So You Want to Shoot a Wedding

[12sndsgood]

Novice here but I'll add my two cents on things I've learned from the 3 weddings I'm up to.

1. Contracts, have them written up, ready to go and make sure they are what you can manage. Doesn't help your case If you specify delivery in 1 month of you may be a busy person and need more time then that. Don't promise what you can't adhere to.

2. Timeline. Someone mentioned this earlier but I wanted to add to it. Don't ask the bride for the timeline. sit down with your bride and set your timeline. This is your chance to help in the planning of her day and it also means you can add time in you need to get the job done. I try to work the timeline to get shots done ahead of time if possible.

3. know your venue, and if you don't know check them out, not only find spots you can shoot at, but find shots you can shoot at if your first shots aren't available.

4. know the vendors and who your working with. become friends with them. so when things go wrong (and they will) you can have help with the situation.

5. plan, plan, plan and then plan some more. and then when things go wrong be able to just move into your backup plan like it's no big deal. more I plan the less nervous I get, the less nervous I am the better off I am when things change.

6. watch your bride. Usually until the reception kicks in they are about the most stressed out people you will find a lot of times. so be someone that is there to make the brides day less stressful not more. don't go to the bride with problems, go to the bride with solutions and you will be seen as a great person.

7. 2nd photographers/assistants are a great help. sometimes you can't be everywhere at once. I always have one with me, they are backup, another set of hands, and another creative eye to catch a different view. I personally like having the ability to have different views of the cake cutting etc. and having that 2nd shooter means I'm not running from the left to the right to try and get a different shot. and you just have those things at a wedding that you will miss and another set of eyes is great.

8. Have a second shooter or use two cameras? make sure your time is synched up as is the date so when you upload all the photos they are all in chronological order.

those are just a few off the top of my head.

 

[udit318]

Well, as being a non-professional photographer ,the information provided above will be handy for me. Thanks a lot for making me equipped with such vital information regarding "capturing stills". Sure, it will make any wedding moments memorable by me.....