Your wedding style and coverage

In holland it is common to do the location before the formal wedding in Townhall.
I heard that in the UK it is always afterwards.

In holland you don't know older bridesmaids, only brideschildren (age 3 - . The dressing for the wedding is much more formal (black tie, jacquet etc) in the UK than in Holland

All ready we have a few differences, now for the UK (Note this is based on my experiences of my packages and other photographers I know and isnt a finite statement)

In the UK the first time the Groom see's the bride is when he turns at the altar. The basic set up for the day runs as follows

0900 - Bride not ready for photographer, make-up or hair. Bride panics!
0905 - Bride given a whysky to carm her down, bride dad has two one for strength one for later
0930 - Bride is carm and photos can be taken of Hair and Make Up
0931 - Bride decides dowsnt like photos of hair and make up being done
0934 - Has a re-think and wants photos of hair and make-up
1020 - Bride is ready to get changed, photographer leaves room and ask for bride to knock on door when she is sorted
1023 - Bride knocks on doors, and says "I'm not ready, can you send up everyone i can t get dress on!"
1023.15sec - Female members of family run past photographer!
1040 - Bride knocks on door, ready for photos to be taken
1115 - Bride relaxing, last photos done before moving to church to capture groom
1130 - Arrive at church
1137 - Still looking for groom
1140 - Check pub, find groom!
1141 - Start formals of groom
1230 - Usher groom and family into church, wait for bride
1245- 5 mins till bride arrives, guest still ariving!
1249 - chase groom away so he doesnt ruin wedding by seeing bride!
1250 - No sign of bride
1251 - Hmmm wheres the bride
1252 - Is that the bride
1253 - Ok am I at the wrong church!
1255 - Bride arrives, sorry for being late problem with................ hair, make-up, shoes, flowers, dress, chocolate bar, car, phone, global warming!
1255.01 - Vicars says hurry up with photos!!
1259.45 - Photos taken, vicar happy, bride happy, photographer out of breath and now has to run up a bell tower to get to a balcony!
1259.53 - Oh my word they have started and I have only 10 steps to go
1300 - Capture that photo of the groom seeing the bride for the first time
1300.02 - Heart attack from stairs and equipmet, shock yourself as no one knows your up there and get on with it!!
1330 - Signing of the register, now means they are legally and spirtually married
1335 - Move uncle geogre out of the way so you can capture the bride and groom leaving the church
1335.05 - Uncle geogre pushes back!
1337 - Uncle geogre has an accident, looks like the day may be alright!
1340 - Take formals at church
1400 - Head to reception
1420 - ask yourself have I been passed that Cow before?
1423 - Hmm that cow is looking familar again
1424 - Find unmarked road that leads to reception!
1425 - Race down and find no parking spcaes, lug kit 10 miles down road!
1435 - Formals at reception
1525 - Leave Family to go in for meal

Well thats it for now, will post on on after the meal for you guys later haha

Cheers and Beers

Stew

Hi Stewart,

Here's how I work it, although MMV with other local photogs.  (I think mine is pretty standard though)

First of all, Bridals and Engagements are big in Texas, so each package I offer has at least one of those included. (Most have both).  Each session lasts about 2 hours, and the couple receive 20-40 fully retouched photos.  (In Texas, the girls want to be fashion model gorgeous).

I attend the rehearsal, but more for my benefit than theirs.  I don't like surprises.

On the wedding day, I get there when the first curler goes into the brides hair.  (My husband attends to the groom).  We get a majority of the formals done prior to the wedding, do the wedding, and the obligatory formals afterwards.  (These are also big in Texas)......I HATE formals, so I do them quickly. :-)

Then we are off to the reception, and stay until the bride and groom leave.  The normal wedding workday is 6-10 hours.  During that time, me, my husband, and sometimes our assistant will shoot anywhere between 1500-2000 shots.  I cull that down to 500-700, and work up each of the photos individually.  I don't batch anything but my black and white conversions which are included.

After the wedding work is complete, the bride and groom receive a 5 minute slideshow (that I try to make entertaining), an ArtLeather DVD album (8x12) with wedding images in color and black and white (with unlimited print rights).  And depending on Package, either a 30 page Asuka EX, a 40 page Art Leather, or Graphi Studio album.  (I design the albums, and don't wait on couple picks.  They can come back and make one sweeping change on the album and any other changes after that point is $90 an hour)

I also put up an online shopping cart.  This allows their guests to go in and order prints.  The return on that is normally around $250, but sometimes goes as high as $2000.

The two styles of shooting prominent in Texas (Dallas specifically) are Classic (very posed and lit) Wedding Photography, and Editorial/Art Wedding Photography.

So anyhoo, what I've gotten from of my UK friends, is pretty much the amount of time we in the US customarily spend with the client.  Here it seems to be 8-12 hours on average, where there it seems to be 2-5 hours.  Plus we include things, where you guys charge additional for (as I understand it), so I think the money comes out to be pretty close.