rpavich Loc: West Virginia

THE answer.

Thread over.

BebuLamar

You should do what the bride and groom asked you. They could ask you to leave.

DWU2 Loc: Phoenix Arizona area

I agree. If that photographer was any good, it would be obvious in the quality of their photos.

BebuLamar

I tend to agree with you but since they had the bride and groom agreed to it. It's the bride and groom decision to make and they did so the OP was right to stop.

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

Sounds like a long winded way of saying I don't want to have to put up with someone else taking photos (or competing with me?).
As to the people blocking shots - people do that any way - change it to say no one allowed to interfere until the pros are done at each stage. And no standing, walking out in front of the photographer etc.
I was asked to be one of the photographers (3, all personal friends who were skilled hobby photographers, well one sometimes worked as second shooter for a wedding photographer) at a friend's wedding (in her backyard/garden-the same location my wife and I were married). One Aunt and one cousin kept walking in the way, jumping out etc with a cell phone and a bridge camera blocking off everyone's view to the point that other family members had to talk to them about it. After it happened the first time the couple started to prolong and pose at each stage of the wedding and reception/dinner that followed. My daughter and I (she was one of the three photographers) coordinated, she worked from the left and I worked from the right with both of us going to the middle as needed. The other guy roamed around and used a long lens - same as when he worked as a second shooter. Then for the posed shots with family etc during the dinner & dance we took turns taking the posed pictures, roaming around for candid shots or just plain taking a break to eat etc. At one point I loaned my second camera and lens to a relative who was also a high skill hobby photographer and for a while we had 4 shooters working the dinner and dance.
Then as some one mentioned - Mr Murphy often attends weddings and if he causes the pro's camera to malfunction, memory card to die etc etc then the customer ends up with few or no images.

rgrenaderphoto Loc: Hollywood, CA

The voice of maturity.

Thank you.

rwww80a Loc: Hampton, NH

I did! Stopped pushing the button and put the camera away.

gwilliams6

It has nothing to do with competing at all. My wedding shooters and I always attend the wedding rehearsals, talk with all the participants and the officiate, and coordinate where we are allowed to set up and shoot from, and see when the specific moments will occur during the ceremony etc. that MUST not be missed. Also we go through timing for all the parts of the wedding, when we can possibly take the bride and groom away for additional private shootings ,sometimes at another nearby, more photogenic location. All the while trying to keep to the bride and groom's planned schedule for the pre-wedding preparations, the actual ceremony, any cocktail hour, then the reception which may be in a completely different location.

The Bride and groom, or their families ,are paying for these venues and they only have them for a certain limited and set time. So as the hired official photographers we have to work fast ,professionally , and efficiently, and manage our time available to shoot. Getting slowed down because everyone else of dozens of guests wants the same photo can totally mess up the time line. Reception halls, caterers, bands and more work to a strict, paid time schedule and the last thing anyone wants is for the hired photographers, or any other photographers to hold up everything and possibly cost the couple and their families more money. Most good wedding venues, reception halls and even churches schedule more than one wedding party in the same location on the same day (but a different time of the day). We have to work to a tight time schedule set by the bride and groom, and they expect us to make their day memorable, but not to disrupt the flow and all the good and fun vibes.

Hey I make a point to get along with all the family and wedding guests ,and to be as polite and friendly and helpful as I can be at all times. I want to capture all the happy smiling faces, the tears and hugs and kisses and funny and heartwarming moments, expected and unexpected. I do often offer advice to a guest shooter that has a technical question, even while in the middle of performing my duties, if at all possible. I just ask other invited guests and family to respect the bride and groom's wishes , and respect the photographers they have spent good money for, that have all the responsibility and pressure on them to get it all captured right, and create wonderful ,timeless images from all those once-in-lifetime moments. Cheers
One of my wedding websites:
https://www.wedding.com/wedding-vendors/nj/clayton/photographer/williams-photography/389416

genocolo Loc: Vail and Gasparilla Island

You were much nicer than I would have been.

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

Forgot two things:
1. Three digital video cameras on tall tripods Left, Center, Right set up behind the seated guests to shoot over their heads and just left running.
2. The groom, also a hobby photographer-travel mostly-has a cousin who works as a video/photo editor for a movie company (in fact he didn't attend because he was off somewhere working on a movie/TV show) and everyone at the wedding was requested to just give them a copy of all their images, good or bad (they got about 5000 from aprx 50 people) and the editor then culled, edited etc and put together a combined video and digital slide show of the wedding as his wedding gift. The couple then had prints made of their favorite shots and copies of the digital show made for a few family members who could not attend. The couple are Persian and have relatives in Iran and elsewhere, people flew in from three continents for the wedding but many (esp those in Iran) could not attend.

gwilliams6

Whatever you work out with bride ,groom and guests if fine. I had a fellow photographer who was getting married, and he asked all his photographer friends to come and each bring their camera and everyone took photos as their wedding presents, and the photographer and his bride got pro shots from a dozen shooters. I was one of those friends. But we all knew how to stay out of each others shots. Though we did do a funny group shot with all of us and all of our cameras. There is never just one way to do this, but just respect the bride and groom's wishes and go from there. Cheers

TBerwick Loc: Houston, Texas

I took slave flash units to only 1 wedding and never again. The "guests" would snap something just as I got it set up and then we'd have to wait for the recycle. Next wedding, no slave units, I didn't care what anyone else did. I told the bride & groom I'd set up the shots we had agreed upon and I had enough film allotted to shoot the wedding with a very few spare frames. If those got used up, then they'd be out of luck when it came to the departing shots. That usually got the word passed around pretty quickly even though I always took enough 120 or 220 to shoot 2 full weddings, they didn't need to know that.

BHC Loc: Strawberry Valley, JF, USA

"not to take cell phone pix and post during the ceremony"

Am I missing an important detail here?

In any case, I would have checked with the photographer first.

JohnSwanda Loc: San Francisco

The policy apparently wasn't for the ceremony only. The OP was asked to stop taking photos at the reception.

BebuLamar

I wouldn't check with the photographer. The bride and groom told the OP to stop taking pictures and I like the OP would respect the bride and groom. I wouldn't care about the photographer.