Short notice wedding - Please help me with ideas! (A few shots now added)

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In a nutshell I just got a call from a mate whose friend is getting hitched on Wednesday, and whose photographer has just bailed on him.

They want me to cover the registry office service and perhaps a bit of the reception afterwards.

They're paying me a token amount and are under no illusion that I'm the world's best wedding photographer.

I'm reasonably competant with fill flash etc, but have never shot a wedding in an official capacity before, nor have I been to service at a registry office so don't have any idea of the course of proceedings.

What I'm asking of you good people is some pointers as to which bits are pivotal and absolutely demand to be shot - coming down the aisle (if there is one) exchanging of vows and signing of the book spring to mind, along with a few shots outside. What else should I aim to capture?

If it makes any difference I plan to use a 40D, 17-55 and 580EX II.
I also have a 430EX that I could use off camera, 10-22, 70-200 and a few primes, but don't want to confuse myself / miss things with over-complicated lighting setups or frequent lens changes.

I aim to get to the office early to have a good look at where I'll be shooting, and plan to get a good mix of wide shots and closeups on the day...

Any pointers would be very much appreciated :D
 
Thanks for pointing that out - that possiblity never even crossed my mind.

Precisely the sort of insight I need :)

I'll give them a call tomorrow.
 
Do you have a spare body? If not try and borrow one! Lots of spare batteries, someone to assist you in carrying the kit.

Speak to the bride and groom beforehand and get a list of all the pictures that they want eg. bride & groom, bride with mum and dad, groom with mum and dad, groom with brothers, bride with family etc etc etc then you can tick them off!

Just a few ideas, I have never shot a wedding either but I have a friend who does and obviously spoken to him about it.
 
If you're allowed to take pictures then kissing and exchanging rings during the ceremony are a must and perhaps the bride coming in and them leaving the room - no more than that is required imho.

When doing the mock registery shot take some with the two witnesses and make the bride and groom look down as they sign along with shots looking into the camera that way your covered if they blink.

I'd see if you can visit the place in question before the day or at least an hour before the ceremony. That way you'll get a feel of the place and there may actually be another wedding taking place earlier that you could get some idea of picture taking/set ups.
 
Hi there

I'm afraid i'm not an expert in photography in any shape or form as i'm literally just a beginner myself but what i would do to start with is look at a few professional wedding photography sites and have a look at some portfolios. These will give you a great idea of what shots the bride and groom would most like.

A family member of mine is getting married in the summer and they have asked for the photography to be very informal. They are also getting married in a registry office and would like some pictures inside before the bride arrives, outside when the bride does arrive and then the bride walking down the aisle, and as you say the signing of the register.

After a few 'formal' photographs outside they have asked the photographer to take snaps as and when he likes to try to capture 'relaxed' shots.

It does depend on what approach the couple would like to take but i'm sure you'll be fine :)
 
i would try close up rings/hands,flowers,dress detail's.
speak to the bride ask if she's getting her hair done with flowers and tiara etc etc maybe some close up's there too.
At the receptione try random table decor/flowers some candid people shot's too.
If the bride and or groom don't mind some of them getting dressed or getting ready.
I git married a year ago an took a lot of this type myself and the wife sorted out the album hope those ideas help.
 
Use a monopod in the service

Know the limits of ISO on your camera. If you bump up the ISO in the service remember to change it back. Test the acceptable ISO limits Before you go

Shoot RAW

Whitebalance your camera using a EXPO disk often - i.e. every time the light changes or after 20 mins

Where ever possible bounce the flash of of anything you can - wall / ceiling

Keep everything as simple as possible - this is not the time to try new fancy ideas

Go at your own speed, and slow down as much as you need to

Have 4 times as many batteries and memory cards as you think you need

If you have two bodies - sync the times on them - pop a long telephoto on one, and a short zoom on another and carry both

Dont be afraid to use a tripod, and use the same mount as your monopod, and have 1 mount per camera - this leaves you in a really flexible position

You need to be bold and direct in the group shots - you are in charge

Get there more than 1/2 hour early to shoot the guests arriving and some detail shots

Slip into the room where the wedding breckfast is to shoot some detail shots before the guests are in

