Fix-it jobs at the wedding.

What kinds of do-it-yourself technical and non-technical problems have you had during a

wedding or event? What tools did you use to 'fix' the item?

I would tell others to take a set of basic tools to every wedding:

Crescent wrench, pliers or allen wrench to tighten flip arms on flash brackets;

Regular screw driver to tighten quick release plates to the camera;

A tripod wrench to tighten the post and head;

Plastic bag clips, clothes pins or whatever to hold the veil in position or pull dress or

jackets tighter (learned that one on fashion shoots);

If you wear glasses, a spare set of those folding kind from the drug store;

A knife for all kinds of reasons;

A lighter (for candles and to light cigars) cheap Bics are best;

Cell phone or walkie-talkies if working with a 2nd shooter (especially in a second car);

All the other sewing and glue stuff we discussed on the other thread here.

Most importantly a Mag light to see what the heck you are doing in some dark corner of a

reception.

I don't fix anything during critical shoot times, that's what back-up gear is for.

But if you travel by plane leave all tools in your checked baggage, NOT your carry on

camera bag, or they'll confiscate it at the security check in (lost my favorite screw driver

set that way).<div></div>

You may want to add a soldering tool to your kit for those pesky connectors on battery cables that like to break at most inconvenient times. They tend to flex enough to break contact for some reason, so I keep one for just that reason! Had it happen at a wedding and had to use one (from a maintenance man's tool box, THANK GOODNESS he was there) to do just that! It took less time to fix than to wait for the thing to warm up! Now I have a backup of everything, even the trivial stuff! But the tools go with me just in case!

BTW this wedding I spoke of had multiple things go wrong at it. Sync cables went bad, the radio slaves acted up due to bad cords. Both my on camera and slave flashes were useless! I just about died when the battery cable went too. I kept my head and got everything working again. While the equipment was out of commission, I resorted to the ole standby lighting source... sunlight through the window. Good thing I had the windows to use! I found a spare sync cable (LUCKY) and the slave was just from the bad connection on the reciever. Adjusted it and it was back in order. I try to teach others to be prepared with backups, but also be able to work around the problem yourself. You never know when something bad can, and will, happen!