What do you do if it rains?

[Chris Harding]

Hi Guys

We are into our short Winter here which is always a wet one and usually only a few weddings in June and July but this season seems to have extended itself and of course last Saturday it poured buckets!!

If your package/coverage lists various parts of the whole day that you say you will cover and due to the weather you simply cannot do it (or the couple really don't want to do it) do you "make it up to them" with something like extra reception footage or do you simply just leave out that coverage and they get less than they should have?

Due to our normally sunny weather I always include an outdoor romantic shoot in a park or garden on stedicam but last weekend the bride obviously wasn't too keen to go out in the rain and howling wind (me neither!)

Do they get what you are able to shoot and no more or do they get some bonus footage to compensate??

Chris

[Noa Put]

I have had my share of weddings with rain, some drizzling to "run to your car and get soaking wet" kind of rain, I don't mention anything about it in my contract, it's just a part of the day.

I once had a photog do the photoshoot in the city while it was pouring, he had the couple hold an umbrella while he continued to shoot, I have a small umbrella with me at all times (it's always in my backpack) and just hold it in one hand while I hold my handicam in the other, it's great OIS and smooth zoom does allow me to get usable shots under those conditions without getting soaked and I also have my gh3/12-35mm which is weather sealed so can use this one if I can't guarantee my camera will stay dry.

Last years we have had some bad storms with massive rain and one time it was raining so hard on a weddingday the water came running into the venue and there was a power loss, in those cases I don't have any outdoor shots and I know the couple will understand :)

[Peter Rush]

Nothing worse for sapping the fun out of a wedding day than rain! The scope of good things to film falls dramatically when the heavens open - I find I'm pretty much limited to filming damp people hanging around the bar or hotel reception area, killing time waiting to be fed!

I've seen many brave togs coax the bride and groom outside but even if the rain has stopped I've rarely got anything good as she is not getting her dress mucky, so the groom usually walks behind her holding her dress up - never a good shot. Then when you find a good location such as a picturesque bench she won't sit down as it's wet - I can't blame her to be honest but it makes for a difficult shoot.

I've gotten my EA50 pretty wet on a few occasions this year getting 'must haves' such as the bride arriving - I've gone through 2 golfing umbrellas that simply turn inside out as soon as unfurling them! After 2 very wet weddings on the trot I've gone out and bought a Sony PJ780 as my CX730 cams are always up on light stands, and a very small small TOTES umbrella just for that purpose.

I can now get bride/guests arriving and B&G leaving etc with my handycam nice and dry in one hand and my umbrella in the other - pretty much impossible to do with the EA50 - TBH I'm not bothered about getting wet but do like my gear to stay dry!

[Noa Put]

with my handycam nice and dry in one hand and my umbrella in the other

Exactly the same here :) you do look like uncle bob shooting in that way but the couple will never notice when viewing their video.

[Chris Harding]

Actually I wasn't asking about how you keep yourself and your gear dry..that's a no brainer but I did like some of the mini umbrellas!

What I was asking was if you have to skip an event due to rain, like an outdoor shoot that has been planned, do you give the client an extra bit of footage at the reception where it's dry and cosy?

Sort of "We couldn't do the video shoot at the park as planned but I added in some extra stuff I don't usually do to compensate"

Chris

[Peter Rush]

That's a tough one Chris - I always tell my couples that as a documentary style film maker I record their day as naturally as possible and as it happens. Normally I shadow the tog as he does his couples thing and usually get enough for my own sequence but.....If the tog doesn't do it because it's raining or does the bare minimum on a gloomy staircase - well I suppose as long as I capture the essence of it then my work is done! In reality though in a situation like that I'll try and get some footage on my own but it's not always possible. A recent wedding it poured down and the bride was nearly 40 minutes late so the time between the church and the sit down meal was massively reduced - no time to do anything fancy.

[Noa Put]

The photoshoot is the photogs responsibility, if it rains he has to find a indoor location, I don't worry about that, I just follow wherever the couple goes that day but I don't pick any places where they go.

[Peter Rush]

I quite agree Noa but I do like a good sequence with just the bride and groom, and I usually get when the tog does the photoshoot.

[Don Bloom]

Chris,
Over the years I've had a "few" rain days so I'll give the short version of what I've done.

