Picking Wedding Vendors Part II: “The Hours Thing”

Traditional weddings are SO last decade. No really. We’ve heard of all kinds of stories from surprise weddings, to civil ceremonies, to 700 guests in one hotel deal-eos. It’s out with the old and in with…. anything. The wedding industry has made a huge shift in the past 5-10 years or so. Brides are getting creative, and implementing their personal quirky styles, and motifs into their weddings. Personally, I’m ALL for it! I love reading wedding blogs, and shooting weddings, where the brides have totally taken things into their own hands, and run with seemingly crazy-but totally cool- ideas.

That being said… we vendors have been challenged, and even inspired. No more “shooting in the box” style (not that FlyFeNniX ever WAS that way). Even florists, cake decorators, and wedding planners are experimenting left and right. It’s getting pretty crazy out there, guys. We love it. On the flip side, some vendors haven’t been moving with the times quite as fast as you party-planning fiends. Whenever we meet with brides (usually at bridal expos) I notice them all asking similar questions, some of them spot-on, others… not so much. Really, how are you supposed to know what to ask, though? I’ll tell you. Not because I want you to book with us… ok that’s a lie, I really do, but because I want to help you plan that perfect wedding! We’re in this together.

The “hours” thing.
I always have conversations where I explain to brides that we don’t charge by the hour. Some are confused, others amazed by this M.O. Sometimes this doesn’t necessarily work best for your wedding. We’ve been asked if we could just show up for an hour to take bride and groom pictures between the ceremony and reception, and then call it a day. It’s not that we disagree with your plan… but as a company, we feel we need to stick to our guns when we say we’re here to tell your WHOLE story.

For Rita and Rabin’s wedding we arrived at their venue at 6:00am to grab shots of the trucks unloading, ceremony set up, bride/groom prep, and didn’t leave until 1:00am the next morning. Why? Because we wanted to grab the entire thing. Grab it we did… and not par the bride’s request, but our’s. We also feel that if we’re allotted 8 hours on your wedding day, and time’s up come the first 30 minutes of the reception… it totally sucks having to ask the bride if she wants us to stay longer, for an extra $200 (or however much) for each hour we linger. Is it just me… or is it a little unfair? Of course you’ll want us to stay! Party on, dudes.

For some wedding planning purposes, the “per-hour” deal works best. I respect that, and don’t entirely preach against it. These are simply things to keep in mind. To me, it’s like getting a package to a resort in Hawaii, but getting a room with beds in it will cost extra.