First wedding in less than a week - advice please!

jhob

jhob

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I'm the main photographer for my sister in law's wedding this Sunday. I'm feeling reasonable confident about it, just hoping that I'm not too nervous and can get in the zone, if I can do that I think I'll get some good results.

I'm not particularly hot with flash so I've been practising a lot recently, mostly just around the house but I have a decent feel for how I think I'll work and use flash now. I found this site hugely helpful and have been playing around with the ideas on there a lot tonight.

I'm also not particularly great on the formals but reckon I'll just wing it when it comes to them, hopefully just capture it a bit free-form with everyone having a good time. Any advice here would be appreciated.

Not quite sure what I'll do for 'couple on their own' shots either. I might just find a nice quiet place in the grounds (it's at a botanical garden) and just ask them to kiss and cuddle, walk down a path, maybe try a dof bride in foreground/groom in background type shot. What do you reckon? Advice appreciated here too!

And one last thing - I'd love to know the one thing that each of you who have shot a wedding wished you had known before you went into it but didn't.

I think Saturday will be a nervy one....
 
I could write oodles about this every time it comes up - which it does regularly. :D

As I've said many times the photography is almost secondary to managing often very large groups of people. You'd be a mug to even think about the job unless you're reasonably confident in your abilities.

What you wont have experience of is managing people in a friendly but efficient way and in posing them. If you're an outgoing sort of person you'll find it easier than if you're not. You have to start somewhere and experience is the best teacher in the end - you'll make your mistakes but you'll learn from them. ;)

As you do more weddings and they inevitably get larger, the fear slowly reduces from abject terror to mild panic. :D Eventually the whole thing becomes such a routine that you're so totally laid back about it all that it can cause it's own set of problems if you're not careful.

Take two of everything if you can - double check all your gear and do the best job you can. Approach it with the right attitude and I'm sure you'll be OK. :)
 
you'll get lots of good advice from the folks here but one I find really important is to check the frame before each shot.

I know you're seeing it all but you need to REALLY look at it. It's so easy to just close your vision in on the subjects, that you may not see something around the edges of the frame or sticking out of a head that can ruin an otherwise great shot.

It's good advice really for any type of shooting but a scan along all four edges of the frame can let you see things that you hadn't noticed.

That and slow down, taking time to think about what you're doing will alow you to stay in control.
 
What Daz says. :) Background is pretty well everything with wedding shots and makes the main difference between your shots and those the guests will be taking. Choose your backgrounds carefully and really look around that viewfinder, for toilet signs, fire buckets, fire extinguishers, notice boards and a host of things it's easy to miss which do nothing at all for your shots.
 
Biggest tip I can give: You're in charge.

Seriously, be really pushy with the guests (obviously whilst remaining professional and polite at all times) but you must insist (even though it seems like they are losing interest) on getting the following formals as a minimum:

Before the Bride arrives:
• Groom and Best Man
• Groom and Best Man & Ushers
• Informal shots of guests arriving
• Individual shots of Bridesmaids
• Group shot of Bridesmaids


Bride Arrives:
• Bride and Father by wedding car
• Bride and Bridesmaids
• Bride and Father and Bridesmaids on path to venue (looking back or to the side)


During the ceremony:
• Bride, Father, Bridesmaids in doorway ready to walk forward
• Best Man handing over rings
• Bride and Groom exchanging rings
• Bride and Groom signing register (Bride seated, Groom standing by Bride’s shoulder)
• Bride and Groom by register with Witnesses, one each side



After the ceremony:
• Bride and Groom (several: both formal and informal, in venue doorway, and other suitable locations)
• Bride and Groom and Bridesmaids
• Bride and Groom and Bridesmaids and Best Man
• Bride and Groom and Bridesmaids and Best Man and Ushers
• Bride and Groom and Bridesmaids and Best Man and Ushers and Parents
• Bride and Groom and Bride’s Parents
• Bride and Groom and Groom’s Parents
• Bride and Groom and both sets of Parents (and other partners of parents if appropriate)
• Bride and Mother
• Bride and Mother and Bridesmaids
• Bride and Groom and Bridal Party (Best Man, Bridesmaids and Ushers and Bride’s full family)
• Bride and Groom and Bridal Party (Best Man, Bridesmaids and Ushers and Groom’s full family)
• Bride and Groom and Bridal Party and Friends
• Bride and Groom and Grandparents
• Bride and Groom and other special family members/guests (2 suggestions here: Bride and Groom and Godparents, Bride and Groom and all Cousins)
• If required: not usually a success, Bride and Groom and Bridal Party and ALL GUESTS

Reception: Before the meal:
• The reception room laid-out ready
• Greeting the guests
• Cutting the cake (a “mock-up” photo)
• Bride and Groom (formal and informal atmosphere shots)


During and after the meal:
• Bride and Groom and Top Table – Toasts and Speeches
• General shot of other guests (if desired a shot of each table of guests)

(Shamelessly stolen btw)


Don't be afraid to take the list with you and refer to it. If possible take a mate who can act as an assistant. Put a step ladder in your car boot in case your widest lens can't catch the full wedding party. Take at least 5gb (10mp camera) and FILL the cards. Too many is better than not enough.

When processing, people love B&W, selective colour (seriously) and paparazzi/reportage shots these days. But the traditionals have to be taken also.

My 2p.
 
oh.... and if you are going to be providing prints in the old formats of 5x7, 6x8 8x10 etc, it's really easy to forget in the heat of th moment that you can't use the whole of the frame for those big groups.

