else.
The maitreD ALWAYS has to cut the 2 pieces for the couple and ALWAYS gets his big posterior in the way in front of the camera lens while doing so, always. You miss the cake cutting and you are toast.
Nobody leaves early here.

If the ceremony is at the reception then the same laws apply for the cake...near the end.
I remember very few weddings that the cake is cut early.
A typical ethnic wedding here, you sweat it out for 12 to 14 hour day mostly on your feet.
Do 3 of those back to back and on Monday you look like a zombie.

I am moving to Australia.

Hi Arthur

If you are happy to shoot weddings in over 100degrees F then you will like it here!! It gets mighty hot down under!! It's 92 here at lunchtime and that's a mild day! This weekend will go close to 40 centigrade!!

Here they almost always cut the cake and go straight into the first dance which is around 9pm at worst. If it's a budget wedding and they use the cake as part of desert then it's cut as soon as they walk in around 6:30pm.

By leaving after the first dance the only thing I miss is the bouquet toss and nowdays brides rarely do the garter!

You would like ethnic Burmese weddings here!! The Church ceremony is a 1pm ..then photos and the reception starts at 4:30pm with at least 500 people ..they do the cake/dance and then feed everyone and the wedding is over by 7pm !!! Shortest receptions I have ever had!!

Chris

It gets that hot eh ? You are welcome here, we just had some snow with icy road conditions and sub freezing temperatures. Last Sunday I started shooting at 8am as the bride wanted shots at the hairdresser salon with the bridesmaids, that meant I was out of bed at 5:30 to tackle the New York traffic. Here is what followed.
10:30 at the groom's house ( 1 hour drive)
12:30 at the bride's house ( another hour drive)
2 pm the ceremony at church begins
3:30 leave the church and go to the reception grounds to take some shots with the photog before the sun
sets and gets dark.
6 pm starts the nibbling hour, that's called cocktail hour here. Drinks and finger food.
7 pm the guests are seated and the fun begins, introduction of the bridal party
7:10 first dance followed by mother son and father daughter dance.
7:20 The toast, thank God it was short, start of the big supper.
7:30 all the way to 10 pm is nothing but blaring noise from the DJ ( that's why I'm deaf in one ear) and a
continuation of dancing to the same songs played by all the DJ's.
Snowing outside with icy road conditions at this time. Cars covered in white.
10:30 The Cake
10:40 Garter toss
10:45 The desert tables are brought out with a flaming cake they call Baked Alaska that has the maitreD
pouring alcohol over the blazing inferno while everyone is clapping and wowing the spectacle.
11:30 Guests start to leave, most of the Baked Alaska is still sitting on the table. Hardly anyone eats
the wedding cake as there is other better sweets to be had.
11:45 I say bye-bye to the couple and face the cold reality of the weather out there.
1:30 AM Home at last. Poured a double while laughing about that Baked Alaska.

I dunno about U.K. weddings (maybe you guys dance like crazy as soon as the reception starts), but I end up waiting to get good dance shots later in the night because a lot of receptions don't heat up until the drinks have been flowing for a while. There is often a lull between the first dance/speeches and dinner, with the cake cutting, garter/bouquet and crazy dancing happening later in the night. Around here, if I left after the first dance, I'd end up with a pretty unfulfilling video.

Maybe this is why my long forms are ending up around 2 hours.

^^^ this.

Maybe it is a US thing. Who knows. But for some couples the open dancing is their favorite part of the day so I give it equal weight to the rest of the day. I'll stay for a couple hours of dancing usually, especially if it's a big party wedding where I can see people are gonna drink and let loose. I may let my 2nd camera op go when the formalities are done. But like Max said, it gets "going" often a bit later sometimes. Plus, I know the couples appreciate us staying and having fun so it's good business. I'll end up with about 100-150 shots or so of dancing and cut a couple fun montages out of it for the full video and then about 1/4 of that for the Highlight video.

Where else am I gonna go? I tell couples I'm in no rush to leave and like Max said, if I left after the first dance I'd miss the real party and in my opinion that would make editing actually more difficult. So many times I'll stay til the end and something really awesome will happen and I instantly feel good about my decision to wait through those "slower" times when the dancing wasn't really happening.

Hi Arthur

Yep it gets up to the low 40's (centigrade!!) here over Feb/March easily ..further North temps in the 50's are common and you can really and truly fry an egg on a hot rock!!

