First Serious Wedding

hollyc · June 5, 2006

Greetings! I was just engaged to shoot my first professional wedding. I have done one other wedding, but it was very casual: outside, very few guests, didn't do the reception, etc. This wedding is in a church and, while the bride and groom have been together for over 12 years, they still want the traditional posed photos. I have found several lists of poses that I can work from, but I would like to see if anyone out there would be willing to share their schedule of shooting a wedding with me. If the bride and groom don't see each other before the wedding, how long do you normally spend taking the pre-ceremony pictures, including the bride and groom getting ready? I'd like to provide the bride with a schedule of where I'll be and how long she can expect each session to last. And finally, do you normally give out a schedule to the bride, groom, maid of honor and best man so they can all be in the loop?

Further information: The bride and groom will have about 5-6 bridesmaids and groomsmen. I'll be working with an assistant, but only one camera (with a film SLR as a back-up), with various lenses and flashes.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Holly

hollyc · June 7, 2006

No advice from my more experienced friends???

Shay Stephens · June 7, 2006

I'm not a traditional wedding photographer, so this may or may not help you. When I shoot, I am on the Bride & Grooms (B&G) schedule, I don't dictate what or when anything happens. I do coordinate with the B&G to find out what they want to do. So my advice would be to just talk with the B&G to find out what they want and when the want to do it. Don't try to guess

hollyc · June 7, 2006

Very true - thanks, Shay. I have a meeting with the bride tonight. I think she's looking to me for some kind of structure - how we can get it all in. I'll talk it through with her.

dragon300zx · June 7, 2006

hollyc wrote:

Very true - thanks, Shay. I have a meeting with the bride tonight. I think she's looking to me for some kind of structure - how we can get it all in. I'll talk it through with her.

1st rule of thumb when trying to time things is to plan extra time. Something is going to happen to make someone late and it is going to be a stressfull day as it is. So give yourself plenty of time so that you don't have to rush or stress the bride (who cares about the groom after all right

:) any more than she already is.

2nd rule of thumb. See first rule of thumb. Honestly things will go wrong on the wedding day. The bride will be stressed, crying, etc. Always have backup plans for equipment, shooting locations, everything. I also carry tools, a sewing kits, etc. If your prepared to take care of whatever happens the bride will love you and have less stress. This means planning in extra time too. Some people may not agree but I'd rather have some down time than not enough time.

Figure out how many posed shots she wants, figure out how long you think it will take for those. Then add time. See when she has time to plan that into the schedule (before or after the ceremony, before is easier but doesn't always work).

hollyc · June 9, 2006

Thanks so much, Dragon. Excellent advice. I'll definitely keep that in mind!

photocat · June 9, 2006

Do you feel up to shoot a wedding with six bridesmaids? That sounds like an expensive wedding if you ask me... I don't know if I would want to take responsibility for that one if I only shot one wedding before... That is if I would be the main photographer. I would personally feel secure as back up photographer, but not as main photographer if I would only have done one wedding before...
I agree with Shay that you need to adapt to B&G, not the other way around.

Have you shot in churches before? I don't want to rain on your parade, I just want to say to you: make sure you can deliver what they ask for... I think it would be honest to tell the bride that this is your first big wedding, so they know what and how much to expect...

The last thing I would want to do is mess up the pics of a couple that maybe has planned the wedding a year in advance... I find that a wedding is SO special that I need to consider whether I am good enough to do it... But then, that is my personal view...

hollyc · June 9, 2006

photocat wrote:

Do you feel up to shoot a wedding with six bridesmaids? That sounds like an expensive wedding if you ask me... I don't know if I would want to take responsibility for that one if I only shot one wedding before... That is if I would be the main photographer. I would personally feel secure as back up photographer, but not as main photographer if I would only have done one wedding before...
I agree with Shay that you need to adapt to B&G, not the other way around.

Have you shot in churches before? I don't want to rain on your parade, I just want to say to you: make sure you can deliver what they ask for... I think it would be honest to tell the bride that this is your first big wedding, so they know what and how much to expect...

The last thing I would want to do is mess up the pics of a couple that maybe has planned the wedding a year in advance... I find that a wedding is SO special that I need to consider whether I am good enough to do it... But then, that is my personal view...

Photocat, thanks for your comments. I have been very up front and honest with the bride that I'm inexperienced, but also very interested in pursuing this line of work. I also charge much less than more experienced photographers. I actually feel pretty good about it. I'll have an assistant (Sheri) who helps me often and she and I have talked at length about the particulars of the day. I have shot in a church before (although not for a project), but Sheri and I plan to go to the church beforehand to check out the lighting (at the same time of day) and do a mini-wedding just to develop our sense of timing/lighting/angle, etc. We have a list of shots we need to get, plus the other candid/photojournalistic shots that we'll get, plus a good idea of where people will be and when so that we can adjust to the bride and groom's schedule. I'm optimistic.

Having said that, I am ALWAYS open to more suggestions on how to prepare for a wedding day.

:

Thanks to all.

photocat · June 9, 2006

hollyc wrote:

Photocat, thanks for your comments. I have been very up front and honest with the bride that I'm inexperienced, but also very interested in pursuing this line of work. I also charge much less than more experienced photographers. I actually feel pretty good about it. I'll have an assistant (Sheri) who helps me often and she and I have talked at length about the particulars of the day. I have shot in a church before (although not for a project), but Sheri and I plan to go to the church beforehand to check out the lighting (at the same time of day) and do a mini-wedding just to develop our sense of timing/lighting/angle, etc. We have a list of shots we need to get, plus the other candid/photojournalistic shots that we'll get, plus a good idea of where people will be and when so that we can adjust to the bride and groom's schedule. I'm optimistic.

