Within an hour of each other there have been requests from two of my friends looking for cover for this coming weekend. Why ? – because they are stuck abroad and face the prospect of not making it back in time for this Friday and Saturday for weddings. They are not even in continental Europe with a slim possibility of finding a train or car that will get them back to France and then under or over the channel and back home. It is simply a case of waiting for flights to resume and then trying to get back as soon as possible as the disruption unwinds.
This isn’t something you could plan for and in fact the Easter holiday is probably the last chance wedding photographers with families get to take some time away before the busy wedding season kicks in and then every weekend is filled shooting weddings and the weekdays reserved for processing them and preparing albums. So it isn’t unsurprising that a fair few are away. Fortunately of course professional wedding photographers tend to have friends and networks of other professional wedding photographers that they can trust, that will be able to treat their clients well, and that will produce a high quality result in a similar style. I’m very confident that both of my friends will be covered for their dates – even if I don’t help them on this occasion.
The question remains though what would have happened if you had relied on a friend to shoot your wedding, or a new photographer looking to do the wedding as a portfolio builder for free ? Would they care enough to find you a skilled replacement, would they know where to look or who to ask ? You certainly couldn’t expect a professional wedding photographer to cover a family friend of yours who has got stuck abroad for no fee ? Will the low cost absent photographer pay their fees out of their own pocket to make sure you have someone there for you ?
It is going to be an interesting week, and I do wish every bride and groom getting married over this weekend all the best – that they’ll have all their families and guests present and also that they get the standard of wedding photography that they expected from their wedding day.
Keep an eye on the blog to see if we help someone out next weekend …. and as for our holidays plans this year; we will be staying in the UK.
by Mike French
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