If all the stars align, my husband and I will be heading to Puerto Rico in April for his cousin's wedding. As far as I know (planning has just started, really), I won't be the primary photographer. But I still would like to bring a very minimal amount of my gear to capture some photos of the wedding and some of the sites since we'll be on the Island for 7 to 9 days. Everything would fit in to a decent sized shoulder bag. My husband is, understandably, concerned about bringing gear and having it be secure when we're not with it. So, I'm curious what those of you who shot destination weddings do with your gear when you aren't with it. He's not trusting of just leaving it in the hotel/condo room just in case. I'm trying to convince him that me taking it is ok, but I want to have my plan of security in place before it comes up again.

P.S. Yes, it is my gear and I can do what I want. I'd just like to not start vacation by making my hubby mad.

When I went last time, I didn't bring that much at all. And for my dest. wedding in May, it will be the same. very minimalistic in what gear I bring with two pairs of clothes.

As for your situation, check out the hotel/resort you are staying in and check out what they offer in terms of security. If you are just going as a guest, I would,also, just opt for minimal and light.

I'm not a destination photographer but I do travel. What I do to secure my gear is
1. Hotel room safe, if available. If not...
2. Pacsafe wire mesh bag secured to immovable object and covered

From the sounds of it, there is a safe in the room of the hotel that we are likely staying in. Stupid question, but how big are safes in the rooms, typically?
As for the Pacsafe, I actually might be getting one from them to review for a site that I write for. If it pans out, hopefully I get it before April because that would also be an ideal solution.

Thanks for your suggestions.

If you're not willing to leave equipment behind and take the risk that it may or not be okay (it will probably be fine) then just bring less gear. Only bring what you can keep in a very small case (one body two lenses). This is one of the reasons I love my Sigma DP2.

Hotel room safes are usually very small...for extra cash, jewelry etc etc...not for cam gear......you could always opt for a nice pelican styled case and cable loc to attach it to the underside of the bed or something of that sort.....
As to what I would suggest to take.....2 bodies, 70-200, flash (at least 1 but I would opt for 2), tammy 17-50 (I am not a fan of anything that ends at 50 mm but I am going off your gear list), Siggy 10-20 and I would get a camera rotating flash bracket by stroboframe {like a PRO RL off ebay} or the flash rotator from Newton Brackets that fold up for easy storage....and I probably would bring the extension tubes...just never know what might present it self for a real macro shot.

Rule #1) Always carry-on your gear, and I'm not just talking in the overhead bin, I'm talking in a medium-small shoulder bag that can fit UNDER your seat, so that it never has to leave your sight. I use a Tenba Messenger bag, and when packed right I can fit a laptop, two bodies with medium size lenses attached, one spare lens and one flash, and a few accessories. The rest of the junk, chargers and things, can go into a rolling overhead carry-on, which can double as a carrying dolly for your back-breaking 25 lb shoulder bag. The rolling carry-on is a decoy; the goods are in the smaller bag.

Rule #2) Definitely look into how big the safe is, or bring yourself some sort of locking mesh duffel, or Pelican case, etc. Personally though, I just wouldn't leave my camera in the room, ever! I'd bring at least my camera everywhere...


=Matt=