bridal shower tomorrow

[wasabean]

i have my first bridal shower photoshoot tomorrow, i'm extremely nervous. but hopefully i can get my act together. i'm bringing just a little equip, my 5D, 24-70, 430ex, some gels and extra batteries of course.

what else you guys recommend? this is going to be indoors at someone's house. since this is my first gig and for a friend, i was wondering what kind of attitude i should bring to the table? they will be playing bridal games, opending presents and other stuff, how active should i be to get into the mix to try to get in some decent shots without be too intrusive to the bridal shower?

[ejicon]

Since you're shooting for a friend, you should already be comfortable being around them (hopefully)
I would suggest getting in on the action. There are a lot of fun things that go on during bridal showers. Depending on the type of shooting you will be doing (photo journaling vs "stop... hold that pose.. smile" shooting) being up and in front of it all would be nice to see.

[FamilyJules]

I shot a really fun bridal shower recently. I went with a fun attitude and made sure to capture all of the important things...(kind of like a wedding)
Things that I made sure to get:
-Of course, the details.... whoever is throwing this party probably put alot of effort into it, so capturing those is important. You might even get something that the bride missed while she was there.
- The stack of presents
- Everyone socializing
- The games.... MAKE SURE you get the games and everyone playing them. Don't forget to get the details of the games (like the oh so common "How well do you know the couple?" quiz) I got a shot of the questionnaire and the bride loved that.
- I stood next to the bride when she was opening all of the presents and prompted her to hold each one and smile. She really liked having those.
- Near the end of the party, I made everyone stand in line and wait to take a picture with the bride, so that she got everyone who was there in a photo. Everyone was happy to do that.
I even made a free album for her (wasn't included) as her shower gift... needless to say, I booked 2 other weddings (friends of this client) since that day.
Just relax, have fun, and enjoy! This is the easy part! Great practice for weddings!

[wasabean]

thanks for the advice! i plan on taking a more of a journalism approach but at the same time a "stop and hold that pose" approach whenever it calls for it. i will be going there early to take pictures of the brides maids setting the place up so that'll give the album a nice "behind the scenes" perspective. i just hope i have the proper lighting equipment =/