First Wedding please Help!

[ndredsox]

Ok, did you get all that?:lmao:
here's the deal I've shot weddings before and hate doing it. it's a one time shot at one of the most important days in someone's life that if you blow it, can't be redone. that said, here's my list of necessities which most here have already said.

1. at least two camera bodies. this gives you something in case one fails, and the other reason is mentioned in #2. they have to be interchangeable with each other, one Canon and one Nikon will not do.

2. at least two lenses, one wide angle one telephoto. one on each body so you can switch back and forth without fumbling around changing lenses.

3. minimum one decent flash unit. two is better.

4. an assistant if you can afford one. the assistant helps with switching out cameras, memory, batteries, and attaching flash posing your people, straightening veils, dresses, etc. and can even take photos if you trust them, and anything else you are too busy to deal with, things happen fast at weddings and missed stuff is less money at the end. find a high school kid or a college kid into photography.

5. lots of memory and batteries! batteries for the flashes batteries for the cameras. it helps if your camera bodies take the same batteries and memory.

6. take way too many photos. the more the merrier. it is easier to weed out bad shots than wish for more good shots.

7. be very assertive with your clients, they may hate you that day but will love you later when they see the photos. make sure you get everything you need. don't take no for an answer.

8. start early. you shoot the bride, the assistant shoots the groom getting ready. the bride is the most important one. always remember that, it is her day, and she is the one who will make the decision later when the ordering takes place. make her happy and he will follow along peacefully.

9. if you can, shoot them some time after the wedding in a nice location or studio. the photos will look less stressed out and will likely be better. have them dress as in the wedding if you can. make it part of the package and even if you increase your fee they will not really know it was added if you present it right. both you and they will be happy in the end.

10. pre-screen the photos and do some weeding before you invite them to view them. get it down to a maximum of around 30 shots that are great rather than having them try to decide between 100. it will take all day and in the end they will get tired of looking and just want to get it over with. this step also makes you look like a better photographer. they won't remember you shooting hundreds of photos, and when you show them 30 or so great shots they'll be wowed.

I may think of more but this should keep you busy and out of trouble.
good luck!

Great post! Thank you.