Practice your ideas for the set pieces - rings, cake, flowers before the wedding, so you can do them on auto piolot

DO NOT DRINK A DROP of booze untill you get home or you have put the cameras and cards safley away

Format the cards before you start

Dont delete any images off the cards ever

Gaurd the memorycards with your life and treat them with respect - when you get home immed iatally copy them to your PC

When you get home Make 2 DVD backups immediatally, and take one to work - then import them into lightroom or whatever you use

Try to relax and be yourself

Get your wife to help spot issues with the group shots - ties, smiles, closed eyes, moving out of position


Good luck
 
Tell him not to do it !!!

Other than that, take a backup camera, even if its just a compact, anything
is better than nothing (as i was once told). And dont point your camera at
the registrar, most wont let you.

Along with the mock signing, dont forget shots with his m+d, her m+d, then
them all together. If your doing a big family shot and theres a lot of family,
you might try finding a little height (a chair?) helps if possible..
 
Thankyou all for the replies :)

I called the office earlier and they didn't think they'd be any restrictions on photography since I'll be there at the will of the bride and groom, although they did mention that everything is at the registrar's discretion.

I'll certainly aim to get there as early as possible to clarify this and get a few test shots. I'll also have a good chat with the happy couple regarding what they want, although I don't think they really know themselves so I'll probably be left pretty much to my own devices.

While I have a spare body (350D) it's currently being borrowed by the mrs and while I can see its value as a backup, I think I'll stick to using the one body and 17-55; don't think the 70-200 would be too much use in a small ceremony room and while I might stick the 10-22 on for a shot of the whole room, I aim to get 95% of shots with the std zoom.

I'll take a small tripod, but tbh am aiming to be as dynamic and reactive to the situation as I can; don't want to spend too long setting things up.

I aim to shoot pretty much everything inside with flash bounced off the wall / ceiling.

Apart from avoiding schoolboy errors like running out of batteries / memory etc, I think I'll ease off the forward planning a bit and just aim to shoot everything as it unfolds, since as yet I don't have a definitive overview of what's going on anyway.

Thanks again for all the advice; tis really appreciated.

I'll get some shots up at some point, providing they're not utterly dismal :D
 
"no restrictions" is unlikely, and in my experience each registrar interprets the law differently, but nearly ALL of them say NO flash! hope you have a nifty fifty!

in my experience if you stand still or move slowly around you can get what you want, but take your time - one part of the ceremony looks the same as another, but make sure you aim to get exchange of rings and first kiss.

I usually find a 50/1.4 or 100/f2 and an ISO of 800 gives enough leeway to do what is required without flash and without unacceptable noise (then again I use a 1DmkII so your opinion may vary)

good luck, and don't panic!
 
Ahh.. splendid :razz:

Thankfully I also have a 50/1.8 and 35/2, although that's any wide shots out the window then.. Assuming it's not pitch black in there I might get away with using the IS on the 17-55 and cranking up the ISO I suppose.. last thing I want is shots full of motion blur though.

I think this is definitely turning into an exercise in winging it :p

Thanks for the pointer.
 
I think I would still take the second body in the car boot just in case. If the body fails then you cannot do anything else at all.
 
Richard King said:
Use a monopod in the service

Know the limits of ISO on your camera. If you bump up the ISO in the service remember to change it back. Test the acceptable ISO limits Before you go

Shoot RAW

Whitebalance your camera using a EXPO disk often - i.e. every time the light changes or after 20 mins

Where ever possible bounce the flash of of anything you can - wall / ceiling

Keep everything as simple as possible - this is not the time to try new fancy ideas

Go at your own speed, and slow down as much as you need to

Have 4 times as many batteries and memory cards as you think you need

If you have two bodies - sync the times on them - pop a long telephoto on one, and a short zoom on another and carry both

Dont be afraid to use a tripod, and use the same mount as your monopod, and have 1 mount per camera - this leaves you in a really flexible position

You need to be bold and direct in the group shots - you are in charge

Get there more than 1/2 hour early to shoot the guests arriving and some detail shots

Slip into the room where the wedding breckfast is to shoot some detail shots before the guests are in

Practice your ideas for the set pieces - rings, cake, flowers before the wedding, so you can do them on auto piolot

DO NOT DRINK A DROP of booze untill you get home or you have put the cameras and cards safley away

Format the cards before you start

Dont delete any images off the cards ever

Gaurd the memorycards with your life and treat them with respect - when you get home immed iatally copy them to your PC

When you get home Make 2 DVD backups immediatally, and take one to work - then import them into lightroom or whatever you use

Try to relax and be yourself

Get your wife to help spot issues with the group shots - ties, smiles, closed eyes, moving out of position


Good luck
Click to expand...

