Shooting a Wedding in April. What gear do I need?

I've shot one wedding before as an assistant and another small wedding as the main photographer... but that was a few years ago. Now that I have advanced more in my photography, I want to make sure I do this right! I would love any help I can get with tips, workflow suggestions, and most of all gear. I can rent gear but I'm not too sure what would be best: 50mm 1.4? wide angle? fish-eye? speedlight? photogenics?

I shoot with a Canon 7D. I appreciate everything!

Welcome.

Search the forums and soak in as much as you can. I hope the responses you get arent too harsh.

Workflow: Men. Women. The wedding. Studio-caliber wedding-party photos. The reception. Ask if any specific photos are wanted. Ask if you can use flash during the wedding. If not get good glass...

Equipment: This gets to be like religion! For me, a good zoom, good flash, battery-expansion for the flash, good 50mm & ~70mm for the wedding-party photos. One wide zoom for on-floor dancing. One tele zoom for odds & ends. Lots of spare batteries; find a wall outlet for a charger if you can.

Finally: Smile! Make sure they know how happy you are for the lovely couple! Never hesitate to position people slightly. Avoid taking pictures of people with drinks in their hands. Remember that these photos will be viewed for 50 years!

Have fun!

How do you guys feel about a fish-eye? I've heard several photographers use those for weddings. also, I will get a speedlight to shoot with, but would it be better to get a side mount for it, or just use my wireless trigger and hold it where i want it?

I am very good at smiling! especially if I have a plan! (Which I plan on having lol)

You probably will not find too many of your answers in this thread but you will find them in this forum. You have only a few months, so hang out and learn as much as you can!

My opinion:

50mm 1.4> speedlight>wide angle>fish-eye>photogenics?

Make sure you have redundancy. Make sure you rent a camera, perhaps something like the 5DMKII. A typical setup would be something like the 5DMKII + 24-70 and 7D + 70-200 f2.8 IS. That will get you most of the shots. You can fill in with primes, such as the 50 1.4 you mentioned, or an 85mm prime. I would bring 2 speedlights as well. I would pass on the fisheye.

why would she need a 5d2? just to use it? i understand its full fram but using the lenses that you are stating to use wouldn't that take the need of full frame away? o

Get a second camera. You need a backup.

If it's only your second wedding, and it's been a few years, just get a second camera, two canon speedlite flashes for both cameras, put it in auto mode or P mode (and carefully select ISO) and just go. For the inexperienced, there's too much going on to be conscious of gear and settings. Just concentrate on getting the shots. You don't need premium lenses and fisheyes and DEFINITELY NOT PHOTOGENIC STROBES. Seriously... keep it simple. As you develop your style and get a wedding shooting flow down, you can make more educated decisions on gear that will complement your own personal, subjective needs.

Honestly, a camera on P with a lens (even kit lens) and speedlite is going to get you passable shots all day long. A super duper camera with prime lenses and shallow DOF and studio strobes and all that crap will yield less keeper shots for an inexperienced wedding shooter.

Seriously, just concentrate on the shots. Not the gear, not the settings.

I agree with the 24-70 mm. That's a good all around camera for a wedding. You don't necessarily need a 5Dm2 as a backup camera, but if you can beg, borrow or rent another camera like a 50 or 60D as a backup I would, always bring a backup. Even a 40D or a rebel.

A 200mm or a 150 macro lens is also a good one to have, of the two I would actually recommend the macro, so long as you limit the range they do okay with focusing and it lets you do nice closeups of the rings.

If you don't have a fisheye lens don't bother renting one. They're fun to play with, but for weddings you really want to know what you're doing with them, and even if you do, you'll only use one or two of the shots.

Visit the location ahead of time and test out the lighting. I've only shot in one church that doesn't allow flashes, and natural light usually won't cut it if they want good shots at the alter.

Make sure they give you enough time for the portraits. Estimate double what you think you'll need. Especially if they have a large wedding party.

On the day of the event, I like to photograph the groomsmen and the groom and than the groom and his family. Switch to the girls, do the bridesmaids photos and than the bride and her family. Go to the church shoot the ceremony, split somewhere away from the rest of the guests and do the shots of the whole bridal party. Ideally you then draw the bride and groom away by themselves. (This doesn't always work out) and do portraits of them.

The less people you have around the easier it will be to work. Don't be afraid to ask people to hold off on taking the same photo you are. The more people snapping photos the more eyes will wander during the shot.

If the bride wants to do photos at the reception hall try to get them taken care of before dinner and dancing. Once the reception starts it's very hard to draw people away. But once you get that far, it's pretty easy.

I agree with the previous post. You really need to have a backup for weddings.

April weddings are fun - now remember that April in San Diego is different than April in Montreal - I don't think you tell us where you are, and that will make some differences! Unless it's all indoors, then April has little bearing

Backups are important, but I like to use both cameras instead of just 1, and 1 stored as backup. Think of it as your backup is at hand, so if something happens to one body, you're 5 seconds away from using the other one instead of walking/crawling back to your bag to make the swap.
lighting is important - a flash, a backup/alternate, some extra batteries, maybe something to mount a flash on, etc...

all very useful tips! thanx guys

Minimum 2 cameras, f/2.8 or faster lenses, and at least one 580EX flash...this will give a great photographer good photos and an inexperienced wedding photographer acceptable photos...if they are familiar enough with the equipment to use it.

thanks guys. I love the advice you guys have given and I will take it all into consideration!

See my sig. That's the gear I take to every wedding. I may not use it all, but it's there if needed.