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Archive 2013 · Wedding with no guests

  
 
Ghost
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Wedding with no guests


Anyone had any experience? We just met with a couple about their wedding. The venue is great. Will be held at a top floor suite at one of the high-end hotel in town. Easy going couple. Basically, they like our work and give us full reign on what we want to do with them (photography wise).

The curve ball at least to me is that they will not be having guests. No parents. No friends. Just officiant and them.
They were thinking of elopement too. Told them Bahamas is a great this time of the year.

Anyway, has anyone shot weddings with no guests? I've shot small weddings. But kinda stumped at the no guest thing. Should I treat it as fancy engagement style shoot? They have signed up for our 4 hr package.



Nov 20, 2013 at 06:36 PM
amonline
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Wedding with no guests


I've had one. It was one of my favorites.


Nov 20, 2013 at 06:46 PM
S-Man23
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Wedding with no guests


How does something like this affect your rates? Or does it?


Nov 20, 2013 at 07:25 PM
D. Diggler
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Wedding with no guests


Never heard of such a thing. I've only gone below 100 guests a handful of times.


Nov 20, 2013 at 07:52 PM
sherijohnson
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Wedding with no guests


I had one last year, it was me, them, the judge and an admin. She is a lawyer and works with the others which is why they chose to do it this way. A year afterward, we are now about to design an album from that day and also did a photo shoot for her law firm as well. The best part was that after the ceremony we left the courthouse and then went in pursuit of a cool place to do some photos which ended up only being less than a mile away at the lake, we had fun, got great photos and all this from someone who called me like 2-3 days beforehand for a Friday morning wedding. Would I do it again? You bet!


Nov 20, 2013 at 08:19 PM
Depth of Feel
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Wedding with no guests


Shoot the ceremony, then do photos with couple. I will be surprised if you go the full four hours. I've done a couple of these and they start to get tired of photos after 2 hours. You can break up the time and make it less awkward by picking 3 of your favorite spots you have wanted to shoot at and make it 45 minutes at each spot. You can also mix it up between sunset and night time shots.


Nov 20, 2013 at 08:33 PM
brianclary
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Wedding with no guests


I believe I would love a wedding with no guests, so long as the couple was ready to have some fun afterwards and travel to multiple locations for some photography. That style of shooting is a lot of fun to me...very inspiring.



Nov 20, 2013 at 09:16 PM
julieawhitlock
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Wedding with no guests


Yes. But they used 90 minutes of getting ready, 30 ceremony, 30 for a champagne rooftop toast and the remaining 90 for portraits. It was very nice and relaxed.


Nov 20, 2013 at 10:16 PM
Depth of Feel
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · Wedding with no guests


julieawhitlock wrote:
Yes. But they used 90 minutes of getting ready, 30 ceremony, 30 for a champagne rooftop toast and the remaining 90 for portraits. It was very nice and relaxed.


How does a champagne toast take 30 minutes with no guests? I do first looks with couples that sometimes last less than 60 seconds.



Nov 20, 2013 at 10:22 PM
amonline
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · Wedding with no guests


S-Man23 wrote:
How does something like this affect your rates? Or does it?


It doesn't.

julieawhitlock wrote:
Yes. But they used 90 minutes of getting ready, 30 ceremony, 30 for a champagne rooftop toast and the remaining 90 for portraits. It was very nice and relaxed.


Agreed. One of the most relaxing sessions I've ever done. No pressure at all.



Nov 21, 2013 at 12:27 AM
cineski
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · Wedding with no guests


It's called relax and enjoy the view.

Depth of Feel wrote:
How does a champagne toast take 30 minutes with no guests? I do first looks with couples that sometimes last less than 60 seconds.




Nov 21, 2013 at 09:31 AM
cineski
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · Wedding with no guests


I did a wedding on Catalina Island once that had 6 guests so that's as close as I got. It's quite a fun experience. However, I'd never book a small wedding for anything other than my day rate unless it was an off time or not far out and the date was still open.


Nov 21, 2013 at 09:33 AM
Ghost
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p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · Wedding with no guests


OK sounds like some of you folks have done it before. Just wondering how did you work with the b&g given that there's no real agenda. So far the b&g is pretty open to our ideas and suggestions. Will be working hand in hand with the afternoon's itinerary. Kinda weird, feels like we're also acting as a wedding planner.

I like the going to a few spots idea. Since the location is in downtown area, we might hit some nearby places. There's also some ski resorts about 30mins away.



Nov 21, 2013 at 12:13 PM
jcolman
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p.1 #14 · p.1 #14 · Wedding with no guests


I did one a few years ago. Just the B&G, the officiant and the brides brother as witness. All the couple really wanted was to spend some time getting some nice shots of just the two of them. It was a lot of fun because there were no time constraints.


Nov 21, 2013 at 12:33 PM
J Knight
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p.1 #15 · p.1 #15 · Wedding with no guests


Smallest wedding I shot consisted of 5 people

The Registrar
The couple
1 witness
me (also acting as the 2nd witness)

I think this is the smallest number of people legally permitted in the UK as you are legally required have to have an official and 2 witnesses present.

Photos were all informal. I photographed
- arrival at the venue (the 4 of us in the same car!)
- after service lunch in a converted barn, just a walk in event, no table reservation even. We did bulk up in numbers though as 1 additional guest joined us for lunch and for the afternoon event.
- afternoon trip out to a ruined abbey amid wonderful scenery (lots of arty scenery shots to bulk out the photo numbers)
- tea in a teashop
- cake cutting at their home (we were down to just the 4 of us again)

It was a really nice day, very intimate and laid back. I did one of 30 people total, that was really good too. Big weddings tend to be a bit 'cold' in comparison to small personal ones and often quite disorganised. Small weddings are loads more fun.

I was told by another photographer that his smallest wedding had been half a dozen motorcycle enthusiasts. After the service they went to the local pub for fish and chips and a bike ride after. He said it was one of his best weddings and he really enjoyed attending and shooting it.



Nov 21, 2013 at 05:18 PM
ebiggs
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p.1 #16 · p.1 #16 · Wedding with no guests


I did a J of the P wedding that had no "guests". But there were several people in the court house that watched. Wedding took maybe ten minutes, did some photos and outta there.


Nov 22, 2013 at 05:50 PM
julieawhitlock
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p.1 #17 · p.1 #17 · Wedding with no guests


They drank most of the bottle and watched the beginning of the sunset. All the great things you can do with no guests


Nov 22, 2013 at 08:56 PM





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