When I was a darkroom rat, I had loads of week in week out wedding snappers crying over the counter that the shot the family wanted couldn't be printed as they had gone too close to the frame edges.

Not such a problem now you can distort a little in PS to help get it back but it's a pain distorting shots on an enlarger. :lol:
 
Thanks for the advice, particularly about the print size and checking the edges of the frame and background for distractions. I will make sure to bear that in mind. I'm finding the scanning the frame a much easier task on the D200 than the D70, it's so much larger and brighter it just makes this element of photography so much easier.

I'm reasonably good at finding uncluttered backgrounds and compositions within people as I have a fair bit of experience from my travel portfolio, however a lot of these tend to be more portrait based and less group based. I do think there will be a lot of cross-over from the sort of travel photography I have done to weddings although they are, obviously, also very different. The one thing they do share in common is having to get it right first time, there are rarely second chances and even less so with weddings.

I have been using Stephen Swain's 'Capture the moment' as my wedding photography bible. It very closely resembles my philosophy and intended approach to wedding photography and is extremely well written in the sense of getting points across while using few words.
 
I ended up the main photographer for my brother's wedding last summer. Here are a few hints from my experience.

1) Make sure that the bride and groom understand that you are NOT a professinal. Set expectations.

2) For group shots, take at *least* three of each group. That way you stand a chance of getting one without Aunt Mable's eyes being shut or cousin Tom having his finger up his nose.

3) Stay off the alcohol until the job is finished.

4) Practice as much as you can before hand. Rehearse technique with your own family/friends and scout out the location, if possible. Contact the vicar / registrar to find out what is allowed and what is not.

5) Have as much back-up gear as you can, and if it is not the same as yours, make sure you have a clue how to use it. Have twice as much storage as you think you may need, and twice as many batteries. I also took my laptop, and backed-up my exposed CF cards to that during the day.

6) Consider using manual exposure. A black tux and whote dress can play havoc with your metering. Unless the light is changing a lot, I found it a lot easier to find stick it on manual rather than be constantly second-guessing the meter.

7) Remember that your flash is not just for when it is dark. If the sun is bright then flash for fill-in may well be necessary. If it is a very sunny day, then a shady spot under a tree may give more flattering photos that a squinting bride with stark shadows across her face.

8) Have fun! If you look like you're enjoying yourself, you stand more chance of getting a good response from your subjects.

Ian
 
Make sure you have an indoor/alternative site in mind should the weather turn poor on you. This is often forgotten as it is not often needed. If it happens and you are not prepared the whole thing can fall apart.

Lots and lots of good advice above to which I would include if it is hot make sure the bride gets a drink of water occassionally - simple but effective:)
 
thanks for the advice iriches. The couple know I'm a good photographer but also know that I have no experience of wedding photographer. I think they have fairly limited expectations so should be ok from that standpoint.

I definitely won't be boozing till my work is done either, as hard as that is likely to be!

I'm fairly well sorted for backups, got 2 bodies, only one flash and a bit of crossover with my lenses. Plenty of batteries and 5gb of cards (shooting raw on D70 and D200).

I have recently been practising with manual exposure and getting my flash exposures right in different conditions and I'm really liking that way of working so that's what I'm going to go with on the big day. I daresay at times I will switch to aperture priority (my usual) but for locations where lighting conditions are fairly static and I don't have to work super-quick I'm going with manual.

I've also practised flash as fill as well as being the main lightsource including bouncing at a variety of angles. I've actually just picked up an off-cut of white cotton to use as a diffuser as I found my stofen spreads the light too much and can often hit the subject directly when bouncing, thus creating a shadow but the bare flash can look a bit harsh so I need something in between.

And finally - I am planning to enjoy it, hoping to get some good early shots under my belt for a bit of confidence and take it from there. I'm generally ok under pressure and if I can keep my head I think it will go ok. I know I will inevitably end up disappointed with portions of my work as I set myself very high standards and this being the first time that I have done this mistakes will inevitably be made. As long as I learn from those mistakes and they're not catastrophic then they we're mistakes worth making.
 
ron boon said:
Make sure you have an indoor/alternative site in mind should the weather turn poor on you. This is often forgotten as it is not often needed. If it happens and you are not prepared the whole thing can fall apart.

Lots and lots of good advice above to which I would include if it is hot make sure the bride gets a drink of water occassionally - simple but effective:)
Click to expand...

I have made a little pro-forma for getting all the important details from the couple and that was exactly one of the questions I was going to ask. When talking about an indoor venue I assume that you mean for doing the formals?

And again to everyone, thanks for the advice - a lot has reaffirmed what I already thought and there's been some other really good ideas that I will definitely look to incorporate. When all is done and dusted I'll be sure to share the results here, probably both good and bad to give you all a realistic idea of how I got on.
 
Hi - Yes, for the formals. I had a wedding recently where the weather turned from calm and Sunny to very breezy - no probs at this point - had lots of clothes pegs in my bag to secure the veil etc ( hidden form view). Then the heavens opened! All this in the time it took the bride and bridegroom to exit the church and for the photo session to get underway. Fortunatley the next wedding party were not due for half and hour so I got everyone back in the church and worked quickly to bag as many shots as I could using the features in the church. Since then I always look for a bit of shelter so if it does happen ( two other occasions) my mind is calm and I have a plan :)
 
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