Photographed my first wedding

[eclipse13]

I've surfed over head waves during a hurricane swell, I've been lost in a canoe in a swamp, I've dropped in on a 12 foot halfpipe and I've rolled a jeep Grand Cherokee, but my heart has never beat as hard as it did when the music started, and the bride starting walking my way. It was that moment that I knew I had to perform. I took a breath, remembered that I had prepared and that there was a reason that they chose me, and I did what I had come to do.

The wedding took place just under a month ago. I just finished post processing the photos. The bride is my girlfriends roommate who decided to hire me based on their budget. She knew my skill level going in, and knew that I had never photographed a wedding before. I told her that I wasn't sure that I was ready, but she had confidence in me, and said that they weren't going to pay anyone because they simply couldn't afford it, and they were asking a personal favor.

First thing I did was ask for help on here. I also bought a book on wedding photography. I did as much research as I could and read everything I could find on wedding photography. I also found a local photographer who let me 'assist' her at an informal wedding just to get an idea of what I needed to be capturing, and what was appropriate.

The next thing I did was compile a list of the 'usual' photos from several different sources, and then sent it to the bride so that I could tailor it to their needs. I also compiled a list of the equipment that I needed, and secured a spare camera, battery, flash, sync cord, and lenses, should I break my main on. Luckily I have a trusting friend who let me borrow most of those items. I also made sure to have twice the amount of memory I thought that I would need.

On the day of I get there about an hour ahead of time so that I could talk to the pastor about what was allowed and to allow for slow traffic, etc. I took a few shots of the church and people arriving. After the ceremony was about a 20 minute drive to the aquarium for the reception. I brought an energy bar and water because I knew I wouldn't be able to eat. I recomend CLIF bars. They are delicious and it kept me energy up for the entire reception. While everyone was eating I took shots of the cake, the table settings, and the general surroundings. I stuck close to the bride and groon to make sure I didn't miss anything. I stayed all the way until they left.

Overall it was a great experience. I definitely have room to improve, but I think I did ok.
Here are the photos from it.
http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=143905
http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=143906
http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=143909
http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=143910
http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=143911

 

[Mike_E]

Nice!

One minor thing though, for weddings you get a bit of license to fib a little on the skin, eyes and teeth. So whitening the eyes and teeth and smoothing out or cloning out blemishes and taking any bags from under eyes and so forth is OK.

It's supposed to be a once in a lifetime happening and looking their best ever will win you a lot more friends in the end.

 

[eclipse13]

Thanks. In the PP I did smooth out some of the skin and cloned out blemishes. I'm not good enough at PS yet to get rid of bags though.

 

[eclipse13]

I gave her the photos today and she loves them. Thank god. After some of the comment I've been getting I was getting worried.

 

[Johnboy2978]

and said that they weren't going to pay anyone because they simply couldn't afford it, and they were asking a personal favor.

So this was a freebie then?

 

[eclipse13]

Yea. They ended up giving me 50 bucks at the wedding, but that just covered gas.