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Wedding Guest fare for photographer?

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marchswallowbird

marchswallowbird

Brilliant_Rock
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Apr 22, 2008
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One photographer I am seriously considering for my wedding requires (in his contract) that he and his wife (a photog team) get guest fare at the wedding, and get seated to eat near the guests, so they can keep an eye on things and jump up at a momen''t notice if they see a good shot.


My venue is expensive and my seating is limited. I am already having to pay traveling expenses of about, and he is a pricy photographer to begin with.


Just curious; what policy does your photographer have with regards to being fed?

 
We''ve gotten four quotes so far. Three require a "vendor meal" and one does not. Our venue (the one we''re considering anyway) offers a vendor meal for $20 per person. They also mentioned that most of the photographers will eat after their session is over (we were getting quotes from their preferred vendor list).

I would ask your venue if they have a discounted vendor meal. It won''t (typically) be the same as what you serve your guests.
 
Yes, but this photographer requires a guest meal, not a vendor meal. It specifies a guest meal in his contract. I''m wondering how common this is. My reception is only 3 hours long!
 
I offered food to all the band members and entertainment at my son''s bar mitzvah. It totalled about 20 people. I had a room set up with gourmet sandwiches, salads, chips, cookies, fruit and drinks (soda, water and tea/coffee). I ended up deciding that I had to feed them but my caterers recommended this as my meal for my guests was a veal chop and truffled risotto and they felt it was much too costly to supply 20 people with that. I felt as long as they had access to it all during the evening, and it was good stuff too, made by my caterer, they would be more than happy. And they were. A lot of contracts specify feeding the entertainment and staff, but not WHAT you must feed them. I did supply them with lots of nice options.
 
My first photog required a meal for him and his daughter (an optional child apprentice) but made no stipulation as far as what and where he ate. The contract did say that he would eat at the same time as the guests and that no photos would be taken during that time (
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).

The photographer we actually ended up using due to all kind of drama with the original did not request a meal. I told her she was welcome to grab a plate or have some hors d''oeuvres and she stated that she felt bad eating at a client''s wedding. She was recently married herself so I think she was more aware of how expensive meals, etc are per guest.
 
Hmmm, wow I didn''t realize that photographers would put something like that in the contract. I can definitely understand why you feel that way. You are paying these people big $$$ and now you have to pay to feed them too?!?!?! My photography is $2,800 for the most basic package, and I still have to pay for their hotel!

If this is photographer you want, take a deep breath, pay for their meals, and let it go. It is considered poor form to not provide a meal for you DJ and photographer anyway.
 
Didn''t specify in the contract, but I budgeted for providing food for most vendors (photographer, videographer, DJ, and officiant) and their assistants. But our food prices are very reasonable..if they weren''t..I''d probably reconsider this a bit.
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I''m not against providing a meal, just not a guest meal! He''s already $3,500 for only 6 hours of coverage, plus another $350-$400 for travel expenses, and the guest meal on top of that would be another $225 or so. I like him, and he knows the area around my venue quite well, but I think that''s too much.
 
Date: 8/25/2008 7:20:27 PM
Author: marchswallowbird
I''m not against providing a meal, just not a guest meal! He''s already $3,500 for only 6 hours of coverage, plus another $350-$400 for travel expenses, and the guest meal on top of that would be another $225 or so. I like him, and he knows the area around my venue quite well, but I think that''s too much.
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Wow! Okay, yeah that''s a lot for the meal.
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Like I said our meals are pretty inexpensive..so I was like eh whatever. We''re paying like $5800 total..but the travel fee was under $100. Wow that''s not very reasonable in my opinion. This is going to sound bridezillaish..but can''t the dude pack a sandwich?
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our photog and DOC were our only "vendors" at our reception. there really was no way to do a vendor meal as our dinner was served family-style. our venue did us a favor and charged us a vendor meal price for those two seats, and i just fit them into tables where I needed a "single".

note that my photog did indicate "guest meal" in his contract, but it was no biggie to me- i worked with our venue to make it happen.
 
My photographers only required a hot meal. So does my DJ. My DOC didn't require meals in her contract, but I'm providing her with lunch and dinner. And my MUA requires a 'meal'-- I asked her and she said something that works on the go... no salads or pizza or pasta. Preferably a sandwich.

My DJ has told me that he'll sit with his stuff. And I'm thinking of seating the photographers and DOC together at a table. And my MUA is just lunch... so I'm just going to order sandwiches for everyone (including her and the DOC).

