First Attempt at Wedding Photography

M

mdavies1983

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Name
Martin
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I was recently asked to photograph a wedding for the daughter of one of my mother's colleagues. I'm just a keen amateur but this girl had seen some of my holiday photos and asked me to photograph her big day. At first I was a little reluctant, for a start I had only ever been to one wedding myself and that was as a guest so I really was going into this blind (note that sentence is also my disclaimer!) ;)

Finally I said yes so I then spent a lot of time leading up to the day reading these forums for tips and advice. The wedding took place on Saturday so I just wanted to leave my view of the day for any others in a similar situation...

Overall I really enjoyed the day. I was expecting to feel a lot of pressure but as it happens I was very calm and really enjoyed the experience. Before the service I met at the bride's home to get some pictures of her getting ready. This was a really nice time to get to speak to her and the bridesmaids and allow myself to become relaxed with the situation. One thing I would say is that I planned to head off to the church a little earlier than them but their limousine had blocked my car in. Cue frantic driving when we all left to get to the church, park up and be ready as they arrived. My advice: Park around the corner as you'll have a lot of people turning up with cars!

At the reception there was a buffet rather than sit down meal which meant the bride and groom were never actually at the top table so shots of them together were rare except the first dance. I carried on for around an hour or so after the first dance just to get some pictures on the dancefloor such as the bride and brides father sharing a dance.

Mistakes...

1. It was suggested many times in the forums that you should have more than one camera/lens for the day. With that in mind I took my Nikon camera with both the 50mm and 75-300mm for portrait and church shots and then my Panasonic compact system with pancake lens for wide angle pictures - in theory this was meant to reduce the amount of time I was swapping lenses. In reality this was mistake number 1! I found the compact system just wasn't up to the job, especially the lack of a flash gun. This have me a load of problems at the reception where I ended up trying to use my 50mm lens and just standing as far back as possible. My advice is to get your hands on a second dslr, it will make the whole day much easier.

2. Before the wedding I spoke with the bride and got a list of formal shots that she wanted. After the church service it rained a lot so the bride suggested we leave the formal shots until at the reception venue. Mistake number 1! By the time we were there the children had decided they'd wore their suits for long enough and had changed. Due to the fact 90% of the formal shots were meant to have the children in they never happened. I felt bad about this, but I'm telling myself this is one of the risks of not paying for a professional and at least I won't make that mistake again!

Finally, if there's anyone still reading, thank you to all the members of this forum. The research I did before the day was a massive help. :thumbs:
 
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considering i think you did well, i a sure they will like them, i can't give critique as i have no idea about this sort of thing i am sure some one will be along to. maybe post a few on here rather than a link you may get more response.
 
Hi all

I'm going to do my first wedding soon and I was wondering if you could suggest some good lenses to take along. I've got a D3100.
Any help would be much appreciated.

Thank you
Cristina
 
I went to a wedding once where there were 2 photographers a husband and wife team. Whilst the husband was doing all the 'official' shots the wife was creeping around grabbing Candids, it worked very well I think.
 
Welcome to TP :wave:

If you really want some critique on your photo's then my suggestion is that you post 2 or 3 of your favourite shot's of the day in people and portraits for critique, post them at 1024px on the longest edge and click able to the full res image for those that want to have a good look to critique, it's not possible to offer you critique on 150+ images and even more so when those images are little bigger than seen on the back of the camera :shake:

Matt
MWHCVT
 
I'm due to shoot my first wedding at the end of September, so I'd be interested in any other insights you may have. I have issue 1 covered, but 2 could be a problem. Our fallback plan for bad weather is to shoot the formals at the reception venue, and I hadn't thought about the issue of people getting changed.
 
I've only done a couple of weddings (3) but my advice would be to recce the ceremony venue & get the group shots out of the way promptly, don't be afraid to use your voice & make sure the best man knows you're going to utilise his knowledge of the family. Start big & work your way down with the numbers as people will start to drift off very quickly.

I'll have to look at your shots another day, am on my mobile sans wi-fi, it'll take days to load
 
CrissTinaM said:
Hi all

I'm going to do my first wedding soon and I was wondering if you could suggest some good lenses to take along. I've got a D3100.
Any help would be much appreciated.

Thank you
Cristina
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call me mr grumpy but if you don't know which lenses to take are you sure you're ready to do it ?

That aside in basic terms 2 bodies , something short on one, something long on the other. Ideally something like a 70-200 f2.8 and a 17-50 f2.8 but its really dictated by what you've got or can afford to hire.

