Help! Asked to do a wedding

[u 'tampin' mommy]

Hi everyone! I did a search on amature photography and found this forum. Here is my problem. I just got an email from a friend a little while ago and she asked if I would consider doing her sister-in-law neice's wedding on October 29th. OMGoodness! I was thrilled at the asking but scared to death at the same time. I dabble in photography and mostly have taken photos of my family and children, I have 4 children with one on the way. I have recently taken photos of two of my friends and their children at a place of their choice and one of them actually gave the pictures to her hubby for Father's day. The only thing I charged for was the processing of film and the actual purchase of roles of film. I took one roll of color and one roll of black and white. I took them to a local store and did the one hour processing. I got doubles, took a copy for myself to put in my portfiolo and gave them the other copy and the negatives for their doing with as they pleased, make double or do enlargements. I think my pictures are okay but everyone else seems to love them. They like the angles I do and the vivid colors I happen to capture. I don't realize I do it until I get the pictures back. It isn't like I really know what I am doing with the all the settings on my camera. I have a Canon EOS Rebel Ti and also a zoom lense. I guess what I need some advise on is, should I do this wedding? I feel I am such an amature and scared to death to actually do a wedding. I wouldn't know what to charge for anything!! How much film would I need and do I buy it at Wal-mart, where do I get the processing done, should I get only the 4X6 pictures that the local stores do and give the negatives to the customer and let her and her new husband do with them as they like? I have my Canon 35mm and I don't have a digital camera (well, I have one but it is for family use and is on the fritz right now nothing spectacular). The family is looking for someone that can work within their budget- so not a fancy full time photographer who is going to charge them an arm and a leg. Please help! Any advise would be most helpful!!

Jennifer
PS I will be 21 weeks so I won't be to pregnant to take the pictures. Thanks everyone!

[ZeSpectre]

Some practical advice...
-Wear comfortable shoes
-Have a small bag with all of your needed stuff, keep it with you. You won't have time to go looking for it.
-Wander a bit at the reception (look for good candids) but for the most part stick to the bride like glue. If anything happens it will happen near her.
-Go to one of the wedding sites and find a list of the "typical" pictures most couples want taken.
-If you are the "official" photographer don't hesitate to step in front of Uncle Joe or Aunt Bunny to get the shots you need.
-Do not take pictures of the bride with a smoke or a drink in her hand (excepting possibly for a toast) because it ALWAYS looks low class later.
-Go to professional wedding photographer websites and look at what they do, what sorts of shots they take.
-Did I mention to wear comfortable shoes? <grin>.

[DocFrankenstein]

1) Do you have fast primes or fast zooms?
2) Do you have an external flash?
3) Do you have a flash bracket?

[JaertX]

My wife and I hired a guy who shot weddings on the side. He used exactly 1 film camera with exactly 1 medium quality zoom...some Noink something or other. Anyway, he delivered the negatives and a set of 4x6 proofs put in a nice little $20 or $30 album and he charged $500.

If I was you, I'd shoot the whole thing on color film, take it to a good local lab for processing, and do like was done for us. Make sure the bride and her people know what's up with you, be honest and have fun. What the heck, you have to start somehow if you want to learn the biz. I think as long as you don't oversell yourself and make promises you can't keep, you'll be alright.

I guess. Of course, you can do some searching on these forums and find plenty of horror stories...look for some of Bloo Dog's tales! But really...good luck and let us know how it goes!

[DavidW]

Hiring one or more lenses may make sense if you feel confident that you can cope with lenses you haven't used before - though it's riskier with film than with digital, as you can't review your results before getting the film processed. There's definite advantages to using the lens or lenses you know well, even if they're not the ideal lenses for the job.

Hiring a digital SLR is a definite no-no - you don't want to be shooting with a camera technology that you haven't used before when the pictures matter.

Similarly, this is really not the situation to try to learn flash photography techniques that are unfamiliar to you.


You'll almost certainly get better results sticking with what you know even if there is 'better' equipment out there for the job.



