Experience from my first wedding...long post...

When I started my photography business in 2002, I was asked almost from the

start "Do you do weddings?". At the time, and until recently, my answer was

"Nope! I don't want to take the chance of messing up someone's 'Big Day'."

Last fall, after much consideration, I decided to say yes to one such request,

figuring that I knew my equipment well enough, and could a respectable job.

 

The request came from a friend of mine. He had seen me work at a couple of

events, where I was just doing some pj type work moving through the crowd trying

to capture the story of the evening. He said that he and his fianc頬iked the

work I had done. After the obligatory conversation about how I had not done

this before, he still wanted me to do it. They were trying to keep a tight

reign on the budget. They were hoping for something better than just having a

bunch of people with typical cameras taking what ever shots. We negotiated a

price (more of a gift from me and a chance to gain some experience than a profit

making venture).

 

Ever since, I have been reading here to learn what I could without actually

doing it. I didn't post, because I didn't want to get flamed and I didn't know

what I didn't know, so I didn't know what to ask. I still don't know what I

would have asked that was not covered in other posts, so I figure I know more,

and know more of what I didn't know. Kind of like a little saying I go by "The

more I learn, the more I realize there is to learn, and the less I feel like I

know." Anyhow, I still don't have a specific question, so on with how it came

together.

 

Short Story:

 

It was fun and a lot of work. I learned a lot and plan on doing more weddings.

If the bride and groom like the pictures as well as my wife did, it was a good day.

 

Long Story:

 

I met with the couple about a month ago, to try to nail down what shots were on

their "must have" list. They didn't want the photographs to be "all about them"

but instead wanted to have mostly shots that showed them with the people the

invited to share the day with them. For the formals, shots with them and each

of the bridal party individually, as well as the group shots, parents, immediate

family shots, and then if there was time some shots of the two of them.

 

Friday night was the rehearsal, and I was asked to take a couple of pictures

there, and was told that was where I would learn about some of the "special"

shots they wanted during the ceremony. I also had an opportunity to meet the

videographer and find out about his plans and where he was going to be during

the ceremony. I had an opportunity to try taking some pictures in lighting

similar to the actual wedding. That was a big help. The biggest problem of the

night was with the videographer who almost stepped on me and my equipment

several times, as he would just go where he wanted paying no attention to who or

what was around him. "I've been video taping weddings for x years and have done

y weddings in that time." Truly not one of the most professional individuals I

have had the pleasure of working with, and close to one of the most arrogant.

To top it off, he was the grooms boss. Not much I could do there other than to

try to get along.

 

I was able to get back into the church on Saturday with my wife and played

around a little more. I felt like I was as ready as I could be, which is good

since time was up.

 

The day started around 10:30 taking some shots of the bride getting ready, and

trying to get some shots of the dress. My creativity was short a little, and it

was tuff since everything (dress, walls, closet doors, curtains, etc.) was

white. Everywhere I tried the dress, it just wanted to blend in. Sigh. I was

feeling discouraged and the day had just begun. I got some fun shots of the

bride getting her hair done, being fed grapes by a brides maid, and having her

make-up put on.

 

I left her at about 11:15 and went off half way across town to find the groom

and get a couple of shots of him getting ready. I was able to get a couple of

shots there, that at the time I thought "OK, this is going ok". I took off for

the location where we were going to be taking the formals at about 11:45 and was

there right around noon. (Note: Rochester, MN is not very large, and the travel

time from one place to the next was in the neighborhood of 10-15 minutes).

 

The formals were taken at the Plummer House. We started the formals with all

the guy, getting all the desired shots. As we finished our last shot, the bride

showed up with the bridal party, minus one car that was about 5 minutes behind.

We started taking some shots of the B&G with parents and immediate family.

When the last car showed up, we took the pictures of the Bride and attendants,

got the rest of the family shots, and the shots of the whole wedding party. The

only shot missed was with one grandma who did not show up, and was going to be

going directly to the church. Not too bad, we still had about 30 minutes to

take pictures of the B&G alone. As we finished up with those, and were heading

to the cars, the care taker of the house stopped out and greeted me, checking to

make sure I followed protocol (making sure there was not an event scheduled at

the house when we wanted to take the pictures) and parted by saying "Good Job

with the pictures. I wish we would have found you when my daughter got married.