Having said that, I am ALWAYS open to more suggestions on how to prepare for a wedding day. :

Thanks to all.

Sounds like you have a plan... This version of your post sounds a lot more prepared then your initial question.
Going to do some test shots seems like a very good plan to me...
Good luck! Post some afterwards...
Since you are prepared for the time planning, the only thing I can add is make sure you have a backup camera... It is bad manners if you have to go up to the bride at 2 in the afternoon and tell her "oops, my camera broke!":D

geibphot · June 9, 2006

If you haven't already, take a venture to some of the other big forum sites (www.fredmiranda.com, www.zuga.net, etc) go to their wedding forum and do a search for "first". The many responses to the many "Advice for my first wedding" posts will probably be enlightening.

The answer to your questions all vary for every wedding... On one extreme I've spent 4 hours with bride while she got her hair and make-up done, and on the opposite extreme I had one wedding that only took 15 minutes to do all the posed shots. Every wedding is different and everything varies every time... As everyone else has stated, estimate how much time you'll need to do everything and I'd recommend add an additional 25% for padding. You (Or the Best Man who just had to find a smoke during the posed shots) will most likely use it...

If you're not used to shooting in churches, you may be surprised how dark it is in the older ones... It's not uncommon for me to be shooting with a 70-200 IS @200mm f2.8 1/100 ISO800 or ISO1600 from the back of the church w/o flash of course. While they may not be as aesthetically pleasing, if you got a "modern" church with some window light you should be thankful for your first time. Assuming you are required to shoot without flash during the ceremony, I recommend bumping the ISO when you feel you're borderline. Noise from a properly exposed ISO1600 shot is far easier to deal with in post then having shots ruined by camera shake or subject motion from a slow shutter or shots that are way underexposed. Just my opinion though...

Good luck and let us know how it goes!

-Jeremy

hollyc · June 9, 2006

photocat wrote:

Sounds like you have a plan... This version of your post sounds a lot more prepared then your initial question.
Going to do some test shots seems like a very good plan to me...
Good luck! Post some afterwards...
Since you are prepared for the time planning, the only thing I can add is make sure you have a backup camera... It is bad manners if you have to go up to the bride at 2 in the afternoon and tell her "oops, my camera broke!":D

Yeah - my first message was before I met with the bride or spoke at length to my assistant so I'm not surprised I was a little frazzled. Plus, I've had a few days to think about a plan.

I have a digital rebel, but my only back-up is a film slr, which I plan to bring, along with about a dozen rolls of film and all matching flashes/lenses in case my digital fails. I would really love to upgrade before the event and bring my rebel as a back-up, but finances won't allow that right now...:cry I do plan to purchase 2 more 1G memory cards to go with the 2 I already have. I'm only engaged to do the wedding - no reception. I'll be shooting in RAW. Do you think 4 memory cards is enough?

Thanks!

hollyc · June 9, 2006

geibphot wrote:

If you haven't already, take a venture to some of the other big forum sites (www.fredmiranda.com, www.zuga.net, etc) go to their wedding forum and do a search for "first". The many responses to the many "Advice for my first wedding" posts will probably be enlightening.

The answer to your questions all vary for every wedding... On one extreme I've spent 4 hours with bride while she got her hair and make-up done, and on the opposite extreme I had one wedding that only took 15 minutes to do all the posed shots. Every wedding is different and everything varies every time... As everyone else has stated, estimate how much time you'll need to do everything and I'd recommend add an additional 25% for padding. You (Or the Best Man who just had to find a smoke during the posed shots) will most likely use it...

If you're not used to shooting in churches, you may be surprised how dark it is in the older ones... It's not uncommon for me to be shooting with a 70-200 IS @200mm f2.8 1/100 ISO800 or ISO1600 from the back of the church w/o flash of course. While they may not be as aesthetically pleasing, if you got a "modern" church with some window light you should be thankful for your first time. Assuming you are required to shoot without flash during the ceremony, I recommend bumping the ISO when you feel you're borderline. Noise from a properly exposed ISO1600 shot is far easier to deal with in post then having shots ruined by camera shake or subject motion from a slow shutter or shots that are way underexposed. Just my opinion though...

Good luck and let us know how it goes!

-Jeremy

Thanks, Jeremy! Great advice on the higher ISO. I'll definitely keep that in mind. Your other comments are enlightening as well, as another message I just posted asked if 4 1G memory cards would be enough - and I think you just answered it: it all depends on the wedding of course. Thanks for the luck and I'll definitely post a few from the wedding afterwards!

Holly

ian408 · June 11, 2006

You might rent a second body as an alternate to the film body. If you're
shooting raw, each shot will be 6 or 7 megabytes in size. You should have
an idea how you will deal with memory should you run out--will you field
edit every shot or keep everything and do the editing later (in this case
I mean delete shots in the field)? The later is always preferable so more
memory, even if you don't use it, would be good. I might go with the 2G
instead of the 1G card.

Good luck and let us know how it turns out!

Ian

First Serious Wedding

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