Wedding #1 under my belt

Shot my first wedding over the weekend. Photography wasn't high on the B&G's list of wedding day priorities - it was a small DIY wedding with a limited budget - so after level-setting expectations with the couple, I thought it would be a good opportunity to test myself and try something I've wanted to do for a while now. It was definitely wasn't an easy test, but I'm so glad I decided to give it a try.

I was feeling pretty down when I left the venue at the end of the night, thinking I had missed so many shots. When I started culling though, I was feeling a little better. I found some images that I liked, and found my mistakes and the where and why's on my misses. It was a great learning experience.

One thing I did as a bit of a safety net for myself was to hire a second photographer who had plenty of wedding experience. It wasn't in the budget, so I was out of pocket for it, but I'm very glad I had someone there to help out. They handled the groom and groomsmen shots, ceremony coverage, helped with gear and lighting, and it was just nice to have someone there to chat with and bounce ideas off of. For anyone on the fence about their first wedding, I would definitely recommend finding an assistant or second shooter with experience to help out.

All shots below are mine (hence why there aren't groomsmen shots). C&C is most definitely welcome.

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It's always good to freak out a bit. Helps you stay on top of it. And your shots looks great.

Nice work for a first wedding. I wish mine would have looked this nice!

#3, were the drapes secured in that position? It's a good looking silhouette, I'm just wondering if the drapes spread across the width of the window would give it a little cleaner look. Perhaps you tried it that way first and ended up liking the drapes pulled together.

#6 Excellent! The scene is glowing, which is perfect for that shot!

It sucks you more or less had to pay to shoot your first wedding...but it sounds like you learned a good bit from the experience.

Great job...I'm sure they'll be thrilled!

Good job. I would really suggest to charge at least a grand for your work as its top notch and there are many photographers out there who would charge decent amount of money and there picture looks like a kid took them on toy camera. i did my 1st wedding last week and i charged 1200 just because we spend a lot on our gear and wedding photography takes a lot of time and effort and no one should work for free.

I felt the same way as you after my first wedding. Got done and was really down on myself because I thought I'd missed so much, but got home and realized I was just beating myself up. It's a good thing though, that means you obviously care to do a good job and do even better next time around.

You should be pleased with these photos and the experience you've gained.

Here are my thoughts on these. 1, brides dress needs highlights taking down to reveal dress detail. If it looks gray up whites a little. 2&3, great shots, wow if ever I saw one. 5 reminds me of my first wedding (my own, not one I'd shot lol) where the door was covered in graffiti. 6 looks a little noisy on my phone, did you have to drag exposure up? And 7 is way too dark. Composition is great, you just need to work on your exposure, but it's easy to fix in PP. Well done for your first wedding.

appdroid wrote in post #17683212
It's always good to freak out a bit. Helps you stay on top of it. And your shots looks great.

Thanks so you much! Yeah, it's good to get the nerves going I guess.

agrandexpression wrote in post #17683556
Nice work for a first wedding. I wish mine would have looked this nice!

#3, were the drapes secured in that position? It's a good looking silhouette, I'm just wondering if the drapes spread across the width of the window would give it a little cleaner look. Perhaps you tried it that way first and ended up liking the drapes pulled together.

#6 Excellent! The scene is glowing, which is perfect for that shot!

It sucks you more or less had to pay to shoot your first wedding...but it sounds like you learned a good bit from the experience.

Great job...I'm sure they'll be thrilled!

Thanks a bunch! In #3, you're right, the drapes were fixed with a sewn bow so I had no options there. I'm just glad the fabric was just wide enough to not cut through any part of her head.

I didn't exactly have to pay to shoot the wedding, but once the editing is all done, my pay per hour definitely won't be pretty. After this experience though, I'll have a better idea of how to value my time.

Killeramit wrote in post #17683623
Good job. I would really suggest to charge at least a grand for your work as its top notch and there are many photographers out there who would charge decent amount of money and there picture looks like a kid took them on toy camera. i did my 1st wedding last week and i charged 1200 just because we spend a lot on our gear and wedding photography takes a lot of time and effort and no one should work for free.

Thanks! I don't know about 'top notch', but thank you. We do spend a lot on gear, that's for sure! I also agree that we shouldn't work for free. Clients don't put any value on our work if they aren't paying for it.

midgeman wrote in post #17683730
I felt the same way as you after my first wedding. Got done and was really down on myself because I thought I'd missed so much, but got home and realized I was just beating myself up. It's a good thing though, that means you obviously care to do a good job and do even better next time around.

You should be pleased with these photos and the experience you've gained.

Colin Glover wrote in post #17683740
Here are my thoughts on these. 1, brides dress needs highlights taking down to reveal dress detail. If it looks gray up whites a little. 2&3, great shots, wow if ever I saw one. 5 reminds me of my first wedding (my own, not one I'd shot lol) where the door was covered in graffiti. 6 looks a little noisy on my phone, did you have to drag exposure up? And 7 is way too dark. Composition is great, you just need to work on your exposure, but it's easy to fix in PP. Well done for your first wedding.

Thanks guys! And Colin, thanks for the feedback, much appreciated. #7 is purposely dark since they are backlit. During the first dance I had the assistant hold a flash on a monopod and I gave them direction to move around to light from different angles. My idea with this shot was to almost silhouette the couple, with some rim light. I would have liked more rim light on the groom, but I like the highlights in the bride's hair.

Cheers