Wedding Tips

Stephen Ramsay

Stephen Ramsay

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This has probably been asked many times, but il continue to ask anyway.

I have my first wedding on the 15th December.

Minus all the Equipment talk...

What tips should i be remembering to make the wedding go smoothly and capturing the pics the bride, groom and myself want.

Any help would be much appreciated.
 
Just remember the 7 P's - Proper Planning & Preparation Prevents **** Poor Performance.

This means talking to the bride and groom to find out their requirements paying particular attention the type of shots they want including the formals, get all the timings and plan things like the formals within the timeframes you have. Visit the venue and look at where you will take shots both inside and out as you may have terrible weather on the day, check the lighting inside the venue so you can plan your lighting in advance. When you do your recce take someone with you so you can take some test shots - what you often think is a good idea can turn out pants and vice versa.

Above all, relax and enjoy!
 
Good advise from Hacker, also try and take the B+G away on their own for 20-30 minutes for the nice pics (or with one bridesmaid for help with dress etc) this gives you some elbow room to shoot without other people distracting the couple, and gives them time to relax and chill out.
This time of year your up against cold wet dark weather (possibly) fill flash will probably be handy to "lift" the pics a bit, take brollies in case it rains, make a feature of them under one if they are up for it if it chucks it down, also a warm coat for the bride might be handy to keep her warm while walking to shots or waiting etc.
 
I've got my first one on the 20th

So far I have;

Visited the venue with the Groom and sussed out all the locations to be used.

Got a list of "Must have" pictures from the B&G

Told him to make sure the best man buys some brollies in case of rain (he hadn't thought of that)

Found an assistant to carry my bag, step ladders, help work through the picture list and hold my brolly if it rains.

Reiterated to the groom that I will need the help of the best man, etc to get people ready for their pictures

Been back to the venue at the approximate time and shot some pictures with a model (just for practice) and to increase my confidence

Bought a 50mm f1.8 lens and practiced with that and my flash

HTH
 
Thanks for the advice...really apprecitate every bit i can get.

Im going to Recce the place out with a pre-shoot of the bride and groom this saturday so il have more confidence and hopefully know what to expect for shots.

We already have a list of shots made up that we agreed on..

Ive just purchased a 4/3rds sigma 18-50mm F 3.5 lens for my Olympus..

Oh another question even though i said no equipment talk.,..

MEMORY....should i shoot in JPEG so i have mass storage or should i still shoot in RAW for the quality and chance of editing?
 
Its always a good idea to shoot in RAW, you have much more scope to correct problems with white balance and exposure. If you're concerned about storage then just buy another couple of memory cards.
 
Always shoot in Raw for weddings. After all you won't get a second chance with it and it can break any reputation to cock it up. Much more recovery possible if you go with Raw.
 
keirik said:
for a wedding in December I hope you have also got something faster
Click to expand...

agreed - you need to be getting down to f1.8 - get a 50mm, makes you work harder and think about picture composition. shallow Depth of Field too, which will help putting just the people in focus.

A second body as a backup would be a good idea too!

Shoot in RAW without a doubt.
 
Thanks everyone..

I have about 7gb worth but im going to purchase another 4gb card to make sure i do have enough space..

Looking forward to this now...nerves have warn off and im ready for a great learning curve!!
 
Bring a T-shirt, so if you want the happy couple to sit down somewhere, lay it down.
 
Stephen Ramsay said:
Thanks everyone..

I have about 7gb worth but im going to purchase another 4gb card to make sure i do have enough space..

Looking forward to this now...nerves have warn off and im ready for a great learning curve!!
Click to expand...


Don't cut it fine on memory cards and batteries (camera and flash), make sure you have way more than you need.
 
Use continuous shoot mode and shoot a couple of each shot - you'll get a lot of blinking, especially in group shots. I would get some faster glass if I were you - renting is a cheap way to do it.

Get an Order of Service if shooting in a church and work out which lens/shot/position you need for each stage.

CHARGE YOUR BATTERY BEFORE YOU GO AND TAKE A SPARE

Back everything up that night, just in case.

Don't panic - if you have planned then everything should be OK.
 
to expand a little - work out how much storage you'll need to take a 1000 shots (which is what I took at my first wedding) and double it (minimum). that was for an average wedding with 80 or so guests...
 
Trust me your nerves will spike back up on the morning of the wedding :p.
I know 2 wedding photographers who've been doing it for 20 plus years now, and they say they still get nervous before each and every wedding, they said theres been a few occasions when they weren't nervous; and their pictures turned out very poorly.

My tips:
-Lighting, lighting, lighting. Get this right and the picture is half way there.
-Work on posistioning a model, maybe get a friend and tell him/her to pose a certain way. Importantly you need to know how to make people look great in pictures, if they have a double chin, ask them to lean forward slightly and lift their chin up. If the bridge/bridesmaid has a little but of a tummy, get them to hold the bouquet in front of it.
-For the group shots get the people to point their closest foot towards the camera, it lengthens out the legs (makes them look not so stubby) and just generally gives a more elegant posture.
-Don't forget to get lots of decoration shots, the B+G(bride mainly :p) will have spent hours carefully picking out the flowers they want, designing/choosing the various card and posters/order of service etc. If you're making them an album these shots really help to give it depth and full it up.
-Most of all: Don't act serious, have a good laugh the bridge/groom/congregation will love you if you add to the spirit of the wedding. Get people laughing, and join in. If something does go wrong, don't show it, just carry on and move on to the next shot.
Sorry if you knew a lot of that, but wanted to get most things covered.
 
