FYI: Shooting at botanical gardens in Grapevine

[KaraM]

Thank you for posting this. My sister-in-law asked me to take some photographs of her in her wedding dress there this coming weekend. I called the number for the Parks & Recreation and the lady said that you can take pictures of someone in the Gardens, but if they are in a wedding dress, you automatically have to pay the $50-75 fee - no matter if you are a professional or not and no matter what kind of camera you use. My sister-in-law is disappointed because she doesn't feel we should have to pay a fee since her tax dollars go to maintain this park.

[JohnT]

Originally Posted by KaraM

My sister-in-law is disappointed because she doesn't feel we should have to pay a fee since her tax dollars go to maintain this park.

This is exactly how a friend of mine feels, who would like for me to photograph his daughters at the gardens. In fact it kind of ticks him off.

[capreppy]

My wife is a wedding planner and we had a meeting at the Gaylord Texan yesterday so decided to make a half day of just visiting spots in the area.

We went to the Grapevine Botanical Gardents about 11am on a Thursday. They were doing maintenance on the grounds so this wasn't conducive to doing a dridal anyway. The main gazebo area is nice for a wedding ceremony, but no real area for an onsite reception.

There are some nice areas for a bridal. There are some bathrooms at the main office location, but I did not see any bathrooms (or changing area for brides) near the gazebo area. There are some nice spots to do bridals, but again, some of them were under maintenance. There was no one with the City of Grapevine there to take a check or money for a fee. Some of the people were park employees, but didn't seem to care at all. There were others that were in civilian clothing that looked like they may be volunteers.

The location is pretty small compared to FTW or DAL. That said, on weekends, if it indeed is busy, there really would be too many people to make it easy to to do bridals. My wife and I were not doing bridals, but I did have my camera at the time. They did not bother me. They did comment that I had a big camera (I had a 20D w/grip and a 70-200 2.8IS and a flash attached at the time).

[capreppy]

Originally Posted by KaraM

My sister-in-law is disappointed because she doesn't feel we should have to pay a fee since her tax dollars go to maintain this park.

My wife and I were discussing this last night as we had visited the garden yesterday late morning.

The park is there for everyone and yes your tax dollars go to maintain this park. When people are doing bridals at a location, others visiting the park at the time feel obliged to give those doing bridals space and that detracts from their ability to enjoy the park to its fullest without obstruction or interruption.

There is a bridge there that is GREAT for a bridal shot. If someone is setup for 15 minutes taking photos at that location, others would be forced to go around them to get to certain parts of the park. Therefore you would be interrupting someone else's enjoyment of the park.

I was one of those that earlier in this thread stated if doing it for free, why charge me a fee as I'm not a professional. My wife is the one that brought up the point that the park is for everyone and by doing bridals you're NOT unobtrussive.

[kamari]

Originally Posted by Wes

Fort Worth has a similar policy, but (I think) they charge you only if you're toting a tripod.

I'm not sure about the Dallas Arboretum, though. I went out there by myself with two camera's and a tripod and no one said a thing to me about it.

Not exactly true. I got stopped there a month ago (no tripod) while taking pics of a friend. The security guard yells at me that if I'm gonna be taking pics that I need to go to the desk and pay the fee. The lady at the desk informs me that its $75 PER HOUR (made me want to see if the gardens were interested in hiring me as their official photographer) and my facial expression told her all she needed to hear.
As i'm walkin out the door she says that she doesn't agree with it either but that all photographers who are getting paid to shoot at the gardens needs to pay the garden. Well, that's where she screwed up...I "officially" don't get paid to shoot photos anymore

[MRCPix]

I shoot at the ft.worth botanical gardens often and I have never been asked anything. only when I go into the Japanese gardens they ask if I have a tri pod.
one other thing how do they know if you are being paid to shoot a friend?

[kamari]

Originally Posted by mikeN80

one other thing how do they know if you are being paid to shoot a friend?

my point exactly. This is one area where downplaying who you are or what you're doing is recommended

[Rson]

I have taken many pics at both locations

1: I have never seen a guard on the weekend at Gvine and the guard at FTW didn't say a word...I even had a subject up on a sculpture for a little unique shot.

2: I agree on the bridge at Gvine....great scenery

3: FTW seems pretty laid back. We were joking with the workers and one even got in our shot. :)

[picasso]

I shoot at Grapevine all the time. I went Friday in fact and there were about 5-6 photographers out there and at least 4 of them were pros. No one was policing anybody. I really don't think they check.

Paul

[drgibson]

Hmm I have never nee approched at FTW and never go without a tripod, but then again I never go with a bride either.