Melissa Jill Photography

Fotograf Nunta - Usually, the alternative to your providing vendor meals is that your vendors need to have a long enough break to go and get their own meals. So if you want them to be there all day, you need to feed them.

Drew - Very good article that many engaged couples may not think about. Excellent point regarding the catering/venue staff. Often times the bride and groom just need to give them a heads up when planning their wedding that the photographers need to sneak through the line before the main guests. Some catering companies will even prep the plates before setting the food out for the guests, that way none of the family gets upset by seeing a hired pro going through the line first.

martin zuckermann - Thank you for the time you took in writing this Melissa :) very helpful!

Erica Velasco - Um LOVE this post!!!! I want to have this post on my blog! anyway for me to publish it with your name all over it let me know...or can I send them to this post with a link? Let me know.

Jennifer Bowen - Yes, great post as usual MJ! I could not agree more on the timing of the food service to vendors, especially when it is a boxed meal. Having now shot more than 100 weddings, it only happens rarely where you get the snooty reply that you will be fed eventually and only once or twice where it was brought out so late that we didn't even get to eat. That is also why working with good wedding planners is so great because they ensure all the vendors are timely fed so we don't miss any events - as you well know :-)

Karen (Mikols) Bonar - "one of my favorite places to be is in a corner of the ballroom on the floor." ... ME TOO! How crazy is that? Love it :)

Kimberly Jarman - We were going to write up a post very similar to this and basically you covered it, as usual:):) Thanks Melissa!!!

Amanda - So true ! Luckily in PA we have a wedding tradition known as the "cookie table". It's literally a giant never ending buffet of sorts made entirely of cookies. Every kind imaginable. On the times when my team and I haven't been fed, or times when the vendor meal was so bad it was inedible (cold pasta & sauce with a plate of butter no bread OR two pieces of dry toast with one slice of cheese and a pickle) we hit the cookie table like a blood sugar altar. I used to be really self conscious about eating appetizers, fruit and cheese, or cookies that were set out on the long tables for guests to pick at, but now I just go for it. By the time we get to it, it's usually picked over anyways and most folks understand that we are ravenous because they've watched us scurry around like ninjas all day. Great post !

Dallas - Oh.... and brides should also feed their wedding party lunch or a heavy snack!! Cranky bridal parties aren't fun to shoot! :)

Dallas - I always tell the bride I need to be eating when they are eating... same principle... not to miss anything. I too find myself in the corner on the floor a lot as well!! ha ha ha... Although, a cold deli snack is not good. NW weddings are really long... we start shooting early preparation shots... ceremony... sometimes 3 hours inbetween b/f the late night reception... then are dying when we get to the meal point. I think brides need to offer a hot meal to vendors b/c after all, it's a small price to pay for continued top coverage and all we do after! :)

cameron clark | c+k studios - I couldn't agree more. I actually ask for a hot meal in my contract for any wedding coverage 8 + hours (and I'm glad to cover the cost of the meal if need be). The whole meal in another room after the guests is REALLY challenging b/c there are impromptu toasts and moments that happen. I don't have to eat WHAT the guests are eating (I'm easy, I'll eat anything) but I do need to eat while they are eating or else we never eat and then I start seeing stars, etc etc. I like to be in sight or really close to the main room and or have a fabulous coordinator as my "eyes".. or split dinner with my assistant. Either way, I'm burning a ton of calories on the wedding day running around like a crazy woman (and typically NOT eating appetizers) so we are ravenous when the meal is served. We eat and pop back up and start photographing an overall ballroom shot while all the guests are eating and go back and photograph more details. I enjoy my 10-15 minutes of "down time" :)

Juan Carlos - I've added that to my contracts. Yes, we should carry some snacks but if we get a real meal (even a sandwich) it really makes our day. We've never had this problem, but my partner is vegetarian and sometimes he ends up eating only the salad

isha | isha foss events - I agree and as planner, do my best to give this info to my clients and the caterer.

Travis Williams - well done Melissa... as a fellow working professional photographer I agree wholeheartedly. Right as the bride and groom starts eating is when I push for doing the same.. and I press for the same meal. No one wants photos of them eating dinner, so this window is the best time for me and my team to eat. I always press to be seated as a guest at a table and so far without fail my clients have helped make this possible. I am constantly floored at stories from very high end photographers in other large markets, (San Fran, San Diego, Seattle, back east) - how often they get stuck with a "vendor meal" different than what the guests eat and get stuck in a back room in the kitchen or something. This has never happened to me. I don't understand how that happens, but i know it does. thanks for the great thoughts on this issue. Travis Williams Photography

Laura - GREAT post Melissa! Thinking about blogging about this myself. I try to cover it in my contract, but there is so much to read, it's sometimes lost. I always request to my couples, that I eat when they eat. I won't be photographing them putting food in their mouths, and events usually resume after the couple and bridal party are finished eating. This ensures we don't miss anything! I try to reiterate that to the catering staff at the beginning of the reception, but 9 out of 10 times, they aren't prepared or look shocked, so I end up eating a cliff bar. I should have stock in cliff bars.