Remember when McDonalds sold pizza? Well, they did. I think one or two still do. This isn’t necessarily about that, but I’ll get to the point toward the end – promise.
Last weekend I photographed the first wedding of my season.
Dancing Horse Farm in Windham hasn’t hosted hundreds of weddings – in fact, this may have been the first. Ten-gallon hats off to them. Anita the manager helped coordinate/liaise between the vendors, including Big Top Tent Rental and Dana Foods Catering – and even accommodating this wedding photographer when I stopped by to revisit and reconsider vantage points for the intended ceremony site.
Anita handles the horse side of the business at Dancing Horse Farm too, including riding lessons, training and equine massage. The Farm is available on homeaway.com as a rental for vacations, as a ski lodge, for corporate events and other special events. I think the house sleeps something 30 or more across various bedrooms and pullout couches.
Dana Foods Catering, based in Kingston, offers full-service catering at your location for weddings, (off-premise) barbecues, pig roasts and more. Dana was on point the entire afternoon and attentive to the needs of the couple, the guests and the vendors. Bravo. That’s a lot to juggle on a rainy day in May with food for over a hundred and steady drizzle or rain.
I sampled the appetizers, entrée and salads (everyone insisted, of course – and there was plenty – even after Damian filled his plate…). Enjoyed everything I tried. I don’t know if Dana and her husband Phil were responsible for the lemonade at the bar – they don’t handle alcohol – but even that tasted more like freshly-squeezed than freshly mixed.
There was also a DJ, MC (friend of the couple, I believe) and staffed video “photo booth” – provided by the DJ team.
There’s a big push in the wedding photography industry to offer this latter piece as part of a package. With the trend toward self-contained units, costing a few thousand a piece, I’ve resisted – though I’ve looked into a few models at PhotoExpo in NYC. If you’ve been to a wedding in recent years (and who hasn’t?) you’ve probably seen these little tablet-computer based kiosks.
They’re intended for self-service – but the attendant was very hands-on.
I’m seriously on the fence. It’s one more thing to think about. Either the couple has to pay for additional staff that has the ability to set-up and trouble shoot should something go wrong, risk losing the component of their big day if not, or the photographer providing the service has concern him or herself with this other ‘moving part.’
I’m happy to concentrate on the photography when that’s job one I’ve been hired for. While I’ll bring a trained videographer when needed – and could bring a photo booth and attendant, as I’ve said, I’ve resisted. I suppose if folks want to pay for these, I should get with the program.
Tell you what. I’ve sold myself. I could add it. It’s photo-related, just like video.
Or … I could at least refer couples to a DJ with a photo booth … ? What if the couple wants pizza? I don’t think I’d add that to one of my packages.
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