Shooting a wedding? Need some advice

[BuddhaPi]

Naturally I was curious as to your website/portfolio, being as you're only 17...to bad I looked using my ipad, nothing like a big blank screen....flash sucks...so then I pulled it up on another machine, and what happened??? music?!....most likely copyrighted music, of which you don't have express permission to use...just a guess, anyway I bailed at that point on to better things..

[graciousness]

I am going to ignore you are 17 because that doesn't mean didly squat. What matters is how long you have been a photographer and where you are at the moment with your shots.

I looked at your site and before I looked, I thought I wasn't going to see much into the portraits due to you being so young and may not have as much experience seeing 'relationships' with people photos. But you know what, I have looked at your portraits now and whilst they are not great, they are not bad. With a lot, and I mean A LOT of practice, study, persistence, you can improve immensely come September.

But then in saying that, if the wedding is a fancy one, don't accept it. If it's a simple wedding, then by all means, do it. Weddings are very special times in people's lives that you can't afford to screw up. So you have to be well prepared.

What I do need to ask is this - can you afford to be equipped enough by September? Because you are going to need a lot of gears. Doesn't matter if you rent, but do realise that you will need a lot more than a camera and a couple of lenses.

I think you should take the wedding if only you are seriously, and I mean very seriously trying to get into photography as a business. You will need to invest heavily with time and money into this. Are you prepared for that?

[Yueko Image]

Yueko Image: we specialize in unique and artistic wedding photography. You can check our work out. I still clearly remember my first wedding shoot, it was scary. The most important thing is to find out what the couple is expecting. Despite they are not willing to pay a lot, that doesn't mean that they have less expectations for their photos. You need to be honest with them about amount of experience you have, so they have a realistic expectation. I don't think money is a huge issue, the most important thing for you is probably a experience and a good profilio at this time.

[Biomech]

This just popped up on failblog, made cringe :P (not exactly related to this post, so don't take offense, just not worth starting a new thread for)

[RyanSandsPhotography]

I am going to be as honest and straightforward as I can. More then likely you will not get that job. The couple is going to want to see some sort of a portfolio from you in regards to weddings and you just don't have it. There are A TON of things you need before starting to book weddings and you are just not there yet. I am not trying to be discouraging at all...just as honest and as helpful as I can. If you want a list here ya go

1. Liability & Gear Insurance
2. Professional website w/wedding portfolio
3. Legal Contract for weddings
4. Sample Wedding Albums
5. Business Cards & Brochures
6. Minimum of at least 2 professional camera bodies
7. Multiple f2.8/2.0/1.4/1.2 lenses (Macro, Telephoto, Wide Angle & Standard)
8. Multiple professional Flashes/Strobes (at least 2)
9. External Battery Packs
10. Multiple 8gig or higher memory cards (anywhere from 32-64gigs worth of cards)
11. Tripod, Plunger Cable, Wireless Flash Receivers and Triggers
12. Multiple bags & backpacks to hold all your gear
13. Suit or extremely nice clothes/comfortable shoes for wedding
14. Your own extremely reliable transportation
15. A TON of experience shooting weddings either as a 2nd or 3rd shooter

Do you see where I am going with this? Weddings are not to be screwed with. They are an ever changing lighting nightmare and if you don't know what your doing...you will fail miserably. Be warned...you could get sued or your parents could be sued. It's not a joke.

[continuumphotography]

Thank you Ryan for being a voice of reason! Everybody starts somewhere so I'm not going to judge this by the age of the photographer. BUT this question starts out saying he's never even attended a wedding! Being a professional photographer is not easy and it should be treated like a real business. All of the materials you listed are 100% necessary.
If an aspiring photographer wants to shoot weddings then how about starting as an intern or an assistent for an established photographer. Be an apprentice and learn your trade! Don't take anyone's money or say you can provide a service you can't. Karma! That's all I'm saying.

Originally Posted by RyanSandsPhotography

I am going to be as honest and straightforward as I can. More then likely you will not get that job. The couple is going to want to see some sort of a portfolio from you in regards to weddings and you just don't have it. There are A TON of things you need before starting to book weddings and you are just not there yet. I am not trying to be discouraging at all...just as honest and as helpful as I can. If you want a list here ya go

1. Liability & Gear Insurance
2. Professional website w/wedding portfolio
3. Legal Contract for weddings
4. Sample Wedding Albums
5. Business Cards & Brochures
6. Minimum of at least 2 professional camera bodies
7. Multiple f2.8/2.0/1.4/1.2 lenses (Macro, Telephoto, Wide Angle & Standard)
8. Multiple professional Flashes/Strobes (at least 2)
9. External Battery Packs
10. Multiple 8gig or higher memory cards (anywhere from 32-64gigs worth of cards)
11. Tripod, Plunger Cable, Wireless Flash Receivers and Triggers
12. Multiple bags & backpacks to hold all your gear
13. Suit or extremely nice clothes/comfortable shoes for wedding
14. Your own extremely reliable transportation
15. A TON of experience shooting weddings either as a 2nd or 3rd shooter

Do you see where I am going with this? Weddings are not to be screwed with. They are an ever changing lighting nightmare and if you don't know what your doing...you will fail miserably. Be warned...you could get sued or your parents could be sued. It's not a joke.

[RyanSandsPhotography]

Originally Posted by continuumphotography

Thank you Ryan for being a voice of reason! Everybody starts somewhere so I'm not going to judge this by the age of the photographer. BUT this question starts out saying he's never even attended a wedding! Being a professional photographer is not easy and it should be treated like a real business. All of the materials you listed are 100% necessary.
If an aspiring photographer wants to shoot weddings then how about starting as an intern or an assistent for an established photographer. Be an apprentice and learn your trade! Don't take anyone's money or say you can provide a service you can't. Karma! That's all I'm saying.

Josh/Melissa,

Thanks guys! Yea I'm not really trying to be discouraging. Just as honest and helpful as I can be. I think a lot of new photographers don't yet realize how insanely important a wedding is and how incredibly deep into shit you can get yourself rather quickly haha. I want all of us to succeed, prosper and be happy little campers doing what we love And hopefully avoid getting sued while we do it haha!

[bhursey]

Its actually better to be in a wedding then just going to one. When your in the wedding you see all the behind the seens and everything that does and can go wrong. I haven't shot a single wedding where something did not go wrong.. Thats why I have a solid contract also. One time the sister of the bride got second degree burns from a curling iron. That was fun.

[jonischrantz]

I'd have to agree with Continuum and Ryan on this. Too often weddings are looked on as a starting point in paid photography, whereas in reality they should be an ending point after you've perfected your craft in portraiture and documentary photography on days that are not the arguably the most important days of someone's life. There definitely should be some responsibility on the couple who is not budgeting enough for a full time professional, but we as photographers need to admit when we've bitten off more than we can chew. There are no do-overs in weddings. It's not something you should be doing to practice or get started with. Intern with a wedding photographer, assist, second shoot... then maybe you'll be able to better ascertain if it's a good path for you or not.