David

[tim]

Have a read in the "cornering the pros" forum, this subject comes up quite regularly. Shooting weddings is reeeaaaaaly busy, stressful, and you'll need quite a bit of time to prepare for your first one, along with plenty of reading material, and a fair bit of equipment.

[Kristy]

On a side note.... Do have someone take maternity photos of YOU!! They are a precious keepsake and a nice memory of this wonderful time in your life...

No advice on the wedding...sorry. I am in the same boat that you are in... amature, but take nice photos and people aske me to photograph their kids... I could not feel comfortable about the pressures of doing someones wedding... there is not opportunity to do a "re-take". They must turn out. Then again, I have seen mediocre wedding photography where I wondered how the photographer stays in business... GOOD LUCK! I'm sure you will do great as long as you prepare yourself. Be sure to make a check list of photos that you would like to do. It will help to keep you focused as you will be torn into many directions by the wedding coordinator, DJ, Parents of the Bride, etc..... I admire your confidence!

[desheeke]

I took pictures at a wedding about a month ago, it was my first wedding and it was rather overwhelming to say the least. It was very busy and you have to make sure you catch everything. Somone else suggested having someone else there also, if you can do that it will help immensly. I had with me two digital cameras as well as a film camera. A few suggestions and answers to your questions.
1. Talk to the wedding officiant, they sometimes have "rules" on where you can stand, etc.
2. Talk to the DJ (very important) coordinate with him so you know when the boquet will be tossed ahead of time, etc.
3. With it being your first time you should read a few books, and definately get a checklist of the pics they want taken, there are many lists you can find online. Read some on posing, it will help a lot.
4. Amount of film to take, you can never take too much, I took 6 rolls of film when I was taking candids at a different wedding, so the amount I don't know, but I would take quite a lot. The speed of the film should coordinate to where the wedding is, 200 is very common, if you look at photography stores they usually have special film for weddings. Keep the receipts from these.
5. Charging, well you want to make sure it's worth your while and that you're not out anything. It's common to charge for driving time, gas, lodging(if the wedding is far away), etc. the film, the processing and then for your time. So how long will you be there and what do you think is fair for that amount of time.
6. Contract, make sure you have one of these, there are some very nice ones on this forum!!
7. Practice, have someone wear a white outfit and practice taking their picture, practice posing one person, two people, and groups. You are the boss and need to take control when you get to the wedding.

If you decide to do it have fun.

[tim]

You might want to read this thread too.

[u 'tampin' mommy]

I want to say a BIG thank you to everyone who posted trying to help me out. Unfortunately I found out this morning that a cousin of the bride has agreed to do the photography as a gift to the happy couple. I am somewhat disappointed but glad for them at the same time. I have been doing a lot of reading here on the forums and learned a lot but still have to find out what some things are like fast primes and all the items in your signature lines like a Canon 20D, etc. Kristy, thanks for asking about maternity photos of myself. I actually had my hubby take pictures of me while I was pregnant with my last child. I hope to do the same again. I absolutely treasure them but would never show the naked belly ones to anyone because of all the "battle scars." Thanks again to everyone for all of your knowledge on photography. If I wasn't bitten by the bug already, I should be now!!!

Jennifer

[peterdoomen]

Jennifer: believe me, there will be more opportunities to photograph weddings than this one... once your family & friends know that you're into photography, the rumor will spread and they'll find you...

PeteR.

[ZeSpectre]

A Canon 20D is a model of camera.

A "Fast" lens is one that has very low aperture settings (f3.x and down usually) This means the aperture opens WAY up so you can gather a lot of light, in other words it is good for low light situations.

A "Prime" lens usually means that the lens has only one focal length (say 100mm) as opposed to the zooms that can vary (say 28-135mm). Primes are usually considered to be sharper (more image clarity) than zooms although there are some very good zooms and some really bad primes so you have to do the research.

[Kristy]

Hi again,
I read your post about the cousin doing the photos as a gift. Why don't you stand in as a second photographer and caputre other angels and shots that the cousin does not get. It would be a great practice for you and you might even come up with some wonderful shots.