Something i have found that helps is to talk to the Father, Minister, Priest , Justice of the piece, ETC. Find out if there are any restrictions from them shooting. Helps smooth things out with them and makes for no surprised during the wedding. I often send the Minister (etc) a pic as well, with permission of the couple of course. They appriciate it and they will remember you, and hopefully pass the good word, which means more work.

Thegary
 
1)Big black bin bags to sit on.

2) 11GB of CF cards aint enough. If it's your first wedding I recommend you keep shooting as much as you can to increase your chances of a getting plenty of keepers. You'll soon go through 11GB if you take this advice - so get more CFs asap!!

3) Be a "good bloke" - make 'em laugh, entertain the crowd, keep upbeat, hide your nerves behind a smile. This gets me more referrals than anything else I reckon.

4) Before the wedding take a couple of friends out and mess about with poses, directing them, lighting etc

5) Make friends with your flash. From what I can tell you don't have particular fast lenses so you're gonna need VERY high ISO's (i.e poor IQ) or bring some flash into play. Just keep it subtle (bounce it, diffuse it, get it off camera). Take no notice of those who go on about "natural light only". They have the best possible kit and far more experience.

6) Enjoy it - it's only a wedding :eek:

HTH

Ryan
 
Once again everyone thankyou so much...

Im now tempted to buy alot more memory cards as i believe you are right...i dont want to limit myself or find i dont have enough pics when i get home.

And is there such thing as overshooting?

I know for a fact il be shaking like a ****ing dog on the day but i need to overcome it and provide some decent pics.
 
Stephen Ramsay said:
And is there such thing as overshooting?
Click to expand...

Definitely not on your first wedding :p. Avoid "machine gun" mode pictures, as that is a pretty bad habit, especially if you're using flash.

P.s One extra thing I thought of, if your brain turns to mush, like mine does from time to time, just remember a very easy way to get 9 pictures of the bridge + groom with 6 easy rules.
Three are directions for the bride and groom, and three are framing rules.
Directions for B+G: Look at me, Look at each other, Kiss.
That's 3 pictures, but also of each one of those get: Full length, mid length, close up/faces. Wollah 3x3 = 9 pictures!
 
Thanks for all the tips. I am doing one in January for a couple on a tight budget. Fingers crossed for me.
 
Bring spares! Batteries, memory cards and even camera.... if your cam dies, P&S pics are better than no pics!

Good luck:thumbs:
 
Wigster said:
Definitely not on your first wedding :p. Avoid "machine gun" mode pictures, as that is a pretty bad habit, especially if you're using flash.

P.s One extra thing I thought of, if your brain turns to mush, like mine does from time to time, just remember a very easy way to get 9 pictures of the bridge + groom with 6 easy rules.
Three are directions for the bride and groom, and three are framing rules.
Directions for B+G: Look at me, Look at each other, Kiss.
That's 3 pictures, but also of each one of those get: Full length, mid length, close up/faces. Wollah 3x3 = 9 pictures!
Click to expand...


I LOVE YOU!! well not really but thanks lol

That 3x3 will stick with me ;) cheers buddy.


Thing is... i dont have a spare camera...and cant think who i could borrow from...and if it ended up being canon or nikon id use it as my prime
 
im going to keep a look at this thread when i come to do my first (and second) in July..

at the minute i only have my A350, tripod, memory...... now i just need to get a back up battery, flash, etc which means all the money i make will just go back into the camera lol
 
You should really have 2 bodies Andy. Not trying to spend your money for you but what if...........
 
yeah i know but ... but im really only doing this as a favour... and cannot afford to buy any more memory never mind a new body lol....
 
Im in the same boat as andi..

Not being paid for this but obviously want to produce my best work, especially as its a friend who is also leaving the country to go to cyprus.

My new flash and diffuser is on route....should be here monday.

JESSOPS....ARE RUBBISH....popped into ask if they knew anything about Olympus External Flashes...and if there was any possible way they could get one in for me...well overprised!!!

London Camera Exchange was far better but i highly recomend castle cameras...no messing about, great customer service...and they know what they are on about!!

rant finished lol :bang:
 
i agree with all above there.

the point about making sure you are unobtrusive, and you keep the mood light, whilst staying professional is so important.

I have had numerous recommendations based on exactly that, and the album is full of photos which they never even knew i took.

I had fantastic email today, which was so full of praise, from a wedding i did in the summer. messages like that make it worth doing!

if it is a favour, make sure you are honest with the couple, i presume they are paying a bit less based on experiencel. nothing wrong with that at all, just make sure everyone is clear on expectations.

As said above, plan and prepare, make sure you have as many backups in case. I have never had any camera problems to date, but if my camera dropped, or packed up, i can just grab the other one, not miss a thing, and if that goes, theres an older body i used to use. it did the job 3 years ago, it will do it now if it comes to it.

always KEEP SMILING, and be relaxed. the b&g have never been in this situation before, we are used to it, so should be guiding them through to a point.

Enjoy.
 
Stephen Ramsay said:
Got my hands on a 400d so im going to use my Olympus as a back up. And if i like the 400d im going to buy it after the event.
Click to expand...

How long have you had your other camera?
How well do you know it, intuitively?
What lenses do you get with the 400D you are borrowing?
Which camera do you have an external flash for?

I'm not sure switching camera to something you don't know is the best thing for you unless the image quality is going to be miles better.
 
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