Oooh good luck! make sure you tell us how it goes!
Sounds terrifying to me! I would be so scared of messing up!

Thanks for this link I have looked at it, but the closest place is in Glasgow! Not too far to be out the question though! thanks again Moonie xx

Thanks LM I will let you all know how it goes.

Hello

I take 2 bodies, I use my 5DMk11 with an 85mm F1.2L for most of the indoor shots, and I use a 30D with 17-40 F4L for group shots. I sometimes use my 100-400L for 'candid' shots outside (if I have time).

I think you do need two bodies, especially to use one as a backup in case of a failure. But having a lens fitted to each body so you can swap bodies and not lenses is nice too.

Remember, for the outdoor shots, where you are going to have good light (relative to indoors) you can pretty much use any dSLR (or a film body if you still have one, just scan the negatives and you can PS them how you like)

For weddings where you have a lot of people I take a second 'tog' with me, we share out the work with one doing formal shots and the other doing candid and unusual shots, then we have a mixture of images. Even though times have changed, messing about with wedding shots is still frowned upon by many, and lots of customers, even people getting married in their late teens, still want the 'standard' group shots, and are not that interested in unusual or humorous shots.

I guess at the end of the day, you can only take what you have

Alan.

I wouldn't do weddings either, at least not on a professional or semi professional basis.

Just thinking about how on earth would I manage the bride and also the groom getting ready at the same time if asked to. It would need two photographers preferably a male and a female photographer.
Even getting permission to photo in the church requires pre permission and the best place to set up so as not to disturb the service.

Then apart from arranging the after wedding shots ,again location knowlege can make or break the final picture, there is the reception to deal with as well.

Then it is back for PP which can take ages as well, so those taking official wedding shots are brave people and deserve their fees..

Bazza

You do need two people to get all the getting ready shots, unless bride and groom live really close to each other. I have never asked for permission to photograph in a church, if a wedding is being held, it sort of goes without saying they will have a tog. As for the best place, you get a feel for that as you look around.

I always scout the wedding scene, look for good places to stand/group guests etc. Find a nice spot to get the bride and groom, a half hour scout around will generally give you some good ideas. Reception is the hardest part I find, trying to get interesting images of seated people


This really comes down to managing expectations. Don't tell a prospective customer that you will give them a couple of hundred shots, always underestimate, then you have two options, (a) you can give them more if you want or (b) you can be really picky with what you give them. I normally tell a customer that as a rule of thumb, they will get roughly one image for each person (whether that be a single image, or a group shot etc) plus the normal posed images, bride and groom, bride and groom with parents etc.

Alan

Good post!

I'm shooting the bits and pieces flowers,settings,rings,etc ,venue, candids at reception,people mingling,and some of the getting ready , and basically trying to help the photographer and not get in his way

It's a mixture of terror,and excitement I am feeling about it at the moment

Those are my favourite ones when I look through the blogs of wedding photographers.
I wish had those from my wedding day.
I let a inexperienced photographer do my wedding photos. It was great of them to agree to do it as we didn't have to pay, but I really really really regret it as I just don't have the memories of the day recorded as I wish I had.

Thanks everyone! there is a lot of very interesting posts on this one and I have read each and everyone as I need all the advise I can get!! I will be taking the main pictures, the bride wants traditional type pictures and prefers Black and white, but not all that way I hope!! Graham will be doing the candid shots, well that's the plan anyway! I know the area pretty well and have been for a look at the venue, will be going inside to look around very soon too!

Years ago, ie. 30 years ago, I was a professional wedding photographer. Back then fild cameras were the norm. Most wedding photographers carried two cameras to make sure they captured sufficient photos to satisfy their customers. If something were to go wrong such as bad roll of film, jammed camera, or defective gear the second camera was there as a backup.

I used two Mamiya Secor 645s with two different focal length lenses and two different flashes. Medium format cameras were limited to 24 shots per roll so additional pre-loaded film inserts were always carried.

I haven't shot a wedding in many years but feel that if you carry multiple memory cards, lenses, and freshly charged batteries a single body will do just fine. I'd change memory cards a number of times during the shoot just for security sake.