First solo wedding in the morning. Nervous.

In the morning I have my first solo wedding gig and the nerves are kicking in a bit. Someone tell me this is common lol.

I've second shot a few but this is my first outing as the main photographer, and although it's as a favour for some friends and I'm not being paid financially there's definitely a different feeling going into this one. They only want a record of the day rather than the more formal, staid shots but I still want to produce work that they'll cherise for years to come and that I'm proud to deliver obviously.

I'm confident in my kit and my abilities so this isn't a post saying:
'Oh God! What have I taken on??!!'

More like a 'Whoa, this feels a bit different' but I guess that's to be expected. I know people post in this section regularly asking about taking on weddings so I'm going to come back to this thread after the wedding and update it. Kind of like a mini journal of a first-timer in case anyone is interested in the behind the scenes of what particular dramas I'll have to face that might not be expected.

Hopefully it'll be usefull to someone else starting out in this line of work further down the line.

Keith

Not being paid? It is normal to be nervous and you want to do a good job for your friends which you will do. Just remember - they are getting what they paid for. That statement is not to take anything away from your skills. If a person wants guaranteed results they hire and pay someone with proven experience and results. In your case they just want a record of the day. All you need to do is accommodate them.

Honestly, they are friends but they had no issue putting pressure on you to save money. I would not sweat it.

Good luck. Nerves are a good thing. If you aren't a little nervous there is something wrong. It's usually when you think you have everything sussed that things go wrong... in anything we do in life.

Have fun, trust your equipment and your skills and simply do your best.

digital paradise wrote in post #15255511
Not being paid? It is normal to be nervous and you want to do a good job for your friends which you will do. Just remember - they are getting what they paid for. That statement is not to take anything away from your skills. If a person wants guaranteed results they hire and pay someone with proven experience and results. In your case they just want a record of the day. All you need to do is accommodate them.

Honestly, they are friends but they had no issue putting pressure on you to save money. I would not sweat it.

The couple are on a pretty tight budget and didn't have a photographer in their original planning. They aren't particularly keen on getting thier photograph taken and neither is particularly 'showy'.

They both work in the local music industry and the bride is an organiser of a pretty big local festival, she's always been really supportive of my photography and helped me with photopasses for gigs in the past. So when I mentioned about returning the favour and shooting her wedding she was quite taken aback but readily agreed. The whole day is being made up of friends pulling together for the couple-the wedding band is a pretty well known act who are playing for the first half of the reception, then it's a combination of some of the best musicians in the city playing for the rest of the night.

I've never been involved something with so many people pulling together to help a couple out and with the calibre of some of the other people involved I don't want to be the one to drop the bag with 'my thing' if that makes sense. So it's my own pressure I'm putting on myself because like any photographer I want to produce a set of photos to stand by, hopefully exceeding their expectations.

So in terms of 'getting what they paid for'...I want to do so much more for them

RangersForever wrote in post #15255597
Good luck. Nerves are a good thing. If you aren't a little nervous there is something wrong. It's usually when you think you have everything sussed that things go wrong... in anything we do in life.

Have fun, trust your equipment and your skills and simply do your best.

Thanks dude! Just about to head down the road to meet up with the groom now and really looking forward to it this morning

Good luck today against East Stirling btw I come from a family of big Rangers fans and it hurts to see them in the third division slipping up against teams of painters and plumbers these days!

keith30d wrote in post #15255869
Thanks dude! Just about to head down the road to meet up with the groom now and really looking forward to it this morning

Good luck today against East Stirling btw I come from a family of big Rangers fans and it hurts to see them in the third division slipping up against teams of painters and plumbers these days!

Aye, well with your location I knew you would be of good stock Have many friends over the water, great people. As for Rangers... I'm enjoying it... a bit of a change... getting beat more often adds to the excitement! haha!

Good luck and hope all goes well today

Good luck and nerves are normal. You will be wondering..Why did I agree to this *LOL*

How did it go ?

Christopher Steven b wrote in post #15257666
How did it go ?

It went really well! I'm just getting to bed now (2:40am local time) so cards will be uploaded and backed up in the morning

I'm shattered but it was well worth the effort.

Card backups happen before I go to bed!

^Good idea. So even if gremlins DO sniff out where your cards are, they probably won't even think to scavenge your hard drives for the backup versions.

SMP_Homer wrote in post #15259723
Card backups happen before I go to bed!

why?

timnosenzo wrote in post #15260175
why?

Peace of mind, I'm guessing!

I photographed my first wedding of the season on the weekend, probably my 130th wedding. While I wasn't nervous exactly, I was a little anxious, I know first weddings of the season generally aren't your best work. I prepared as best I could - meeting with couples a couple of times, location scouting twice, looking at photos, reviewing principles, reviewing conference notes, etc. It went fine, the prep gave me confidence

Christopher Steven b wrote in post #15259762
^Good idea. So even if gremlins DO sniff out where your cards are, they probably won't even think to scavenge your hard drives for the backup versions.

Yup... I run two backups as soon as getting home.