I know that working 8am to midnight means more money in your pocket but I find it's just too much and not worth the extra bucks! 6 -8 hours is my preferred time onsite and I'm not a zombie the next day!

Now and again I have back to back weddings (last week I had a Thurs/Fri/Sat run so imagine working your kinda hours for 3 days in a row ... doing just 6 hours a day was bad enough.

Chris

It gets that hot eh ? You are welcome here, we just had some snow with icy road conditions and sub freezing temperatures.

hahahahahahahahaha... you think it's cold in Jersey? Right this moment, it's -21F/-29C here in North Dakota/Minnesota. During work on a wedding this coming Friday it will be -5F/-21C. That is unusual, especially this time of year (coldest in January/February) but typical is still only 8F/-13C

At least we don't have traffic.

In Montreal, Canada, Greek, Italian, and Armenian weddings start very early and go way past midnight till 2 tp 3 am the following day. I remember doing those weddings and avoid 2 in a row.
I was called many times to handle the later part 8 to 2 AM after the video guy got tired and left early.
How about the delivered work being on 2 DVD's Part 1 and 2 for 4 hours of edited content ?
Seems crazy, but that stuff is still going on there.
Has anyone done any Macedonian weddings or Arabic ones that you MUST continually capture EVERY dance in it's entirety ? Where each song lasts like 1/2 hour and the next one immediately begins.
How about an Indian one that is seemingly never-ending ?
Doing an 8 hour wedding is a piece of cake compared to those.
In answering the OP's original question, I just include the main 3 dances ( couple, parents) and include no more than 3 or 4 where they are cut and mixed to be no more than 10 minutes.
I try to keep the final cut to less than 90 minutes, typically slightly more than an hour.

Hi Arthur

Apart from Burmese weddings which are easy.. I very carefully avoid especially Middle Eastern weddings..I did one once and the bride said she wanted coverage of the reception from 6pm to midnight. I filmed all the guests arriving and being greeted and then turned off the camera while everyone mingled. A furious bride asked me why I wasn't filming ? She actually expected continuous filming for 6 hours non stop and yet expected to pay less than usual. That was my last ethnic wedding (she also got a refund and I swore I would never, ever do another one like it) In the last 5 years I have kept my promise!!

My son lives in Montreal and got married this year but is having a renewal of vows and a reception in July 2014 ... if that's up your alley, PM me your contact details and I'll pass them on to him and his new wife.
(They had to have a registry wedding this year so he could keep his work visa, as he is still Australian so he now wants a "proper" celebration in 2014

Chris

hahahahahahahahaha... you think it's cold in Jersey? Right this moment, it's -21F/-29C here in North Dakota/Minnesota. During work on a wedding this coming Friday it will be -5F/-21C. That is unusual, especially this time of year (coldest in January/February) but typical is still only 8F/-13C

At least we don't have traffic.

Don't you guys plug in your cars or car batteries overnight or something? I thought I heard that one time. Yeah, it's brutal up there. Bad enough here sometimes imho.

Anyway for me it varies, I usually ask them to schedule their time as to if they prefer more bridal prep, or more dance floor fun stuff, or if they want both, pay more (obvi). That said imho I like to stay until typically 10pm at the earliest. I've found when I'm scheduled to be out at 9pm it's too early, and they have to rush thru the bouqet & cake cutting from 8:30 to 9 it just seems too forced. I've stayed till 11 & midnight. I like shooting dance floor footage, and try to be discreet with the guests, only shooting for 10-15 seconds at a time, unless it's something really big happening, or the guests are oblivious to my camera being there. But if it's a couple slow dancing or joking to Call Me Maybe I don't want my camera in their face for 2 minutes or so either. I also like getting shots of the bride &/or grooms out dancing when possible, and it helps in editing when they're with different groups of people often. In between shooting people dancing I'm also grabbing bridal party & family and asking for guests interviews & congratulations if they want to give them, sometimes alot don't want to, and sometimes I just don't have much time for that (9pm & 10pm exits).

As for the final edit, I then make a chapter for dancing, typically lasts about 2-3 songs or about 5-8 minutes. Just quick 5-10 second clips, maybe a few longer ones now & then. After a while tho, it just feels like I'm repeating the same people, the same scenes and is too much.

