Wedding photography

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Missdaisies

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Hey All

As previously posted, my friend has asked me to do her wedding photos as she knows I have an interest in photography. Its finally arrived and is on Saturday.

I cant convey how nervous I am (thats putting it V.politely!). Ive found a location, spoke to the registrar to see what Im allowed to do and when, make up a list of photos, asked for a list of photos & enlisted an assistant.

I've still to find a decent album and decide who Im going to for uploading & printing.

I have 5G worth of memory cards, will I need more?

I really would appreciate any further advice - I'm completely petrified in case I muck it up!

Help :bonk:

Sharon
 
5G of cards sounds fine (probably more than enough) providing it is on more than one card!

Do you have a second camera body as back up/2nd lens camera?

Remember spare batteries for camera and flash

Take a couple of large brollies (white if poss), anti rain and diffuses top light if the sun is strong (more of a summer thing though!)

Take a small step ladder to get a picture of the larger groups

Get the assistant or the usher/best man in on the act to round up the groups

Make sure you take the B&G away from the guests for some private photos away from the ravening hourdes and banks of guest cameras

Take more than one picture of the groups - The Bride is always talking or blinking!! Shout 'Sausages' or 'Sex' to get them smiling or laughing

Have some sweeties to hand for bribery purposes!

Get incidental piccies of the rings on & off the fingers, flowers, dress, shoes, cake (before cutting!), car etc

Finally, try and relax, enjoy yourself, smile and joke with the guests. You will be rewarded with smiles back!

Best of luck :)
 
Hi Miss, First rule for a first wedding is to accept that you will run on pure adrenalin for the first couple of hours. So long as you think about what you are doing and keep that thinking head on, believe it or not, you will actually start to enjoy yourself.
I cant answer your digital questions because I am film only, however aim for quality over quantity everytime. Get the core images, groups, couple, groom and best man etc etc and then let your creativity flow. Take the couple aside at an appropriate time in the day and produce your images with them. Get some of the arrivals, candids etc with a big lens on, stand back and get the images that way. Go for the character shots during the speaches, set up the cake cutting shot with the couple, and above all relax and enjoy yourself. The time will fly past believe it or not. Best of luck to you.:thumbs:
 
This is fantastic advice - especially the stepladder, I wouldnt have thought of that!

Thanks
Sharon
 
Missdaisies said:
This is fantastic advice - especially the stepladder, I wouldnt have thought of that!

Thanks
Sharon
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This is a must for me as I am only 4'10". I you are petite, then be careful that the camera is not looking up at the B&G and guests extra. I nearly always use it or find a higher point than them.

Agree with what has been said above plus a list of must have shots agreed by you and your friends (B&G) and tick them off as you do them. It is so easy at the end of a shoot to realise you didn't remember to get the one of the Bride full length looking dreamy or whatever?

If you search the threads on here for Weddings, then you should find a plethora of useful tips and if you don't see what you need, then do come back and ask us. Good luck for Saturday,
 
OMG Gilly B, your typing is terrible. I don't even understand what I have just typed above. If you need a translation, then I am sure someone on here understands double dutch :lol:
 
Remember to drink, eat and pee ...
 
Good luck - I did my second major wedding last Saturday. Can you beg / steal / borrow some more memory for the day. I used 12Gb and my assistant 8Gb.

If your doing formals - Make a list and keep using it, in the heat of the day (or rain in my case) it is really easy to forget what shots are wanted. I forgot the ring shot :( .

Good luck and remember to take something to eat. Even if its just to calm your nerves down.

(My shots are now on www.kelticrose.co.uk/weddings - if you want to see how not to do it :( )

PS - Pray for sunshine, I haven't managed it yet
 
Gilly B said:
OMG Gilly B, your typing is terrible. I don't even understand what I have just typed above. If you need a translation, then I am sure someone on here understands double dutch :lol:
Click to expand...

I'm Dutch, both my parents were, so I guess that makes me double Dutch . . .
but I don't understand a word of what you're saying!
Maybe they would at Hogwart?
 
yup. agree with everything said sofar.you sound pretty sorted already tho. 5 gig should be ok.
the list is pretty important.
try to get it in a logical order so as not to run the b&g around too much. when the group shots etc are done , we try and take the b&g off to a quiete corner to do a few lovey dovey shots while the guests clear off.
theyre a bit more chilled than.get your assistant to chase people for the group shots. (i tick them off as she takes em , to make sure we got them.)
def agree with the "take two of the important shots" . theres ALWAYS someone with their eyes shut or looking at aunt gladice. i
f you have a flash , use it for fill in, if you have bright sunshine(yeah , right) . dont worry about printing yet. plenty of time after the wedding.
and ENJOY IT. go with the flow.
 
Forgot to say in my list...try and do the largest group first, working your way down to B&G only. This way the guests are free to go away to the reception etc whenever they are done. Always very handy especially when beer and wine are involved!!
 
Hi Sharon

Lots of excellent advice already (make sure your shoes are ok for ladder!)

Check how much time you have for the photos. I did a wedding last Saturday where the ceremony was held up by 20-odd minutes because an important guest was stuck in traffic. The hotel was exceptionally co-operative in delaying the meal a little, but it was very difficult getting through the list.

If you have to travel between the ceremony and the reception this cuts down your time (oh and you don't get any leniency from traffic wardens if you park on double yellows). If parking is going to be difficult get it sorted beforehand.

If guests are reluctant to get into photos, comments along the lines of: 'Mary and Fred (B&G) have asked for you to be in this shot' seem to work for me.

