It seems like magazines just declared open season on photographers. After Vogue declares that you should not even hire a wedding photographer, now Brides Magazine says that you should not feed your wedding photographer.
In a piece by wedding planner Sandy Malone named Which Vendors Do You Have to Feed at Your Wedding? Sandy asks which of the wedding vendors the bride and groom need to feed? Aside from the trivial “check your contract” advice, Sandy has some specific guidelines.
According to Brides Magazine, “photographer, for example, should be taking pictures through the wedding dinner (with some breaks to let people unselfconsciously feed themselves without a camera in their faces)“. And while they are allowed to eat, but the instructions from writer Sandy Malone to the photographer (and other stuff) is “feed yourself or pack a lunch to eat in the staff break area if you cannot survive the shift”
Sandy’s advice is not monolithic, some vendors should get fed:
Your wedding planning team, for example, will probably be on deck from the crack of dawn until your reception is over. You’ll be required to feed them
Destination weddings also get some leeway since
… you’re unlikely to find late-night fast food accessible after the wedding ends. If you’ve brought them in from someplace else, and they’re staying in accommodations that don’t have kitchens or room service, they still have to eat. This usually applies mostly to photographers and musicians, as they’re the most likely to have traveled to work the wedding
The photography community did not let this go without a backlash.
On Sandy’s Instagram account a conversation rose where photosbysarahbeth was wondering why the rule of thumb is no-food unless contractually obliged and not the other way around:
photosbysarahbeth: Just read your article- as a wedding photographer it’s offensive that you would advise brides to withhold food from a vendor who works 8-12 hours on their feet and holds their memories on camera. Yes, it’s in my contract that I require a meal as sustenance, and no, a granola bar will not do. I would hope that you would advise vendors to be treated with the utmost respect- seeing as you are a vendor as well. I respectfully suggest that your article be taken down or heavily amended.
sandymaloneweddings: @photosbysarahbeth It says it will be in the contract if you need to feed them. Nobody is suggesting you starve. But if you don’t put it in the contract, it’s totally your problem. That’s what the article says. Not every Photog works that long – many book 4-6 hours. No, couples don’t have to blow hundreds of dollars feeding vendors working five hours IF IT’S NOT IN THE CONTRACT.
Similar negative responses were found on Brides facebook page:
What do you think? Should this be IN THE CONTRACT or left to common sense?
[brides, h/t Alon. lead photo by Leszek Leszczynski]
P.S. This:
FIND THIS INTERESTING? SHARE IT WITH YOUR FRIENDS!