This quote made me laugh because it’s so true. At the end of the day, as long as you tie the knot and nobody dies or runs out on the wedding, it’s all good.
In well over a hundred weddings, I have seen some stuff I can tell you.
Some of it was my own stupid doing but sometimes funny stuff just happens.
There’s so much to organize and therefore so much that can go wrong.
I’ve seen bridesmaids split their dresses, grooms forget their shoes, florists who bailed on their clients, florists who couldn’t count and only provided one bridesmaids bouquet for two bridesmaids, hairdressers that failed to show up, and makeup artists who failed to stop plastering the stuff on until the girls got in the cars and left, with no time for photos.
There’s been mother in laws who have forgotten the music and held up the wedding rushing home to get it, rings that were dropped on the grass while the flower girl made her way down the aisle (she was all of 2 and tripped over her pretty white dress) dropping the rings on the ground. Luckily I saw her fall over so knew where on the grass they were.
There was the unpopular relative who gave the flower girls sticky red lolly pops just after the ceremony who wanted to hug Mum the bride with their sticky mitts and the poor Groom on Oxygen. He kept taking out his breathing tube for photos and I thought he was going to die on me.
As for me, I’ve been elbowed out of the way by the Groom’s grandma while taking photos because she wanted the best spot, have been lost on the way to a wedding because the Navman wouldn’t work when we started it under a concete carpark back in the day, have turned up at the wrong hotel room and started to photograph someone else’s wedding (not my fault I swear) have broken myself, my gear, and been soaked to the bone several times. One poor bride had her special day planned out to the last infinite detail. She had thought about absolutely everything, except the rain. It was one of the worst weather events I have worked in.
Two funny moments that certainly stand out, was when we got out of the car at a local beach reserve and the bride noticed a couple having a nice old time under a tree going for it. She’s like, “Hey look at that couple having sex under the tree”. It was middle of the afternoon and pretty funny.
Another time, the bride’s elderly Father walked her down the aisle and his pants dropped down to his ankles when he reached the end of the aisle. Some young relative was videoing so it’s probably on YouTube.
I have managed to save the day a few times, and once took a beautiful bouquet of frangipanis to the bride that was left behind on the mainland when the wedding was on an island, transported the rings on numerous occasions that were also left behind, and even took one bride to her own wedding in the back of my People Mover. She had thought about everything too except her own transport to the wedding.
My assistant and I had to go on cake guarding duty at one very large wedding, fending off the Mother of the Bride and relatives who were chowing down on the wedding cake cupcakes before the couple had even seen or been photographed with their cake. They were so busy talking to people.
One time I was nearly kicked out of a Catholic wedding for making clicking noises and moving quietly about the church. The Priest stopped the wedding and told me to pick a side and stay here. I had to find quiet sneaky ways to outsmart him whilst still doing my job and capturing the wedding in photos. “Nobody puts Baby in a corner”.
I once covered an engagement party that turned into a wedding that then turned into a gender reveal. Talk about getting it all done at once. Quite smart really as a lot of weddings got cancelled and postponed due to Covid some time later. They just got it all covered in such a beautiful way with all their friends being surprised including me. I knew about the wedding but not the gender reveal. Blue cake everywhere.
Never a dull moment being a wedding photographer and I love it.