Going back to shooting the dance floor, is there nothing more cringe inducing then seeing a DJ blow it with an empty dance floor. Ugggh, sometimes I feel for them, it's just not the right scene, or the party & guests just aren't the dancing type. Sometimes too tho, the DJ's do seem at fault, maybe an older wedding & the musics wrong or too loud. IMHO the ones who like to MC are usually better, the ones who just like to show up and play music very loud cause they bought big speakers blow. Usually when this happens I walk around and try to get more guest interviews.

Don't you guys plug in your cars or car batteries overnight or something? I thought I heard that one time.

True. Though modern cars don't need it too much, it's safer to plug them in when it starts hitting -10F and lower. For those who have no idea what I'm talking about, cars in these colder climates have little plug-ins that run what amounts to an oil-pan heater so your car starts up easier in the morning.

^^^ this.

Maybe it is a US thing. Who knows. But for some couples the open dancing is their favorite part of the day so I give it equal weight to the rest of the day. I'll stay for a couple hours of dancing usually, especially if it's a big party wedding where I can see people are gonna drink and let loose. I may let my 2nd camera op go when the formalities are done. But like Max said, it gets "going" often a bit later sometimes. Plus, I know the couples appreciate us staying and having fun so it's good business. I'll end up with about 100-150 shots or so of dancing and cut a couple fun montages out of it for the full video and then about 1/4 of that for the Highlight video.

Where else am I gonna go? I tell couples I'm in no rush to leave and like Max said, if I left after the first dance I'd miss the real party and in my opinion that would make editing actually more difficult. So many times I'll stay til the end and something really awesome will happen and I instantly feel good about my decision to wait through those "slower" times when the dancing wasn't really happening.

Case in point- the project I just finished editing had some pretty good dancing later in the night, which included an impromptu conga-line. I happened to be in the middle of the dance floor with my cam at the right time, and was able to get a pretty cool shot while walking backwards in front of the conga-line leader. Would have missed that by a long shot if I had given up on the dancing shots after the garter/bouquet toss.

True. Though modern cars don't need it too much, it's safer to plug them in when it starts hitting -10F and lower. For those who have no idea what I'm talking about, cars in these colder climates have little plug-ins that run what amounts to an oil-pan heater so your car starts up easier in the morning.

Oil pan, battery blanket, and radiator (to keep the water warm)
heaters in some Alaska cities. If you don't plug your car in,
it won't be starting until next summer. And everywhere
grocery stores, malls, restaurants) have plug in stations
for you.

On the plus side, they usually do first dances, toasts,
cut the cake and bouquet/garter all right away and
I can be out by 9:30-10. Stilla long day as bridal
prep usually starts at 10am but not as bad as some
of your stories.....plus our traffic isn't so bad :)

Hi Arthur

Apart from Burmese weddings which are easy.. I very carefully avoid especially Middle Eastern weddings..I did one once and the bride said she wanted coverage of the reception from 6pm to midnight. I filmed all the guests arriving and being greeted and then turned off the camera while everyone mingled. A furious bride asked me why I wasn't filming ? She actually expected continuous filming for 6 hours non stop and yet expected to pay less than usual. That was my last ethnic wedding (she also got a refund and I swore I would never, ever do another one like it) In the last 5 years I have kept my promise!!

My son lives in Montreal and got married this year but is having a renewal of vows and a reception in July 2014 ... if that's up your alley, PM me your contact details and I'll pass them on to him and his new wife.
(They had to have a registry wedding this year so he could keep his work visa, as he is still Australian so he now wants a "proper" celebration in 2014

Chris

I swore the same thing for exactly the same reasons Chris - I avoid like the plague now!

I swore the same thing for exactly the same reasons Chris - I avoid like the plague now!

Me too, along with African weddings!

I've done a few weddings with bride and groom from the Congo and also from Sierra Leone and they were no issues at all. The clients were happy with what they got but I must admit they were very Westernised especially the receptions. The one ceremony went on a bit (nearly 2 hours with lots of what I call a "happy clappy" Church ceremony with plenty of singing and plenty of "Praise the Lord" after each sentence. Despite the length it was still fun to shoot.

Being African I am assuming a traditional culture which, yes I do avoid ..Perth has a HUGE South African population (I was born there) but weddings from there that are non-ritual are almost identical to Western Weddings.

I normally back away rapidly if the ceremony has rituals that are specific to the ethnic group simply telling them it would be better if they found someone who understands the culture and language.

