My Weddingographer Days Are Numbered

Scott F

Scott F

Pug Life
In 2005 I purchased my beloved DVX100a. Not solely to shoot weddings, but I figured if I had one, it would make me a viable player in the local wedding game. So for several years, I shot 2nd camera and made some nice $$ on the side of my full-time job. Money that afforded me the opportunity to buy new gear. Eventually we had two kids, so what was once "f-you" money now goes to the family fund.

DSLR's became popular a few years ago and that made it *kind of* tolerable for me to shoot weddings……but now I'm right back to hating these things again.

It seems every year, I'm shooting more and more weddings to the point that pretty much all my Saturdays have been booked from May till October. And the guy I shoot for, his business has grown. Now I'm spending ENTIRE days on these projects, from bridal prep till the last note is played at the reception. But enough is enough. I've hit a wall.

I've got 6 more to shoot in 2011 and that's it. I turn 40 in December and my present to myself will be never shooting another wedding. Hell, I don't ever want to ATTEND another wedding until my kids get married. I'm too old to be schlepping gear around a reception hall. I just pray I can find work to fill the financial void.

I know there's lots of you on this forum who take weddings seriously, and you make it look good. But behind all those beautiful glidecam shots is a lot of crap that one must put up with. This gig is NOT for me, and I gotta vent. I must have shot hundred of these weddings and I'm experiencing some major burnout. Just week after week of going to different churches and halls and working with different people. Unless you have some major fortitude, there's only so much you can take of this grind.

I can't wait to say goodbye to:

-Sitting in traffic jams on I-95 freaking out because I'm going to miss the bridal prep or ceremony
-It's hot. Or it's raining. Or it's hot AND raining.
-A**hole, cocky photographers who can't stand working with weddingographers
-Corinthians 13:1-13
-Dickheads who put a 5 hour gap between their ceremony and reception. Really?
-The look of death when you try and film someone at the cocktail hour (Wait till they're drunk, then they'll be camera happy)
-Reception halls that are darker than Grant's Tomb (Can someone please turn on a light?)
-Best man and maid of honor toasts that keep getting longer and longer and longer each year
-Waiting to get fed…and will the meal be good?
-Precocious kids doing something "cute" on the dance floor
-Obnoxious drunk people
-Their drinks & broken bottles on the dance floor
-Vapidly checking Facebook or DVXuser on my mobile phone in the downtime
-"All the Singles Ladies, all the Single Ladies"
-Bald dudes with white shirts. An overexposed nightmare
-Benny Bennassi crappy techo music at tinnitus-enducing volumes
-That last, miserable half hour before you can pack up and leave

And above all (as I've mentioned countless times) I will never have to hear "I've Got a Feeling That Tonights Gonna Be a Good Night" by Fergie and her stupid Black Eyed Peas. Amen.

I'm getting out of this racket once and for all. Yeah, I think I quit. :happy:
 
Thanks. Don't ever start. This thread is more of a written document for me so I don't backslide and shoot next year.

I could rant for days.

-How bout those horas that go on for an insufferable 15 minutes? Oye vey, how many people can you hoist up on a chair?
-"Cha cha real smooth, everybody clap your hands!" If anyone wants me, I'll be in the back room eating cyanide
-"Tonight we're here to honor a man of class and distinction. But that's enough about me, let's talk about the groom"
 
I hate getting stuck on 1-95 trying to get into, out of, or around Manhattan to make it to the bridal prep/ceremony/photoshoot/reception. That is what I call stressful!
 
yes, dark humor meets off the wall comedy would be awesome. and a nice change of pace from most of the shlock comedies
 
HorseFilms said:
This needs to be a script, sir.
Click to expand...

Damned if I can find the link, but some indy film came out of Long Island about wedding videographers a few years ago. I know I've seen the trailer.

