My First Wedding

This was shot for a friend. Had a great time but realized I would not want to make a living photographing weddings! I would be happy to do another wedding for a friend or family member but never for pay!!

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Brides Mom and Her Husband

Some good shots there! Thanks for sharing!

I agree, nice job!

agrandexpression wrote in post #17891346
Some good shots there! Thanks for sharing!

BallerStatus wrote in post #17891362
I agree, nice job!

Thanks!

Why not for pay?

So to begin with.... When they first came to me and asked I said no repeatedly. In fact I am still not sure how no became yes but somehow it did

I had given them a price and was planning on this being a paying job. As the wedding drew closer I became more and more nervous that I was in over my head. I remembered reading many times on this forum that if you don't know what you are doing you have no business charging. The stress was building a couple months before the wedding to the point that I was dreading the day. That is when I decided to take it from a paying job to a gift (the bride is the daughter-in-law of my purchaser for my main business). Instantly the stress was reduced - now I was just doing a favor for a friend. It didn't mean that I would try any less or that it wasn't as important to me it just removed the stress of a paying job.

In hindsight the images turned out such that charging would have been justified but I am satisfied - they have been very appreciative of the gift and treated me as a guest rather than a vendor the day of the wedding. It was still a long day and I worried about it a fair amount but it all worked out.

I'm glad it all worked out for everyone. I agree that there are some people out there that shouldn't be doing wedding photography, but do. You are not one of those people. I don't see any reason why you couldn't/shouldn't charge in the future if you enjoyed it and would like to do it again. I think a lot of what you described is the typical butterflies when you are paid for a gig like this. Good work, keep it up!

Thank you for the kind words. I am sure you are right they were just the pre shoot butterflies. This bride was very laid back and calm I can just imagine what it must be like with a difficult bride.

Here are a couple more:

The church was very dark and difficult. I had no choice but to use flash which I bounced. I did a few test shots without flash (I was lucky to have access the day before the ceremony) and even with the 5dIII's high ISO tolerance there was not way.

In my opinion, 4000 ain't high.

I'd use 6400 with little reservation on the 5D Mark III. Especially at the shutter speeds you're coming in at...but you do have a steady hand...very crisp shots!

Some ceremonies don't allow the use of flash, and many will generally shy away from it unless absolutely necessary.


Your photos are good quality...if you do it again, make some money on it

You should have got paid but I understand your reasoning. First weddings a hard.

Whats the deal with the 2nd one? All the others are solid images but the 2nd seems like a forced idea made in post... Was it a shot that he bride needed and you didnt get it at the time so you did a composite in post?

DThriller wrote in post #17891938
Whats the deal with the 2nd one? All the others are solid images but the 2nd seems like a forced idea made in post... Was it a shot that he bride needed and you didnt get it at the time so you did a composite in post?

What are you talking about? That's a gold cupper.

This is a good time to ask about that: How do those gold cups work?

And as for the image itself it looks like it was a special request. But I still dont get it

That is an image that was requested by the bride but it definitely wasn't composited. That is as shot with the standard adjustments. And yes that did take a gold cup

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