First Wedding Shoot

[BryanPanting]

I have my first paid, non-family wedding shoot this weekend. I am a little nervous but pretty confident overall that I will do a good job. My wife will be assisting me with the shoot. This is kind of our test run to see if its something we want to move into. Any tips or suggestions that anyone has would be appreciated.

[candleman]

plan all your shots in advance and visit the locations.
i have a written shotlist with images to jog my memory to make sure i don't forget anything.

never stop shooting, take every opportunity and don;t ever think.. "we'll do that shot later at the formals"... even if you only have a few moments inbetween.
You never know who will get lost or how the plans will change.

smile all the time, and even if someone is a complete bitch to you (been there done that) ...keep smiling. If your camera fails or flash explodes... the B&G don't need to know about your issues.. just keep working like everything is going to plan.

People will see you as a slave and not a friend... so remember that you're paid to be there and not a guest. Don't be offended if people snap their fingers (so to speak. it;'s pretty rare to be treated like shit.. but it has happened)

keep a cleaning cloth and spare batteries & cards on your person at all times.

don't ever format a memory card at a wedding... do that before you leave home and check them all.

I know on your first wedding you are nervous... just act confident and pretend you do this before breakfast every morning.
Keep the ball rolling and keep them talking and having fun.. if you let thengs get quiet during the creative/bridal party shoot it wil change the feel of the images, and it won;t be easy to get them to come out the shell again.

make them feel special, compliment their beautiful vows/dress/veil/flowers/funny ceremony moments.

That's just a VERY quick braindump.. i need to get back to work.

All the best, post some pics.

[BryanPanting]

sweet, thanks for all the tips. That helps a lot.

[Crabs]

Good tips there, I would add the following as well (consider them lessons I learnt the hard way)
- take some bottle water for you and it does not hurt to have a bottle of water for the bride, she is going to be going through a very long day.
- Take some easy to eat lollies to keep you energy up.
- Take a towel incase it gets wet and so that if you have to ask the bride to sit on anything you can put that down cause she is not going to be impressed with a stain on her butt from photos.
- Have at least 4x 4 gig cards, all ready to go. maybe even 6. (who cars if you don't use them, but you will care if you run out and the last thing you need to be thinking is "oh god I hope I can fit all the shots in"
- try and keep the photo shoot on track, they will want to get to the reception as fast as possible.
- they will consider you the proffesional, so think about what you want them to do, not what they want you to take photos of, because most of the time they will stand where with a blank face expecting direction.
- go with the flow, be ready for plan changes.

- be aware of other people taking photos while you are taking photos, you will end up with half the people looking at you and the other half looking at the pther camera. If there are other people trying to take photos I tend to let them do it first and then jump in after, just dont let them get away.

I would also look at wedding photographers web sites
eg: Mark Quade Photography ~ Bathurst, Orange, Blue Mountains, Mudgee Wedding Photographer An awesome new, Bathurst based wedding photographer

I guess its good to remember to that they will love photos of a day that they were happy. Be confident in that. Not many people I think will compare their photos against other peoples wedding photos and say "yep mine are crap"

Good luck!

[BryanPanting]

Thanks for the additional tips, it really helped out. The shoot is over and I am exhausted. Now I have plenty of editing to look forward to.