1st Wedding Advice

Bullysrus

Bullysrus

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Tony
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Hi All,

Ive been asked by a friend if i would take the photos at there daughters wedding.

Both the parents and daughter dont have any money.

Its a registry office wedding with 20 guests and no reception due to the cost.

Ive agreed and they no ive never done anything like this before, so they arent expecting anything amazing, i just wanted to help them by capturing the wedding.

So like they asked me for help, im asking you all for help, which camera and lends do i use, also any tips or advice please.

And many thanks
 
astraman1 said:
might help if you tell us what you have to work with
Click to expand...

Sorry


Canon 5D MKII

Canon 1DMKIII

Canon 50mm 1.4

Canon 28-105

Canon 70-200 MKII IS F2.8

Canon 430EX MKII Flash
 
Well what do they want would be the mane question, since your shooting the 5D2 I'm guessing you've got at least one nice lens in front of the :thumbs: and a flash gun which will make a more than capable camera to get some shots in the ceremony and afterwards, from the sounds of things there working on a really tight budget so I'm doubting if they'll be having cars, but maybe they will have friends with a nice car that get's utilised for the day, so some pre-wedding arrival shots, make sure you know what the registrar will allow and then what shot's they want as formals after the wedding and that you've got a location for them, though with 20 people there are not going to be a lot of formals to be had, the only issue that I could see is if the weather is awful you'll have no backup location indoors to get some formal shots as they're not having a reception :thinking:

Matt
 
Well you've got good enough kit for sure.

The 28 ~ 105 will be the most useful.

The prime will be good for bokeh taking shots of the couple together with the background out of focus as will the telephoto zoom especially for bridal shots.

Visit the registry office with the Bride & Groom and have a look if the garden's ok. Get a feel for what they'd look like on the day together and see where best to take shots of them alone.

Get the main group shot out of the way after they've come out the ceremony room/building.

Have a plan b if it rains. The flashgun will be very useful bounced
 
sounds like the best that the situation can be in these cases. no big ceremony or doo and 100's of guests...and some decent kit on hand.
I would say, if you're game, take the couple out for photoshoot, to get them used to posing together if you can convince them to do so. then on the day, you're not wasting time setting things up and teaching them how to stand for the photos. it will just be 2nd nature to them.
my only other comment is that you have no backup flash, and your pro-bodies don't have a built in flash should it be required in an emergency.
do you have an option to borrow a backup from someone, just in case?
good luck :)
 
Your gear is fine. I'm assuming with such good gear you know your way around it. In which case it sounds to me like you need to do some research on how to pose the couple and look at the sort of shots you wish to achieve.

What I would say is meet the couple and set their expectations. The last thing you want is for them to think that just because you have one of those big fancy cameras you can change lenses on that they expect top end wedding photos.

Also check out the registry office beforehand and ask if you can use flash and where other photographers usually stand and take photos. This is what I did for my first couple of weddings and the staff were always really helpful with advice.
 
You will have no problem with the kit so the thing is to have a look at the websites of the pro's to get an idea of poses,do they want traditional or reportage or both.
The main thing is don't be afraid to order people around especially to get them in the groups and use the ushers and best man as gophers
 
I think the most important thing to find out is what the couple want - they might not require formal shots as, since you highlight the fact the wedding is done at low cost, they wouldn't to advertise the fact in the photos - it's not like getting married in the local 19thC church, westminster abbey or St Paul's. My guess, is that they just want a personal record of the day, nothing too fussy - so the 28-105 (sure it's not the 24-105?) would be great for full length shots of the couple and head and shoulders for the ceremony - flash gun useful. Spare flash is a good idea. The fact that no money is changing hands does relieve you of pressure I would say.

Good luck!
 
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