Plus if you are expecting crap light in the ceremony venue (where you probably won't be allowed to use flash) its worth taking a couple of fast primes like the 50mm f1.8 or 85mm f1.8

plus at least one , (preferably two), flash gun with a swivel head - and loads of spare batteries and cards
 
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MWHCVT said:
it's not possible to offer you critique on 150+ images and even more so when those images are little bigger than seen on the back of the camera :shake:
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this
 
For a first time you did well.

One thing with groups is space them a bit. Get the taller folk behind their other half. Key here is to get faces in spaces of people in front.

And never have a pram in a shot. Get an adult to hold the sprog. Also on the large group evryone is all over the place, looking here there and everywhere.

In some cases you have to get involved and be loud and get their attention. keep talking to them all as you set up..... soon as you loose them it's game over.

I've had 150 guests all shout out 'Who's pig is this?!' and then they all laugh at what they have said out loud..... Sometimes you are an entertainer as well as a tog.
Reportage togs I always wonder if they get everything they need from a wedding just milling about in the background... Sometimes you have to make stuff happen or you will be there all day and night.
The rest as I can see you did ok on first wedding.

I bet you were sweating on first one?
 
Well this thread has gone down differently to what I was expecting.

Be good to see a couple of your fav shots in this thread as its a flash gallery on your site and I can't see them on my phone.
 
Apologies, I thought this thread had stopped receiving comments and moved the site.

Here are some sample pictures:

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the shot with the blue eyes is stunning mate and i think you done very well for your first time!!! im due to shooot my 1st wedding in december and im crapping myself!! i will have a canon 7d/1000d combo with 50mm 1.4/1.8 - 70-200L and maybe a nice ultra wide 16-35mm 2.8L for group shots, i am far from a pro, i am not charging anything at all for a12 hour + day from start to finish let alone the 2 weeks plus editing time, i am putting my life and sole in to this and i am just hoping i can produce pics they are happy with, but needless to say i dont think ill ever be happy with my work and i allways want to better myself which can be a good thing,

needless to say you done very well and grats at getting your first wedding shoot under your belt! it can only get easier and less stressful from here on! :)
 
chris-red said:
I went to a wedding once where there were 2 photographers a husband and wife team. Whilst the husband was doing all the 'official' shots the wife was creeping around grabbing Candids, it worked very well I think.
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that is what me and 2nd tog do and it does work very well; you get a lot of happy 'when did you take that' comments when you present them their images.
 
good for first go, drop the selective colour.
 
mart77 said:
good for first go, drop the selective colour.
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I think a lot of brides and grooms like the selective colour.

Keep it as an option, let the client decide!
 
Spoony said:
I think a lot of brides and grooms like the selective colour.

Keep it as an option, let the client decide!
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really no, its naff beyond words, every now and then an image suits it but rarely. It adds nothing to an image.
 
selective colour aside thats a good set - the only thing i'd say is that #3 doesnt do a lot for me - bridal prep shots need to show the brides face , and the father of the bride (?) in number seven appears to have an extra head growing out of his shoulder.
 
couple of things stand out for me - back of the bride getting ready - it's not really flattering. Colour popping - yup. sure she will love it. BUT, it will stick out like a sore thumb in an album. The two colour church shots work ok for me - it's a record of what happened
 
I agree with the selective colouring comments. My opinion is that it can work for one/two shots....sometimes. Do it a lot and the whole thing just looks cheap.

Have a good look at professional wedding photographer websites. The top end ones never ever use selective colouring. The cheap ones use it all the time.

The back of the bride shot would look better if you cropped it so you only see less of her shoulders & back. She's a big girl so it will look more flattering. Oh and reduce/lose the vignette. It's far too much and again cheapens what looks like a lovely shot.
 
gadgeteer said:
Have a good look at professional wedding photographer websites. The top end ones never ever use selective colouring. The cheap ones use it all the time.
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This is more about class and taste. The cheap ones would be used by the lower classes who may love selective colouring and more importantly may want selective colouring. Whereas other classes have different tastes and could think of nothing worse that selective colouring and they would typically spend more money on photos and less on a gold horse drawn carriage.

This is not saying either of the classes or tastes within them are right or wrong but is accepting they are different. Looking at the people in the photos would suggest they would fit within the group that appreciate selective colour and they are the customer so it is ultimately up to them isn't it?

It really is worth watching a set of programmes Grayson Perry did a few months back on the different tastes within classes. He did it in a very non judgemental way and the viewer could come away from the programmes with an appreciation and acceptance of why the tastes are different and why nobody should be looked down on or up to.
 
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