The Sollution to the boring Rehearsal dinner.

[Tyson Persall]

I have the solution for the problem of the Rehearsal dinner. Don’t do it! And if they really want it then charge way too much for it!

The problem of the rehearsal dinner is:

1) They are always extremely boring.
2) They are usually eventless and you end up taping the most mundane things and then don’t know how to edit it.
3) Its just not practical for you to really get in there with the camera and tape a dinner conversation naturally, nor is it likely if you did that that conversation would be worth remembering.
4) They take up extra disk space on the DVD and require you to lower the quality of the bit rate in order to fit all the footage on one disk.
5) The rehearsal dinner is sometimes a small private group and members feel uncomfortable being there with your giant XL2 in there face.


I hate to do the Rehearsal dinner. So I say put it in your policies that it will cost an additional $_____ amount.

[Rick Steele]

Originally Posted by Tyson Persall

5) The rehearsal dinner is sometimes a small private group and members feel uncomfortable being there with your giant XL2 in there face.

Can you blame them? I'd hate to be filmed stuffing food into my face.

I've never even been asked to film dinner. And if I was I'd talk 'em out of it simply because it's a "non-event".

[Peter Jefferson]

Originally Posted by Rick Steele

Can you blame them? I'd hate to be filmed stuffing food into my face.

I've never even been asked to film dinner. And if I was I'd talk 'em out of it simply because it's a "non-event".

LOL what he said!!

[Christopher Thomas]

I've only filmed one rehearsal dinner. It was for a Jewish couple, and I had no idea what I was going to do. So I showed up with plenty of tapes and two fully charged batteries and was ready for anything.

I tried to get some creative shots with the GlideCam, and I set the camera up on a tripod for some time-lapse footage of the guests going to the buffet, but I wasn't really sure what else to film.

Turns out, there were more than ten toasts about the bride and groom from their family, the wedding party, etc. I ended up using three full tapes, and had a fourth one ready to go before the dinner ended.

The next day at the reception (my first and only Jewish wedding) there were ZERO toasts. It makes me wonder if this is the norm for Jewish weddings, and all the toasts are done the night before at the rehearsal dinner. If this is the case, then including the rehearsal dinner seems like a no-brainer. If anyone has any insight to this as far as their experience with Jewish weddings, I'd love to hear it.

I currently charge $500 for the rehearsal dinner add-on, but I haven't had anybody even ask about it since I did the first one.

[Ben Brainerd]

From my experience (Admittedly limited, usually to attending as a guest, rather than shooting) there can be some value in the rehearsal dinner. The first wedding I shot, after the "dinner" part, they had an open forum for toasts, and stories, and so on. Was somewhat interesting. But at the same time, no one had bothered to TELL me about it, so after about the 3rd person, I was wishing I'd brought the tripod along...

[Don Bloom]

No most Jewish weddings handle the toasts as any other wedding I guess you just happen to get the "good" one.
Most rehearsal dinners are notheing more than a party so I generally tape it like one with as much comversational footage as possible. People just having a good time and the few or many toasts that take place. I then cut it down to about a 3 to 5 minute music style video and put it with the rehearsal footage - again not all of it but I make it into a short piece perhaps 5 to 10 minutes. Many times I mic the officiant if they're there if not perhaps the groom-and sometimes the bride-you can get some very fun stuff. I cut it into a seperate piece and sometimes use certain pieces as a part of the actual wedding itself. However, not all rehearsals and dinners are fun. Some are just plain boring BUT it's only boring to us. To them, well, it's as important to them as the wedding. Just look at it as a way to get out of the house, make some extra money and maybe get another free meal. :-)

Don

[Chris Barcellos]

I ve gone to four rehearsals as part of the wedding coverage and I always had a section on the finished product with Rehearsal coverage. But it would be more of a musical video with pans and crops and zooms using both still and video to show a more relaxed side of the bride and groom, family and wedding party...