first wedding request!

[k8et]

first of all - I'm so glad I've been hanging out on these forums, and know what it takes to do a wedding.

A friend is engaged to be married fall 2011. She asked me to do her photos. :/ I'm nowhere NEAR that level yet. I know she doesn't have the money to hire someone.

Luckily I had played the "what if" in my mind just that week, what would I say when asked? This is where the DPS education helped immensely.

I told her I do not have the equipment (backup body at a minimum!!) or skills to be sure I'd get good photos during the crucial moments. I said I'll be at the wedding and happily take photos, but I did not want to be her only source for them. Well, her mom is a hobby photographer and has done weddings before (I never met her, this is all I know) - and she said she'd have to just use her mom then. So I acquiesced and said I would be a second shooter to her mom, so that she can be sure to be in the photos as well (and enjoy herself a bit) and we'd at least have multiple cameras. it was the only way I felt comfortable being an "official" shooter for such an important day.

I'm guessing sometime in 2011 I'll try to set up a meeting with her mom and figure some things out. I'm nervous, but actually glad that it's working out this way as I can dip my toes in and see if I have any interest in doing weddings in the future. And, I have 1 3/4 years to work on improving my skills before then :P

Oh yeah, the same friend also scheduled with me my first "shoot" in a week - though we didn't realize the date is super bowl sunday (we may reschedule or just start early)... never done a photo shoot before, and this will be a doozy. It's for Suicide Girls. :P But - if I like it and it turns out well, that would be a FUN niche for me to improve skills and eventually get a little money - basically offering shoots for that site and on model mayhem. who knows right??

I'm still my own harshest critic and have a reasonable head about all this after the no-nonsense advice here, at a minimum I just want to keep improving my skills and have her enjoy the photos that she wouldn't have been able to afford any other way....

The only thing I have to figure out is whether to charge her or not for the wedding. I know her financial situation, and I have asked her to do my hair/makeup for MY wedding this fall, which I was going to pay her for. So do I ask her to trade services? Ask for money? Consider it my wedding gift to her? Most of this comes down to our personal relationship so I know I'm the only one who can really decide that. I don't feel like I should charge her at this moment, but I may be at the point where I should charge by her wedding.

thanks for listening to my rambling :P

[lputman]

Personally, I wouldn't ask for anything. I would take it as the learning experience.

[RustySterling]

I agree with Lori. Just do it for the experience. Also, there was a great series from a blog that is in the Tutorials section here at dPS. It is well worth reading. This is the link:

Basics of Wedding Photography

Give it a look.

[k8et]

Thanks Rusty - yes I have read that, back when I thought of wedding photography in a more, er, romantic light :P Now I know more about how hard it is.

And Thanks Lori. That's how I feel about it, but then with people I know, I probably err on giving too much away for free, and I've read so much about doing things cheap or free that I just wanted some input from other photographers.

[k8et]

Ooops that wasn't the article I thought it was, sorry rusty - thanks for pointing me to another resource! I had read several good articles (on here and elsewhere) at some point last year.