No film script from me, but I am taking notes. A book someday. I wish I had some instances of walking in on a bridesmaid getting ****ed in the coatroom. This book is gonna need some sex if it's ever to sell. I've heard some funny stories from lifers in the biz.
 
Oh and another thought: I really wonder about the future of the video and photo wedding biz. I must have seen at least three mkII's in the hand's of guests last night. Receptions are becoming a full-on papparazzi scene now that everyone is photographing and taping each other. And Uncle Joe's gear is definitely better than mine.
 
Dude... I feel your pain.

I've been working on a wedding video edit this afternoon and going into the evening. I'd rather flip burgers or become a gigolo for withered old ladies than shoot wedding videos anymore.

I've been moving away from doing them as well. At the most, I might do one bi-monthly or at most, once a month for extra cash to put towards some new gear plus a few film projects I want to make next year. Other than that though, I feel so darn burned out on weddings that I can't book too many or I probably won't ever want to edit them.

Deepfocus88 said:
Thanks. Don't ever start. This thread is more of a written document for me so I don't backslide and shoot next year.
Click to expand...

That is also part of what is motivating me to quite weddings. There are so many things in life I would have liked to have done in my 20's that I can't now do, because I spent so many weekends shooting weddings and then weekdays editing weddings. Looking back on things, and assessing where I wanted to be at this point in my life, I've now realized that I should have never gotten into weddings at all. I want to make films, so instead of doing weddings I know I should have pursued getting into commercials and maybe music videos while just having a day job. Now I am kinda getting back to square one, but the funny thing is, even though I feel I've wasted a lot of time on weddings, I still feel good that I've realized this and can make changes and still pursue what I really want to do with myself.

I guess that's life though. Sometimes it just kicks you in the nuts repeatedly until you realize the bigger picture.

-"Cha cha real smooth, everybody clap your hands!" If anyone wants me, I'll be in the back room eating cyanide.
Click to expand...

This is the one I just can't stand anymore. To quote Marlon Brando's insane Col. Kurtz from Apocalypse Now, "the horror... the horror... the horror....."

Although, I think you've forgotten the one that takes the cake (not wedding cake)... the old hunchback guest that slowly waddles onto the dance floor, walking across the entire open dance floor and passing only a few feet from the bride and groom during their first dance. Yes, I've had this one happen to me once. I think I literally said out loud, "you've got to be ****ing kidding me." Thankfully the music was loud enough to mask my frustration.

Deepfocus88 said:
Oh and another thought: I really wonder about the future of the video and photo wedding biz. I must have seen at least three mkII's in the hand's of guests last night. Receptions are becoming a full-on papparazzi scene now that everyone is photographing and taping each other. And Uncle Joe's gear is definitely better than mine.
Click to expand...

This is something I've thought about, and I think as the gear gets cheaper, the market will just become even more saturated than it already is. Just think of how flooded the wedding video and photo market will be once the economy gets back into a truly healthy swing again.

And you know, automated or semi-automated editing is probably coming in the next decade. No it won't do all the work for you, but for a lot of people, a program that does a lot of the dirty work (basic trimming and organizing, even maybe mapping footage to a music track) will then let them make the final tweaks relatively easily and that means consumers will be of the mind that they don't need a pro. Those that do want a pro might not have to pay much, because all the professional videographers will be fighting for the scraps by charging next to nothing.

$300-500 to professionally shoot and edit an entire wedding? No thanks, I'll take the cyanide.
 
Last edited:
I've been shooting weddings for about a year now and I kind of see where you're coming from. I'm lucky...I have a full-time job which pays very well and I just do weddings on the side to get out of the house and make some extra cash. I can't imagine shooting more than a single wedding every few months though (this year I only have 3 booked) but it pays for my beer and is a fun hobby. My packages start at $1300 so it's not bad and my videos are actually pretty crappy, but some people like that documentary style of shooting. No glidecam, no slider, no DSLR; just one guy with with a HMC150, Sennheiser lav, tripod, and monopod -- haven''t had any complaints yet and gotten a few referrals.