And even though my vendor meal is the vegetarian option, I offered my photographers, DJ and DOC the same options as our guests, and they really appreciated that. the difference in price was like 10 bucks between the vendor meal and the beef (which two of them chose).

But I have the room in the hall to seat them there, and the 30 bucks total difference wasn't a big deal to me. So I'm just going to go with it. It's my option though. If it had been required... I might have been a little irritated. And if the price difference was as high as yours. FORGETABOUTIT.
 
We must purchase vendor meals at half price $75 rather than $150 for the guest dinner for all of the photographers (3) and nine band members for my daughter''s wedding.....It really adds up!!!! And I do wonder why if these people are "working" during the reception, they have to have a sit down meal....but that is what they have.....I think the reception venue also stipulates that they must be fed. At this point, I am not going to sweat this. When we first started planning the wedding, I said ok, well equivalent to one year of colllege, now it is about the price of two years at a private college.......(DD and her fiance are paying for half of it....so I won''t complain)
 
We are offering crew menu for our vendors, its about 1/3 price of our guest menu for each person. I never heard vendors request for guest meal in Toronto area.
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Meal requirements is very common about 90%+ will request it with about 1/2 specifying the same meal the guest is having.
It is a big topic on the photo forums.
6 hours with travel makes for a 8-10 hour day. (2 hours wedding and prep., 1 hour formals, 3 hours reception)
Feed them.
You do not want your photog taking pictures during the 20min or so people are actauly eating.
Most will not be sitting the whole time but shoot until people start actualy eating then eat and start shooting again.
I had it in my contract as a second shooter that I got food.
It was up to the main photogs contract what it was.
If it wasn''t provided I left and went and got something.

Around here its not that huge an issue because every wedding I ever worked at least 3 or 4 people asked me if I got something to eat and insisted I do if I hadn''t eaten yet.
It may have changed since 20 years ago but it was considered an insult to the brides family back then for anyone at a wedding reception to leave hungry.
Even the lowest cost weddings had good chow often provided by the family rather than catered.
The best wedding meal I ever had was a turkey dinner for 80 people that the family cooked themselves it was yummy! I got some great pictures of family members cutting the turkey that sold a lot of copies as everyone got in the act including the bride and groom.
The bride and groom feeding each other a turkey leg sold far more copies than the cake smash.
 
We *offered* the photographer, the officiant and the officiant''s husband guest meals. But ours was a pretty casual BBQ buffet -- more like $30/40 a head.

If you like the photographer ... is it worth the peace of mind to pony up the meal? Don''t really think its an unreasonable request for an in-demand photographer. If he/she wasn''t doing your wedding that day -- they''d probably be eating a great meal at someone else''s wedding.
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Again, I have no issue whatsoever with providing food for the photographer. Just not a guest meal, which is hugely expensive.
 
Date: 8/26/2008 1:18:38 AM
Author: marchswallowbird
Again, I have no issue whatsoever with providing food for the photographer. Just not a guest meal, which is hugely expensive.
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sorry that I got a little carried away in my post was thinking about that turkey dinner! yummy!

You just have to factor it into the equation when your comparing prices if you find one that doesn''t require it.
You can also discuss it with the photog and see if its negotiable but don''t be surprised if it isn''t.
 
Maybe explain that you''ve chosen a very special and extravagant meal for your guests and it is not in your budget to provide the same food for your vendors as your guests, but you would be more than happy to have a scaled-down meal ready for them so they won''t go hungry. I think it is rude of the vendor to expect a several-hundred dollar meal while at work. I for sure understand that they need something to eat after working all day, but no other job would specificially request something that extravagant for what is really their "break."

Seriously...I''m a nurse and I eat peanut butter toast on my lunch break...if I even get one!
 
Ours required the same thing. We had a small table set up for them and the videographers and the DJs got subs (provided by the venue). I thought it was kind of diva but not worth fighting about.
 
I agree with Strm, I don't see it as a huge deal as long as you include it in the cost of his package when comparing other photogs.

I bet it stems from being served really bad food at a few weddings, I've heard some of the vendor meals can be pretty bad! Can you imagine working a 8-10 hour day and being served a bad sandwich and chips or something and that's it?

FWIW, our photog required a meal (any meal), and our venue provided the same meal as the guests for a cheaper price. It wasn't a big deal.
 
Date: 8/26/2008 11:10:29 AM
Author: neatfreak
I agree with Strm, I don''t see it as a huge deal as long as you include it in the cost of his package when comparing other photogs.