Chris

I've done a few weddings with bride and groom from the Congo and also from Sierra Leone and they were no issues at all.

TBH I'm not sure exactly which countries they were from, although Zimbabwe and Nigeria were two that I heard along the way.

So, imagine a couple of different weddings, both going the same sort of way….

A very large church that's full (and I do mean full to standing) before the bride arrives, then another 100 people arrive with the bride and congregate at the back and in the isle so the back camera has little / no chance, and down the sides so the side camera is ask having trouble seeing the B+G without people wandering in front. They all have their phones and iPads up in the air filming because clearly that's what they want to do and no one is going to stop them.

Outside the church everyone crowds around with their iPads so close to the B+G neither us nor the photographer get a look in. They don't listen or co-operate when the photographer is trying to get groups so things take at least 5 times longer than normal and now the light is going….

You arrive at the reception (it's now totally dark) to find it was booked for 250 people but around 450 turned up. There is no room to move and everyone is crowding around. The fire exists are all blocked and it's getting really hot and uncomfortable in there. Where ever you stand there will be at least 6 deep in front of you and you have zero chance of getting to the front.

The food takes three or four times longer than planned and plates are literally being passed hand to hand because getting to the buffet is impossible and when the food runs out because the venue only had enough for 250 there's all sorts of unhappy people.

The speeches are a total disaster because it seems like 400 people are just carrying on talking amongst themselves and have no interest in listening to the speeches. The speakers can't hear themselves, let alone the poor video guy trying to capture anything.

The first dance is delayed and delayed while seemingly everyone else gets introduced (while most people totally ignore them and keep talking until it's their turn) and has a five minute dance in their own little groups. Think about that. Everyone else does a dance in groups of maybe 15-20 people before the couple do and they each take an entire song.

The cake cut is a free for all with iPads being pushed in close and blocking your view. Even a camera held high on a monopod is hard because it's so crowded and you're being jostled!

Now, if that happened once, I could say OK, that was a hard one, life goes on. When it happens twice…. now I'm going to avoid them altogether….

Sorry to sidetrack from the OP…. though in this case filming the dancing at all was more than a little problematic.

We did a Ugandan/Congolese wedding a few months ago. Who would have thought that there was an African population in Norwich?:-) It was pretty chaotic & I can see how it could have got out of hand & if it were more extreme it could have ended up like Dave's experience. It was however a lot of fun.

They ripped the whole DVD & uploaded it all to YouTube (Here's the highlights)

MARIAGE BLANDINE-AKILI EXTRAIT - YouTube

Admittedly African weddings tend to be big mainly because they don't invite individual guests they simply announce to their entire community that they are getting married. I've had 500 guests at Burmese weddings with something like 55 tables in the reception venue compared to the usual 10 or less!!

I must admit only one guy at the one wedding decided to be the official videographer despite the fact he was not hired to do the job. The photog and I soon banished him to the side of the Church!

Chris

Members descriptions of African weddings sound very familiar to me as well. But I don't avoid them, you just have to accept that priorities expectations and the way of doing things are poles apart from the anglo-saxon. You do have to be quite physical to obtain the shooting positions you need, then adapt quickly to changing circumstances and unscripted stuff. Guests have brought their own food to some that I've shot! Just accept that you are not going to get the bunch of "clean" tightly composed shots you are used to.

Some of the chanting and dancing can be very photogenic and atmospheric, sometimes reminiscent of some scenes from Zulu - if I'm allowed to say that :- )

I've just videod kids birthday party for a couple whose wedding I shot 6 years ago :- )

I also reckon that with the African and West Indian weddings you don't get all that haggling and disregarding signed contract terms nonsense that often accompanies Asian weddings.