Good answer:clap:
 
Do make sure your batteries are actually charged up...
 
Much as I can see the need for a second body it's currently miles away so unlikely to be of much use - I'll just have to hope the 40D remains as reliable as it has until now.

Ideally I'd like a 5D II and to use the 40D as a backup, but I'm about £2k short :p

Thanks in particular for your reply Richard - it certain threw up a few things I hadn't considered.

Thanks also to Irishman for the link - it didn't work but I googled it and got there in the end - will have a good read this evening.

All batteries are charged, thanks Bill :p That said I'm a little suspicious of the "full" Li-Ions for the camera, since they've not had a little use recently and have been "topped up" in the charger - something I've found in the past to lead to shorter life, but I didn't have time to discharge them more before charging.

I'll probably shoot the whole lot on one 8Gb card tbh, I know this isn't ideal but I like to change cards as little as possible (horror stories of bent pins etc). I Do have a backup (a second 8Gb Ex. III), and have never had any problems with any of my Sandisk cards.

Ultimately while daunted I don't feel like I've been utterly dropped in at the deep end as it's a smallish affair, and the guy I'm replacing was a mate of the groom who was going to do it gratis just for experience..

While this is in no way an excuse to slack, I think as long as I come up with shots that don't look like they've been taken by granny after 10 G&T's they'll be happy :)
 
Good luck for tomorrow, hope all goes well... looking forward to seeing the piccies (if they let you put on em on that is) :thumbs:
 
Thanks for the encouragement :)

It all went reasonably well in the end; missed quite a few shots and made a fair few schoolboy errors, but should have taken enough (900 :gag:) to get 100 or so decent ones.

Will get some posted when I've processed a few, which will be in a little while :p
 
Thanks for the link Carl - would love to have that much skill..

Right, a fair while has passed and I've finally finished editing all the shots (220 to be precise).

Despite the challenging conditions I'm reasonably happy with the outcome (and I think the couple are too, judging by their reaction to the samples I sent them).

Conditions couldn't have been much worse at the registry office - window lit room with lots of striplights around the tops of the walls; wasn't allowed to use flash and they wanted me to shoot towards the windows!

Knowing this would have resulted in an epic fail I tentatively put my foot down and shot into the room, adjacent to the windows. Stuck to F/4 as I wanted a bit of a safety net regarding dof, and wanted to get both of the couple in focus. Tried IS but shutter speeds were too slow to prevent motion blur, so wound the ISO up. Still had problems with the different colour temps of the mixed light, and the striplights blowing the highlights.. ended up having to bring the exposure of the couple up a lot in photoshop, which increased the existing noise.. should look alright when printed at reasonable sizes though.

After the ceremony did I a few group shots outside which were alright - learned that I need to be more assertive in future though, and a list of "standard" groups would also be good.

Finally moved onto the pub, was all good here as I could freely use fill flash. Cocked up the chucking of the bridal bouquet (only one shot due to low light and flash recycle time, guess it should come with practice).

Anyway, here are a few of my favourites (will take them down after a week or so), C+C most welcome as it's the best way I'll learn. As usual, images look a bit more saturated and contrasty in my browser than in photoshop so the prints shouldn't look this well cooked...

- Photos now removed -

Thanks for looking

Mike
 
Now THAT looks like a fun wedding. Well done, looks like you did a good job in challenging conditions. :thumbs:
 
Cheers, and thanks again to everyone who offered advice first time round :)

It was indeed a great night - ended up absolutely hammered, and walked 6 miles home at about 4am :D
 
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