has anyone here shot their own wedding?

[mkalcevic]

My fiance and I want to shoot our own wedding. has anyone done this before? Any useful tips?

 

[terri]

Yep - I believe ksmattfish did his own wedding. If he sees this post he'll be sure to comment on that. Be patient!

 

[mysteryscribe]

I shot my daughter's and my son in law the groome also participated in the shoot. It was a nightmare....

 

[EBphotography]

If anyone could explain how this is done....the kiss?

 

[Big Mike]

My wife said that if I brought my camera to our wedding...she would kill me

Actually, I brought my camera when we were shooting the formals. The photographer let me plug into the lights he had set up...it was great.

As foe useful tips....get someone else to do it. Even if you have to give your camera to someone you know and show them what to do.

 

[mysteryscribe]

or the two you at the alter but frankly it helps to have a friend to do those shotsl... You can set them up and have someone else pull the trigger

 

[mkalcevic]

yeah, I'm figuring that for the shots that I can't really go up and set up, ie. the ceremony and parts of the reception, that I hand it off to someone that has at least some experience with taking pictures. I'll have it on a tripod and it has IS anyhow, but I guess I'm just worried about missing something important or all the shots being overexposed or something. for the formal shots, I was thinking of setting it all up, then having someone push the button.

this might just be all part of the "pre-wedding jitters"!

 

[ksmattfish]

I shot my own wedding in BW 4x5. My advice is don't do it. You will be too busy getting married. Get someone else to do it whether a friend or a professional.

EDIT:

Tmax 100 4x5, over exposed 4 stops (ISO 6). While on our honeymoon suddenly I realized that I totally screwed up the exposure (I metered off black pants intending to subtract 2 stops, but I was too preoccupied with other things, and I added 2 stops), and estimated a 4 stop pull for development when I got home. Actually it didn't turn out anywhere near as bad as I thought it would. Thanks for big film.

 

[mkalcevic]

let me rephrase this... would it be a good idea for my fiance and I to bring our own camera for the wedding shots and have someone we trust take the pictures instead of paying a lot of money that we don't have for a pro to come out and take the shots, retain the copyrights and not make more than 2 doz 5x7s for around $1200? I'm not going to be running down the isle right before the kiss to set the timer. That's not what I was saying in the first post. Instead, I'll be showing someone, beforehand, how to take a good shot with my camera when the time comes.

 

[mysteryscribe]

Now you want GOOD pictures, picky picky picky....

If you want good shots hire a pro... but the price isn't really a guarentee of the quality. A five thousand dollar pro isnt five times better than a thousand dollar pro necessarily.

 

[ksmattfish]

would it be a good idea for my fiance and I to bring our own camera for the wedding shots and have someone we trust take the pictures

I wouldn't trust anyone that didn't have their own camera.

I've been to a wedding or two. In almost all of them the B & G are really busy getting ready, getting married, meeting, greeting, smoozing, and dancing. A small camera in the pocket, sure, but setting up more than a couple of shots would seem difficult. Maybe your wedding won't be like this, and it would be possible for you to shoot your own wedding. I don't understand why people insist on making their weddings so busy and complicated anyway. It should be less work and more fun. Only you can judge what has value to you. If it's not worth it to you to hire a pro, then don't.

 

[terri]

I always crack up when Matt tells that story. Flustered grooms should not be fooling around with 4x5! But that's such a cute shot, so it's probably worth it in retrospect.

Most involved I ever had to be was the wedding we shot as a gift for some friends, when I foolishly also agreed to host the reception at my house, and Brad even more foolishly agreed to also be the best man.

We looked over those proofs and that was probably the most shots we ever culled. But we had plenty of workable stuff and ended up giving them a nice package. I'd never do that again, though! Wayyyy too much stuff to think about. Not to mention the shoe scuffs of 50-odd people on my freshly waxed floor.

:lmao:

 

[Torus34]

Backstory -- I really can't stand onions. Can't eat them at all. No way, no how. Wife's name is Joan.

From my reception:

Joan: 'How come you ate the string beans? There were onions in them.'

Me: 'Stringbeans? What stringbeans?'

 

[JDS]

let me rephrase this... would it be a good idea for my fiance and I to bring our own camera for the wedding shots and have someone we trust take the pictures. . .

This is what I did. My cousin was just breaking into photography, so I hired her and got her to use my Fuji S5000. The shots she took came out great. The only problem was the lighting..it was an afternoon wedding, and a bright, sunny day. Most of the photos were outdoor, but there were a few indoor shots as well. The built-in flash is never good enough.. But again, besides the lighting, she did great. We were extremely pleased for the money she charged. Now she's got an EOS 350D and charging much, much more.

 

[mkalcevic]

hopefully, by the time of the wedding we'll have everything we need to get everything going, like external flash and a good filter set. The more I think of it, the less stressed I get over it. with the size of her family, there's bound to be someone who can work a camera.