I applied to quite a few studios in the area and no one wanted to give me a chance, so I just said screw it and went out on my own. I did a few freebies to get a feel for what's going on, then launched my site and things are falling into place. I think your problem is you're burned out. I feel sorry for the guys who have a regular 9-5 and still shoot 2 wedding per week; especially while working for someone else. Studios pay crap so just go out on your own.

Get rid of the DSLR kit and get a proper camera, start your own site, charge appropriately, and keep it as a hobby. Sure you can't get the same DOF or the fancy (and oh-so-overused) sliders, but not everyone wants, needs, or is willing to pay for a 3 man DSLR slider/glidecam shoot...many people just want their big day documented nicely without too much fancy stuff. They don't want their wedding turned into a movie shoot.
 
Great post, Nektonic. I feel like I'm talking to myself.

I spent so many weekends shooting weddings…..Looking back on things, and assessing where I wanted to be at this point in my life, I've now realized that I should have never gotten into weddings at all.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I've been doing them on a steady basis since '05 and I'm making the executive decision to cut and run. Everyone is different, some people really enjoy shooting weddings. I see it as low-hanging fruit. Nice money, but the burnout factor is extremely high. I don't want to be that seasoned guy who is an expert on what kind of food they'll be getting at the venues. A buddy of mine nailed it on the head: It's high-end service industry. At the end of the day, you are the hired help. And I'm too old to be running around doing this s**t. BTW, I've never edited a wedding video. I just shoot & hand off tapes. There's no way I would have the patience to edit something that long.

Just speaking from personal experience, but a lot of the people I encounter who do this stuff seriously are cliquey and bordering on elitist. And their station in life is nothing I'm jealous of.

Through networking and good luck, I've landed some nice work doing corporate videos. And I work freelance TV news as well. I'm happy with either option. Going forward, I vow to say "I don't" if someone asks me to shoot a wedding.


"Cha cha real smooth, everybody clap your hands!"
Click to expand...

Funny, I didn't mind this song half as much when I heard it yesterday at a baseball game with my son. :happy:

but it pays for my beer and is a fun hobby
Click to expand...
Good attitude, brother. I hope things work out for you.

hey don't want their wedding turned into a movie shoot.
Click to expand...
I see what you are saying, but contrary to that, a lot of brides didn't just fall off the turnip truck. They know what DSLR goodness looks like, and they want it in their video. I've been schlepping my zazaslider to the shoot and getting some great results. But you're right, I'm just burned out. No getting around it.

I still don't know how production companies deliver those day in reviews that DO look like a movie shoot. I see some amazing work, but I'm like WTF, doesn't the bridal party just want to enjoy the day? Staging some of these shots takes a lot of time in an already rushed day.
 
They don't want their wedding turned into a movie shoot.
Click to expand...


It's funny you say that, I showed my wife my favorite wedding video which is by "Pacific Pictures" I think it was called city of lakes or something like that. She said she wouldn't want her wedding video anything like that. She likes just a basic, nicely shot wedding video that highlights the day, thats it. simple. It's hard for me as a narrative filmmaker to accept, but to each is their own I guess.
 
Deepfocus88 said:
I can't wait to say goodbye to:
Click to expand...

In my younger ( and stupidier ) days, I shot a total of 8 weddings for friends and relatives. Ugh.

...My favorite wedding moment was when the best-man gives a toast where he announces to the audience that he was the only other man in the room that has slept with the bride ( they dated 12 months earlier ), which did not sit too well with the bride's wealthy Russian-orthodox relatives. ( the groom was a football jock, and most of his guests appeared to be team-mates ) I was hoping for a fist-fight, but instead the best-man was quickly ejected from the room. Such a classy speech...
 
What about, "From This Moment" during the wedding? Around here that's definitely the "gouge my ears with a hacksaw" song.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top