First time shooting a wedding

[Dominantly]

Please don't be discouraged.. If you take a look around you may see that weddings are a touchy subject around these parts.


What Photoshop program do you currently use? I am sure you will get alot of info and quite a few tips here. One will probably be along the lines of picking up a couple well recommended photography books like this one which is amazing
Amazon.com: Bryan Peterson's Understanding Photography Field Guide: How to Shoot Great Photographs with Any Camera (9780817432256): Bryan Peterson: Books
or the ever popular
Amazon.com: Understanding Exposure: How to Shoot Great Photographs with a Film or Digital Camera (Updated Edition) (9780817463007): Bryan Peterson: Books
After reading through those you will have a basic grasp of the rules of photography and the basics of getting good, consistent results.

 

[AlleyCat]

Oh,and to answer "bhphotography"s question on whythe main guy couldnt be there before 11AM - thats because he sucks - seriously! I dont live in the US, I live in the Czech republic (tiny teeny country in europe) and theres a big vietnamese comunity here. He is the only vietnamese photographer there is. And being the only one, he kinda dictates us all as to how much he wants and stuff. So when he says he is free only from 11am then thats when he will come. He really and seriously sucks though, didnt even have a spare battery (no extra lens and camera body for sos cases), so when hosts wanted pictures e just took 1, that was it. Me and my friends wanted couple of pictures but he refused and the bride herself had to come and tell him off so he took 2 more. Annoying guy really.

 

[cliffy13]

"As for why there isnt the happy couple on the :hug:hotos, that is because The groom wasnt there till 11AM (when the official photographer arrived) and because the main guy wouldnt let me shoot behind his back when he took pictures of the two. Said it distracted him. So all pictures that I have w the couple in it were either their backs or their left/right side, or where they look pissed/bored/tired. Seriously, if you had been there u would understand why it was impossible to take decent shots ofthe two. Busy bride and groom, annoying photo guy, and when youre not an official photographer theres little chance the family will let u have a few minutes to tak pictures of the two cuz they already hired someone to do that. And I would probably have ruined the pics for them so guess its ok."

Its a sad indightment on the pro tog that he got could not be there well in advace of the start of the ceremony and also that he hs so little confidence that he says you would put him off,I always made a joke of all the guests with their cameras peering over my shoulder.The best thing though as a guest is to stick a telephoto zoom on the camera and get well away from the official tog and look for the grab shots of guests and the couple especially as they relax after he has taken his official shots