Wedding day emergency kit checklist for photographers

There are two kits. One is a pouch that lives in the getting-ready room and is for the couple and the wedding party. The other is a bag that stays with your gear and is for you. Most lists mix them together, which is how the safety pins end up in the car when the dress splits.

Both lists below are what gets used, not what looks thorough. Copy them, pack them once, and restock the night after every wedding.

The couple’s pouch

Hand it to the maid of honor or best man when you arrive, and say what is in it. Nobody asks a photographer for a safety pin unless they know the photographer has one.

1. Safety pins, 20, assorted sizes
2. Double-sided fashion tape
3. Sewing kit: needles already threaded with white, ivory and black
4. Stain remover pen
5. Lint roller
6. Blotting papers
7. Clear nail polish, for runs in tights and loose stones
8. Bobby pins, 30, and 6 hair ties
9. Hairspray, travel size, unscented
10. Deodorant, travel size, unscented
11. Breath mints, not gum. Gum shows in photographs.
12. Tissues, 3 pocket packs, for the vows
13. Adhesive bandages and blister pads for heels
14. Pain reliever, antacid and allergy tablets, in sealed packets
15. Static spray or a dryer sheet
16. Small scissors
17. Super glue, for heels and brooches
18. Straws, for drinking without touching lipstick
19. White chalk, for marks on a white dress
20. Earring backs, 4
21. Boutonniere pins, 12
22. Phone charger with both connector types
23. Granola bars, 4, nut-free
24. 2 umbrellas, clear or white

Your bag

1. Water, 1 liter, filled before you leave the house
2. Food you can eat in 90 seconds: bars, nuts, jerky
3. Pain reliever and antacid, your own
4. A second pair of socks, and the shoes you can stand in for 10 hours
5. Rain covers for 2 cameras, and a small microfiber towel
6. Sunscreen and bug spray, unscented
7. Hand warmers in winter, a cooling towel in summer
8. Lens cloths, 3, and a blower
9. Gaffer tape, black, half a roll
10. Zip ties and a multi-tool
11. A pen and a marker
12. The timeline, family photo list and vendor contacts, printed. Phones die.
13. Phone battery pack and cable
14. Business cards, 20
15. Cash, $40 in small bills: valet, tips, a vending machine
16. A card wallet on your body, not in the bag
17. A spare black shirt
18. Headlamp or small flashlight, for the exit and the parking lot
19. Hand sanitizer
20. Deodorant and a toothbrush
21. Allergy tablets, your own, for flowers and dogs
22. Your certificate of insurance, printed, if the venue asked for it

The rules

• Two bags, two places. The pouch stays in the getting-ready room after you leave it; it is not coming back. The bag stays with the gear. Mixing them means the pins are in the car.
• Hand medication over as a sealed packet, and only when asked. Never a loose pill, never to a child, never as a suggestion. The packet is there so an adult can read the label and decide.
• Unscented everything. Hairspray near a dress, bug spray near flowers, deodorant in a small room with 8 people in it.
• Restock the night after, not the morning before. The morning before is when you find out the stain pen is dry.
• If there is a planner, yours is the backup. Ask on the walkthrough whether they carry a kit. If they do, hand yours to the wedding party anyway. Two kits in two rooms is the point.
• Eat when the couple eats, and drink water before you are thirsty. The bars are for when the meal does not come. The when the wedding day runs late guide covers what to do when the day slips and the meal slips with it.
• Print the paper. The timeline, the family list, the vendor phone numbers. A phone at 4 percent at 9:00 PM happens. The vendor contact sheet template is the one-page version. If the wedding is in FOCL, the Wedding Brief and Timeline PDFs are the printout.
• The bag is not the gear list. Cards, batteries and bodies are in the wedding photography gear checklist. The card wallet is the one exception: it lives on you, whatever bag it came from.
• Weather adds a layer, it does not replace one. Rain means the umbrellas move to the top of the pouch. Heat means a second liter of water. Nothing comes out.

Questions to ask before the day

1. Is there a planner or day-of coordinator, and do they carry a kit?
2. Does anyone in the wedding party have an allergy? Nuts in the bars, fragrance in the spray, latex in the bandages.
3. What is the dress made of? Water marks silk. Chalk works on cotton and polyester.
4. Am I on the vendor meal list with the caterer, and when is it served?
5. Is the ceremony outside? Then the umbrellas, bug spray and pins move from the bag to the pouch.
6. Where can I leave the bag during the ceremony, and is it secure?