If the B or G are nervous, tell them they look great and are looking fantastic in the photos. Tell them anyway ;)

Keep smiling, keep chatting as you work - oh and have a foolproof system for keeping unused memory cards away from used ones.

Preparation is 90% of the job and it sounds as though you are being thorough. :)

Best of luck with the other 10%. It's not the end of the world if it rains, but I hope it doesn't. (Think up some singing in the rain/tripping thrugh puddles shots, just in case.)

Look forward to a post on Sunday saying how great it was

Jean :thumbs:
 
Make a 'Shot-List' beforehand as you'll forget what you'd planned to do on the day and make sure you tick off each group-shot and set-up as it's completed.
Get the Best Man to act as 'gofor' for all the Groups as he'll know who people are, whereas to you they'll be strangers for the most part.
Accept that you'll have 'Uncle Bert' et al poaching photos over your shoulder as you try to work - be firm but polite and tell them to Eff off til you've finished shooting - you are employed by the B&G, they're just guests.

And remember, a plan is just something you throw out the window once proceedings begin - or as we say in my Trade - 'No plan survives first contact with the enemy' - it's just something to fall back on when it all goes Pete-Tong.

Comfy shoes and a warm, waterproof jacket are a must - wooly hat & gloves optional. And smile a lot - everyone just wants to enjoy themselves and they see you as preventing them from getting to the reception and getting on with the job of getting hammered. My favourite phrase is "the sooner we get this done the sooner you can all leave - you're in your time now..." but don't say it out loud FFS!
 
A bottle of mineral water for the bride, speaking from experience as a bride, I remember getting very parched
 
If shots are at the reception I always send someone to get the Bride and Groom a drink, coz as Kelack said its thirsty work.

Got to agree with Arkady the plan is there to go out the window. As in pic of bride and groom with little page boy of 18 months, who gets so stroppy he gets taken away, so pic wont happen. Or father of the bride goes to the local pub and can't be found. Make sure you remind the B&G that these shots couldn't be taken (I usually quickly mention before going for the night).
 
Don't forget your usual camera checks too though - ISO, AF or MF (sounds silly but I've missed a couple of shots in the past & not been able to figure out what was going on :lol:) card is formatted, WB is set properly, etc.
Good luck, I'm sure you'll be fine :thumbs:
 
Wishing you all the best with this and I look forward to seeing you results I'm sure they will be fabulous!

Rita
x
 
Good luck!

Did my first wedding on Wednesday and I took just under 8gb of images... some 1000 shots... so, depending on what MP your camera is, I'd suggest more.
Also be wary of memory cards failing - on Wednesday, one of my 2gb cards Rivit was using said it was full after only 50 shots.... Not trying to worry you, but you have to be prepared for these things... luckily we had spares with us.
 
Thanks - it was quite a while ago and I realised that I didnt post to say how it went!!


I found it incredibly nervewracking, which is odd since I have known everyone there for years. I felt that I maybe lacked a certain amount of assertiveness as there was lots of times where I couldnt get them to do what I wanted (kind of like I was dealing with children). A lot of the shots have people looking elsewhere and talking amongst themselves!

I dont feel the photos were at all technically accomplished - however, they told the story and the bride cried when she saw them (in a good way!). both of them absolutely loved them, and there are more than a few im proud of.

If doing it again, I would try to stay a bit more calm at the outset, I would try to be more assertive with the guests & keep shooting as I felt I could have taken more. I also had a weird feeling that I was annoying the bride when in her house doing the morning shots - but I think that was in my head, Im just not used to continually shooting the same person.

Im still to shy to post any pictures as I think im a little early in my learning for negative comments - dont mean this in a bad way but im a sensitive soul ;-)

I thoroughly enjoyed myself...eventually and thanks to everyone who gave me advice and support - it was invaluable!

Sharon
 
Excellent Sharon, glad it went ok. It's a heck of a responsibility that just isn't appreciated until you've 'been there'. The assertiveness comes with experience, I usually engage the gobby bloke (every wedding has one) and put him to work 'Go and get all the Smiths, and then all the Jones, you've got 30 seconds'.:naughty: Get's him out of my hair so I can get on with the job. Don't be afraid to take control, it means being centre of attention which is rarely easy, but if you lead the wedding party will follow.
No-one ever forgets their first wedding! Welcome to the madhouse.:D And well done.
 
J Gordon said:
I usually engage the gobby bloke (every wedding has one) and put him to work
Click to expand...

Or convince the B&G to hire a toastmaster for the day then he can do all the photo calls, etc. :)
 
Excellent stuff!

My first was similar in that I knew most of the people there. I feel this made it harder to control people, and I was pretty cautious about bossing them about. I'll be much more assertive at the next one... God help them!
 
Thanks all - a member of the family who was there at the evening do asked me to shoot her wedding in June as she's planning a similarly sized wedding and doesn't plan to have a pro. She has offered to pay me (a small amount obviously)! I explained that I was in no way a substitute for the excellent work a pro would do but she was quite insistent - she has seen photos I done at a communion. Ive told her to wait and see the wedding photos and see how she feels then and that I wouldn't expect payment, only costs.

Looks like I may be throwing myself into the fire again! But the way I look at it, its an idea opp to get shots for the portfolio for my course.


Edit: Ive put a few of the photos in my gallery.
 
One tip I picked up when working with Patrick Litchfield years ago, (who, what a name drop!) is to have a loud whistle in your pocket.

You do not use it until you have to, say when trying to get everyones attention for a big group. Give a blow and you have them all eating out of your hand!

martinwoodphotography.co.uk.
 
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