Rained Out Wedding

Shot a few weeks ago for my cousin-in-law's wedding. The event was supposed to be outside and it wound up raining for over 12 hours straight the day of the wedding. The whole thing was changed on the fly to take place inside the tent for the reception. There was so much rain that there was about 5 inches of standing muddy water everywhere inside the tent! A total nightmare that still turned out to be a pretty wonderful time. None of the planned staging took place, and there was practically no time (and no space) for bridal portraits, so we just took some in the cramped living room before everyone went down to the tent.

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http://www.joshnibertp​hotography.com/Clients​/Stephens-Francke-Wedding/i-BtqWSH7/0/L/Stephens-Francke-Wedding-215-L.jpg

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That shucks! I see that the dancing floor is all wet.

The only critique I have from this set is ... I think you didnt use enough of the available light. The background is too dark for my taste. Also, did you bounce the flash?

Flash bounced with a translucent reflector card. The only ambient light in the tent were the light strings you see in the backgrounds. And the tent was pretty large, maybe 150x60' with a 25' tent pole. So even the 580ex had a hard time filling in the distant corners.

My images are darker than a lot of contemporary wedding photographers, and I've had to just settle on it being a creative choice. Even in venues with sufficient ambient light I have a more "dramatic" or "cinematic" light and processing than the high key stuff that I see other local photographers produce.

Thank you for commenting.

well--you don't have to 'settle' on a creative choice ! bah, I know what you mean, though.

I don't like that the two girls are stuck in the back of that group shot (though I confess to disliking posed group shots in general--we have to do them, though).

The shadows (by this I don't mean darkness in general )bother me--I wish you either had more bounce going on and less direct OR that you included an off camera flash during at least the dance.

I think it has to be pointed out that you had a massive challenge in terms of creating ambience from what is a really unhelpful environment. Low key was definitely one approach. In that vein, I like the last shot a lot.

Im very much a fan of #1 and #7. As for a group shot of the bride and brides maids, were you able to get a tent shot like #1?

I wasn't. I arrived several hours early and was able to spend good time hanging out with the groomsmen (the groom is my wife's first cousin) and took some photos of them in the house and the tent. The Bride and her bridesmaids had trouble with makeup, in addition to the difficulties with the weather, so I met with them about 25 minutes before the ceremony started, shot their group shots and individuals, then some quick bridal portraits, and some photos of the B&G together then sent them down the hill for the ceremony. Nothing got posed after that. We didn't even do family formals, which was the bride's call, not mine.

Also, my apologies, Skip, for posting excess images.

No bounce card needed. The whole tent is white and it will bounce light everywhere. Just raise your ISO or your aperture size.

+1 ^^

why did the bride keep her dressed tied on the back the whole time. Looks weird. I understand that the floor might be wet, but its going to get dirty anyways.

Rain is supposed to be lucky
We had snow, ice and rain the day before and the day of.

Generally, I like them, but I think #3 needs a different crop, so she doesn't look decapitated.

I like the bouquet shot. The last shot is a little too contrasty with the blown out whites and no detail in the blacks