Wedding Receptions?

dillont

dillont

Well-known member
Howdy fellow dvx nuts

So I'm wondering something ...

I've shot a few weddings professionally now, and am wondering what other people do during the reception. Do you take the effort to socialize with the guests, or just stand back and witness/videotape?

I found myself with a bit of downtime during a wedding I shot on Sunday and was feeling a little bit out of sorts. Knowing I look a little strange just sitting there not doing anything. But as a videographer I already captured the hobnobbing and socializing and so I knew the cake cutting and other rituals were coming up and needed to save tape - I just sat and waited.

Towards the end of the day the bride came up and engaged me in conversation, and of course I engaged with her (in conversation). Her bridesmade remarked (drunkenly) "Its so nice to see you smiling!".

Had me wondering - when I'm interacting with people I'm quite social - but when I'm doing my job, I'm serious and looking for the next shot.

What do you all do? Do you choose to socliaize with the wedding guests or do you wait for them to talk to you?

Thanks for any input.

Dillon
 
Hey, don't worry about saving tape, well not on DV anyway! Its soooo cheap!

I always get people saying I look serious when working... I must have an angry face or something... but sounds to me like the bridesmaid was just coming on to you.

Why are girls always gagging for it at weddings?:thumbsup:

I try and socialise and video at the same time at events like that, but I never lay the camera down. It can bring out more natural "performances" that way. :thumbsup:
 
I would always just limit myself to consorting with the other freelancers (DJ, photographer, caterers). At some point during every wedding a bored guest would inevitably walk over to quiz me on the equipment and its cost while telling me about his home video troubles in backing up precious memories or trying to convert VHS to DVD. Other than that, I just tried to stay out of the way and look busy.
 
dillont said:
What do you all do? Do you choose to socliaize with the wedding guests or do you wait for them to talk to you?
Click to expand...

Dillon-

if you have gaps of time, fill it by practicing. shoot something in a different angle, different way than you would normally do. then this becomes PAID practice. I never talk with the guests, though at one recent wedding I received no less than a dozen emails from guests who thanked us for working my ass off. I do make sure I get time with the B&G at some point to work with them at some point in the reception, very briefly. by shooting a lot and "practicing" I very rarely even get the time to sit and eat. I do get the chance to get better all the time.
 
Lol. I know.

I don't usually shoot this way - but the bride hired me to shoot the wedding and reception, and she wants to have the raw materials for herself soe she can edit it. (lol, i know again).

Long story short - I brought 2 hours of tape. I had 20 minutes of tape left over to capture the cake cutting and other ceremonies and the bride/groom leaving. So I was saving the 20 minutes of tape for these last few events.

I don't normally walk in with 2 tapes - usually I walk in with 4 - but considering the bride said she wanted to do the editing, I made an exception (going to give her a completed DVD of another wedding I edited to convince her to pay me to edit it for her - or would this be a bad idea?)

First time I shot a wedding with a DVX too - even in 60i (scene 1) it blows the socks off of what I get on the PD150.

Thanks for the input guys. Looking busy is definitely something I'm good at.

Dillon

galt said:
Saving tape???
Click to expand...
 
I did a wedding once when they couldn't afford the edit, so I just edited in camera as I went along. It is such a different style, it reminded me of how I used to shoot stuff as a kid with no edit suite.
 
dillont said:
Lol. I know.

I don't usually shoot this way - but the bride hired me to shoot the wedding and reception, and she wants to have the raw materials for herself soe she can edit it. (lol, i know again).
Click to expand...

In that case I would have spent all my time making sure every guest knew that she was going to do the edit herself, and I was not responsible for the final product. Call it socializing...
 
wedding receptions

wedding receptions

Im an ugly guy so its easy for me not to socialize so i just keep myself busy while shooting weddings.
 
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