Pete

Thanks Nigel, maybe I'll re-evaluate things - but that looked like a relative walk in the park ;)

Like I've said before, geography makes a huge difference in how a wedding is done and what we shoot and how long we're there.
In my area a TYPICAL wedding (not counting prep) will generally start at 1 to 3 pm.
Most of the time the ceremony starts at 3pm if it's a TYPICAL Catholic church wedding although sometimes it's an earlier start. Using the TYPICAL timeline,
I'll get to the church at about 1:30-1:45PM to set up and get B footage.
Ceremony starts at 3PM generally runs about 45 to 60 minutes although if it's NOT a MASS it can be 35 and if the priest is a talker can go 70-75 minutes. TYPICALLY done by 4PM.
Formal photo shoot in the church for about 30-45 minutes. I cover some of it and look for "cute" candids of the bridal party etc as well as some of the shots I need for DVD covers and faces. Out of the church by 4:30-4:45 and off to the reception.
TYPICAL cocktail hours starts at 6PM. This gives me time to get B footage at the venue and cover some of the cocktail time as well as the receiving line IF the B&G do one.
Introductions of the bridal party at about 7PM if we're lucky most times it runs a bit past. B&G GENERALLY cut the cake right away, then it on to 2 to 4 speeches (hopefully short) then DINNER!!!!!
Dancing usually starts about 9 to 9:15PM with the FIRST DANCE, FATHER DAUGHTER DANCE and the MOTHER SON DANCE. Sometimes they throw in a BRIDAL PARTY DANCE. Then the DJ opens the floor to everyone and it's party time.
I really don't care what they do, I'm done at 10:30PM come hell or high water so I tell them way in advance anything you want on video has to be done by 10:15PM I cheat the time a bit to protect myself. After they do the garter and bouquet toss (very very common here) I take the B&G do a walk away goodbye shot outside no matter the weather Say my goodbyes and pack it up. Out by 10:45-10:50PM and homeward bound.
Around here you can get from point A to point B in an hour or less so I'm usually home NLT 11:30PM. Say hello to wifey, change clothes, surf the net for a few minutes, watch a few minutes of TV then off to dreamland.
These times are of course subject to change but are for the most part pretty TYPICAL of most Catholic Church weddings here in the greater Chicagoland area.

then it on to 2 to 4 speeches (hopefully short) then DINNER!!!!!

Out of curiousity, have you noticed the speeches have gotten longer the last few years, and typically more of them (3 or 4) as opposed to it used to be just 1 or 2. I'm only 40 but it seems the last 5 years or so speeches have begun dragging on for 10-15 minutes and aren't even speeches, just storytelling about the groom getting drunk, crazy nights out, blah blah blah with no real morale or conclusion at the end. Just 'I'm happy for you for finding someone so you can avoid all this the rest of your life. '

It seems over the last few years there are MORE speeches and some are running pretty long. I agree, there is no need to go back to kindergarden and cover the next 25 years. No one really cares. Well, I could be wrong but in this case, I don't think so. Let's face it...most people are there for the free food, free booze and to see if they can get lucky. ;-) We of course as consummate professionals keep our eyes in the viewfinder at all times! ;-)

A professional speaker once told me that the difference between a TOAST and a SPEECH is about 5 minutes.
A TOAST is 90 seconds or less...A speech is anything over that. As he said, 'Be Bright...Be Brief, Be Gone.' Too bad most people don't get it. Oh well. Frame, focus, push the red button and go to sleep!

Just saw this thread and I think it's a good question. After skimming through the 4 pages, looks like I'm in the minority. I actually devote a DVD just for the reception (if it's a big one with lots of dancing). Receptions around here are planned out as much as or more than the ceremony. Usually with bands. I set up one camera on a tripod and go hand held with the other and cut between the two, always making sure there both running at the same time and include most of the whole song in the final cut. We usually only shoot when the bride and or groom are on the floor and stay to the bitter end if there's anything going on and if there having a send off for the B&G.

I have been planning on doing a survey for some time now, from past B&G's, to see how important full receptions with the dancing is to them. I would live to be able to leave early and get home before 1:00am

Normally at the Reception, I'll pick two or three songs that the band or DJ is playing that are kind of upbeat and just let the camera run and capture a couple minutes of each song. (Outside of the first dance, father daughter dances etc)

Then in post, I'll montage clips over those dancing clips, everything from people to dancing etc.

Now, at a wedding I shot last month, the Bride specifically stated she wanted a lot of dancing in the final video, so I actually have about 10 segments that are 60-90 seconds each of different songs the band performed that night with a lot of people on the dance floor having fun etc.

In 13 years that's the first time I've specifically been requested to include a lot of dancing.

Do you guys find that something like a Glidecam or a shoulder mount is useful when getting shots of dancing? Do you walk around in the crowd, or stick to the outside perimeter with a monopod or other non-moving support?

I do outside perimeter wide shot.

If I have a second shooter, I let them do moving and creative shots and will cut those in if I think they look ok.