Several years ago I attended a small wedding and the photographer was hired just to do pictures of the outdoor ceremony. No professional pictures were taken during the rehearsal dinner, or wedding party before hand…just the ceremony. One problem, the photographer never showed and nobody was responsible to see that they arrived before the wedding march. You can imagine the terror in the brides moms eyes when she realizes no one is capturing her babies wedding. She hops up, runs to the front of the march, grabs the microphone and announces to everyone that the wedding event was not being photographed and asked if anyone had a camera. This was well before the advent of the digital camera and phones with 10 pixel cameras in them.

Some poor soul sitting on the 3rd row announced that he had a camera and that he had 21 pictures left on his Kodak 35mm disposable camera. He then proceeded to get some great action shots as the march continued. Word after the wedding was that the pictures turned out nice and the event was documented.

Lessons learned:

1. Before starting the wedding march ensure everyone is in place, including the photographer – a checklist may be in order.

2. A big thank you to Mr. Kodak for the technology of disposable cameras

3. Find the brides mom, and ensure that you are not in between the mom and microphone…you could get trampled.