Obviously if it's raining about 30 minutes prior to the ceremony it get's moved inside or I don't shoot it. Period. That kind of thing is covered in my service agreement. Same for the reception if it's an outdoor kind of party. Usually for those they had a big tent so that wasn't much of a problem.
Now for the real question. Would I do anything if say the photo shoot got rained out. My answer is a resounding NO! Not my problem. I don't control the weather and if they got rained out and had to sit around while it rained too bad. If we were at say a golf course or a hotel for the ceremony and were killing time until the reception and there really wasn't any place to go and get some footage, on occasion I would do some "well wishes" with the bridal party and the parents but that would be the extent of it.

Now having said that I have to admit over the years I've been pretty lucky and it's only happened a small handful of times which is really surprising considering the weather here in Chicago. Of course around here if you don't like the weather, wait around 5 minutes...it's probably going to change.

[Chris Harding]

I on the other hand never follow the photog around and that way I never get in his way.

I really cannot see any point of taking footage of the photog taking stills of the bridal party ..I figure I'm doing a wedding not a personal portfolio of the photo guy.

I usually go to whichever stills venue is suitable to do a stedicam shoot (usually a nice park or garden area and with a lot of venues here being wedding centres we do the ceremony photos and reception all at the same place as their gardens are usually stunning! I just grab the bride and groom and take them away from the group and do lots of movement and what Don Bloom calls roundie-rounds and then hand them back to the photog and go back and do my video guestbook during pre-dinner drinks.

I had to skip that part on Saturday due to the rain and wind (and cold) but the couple did realise that it was impractical. It seldome happens that we have to cancel that part as we tend to have around 9 months of no rain (or any chance of it) and since August last year, last weekend was the first one I had to cancel.

Chris

[Peter Rush]

The problem I quite often have Chirs is the lack of time - as we all know weddings can often run late and once the tog has finished with the B&G the last thing they want to do or don't have have the time to do (they might be getting nagged by the planner to get ready for their lineup) is spend another 10 minutes with me so I take the opportunity of getting some creative shots around the tog doing the portrait shoot.

Quite often the time between the guests and couple arriving at the reception venue after the church, and the sit down meal is only an hour and a half - not a lot of time at all (plus I'm spending a small chunk of it setting my kit up for the speeches). Safe to say hotel weddings (civil ceremonies) are easier as there's usually much more time, and it's at these where I tend to get some time alone with the couple.

Pete

[Noa Put]

You have the same way of working as I do Peter, the photog and the photoshoot is a part of the couple wedding day so I will include him as well in my footage, that's the advantage of working docu style, I just document their day and trow in some creative shooting and editing to keep it interesting enough. For some shots during the photoshoot I will try to keep the photog just out of the frame by standing just to the left of right of him. I let him do all the work of setting the poses and I make a quick shot each time, the past weddings I started to use my rx10 to make photo's at the same time for my dvdcover and I"m surprised about the image quality.

[Chris Harding]

Hey Pete

I get that all the time! Our ceremony has been planned for 4:30pm and Reception at 6pm ...Even with a civil wedding they never realise that once the ceremony and congratulations are over it's nearly 5:30pm

I even have a booking next weekend where the ceremony has been planned for 5:30pm and then I can take the bridal party to the garden next door to the venue for group photos (I'm doing both) ...Great planning Bride!! Did you bother to check that sunset on the 8th June is at 5:17pm??? It will be pitch black in the garden after the ceremony!! They just don't think straight! I am now doing a pre-ceremony shoot at 4pm! and have to do the group shots inside the venue!

Don??? Nice to see you back here ...haven't seen a Don Bloom post for a few weeks ...thanks for the comments too!

Chris

[Peter Rush]

Well I'm just looking through the schedule for tomorrow (just been emailed through as 'revised) - Arrive at reception venue @ 15:30 - Sit down meal @ 16:30

Says it all really - I feel sorry for the togs more when this happens - I've seen them get pretty stressed, especially when they've been given loads of formal shots to get but not the time to get them! God help the poor guy tomorrow if it's raining as well!

Pete

[Don Bloom]

Chris,
I was gone for almost 2 weeks and now I'm keeping my head down out of the line of fire as it were. I'm reading the posts and sometimes I'm almost answering but honestly, trying to stay out of everyones way!