I bet it stems from being served really bad food at a few weddings, I''ve heard some of the vendor meals can be pretty bad! Can you imagine working a 8-10 hour day and being served a bad sandwich and chips or something and that''s it?

FWIW, our photog required a meal (any meal), and our venue provided the same meal as the guests for a cheaper price. It wasn''t a big deal.
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Absolutely---sometimes I am too busy to leave the office and all I get is leftovers from meetings. Sad. BUT I can see how they wouldn''t want to eat subs when everyone around them is eating filet mignon....just another thing to factor into the price. They won''t take pictures while everyone is eating anyway so it''s fine
 
I think they had to start specifying food because many times they were likely overlooked even in terms of something to drink. I am always very aware of that stuff, but I am sure many vendors came to events and were overlooked. But I was not about to serve 20 people a meal that cost what my adult meal cost. I supplied them with wonderful food, set out so they could get it whenever they wanted to, and everyone was so happy.
 
Well, the cost of that photographer team, once I factored in travel costs and the meal, was more than $4,000 for only 6 hours of coverage, so I''ve decided not to use him, much as I like his work. I''m about to sign a contract with a different photographer that is about $300 cheaper for three hours more coverage...and the photos on his website, from about 50 different weddings, are of phenomenal quality. I do need to doublecheck his meal requirements before I sign on the dotted line...
 
If you are on the fence about this photographer due to the meal requirement, I would do the following:

Contact the photographer and mention that you really like his work, HOWEVER, the cost of supplying two guest meals for him and his wife puts his services out of your budget. If he would be willing to accept a vendor meal, you would love to hire him.

I don''t think this is unreasonable, and leaves the importance of the guest quality meal for him to decide. If you have such excellent food for the guests, I am sure that the food the venue supplies for vendors would also be good.
 
My caterer served the vendors the same food as the guests, just all at once on a table to the side without fancy plating or service so that they could eat when they wanted. This was half the price of the guest's meal. Still somewhat expensive, but no biggie as I didn't have a 10-piece band or anything.

There was no cheaper option for feeding the vendors from my caterer, and I can understand why a vendor might require the same food as guests after being fed crappy calories at too many weddings. It might not have to do with jealousy over the filet minon, just wanting a decent meal and not some unappetizing substitute meal - as I can imagine some people cutting costs on this item! While some people might function on no food for 8-10 hours, I am not one of those people. I want a happy, well fed photog. Check your caterers policies on vendor meals before getting too worked up about the next photog.
 
Date: 8/26/2008 1:05:41 PM
Author: marchswallowbird
Well, the cost of that photographer team, once I factored in travel costs and the meal, was more than $4,000 for only 6 hours of coverage, so I''ve decided not to use him, much as I like his work. I''m about to sign a contract with a different photographer that is about $300 cheaper for three hours more coverage...and the photos on his website, from about 50 different weddings, are of phenomenal quality. I do need to doublecheck his meal requirements before I sign on the dotted line...
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I''d also ask to see a full wedding that he/she has done. With more than 50 weddings on the site it is easy to only show 2 or 3 of the "best shots" of each one instead of giving the whole picture of what they do.
Good luck, I hope this photog. is a better fit for you.
 
My wedding was short enough that the photographer didn't require a meal in her contract. I put her and other vendors in for a guest meal. I wouldn't have known they were eating, in the cake room, except I got up to make sure she had found food and ran into her. Literally, she and the coordinator heard me walking about and jumped up to make sure they didn't miss anything.

She was out of the room for about 15-20 minutes and checked with the coordinator before hand to make sure that nothing was planned that she would be missing.

I don't see the need for the photographer to be that close to hand or have that expensive of a meal for a short reception.

ETA: The vendor meal wasn't any less fancy (although our wedding was low key) it was just served on stonewear with stainless steel cutlery and a paper napkin rather than china and silver with a cloth napkin. The price of our meal included the fanciness and laid out tables, the vendor meals did not.
 
Saltymuffin and others, I already emailed the photographer and asked about this, as well as asking if the cost would be less if we did not do the slideshow of the ceremony at the reception, etc. etc. I also asked him if there were any other ways we might reduce his overall fee, or if his prices were firm. He said his prices were firm because he knew he could book my date. So we parted friends. He''s a great photog, I would recommend him to anyone (even though I''ve not worked with him personally), it''s just that I could not fit him into my budget.
 
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