Terrance Dobro
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 p.1 #1 · What could go wrong... | |
I've watched and followed this forum for a while now and from time-to-time I hear the horror stories of weekends gone wild where people get stood up, equipment breaks or gets stolen, or things just generally go bad. I've always considered myself lucky and prayed that when things went wrong, it would be something that I could manage. This past weekend I shot a wedding where everything that could have gone wrong, most likely did. And now that I'm finally home, my wife and I had a chance to sit back and laugh about all the things that went wrong.
First off, the bride had always wanted an outdoor winter wonderland wedding up at Lake Arrowhead (California) where a light snow was on the ground and the lake in the background. No problem. As the date approached we watched the weather and things had to be adapted and moved inside. No problem. My wife and I made a long weekend of it and went up Friday and planned to stay 'til Monday. With a chance of snow, we took my 4x4 truck and packed chains and made sure the equipment was protected. It poured all the way there from Fillmore with limited visibility. On the way up the mountain, we got socked in with fog. Rehearsal went great and everything seemed to be going well.
During the night it snowed and in the early hours, a car went off the road taking out the transformer supplying power to the resort around 3am. No problem, the bride said. Arrangements were made to have the girls do their hair at the bride's friend's house instead of at the resort (the resort later thanked her with a free day at the spa). The friend even ordered pizza and supplied drinks on her own dime. The guys stayed at the resort and used flashlights to find their tuxedos and get dressed. The wedding was slated for 3pm. By 1:30, it was obvious that the wedding wasn't going to start on time but at least the resort had 40% power for lights. At that point, I find out that my 2nd photog's primary camera just took a dump. No problem - he has a backup. After a few moments of discussion, we're back in business.
As the time approached, we discover that the pastor hadn't arrived because his car had slid off the road. Thankfully, he wasn't hurt. The resort staff - who were fantastic - made arrangements to help dig out his car and get him to the resort by 3:15. After a few moments to collect himself, the pastor was ready and the bridal party began to line up. As the DJ walked over to start the music - BOOOoooop! - power goes out again. We find out from SoCal Edison that it was a preventive measure as they replaced a fuse and gave us a 30 minute ETA.
At about 4:30, the ceremony finally starts. Halfway through, the fire alarm goes off. Luckily it only goes off for about 30 seconds and resets. The rest of the ceremony goes off without a hitch. Afterwards, we're getting the party together for formals and someone clips me and snaps off my flash off of my bracket. I put on my backup and keep going (I later find out that my flash cord took all the damage and my 580 II was okay). Originally we had over 90 minutes for formals, now we have about 30. Everything goes well and we head to the reception. On the way, my 2nd's backup camera takes a dump (found out later it was the connectors with the lens) so I hand him my 2nd body (I brought three bodies total) and keep shooting. Other than the food being a little too done (the staff had to keep it warm almost 2 extra hours), the night goes without any more incidents.
Today it's time to go home and I find my truck is buried in 3 feet of snow and a snow plow blocked it in with another four feet. I dig it out, put on chains, load up equipment, and we go to the village to do some shooting for fun and some shopping. Once in the village, it's starts snowing - hard - and we decide to leave early. Not even 5 miles away, my passenger side wiper goes out. As the snow gets worse and it's almost white out conditions, my truck takes a chunk of ice and takes out my driver's side windshield wiper. Luckily (that word got used a lot this weekend), we pull off next to a 76 station that sells wiper blades. A quick fix and we're off. Three times on the way down the mountain, I have to stop to clear out the ice off the passenger side of my window so it wouldn't threaten my driver side. Finally we make it down and into a rainstorm. I'm thinking we're in the clear and I'm counting ourselves lucky as we limp home with scratches to my hood and one busted wiper motor. As I'm making the transition from the 210 freeway to the northbound 5 / 14 interchange, my gimpy passenger side wiper blade suddenly springs to life, flies across the windshield, locks up the driver side blade and snaps it off - flinging it over two lanes. Now I'm in a down pour, doing 65mph, at one of the most annoying interchanges in LA. I make it over to the side, repair the driver side wiper, and we make it home.
Overall, it was a great weekend. The couple are one of the nicest couples I know and they took it all with a smile and were laid back. No one got hurt (other than my truck) and we came home with an interesting story. Looking at the photos, it's also some of my best work to date (not Hassas-quality, but one can only pray to the tiki gods so much to be like him). The resort was fantastic and everyone was apologetic to us about the delays (like they had any control of any of it).
Lesson revisited - plan ahead, take plenty of backups, and be flexible.
BTW, sorry for the long story. Hopefully it kept you entertained...
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