3 Bride & Groom's in ONE day!

Well, this weekend my mentor took me out on a hectic day. He had a really booked day with three shoots. Two one hour formals and last a wedding ceremony with formals. The day started with nice weather (and sun), then went to cloudy to rain.

The first couple was great to shoot, they were so fun and playful! The weather helped of course. I love this photo the most:

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Very nice!

I'd flash the second couple from the bottom, to remove the shadows.

1. Hot damn, we're in love and we're having fun.
2. Deer in the headlights. "Is it over yet?" , through clenched teeth.
3. We are in love and this rain will not ruin our parade.

Petra, you captured the essence of each couple very well.
Well done.

Skip, firstly thank you! And spot on with the comments!

The first couple had such a great attitude and I swear, if you told them to leap off the little dock by the water we were at, they would, just to get some great shots. I think this couple is going to be very happy, they gave that "vibe" about the whole thing. Nothing did seem to "shake" them or stress them at all (they were getting married later that afternoon, so it was a "pre-shot").

The guy in the second picture really felt like he was "forced" to do this. I mean I think I saw one "real" smile on him and that was when I was goofing around to get him to smile for the pro's photos (who were the ones that counted - mine are just "photographer in training"). I mean common buddy, you just married the mother of your child, you should be beaming with joy! But it's an important experience to meet someone you don't really "click" with and try to handle it well (she was great though!).

The third couple, well it was a very emotional wedding too. I was grateful it was raining, because at the ceremony I was moved to tears when the bride's son was given a ring by the groom, since on this wedding day, the boy was officially adopted by the groom and he got a new last name together with his mom (i.e. his real father was never there for him). The boy was beaming with pride and it was very touching. Yep, this couple will go through sorrow and joy together and make it.

Kind of fun to try to figure out who will "make it" or not. The divorce rate in Sweden is 50%, so it looks kind of bleak. But I guess 2 out of 3 will make it.

can you really tell if they're going to be happy or go through pain by just taking their pics on their wedding day? all couples go through really happy moments and very down moments together. if you can tell that much from these pics then i surely need one of those cameras

i'm sure all couples were under alot of stress some people just show it more than others.

rain on someone's wedding is a sign of good luck.

the photos are beautiful. they make great studies. i think the weather worked for your photos.

good luck on your solo gig!

No, of course you can't tell by just taking pictures. But sometimes you just have that "gut feeling" about things... even if I were right, I'd never tell them that! I mean, that's awful to say "hey, your marriage is doomed, so don't do it or have it revoced"

When I was married 3 years ago I hung out on a wedding forum. I don't remember how many people I talked to regulary before the wedding and some time after, but at least 3 of the couples was divorced within the first year. The shortest was 4 months and those were the ones who everyone thought was going to be "happily ever after". He cheated on her a month after and made another girl pregnant. So no, you can't really tell for sure.

About the rain on the wedding day, yes I told the couple that it means happiness and also wealth according to Swedish tradition. In some ares in Sweden it also means many children, but that made the bride a bit pale, so we settled on the wealth part.

Thanks for the good wishes, even if I felt very confident after this weekend, I'm still nervous that something will happen (Murphy's Law). I have a friend that I lured into buying a 20D so I'm going to ask if I can borrow his camera during that day, just in case. Even if I will use my 350D most of the time since I'm more familiar with it (and if he says yes, I'll put the 80-200 on the 20D since that should be better balanced and the Tamron on the 350D).

Beautiful shots, I'm sure they were impressed with them.

that's why i only have one child (and he's gonna make up for all the ones we didn't have esp due to his recent interest in photography) he's 11 and can recite cameras and mp from dpreview.

i too have convinced 4 people to get canon's. they all purchased powershots and seem to be very happy and love the user friendly features. now if i can only convince someone to purchase a 20D so i too can borrow.

hope that friend will lend you his cam. by the looks of your photo's you're good for it and if it won't lend it tell him we'll vouch for you.

See, that's why I have cats. All they need is catfood and clean litter. A lot cheaper than kids. Only disadvantage is that cats can live for over 20 years, so it's like kids, you don't get them out of the house when they are 18.