diff --git a/spring-restdocs-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/restdocs/payload/AbstractFieldsSnippet.java b/spring-restdocs-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/restdocs/payload/AbstractFieldsSnippet.java
index fcc67c36..393dd8fd 100644
--- a/spring-restdocs-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/restdocs/payload/AbstractFieldsSnippet.java
+++ b/spring-restdocs-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/restdocs/payload/AbstractFieldsSnippet.java
@@ -43,6 +43,8 @@ public abstract class AbstractFieldsSnippet extends TemplatedSnippet {
 
 	private final boolean ignoreUndocumentedFields;
 
+	private final String type;
+
 	/**
 	 * Creates a new {@code AbstractFieldsSnippet} that will produce a snippet named
 	 * {@code <type>-fields}. The fields will be documented using the given
@@ -88,6 +90,7 @@ public abstract class AbstractFieldsSnippet extends TemplatedSnippet {
 		}
 		this.fieldDescriptors = descriptors;
 		this.ignoreUndocumentedFields = ignoreUndocumentedFields;
+		this.type = type;
 	}
 
 	@Override
@@ -116,13 +119,19 @@ public abstract class AbstractFieldsSnippet extends TemplatedSnippet {
 	private ContentHandler getContentHandler(Operation operation) {
 		MediaType contentType = getContentType(operation);
 		ContentHandler contentHandler;
+
 		try {
+			byte[] content = getContent(operation);
+			if (content.length == 0) {
+				throw new SnippetException("Cannot document " + this.type
+						+ " fields as the " + this.type + " body is empty");
+			}
 			if (contentType != null
 					&& MediaType.APPLICATION_XML.isCompatibleWith(contentType)) {
-				contentHandler = new XmlContentHandler(getContent(operation));
+				contentHandler = new XmlContentHandler(content);
 			}
 			else {
-				contentHandler = new JsonContentHandler(getContent(operation));
+				contentHandler = new JsonContentHandler(content);
 			}
 		}
 		catch (IOException ex) {
diff --git a/spring-restdocs-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/restdocs/payload/RequestFieldsSnippetFailureTests.java b/spring-restdocs-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/restdocs/payload/RequestFieldsSnippetFailureTests.java
index eeab98cf..a6dceaf0 100644
--- a/spring-restdocs-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/restdocs/payload/RequestFieldsSnippetFailureTests.java
+++ b/spring-restdocs-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/restdocs/payload/RequestFieldsSnippetFailureTests.java
@@ -99,6 +99,17 @@ public class RequestFieldsSnippetFailureTests {
 								.content("{ \"a\": { \"c\": 5 }}").build());
 	}
 
+	@Test
+	public void attemptToDocumentFieldsWithNoRequestBody() throws IOException {
+		this.thrown.expect(SnippetException.class);
+		this.thrown.expectMessage(
+				equalTo("Cannot document request fields as the request body is empty"));
+		new RequestFieldsSnippet(Arrays.asList(fieldWithPath("a").description("one")))
+				.document(new OperationBuilder("no-request-body",
+						this.snippet.getOutputDirectory()).request("http://localhost")
+								.build());
+	}
+
 	@Test
 	public void undocumentedXmlRequestField() throws IOException {
 		this.thrown.expect(SnippetException.class);
diff --git a/spring-restdocs-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/restdocs/payload/ResponseFieldsSnippetFailureTests.java b/spring-restdocs-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/restdocs/payload/ResponseFieldsSnippetFailureTests.java
index 98a31d45..e3385a03 100644
--- a/spring-restdocs-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/restdocs/payload/ResponseFieldsSnippetFailureTests.java
+++ b/spring-restdocs-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/restdocs/payload/ResponseFieldsSnippetFailureTests.java
@@ -50,6 +50,17 @@ public class ResponseFieldsSnippetFailureTests {
 	@Rule
 	public ExpectedException thrown = ExpectedException.none();
 
+	@Test
+	public void attemptToDocumentFieldsWithNoResponseBody() throws IOException {
+		this.thrown.expect(SnippetException.class);
+		this.thrown.expectMessage(
+				equalTo("Cannot document response fields as the response body is empty"));
+		new ResponseFieldsSnippet(Arrays.asList(fieldWithPath("a").description("one")))
+				.document(new OperationBuilder("no-response-body",
+						this.snippet.getOutputDirectory()).request("http://localhost")
+								.build());
+	}
+
 	@Test
 	public void undocumentedXmlResponseField() throws IOException {
 		this.thrown.expect(SnippetException.class);