Lady girl,
You were so helpful with my last question I have a new one for you.
I'm getting married this winter - 30 people, evening ceremony, dinner at a lovely restaurant after. I've got two awesome photographers hired. The dinner at this restaurant with booze and gratuity is working out to be $200/person.
Do I feed my photographers with us in the private dining room for an extra $400, or do I banish them to the bar to have a normal dinner at some point? Both options seem socially awkward. Plus, while we'd like photos of toasts and things, it isn't like two hours of us eating needs to be extensively documented for posterity.
Snarky etiquette advice appreciated.
*****
I emailed a couple of my fave wedding photographers. Here's their four cents...
from jamie of Rad + In Love:
There is nothing wrong with giving the photographers a separate meal as long as it is DECENT. (No brown bag lunches, people). Just let them know the plan ahead of time, talk to them about the sitch, find out if they have any dietary restrictions. Also talk to them about the dining schedule. We always inform our clients that we like to eat while everyone else is just sitting down to eat. Who wants 100 photos of their family shoving food into their mouths? (Don't get me started on the time that the caterer barked at us that "staff eats when everyone else is done eating." Great, like right when the first dance is scheduled? Perfect sense.)
from cara (aka Peonies) of Lillian & Leonard:
Shit no, you do not pay $400 to feed your photographers. You ask them to make sure that they're there for the toasts and you tell them to go to the bar while you and your partner are eating (you do not want photos of you eating) and to order whatever they would like to eat and drink. Don't tell them they can only have a starter and don't make them pay for their own drinks, those are both mean things to do to someone who has been working for you all day.
Oh and let them know before the wedding that you've organised this so that they don't assume that their only option is to go and sit in their car to eat cereal bars and service station sandwiches.
Self-portrait of Peonies via her blog
