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If you shoot RAW, processing the images will take more time, though you'll have more control over sharpness and exposure compensation.

"Two is One, One is None." - Rent a 2nd camera as a backup. You do NOT want to foul this up.

Spare memory card, spare battery, etc.

Experiment with using fill flash. If possible, get an off-camera flash and a diffuser. Most on-camera flashes suck bad and are very harsh. With tweaking, on some cameras, you can de-compensate the flash manually or it may have a "fill flash" mode.

Try to keep the sun over one shoulder or the other so it's basically behind you.

In post-processing, don't oversharpen close-ups, as this makes skin look worse.

When you do decide to do close-ups, GET IN CLOSE and fill the screen with faces. It creates an intimate feel.

Don't be afraid to creatively crop and frame "in-camera".

Take a LOT more photos than you think you need. If you don't fill the card, you didn't take enough, imo. You can ALWAYS delete. You can never re-create the situation.

Be sure to save space for reception photos, dancing, cake cutting, etc. Get shots of all the different people who were there. Group shots, individuals, posed and candid. The couple will (hopefully) want to remember their friends and family who attended as well as their own part in it.

Consider going to a Ritz camera or other shop and "renting" a decent wide/zoom lens. You want to be able to get in close without being up in everyone's business. Also, when you use the tele to do framing/composition from a distance, you usually get good bokeh in the background of the image, depending on the lens.

Consider whether you want to engage people when taking photos, or be more of an observer/journalist style shooter. This will also depend on what the couple wants. Some people want a more intimate approach, others want the event "documented" in some sense.


There's a ton to think about.

If you can get access to any of the places (church/reception hall) go a day or two early and take a few pics.  Ask the folks there if they would turn on the lights to the settings they'll be using at the time.  Take pics and notes, a recon mission helps a lot.  You can also take any non-people pics for the album at that time.  A steeple eclipsing Sun makes for a great picture.

Take a laptop to the reception, get there early.  Make cd and hd copies as a backup.  Do a quick review and delete any bad pics then set up the laptop to do a slideshow of the wedding.  If you have internet access upload a few to a Picasa web album for friends who couldn't make it. 

Once you've taken enough get drunk and take a few more

My advice - post photos of hot bridesmaids.

dgm wrote:

Veritas - your sensor has a big hunk of dust on it.

Not my pic, found off google.  I'm the idiot who always forgets the steeple shot

If family asked me to shoot their wedding because they were low on dough, I'd probably pay for a pro to do it rather than suffer their wrath at what came from my camera.


It would be teh suck to fuck it up.

Good luck!

Btw, I speak as someone who had his bro-in-law shoot his wedding.

Last edited by elliot (07-25-2008 04:38 PM)

lol @ that steeple shot, the noise, blurriness, power line, and the warehouse next to the church really make it special.

AND sensor dust, too. And it's cheesy. There's a good "what not to do".

Last edited by axe (07-25-2008 04:51 PM)