First Wedding - not panicing

First off I would like to thank all the folks who post here as the plethora of information leaves little doubt as to the dedication and work you all have done.

The mother of one of my Boy Scouts is getting remarried and has asked me to shoot her wedding; she knows very well that I do not now, nor do I have any intentions in the immediate future of claiming to be a wedding photographer.
Her dilemma as she put it to me; “it’s either you, or a family member with a P&S” as her budget for photography is nearly zero. We meet last week to discuss her expectations and to visit the location that they will be having the wedding at.

My job then got much easier as one of my Assistant Scoutmasters who assists his brother that is “a high end wedding photographer”, (videographer that is) asked me if I would like him to help with the shoot. This was a major relief as even though they do not choreograph the shots, he does know all the poses and “atypical” wedding shots that need to be captured. He also will be bringing with him a 7D with a couple of lenses to augment my limited lineup.

Simple question; would the 17-55 2.8, and a 580 EXII be adequate on his 7D along with my lenses; my 60D will be fitted with the 70-200 and my T1i with the 50 1.4?

I will NOT be asking for any money from her; she has offered to pay me but I told her to use the money to give her boys something special to mark the date.

simple answer? YES.

Yes you will be fine with that lens and camera line up.

Good luck

The "pool" of gear you'll have between you two will certainly be enough to cover the wedding.
Refusing any money was a very wise decision on your part. The rest is setting the expectations...low...w​hich you are going to do.

So good approach!

Good luck, your set up between you looks great

Did my first wedding last weekend and followed the advice and tips given by many on here (thanks everybody). How did it go? fantastic some great pictures, earnt some good money and yes...I would do it again. Good luck Rocky Rhode, enjoy it.

Wedding was this past weekend; what a rush, I can totally see why someone would do this for a profession.

Getting the chance to spend one of the most significant moments in a couple’s life is very rewarding. We shot WAY too many photographs, over 1,500, but hey, since it was my first time we didn’t want to miss a shot. My friend brought an 8mm fisheye lens; it now has a place on my want list, along with the 17-50 f/2.8.

The reception was outdoors with very poor lighting really pushing my camera as it never dropped below 5000 iso for much of the night. Once I cull the shots down to a reasonable amount, and process them I will drop a few in the wedding section.

Again, thanks to everyone who contributes to this great forum; although I still would have photographed the wedding, it would not have gone nearly as well without all the knowledge that is shared here freely.

Rocky Rhode wrote in post #13224741
Wedding was this past weekend; what a rush, I can totally see why someone would do this for a profession.

Getting the chance to spend one of the most significant moments in a couple’s life is very rewarding. We shot WAY too many photographs, over 1,500, but hey, since it was my first time we didn’t want to miss a shot. My friend brought an 8mm fisheye lens; it now has a place on my want list, along with the 17-50 f/2.8.

The reception was outdoors with very poor lighting really pushing my camera as it never dropped below 5000 iso for much of the night. Once I cull the shots down to a reasonable amount, and process them I will drop a few in the wedding section.

Again, thanks to everyone who contributes to this great forum; although I still would have photographed the wedding, it would not have gone nearly as well without all the knowledge that is shared here freely.

I think between my second shooter and myself last night, we probably shot around 3,000 photos

Red Tie Photography wrote in post #13224747
I think between my second shooter and myself last night, we probably shot around 3,000 photos

2250 approx myself at my last one...

Slowly going through the photographs; saw this. He was looking down as I swung the camera towards him while his mom was getting ready; then he looked up.

HTTP response: 404 | MIME changed to 'image/gif' | Byte size: ZERO | PHOTOBUCKET ERROR IMAGE

Really good shot of the kid.

Why do so many thnk it's smart to machine gun thousands of shots? Isn't quality more important than quantity?

Think about how much longer it takes to filter them ll afterwards!

jhcanon wrote in post #13251711
Why do so many thnk it's smart to machine gun thousands of shots? Isn't quality more important than quantity?

Think about how much longer it takes to filter them ll afterwards!

True. I generally agree with this. However, this was his first time, so better to have some redundant photos than completely miss moments...

I didnt machine gun the images, and for 2 shooters, I dont see 3000 as overkill. Its much easier to select out images, rather than retake a photo after the wedding.

I don't machine gun... I just take a lot of pictures.