(UK) My first "paid" wedding, need a little advice on timings etc..

[quickben]

Got my first proper wedding gig in april. A friends, girlfriend's mother is getting re-married and, on the strength of a baby portrait session I done for that friend, have asked me to photograph their special day. I will be paid for this. Not a huge amount, but enough for them to expect a professional set of images.

As I mentioned, the couple are re-marrying and thus don't want a very formal approach to the photography. A few mandatory posed shots from the ceremony and then candids from the dinner afterwards as a memory of the day.

The ceremony is at a registry office NOT local to me, so I have no idea about the amount of ambient light I'll have to work with. I'll be using my 10D + 30mm & 50mm f1.4 lenses and a 550EX with a Stofen. I might take the 200mm along for the dinner depending on how big the venue is.

My main area of concern is how to time it so I can be there for all the different components of the wedding. I can't recall how a wedding at a registry office goes.

Any help would be appreciated as I'd like to do more weddings in the future. I have a 90% chance of getting a BIG wedding next august, so this good experience for me.

Cheers in advance.

Gary.

[GS Rider]

Registry office weddings tend to be pretty quick - 15-20 mins tops - the ceremony itself no more than 6-7 mins...find out which registry office it is and the booking details and you can always call up them up and ask what size of room it is - how many windows, etc to give you a better idea. In my experience they can be anything from no natural light to big bay windows with plenty of light - also the time of day will be helpful to you - as you know we have darkness descending by 3.00pm just now...

Also you should ask what photo opps there are outside the building - some have small garden areas which are nice...