How long do you allow for taking photos at a wedding ?

[TG.]

Just a question to those of you who have done a wedding what sort of timescale do you allow ?
the reason i ask is i offered to do some photos at a friends wedding next week free of charge
as he is on a very tight budget,anyway i found out on sunday his time shedule, and this is how
it goes, he gets married in a registrey office at 2pm,from there we go straight on to a golf club
(private room about 20 mins away) the meal is at 3.45,so my worry is no natural light, my idea was to take the photos at the golf course as nice greenery and trees around before the meal,but it will leave me about 45 minutes(thats if he can get the meal put back), to be honest i,m bloody frothing about it :bang:,i,ve asked him to put the meal back till 5pm but he said 4.15 is probably the best he can do,so what would you do ?? i,m guessing with the timescale to get about 10 decent photos,and then just use the flash inside the reception room

 

[Phil Wood]

You seem to have about 45 minuites which you could I'm sure stretch to 1 hour which should be plenty time, so long as you are well prepared and you can get some help to get people ready for you.
DONT PANIC.
Enjoy it and it will show in your results. Good Luck. Phil

 

[digitalweddings]

Hi,

Take as many informal shots as you can pre wedding, then during the civil service. There is a possibility that the meal will be delayed, in my experience there is normally time to play around. If you use a reportage style as the theme you will get some cool candid shots with little fuss. Just enjoy the day, dont get wound up about it, dont forget you are doing him a huge favour.

It will be fine.

www.digitalweddings.org.uk

 

[Gerods]

I have only ever done one wedding, my sister in laws. At the time I was working with a semi pro togger. So I give him a good grilling, and what a great help he was. He said that as I was complete novice at weddings, do not try and plan your important shots in your head, get them written down on paper. This will save you time, and calm your nerves, and it did. Once you have them in the bag, you will have plenty of time for the candid shots.
I wish you the best of luck.

 

[ranarama]

In answer to your first question 45mins for a few formals sounds like a reasonable time scale. Use best men/ushers to gather people to speed things along

As far as taking the photos goes it sounds like you have a couple of options but you'll need to work with the B&G about it. One option is to do the formals before hand, and it's not unheard of to take formal shots an hour before the ceremony. The down side of that is the B&G get to see each other before the wedding but if they're cool about that great. You'll need to get other guests there early too.

Another oprion is shoot indoors. As a wedding photographer you should always have an indoor location as backup just in case it rains and that's really important at this time of year. Bounce flash (you'll definitely need one at a wedding) if you've not got umbrellas/soft boxes for lighting and watch out for coloured walls.

Registry offices often have some area for photos so it's worth checking that out and doing them before heading to the golf club.

If all else fails concentrate on the candid/documentary style and tell them that with the timing restrictions formals are impossible. They're not paying you for it so if they want that they'll have to pay a pro.

 

[inaneredstripe]

if you have a big"list" and a lot of guests, max 45 mins. the most weve ever done for the "posed" stuff was an hour. HUGE wedding HUGE shot list from the b&g.
def agree on taking as much informal stuff as you can too.
ushers/best man are real usefull in identifying th victims too.
def find out what the b&g want. we find most of our clients ( notts) want mostly posed, with a lot of informal mixed in.
i think with what youve been given, i,d try to get some shots outside the reg office of the main guilty parties(b&g, bridesmaids etc. then the family at the reception.
good luck, and remember eat and pee.

 

[pxl8]

Last week's wedding I took about 55 mins for the B&G shots + formals and it was fairly relaxed with just a bit of waiting around for some people to be found. I ended up with 63 frames inc. duplicates for blinkers, etc. with 20 distinct "groups" in total.

Plan everything ahead of time and try and organise the groups so people needed for a couple of shots are done one after the other so they don't wander off again. As I shot one group my assistant and the toastmaster were getting the people for the next group ready. If one group is missing a person or two move on to the next and get the missed one later.

 

[Witch]

If you get them organised to turn up with a bit of time to spare you can do some of the traditional formals ahead of the ceremony - The groom and his party first, then the bride, Bridesmaids, and bride and bridesmaids together. Don't forget to get some of the Bride and her Dad - informal candids as well as the formal ones there. As the "official" photographer you'll also be able to get the "signing the register" shot after that's all done - might be a good idea to try to have a chat with the Registrar ahead of time to see what they allow?

As for more general advice - don't panic, remember to take LOTS of spare batteries & memory cards, and whatever you do don't touch any alcohol until after you've finished shooting. (Remember cake-cutting shots etc which may happen after the meal)

Something I found worked well for first dance shots was to use medium ISO and just a little flash through a sto-fen. I dropped the flash power quite some way. That way you can "freeze the action" without getting that harsh light usually associated with flash.

Good luck!

 

[daveyb]

1, If you have a partner get her to sort the people into group for the photo's
2, Talk to the bride & groom about what pictures and type they want i.e informal, candid also group photo's and good to do find out the parents names on both sides and if the birth parents have been re married ~(Did this at last wedding and the step mother wasn't happy)
3, Take pictures of the groom getting ready i.e make-up and hair also try to get photo of the dress before she has put it on
4, Take plenty of candid shots during the meal and the speeches if many children there get them too play together to take photo's of them enjoying the day (if the men have top hats get the children to put them on and take photo's of the type
5, I always go back on the night as well and get photo's of everyone dancing and if the couple are staying there for the night try to get the room key and you can put rose petals on the bed and some dry flowers and get photo's for the end of the album

But mostly keep smiling and be happy it shows in the photo's from the guests if youre happy so are they