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It is always worth checking this with your photographer. Depending on circumstances, there are several options your photographer might choose to take and they might even leave the option to you as to how you want to proceed. For this blog post, I wanted to share with you what happened when I found myself unable to attend two weddings on the same weekend (Saturday and Sunday weddings) due to health, for the first time ever. I have always been so proud that I had never had to miss a wedding before but as I am only human, it was bound to happen at some point. In the week leading up to the weddings, I started to realise that I might not be able to photograph them. My first port of call was to contact a couple of photographers (one for each wedding) who I trusted to shoot the weddings in the same style I would. I hugely value that when my clients choose me, they are not only choosing me as a person but also choosing my style of photography. It's for this same reason that I wanted all of the images to then come back to me so that I could edit them and therefore keep the whole gallery as close as possible to how it would look if I had been there on the day. One of the bride's (after receiving her gallery) said 'You couldn't tell that two (or more - as we had a second photographer) people had worked on the photos. I think this is partly down to having similar styles and also that you edited the photos in your style'.
Once I knew I had everything in place, I then contacted both of the brides and explained the situation. The last thing I want to do is to place more stress on a bride and groom so close to their big day so I made sure that everything was in place for them, that they wouldn't need to do anything extra from their end and, finally, that they had the photographer's contact details incase they wanted to contact the replacement photographer themselves. I also provided them with web addresses so that they could have a look at who was going to be capturing the day and the quality they could expect. I should also mention that bringing in a replacement photographer, in this way, does not cost my couples anything extra. When asked about the process, one of my brides said 'I felt we'd made a connection [during the engagement shoot] and that I was comfortable having you there to photograph so was apprehensive about the replacement but was reassured by your email that someone with a similar style would be coming and that I could see her work and message her before the day'. It is so important to me that during this time, my brides and grooms had all the information I could give so that they would feel as in control of the situation as possible.
I am still so gutted that I couldn't be there for these weddings. I was so excited to see all of the plans come together for my couples and I always feel so privileged that they have invited me into the most important day of their lives. I know I made the best decision for them, however, as I would not have been well enough or focused enough to produce my best work. Hearing feedback like this: 'I am so grateful to every photographer involved in the whole process, they all worked so hard with every part of the process - such a great team! Thank you all so much!' filled me with such joy and confidence that I had put my clients first.
I'd love to hear if you've had any experiences of your photographer or wedding supplier being poorly or if you have any questions about how this works :) Here is a very small selection of one of the wedding's I missed, but still edited. Associate Photographer (for Saturday): Anna Rowlandson Second Photographer (for both days): Sarah Stuart-White
Saturday Venue: The Mill at Gordleton
To view more photos from either of these weddings, keep an eye out as I'll be posting more detailed blogs about each of them with inspiration for your own big day!