You would have been better to work with." Nice way to have that part end, but

the thought that kept going through my head was "but you haven't seen the

pictures!!!".

 

Now, off to the church for the ceremony. When I read comments about how fast a

ceremony goes, I didn't really get a feel for it until I was there. There were

time where things were easy, and other times where I was frustrated my camera

wouldn't focus faster. The first hurdle I had to jump was the videographer. He

set up with 3 cameras: stage left, stage right, and back of the church right on

the isle. I found that I was able to get shots when people were close enough to

me and between me and the cameras that they blocked the camera out of the image.

I probably won't do this again, but for one shot of the couple receiving

communion, I was on the stage, between a couple of the brides maids. I wouldn't

have done it then except this was one of the shot's on the must have list, and

the B&G told me to do what I needed to get the best shots I could (flash,

no-flash, location, etc.). The hardest shots of the day were the

processional/recessional shot. There was no "stately pace" for this wedding.

It felt just short of a sprint down the isle. After the recessional, I was able

to capture some great candids of the B&G being congratulated by the bridal

party, parents, and grandmas.

 

Anyhow, so far no major misses from what I could tell, and no major blunders.

There was one near blunder, however. I was changing cards about 3/4 of the way

through the wedding and pulled it out too soon. The little green light on the

back of my D100 was still on and the camera kind of got stuck in a loop saying

the card was full. I just about lost it right there. I stuck the same card

back in, and the camera appeared to pick up where it left off and the images

were ok, even the last one. <Hugh sigh of relief>

 

I took one last formal with the grandma who did not show up for the formal

earlier, and then one of the Pastor with the couple, and then we took off for

the reception. I only had about 50 pictures left for the reception, but figured

I could stretch it out and should be fine.

 

Taking pictures at the reception, in a very dimly lit hall, was a serious

challenge. Not so much for the lighting as for the videographer. It seemed

like he was always trying to get an opposite view from where I was and was

shining his great big flood light straight into my lens. Try to get any kind of

camera reading with that going on. I asked him to try to pay a little attention

to the shots I was setting up and to try to not shine that big light right at

the camera, and he responded "That's why I shoot video and not still, don't have

to worry about!" adding an evil little chuckle after he said it. Then for the

cake cutting, he planted himself 4 feet in front of the B&G, zoomed out, and

blocked everyone else from getting a shot unless they wanted him in it. He sure

wasn't going to let anyone else get in the way. I got the best shot I could,

hoping I could crop him out later, and put my camera away. I was too steamed to

see anything else to shoot. I left shortly after, since the night was almost

done anyhow.

 

Anyhow, loaded the images on to my computer to take a look with them a little

larger, and overall, was pleased with the results. The formals looked pretty

good (maybe not exceptionally creative, but clear, well exposed, and nicely

composed). There are a number of shots from the ceremony that I liked, not

including the recessional and processional where there were only a few that

turned out well. The candids at the church were nice, and the reception photos

turned out nice also. Overall, 8 1/2 hours from the timestamp on the first

image to the timestamp on the last image.

 

My wife who attended the wedding, after looking at the images said "I'm glad we

had a good photographer for our wedding." My heart sank, and I felt sick. She

saw that and finished her thoughts, "Otherwise I would have been jealous at what

they have to remember their day by." She said there were a couple of images

that brought tears to her eyes as they really captured the day. Always my own

worst critic, I'll post some to get some other opinions.

Welcome to the world of wedding photography. Sorry the videographer was so rigid on your first wedding. Couple of comments re the videographer. Since it was the groom's boss, not a lot you could do, but if he wasn't, use your authority as THE wedding photographer to rein him in a little. I've had to speak to the couple or whomever they appointed as the coordinator about videographers who blatantly ignore my requests for some consideration before. The first thing I try is to work with him or her (the videographer)directly. If that doesn't work, I talk to the couple or the coordinator. Keep a sense of humor and approach it as a fellow vendor when talking to the videographer. I also have been known to jump in give direction before the videographer hogs everything, if necessary. I don't like to do it, but if it weights things your way, do it (as in the cake cutting).

 

Technically, I just try to work with the video light. Either use it as the key light, stay on the side the videographer is on, etc. Remember, too, that the video light can skew your shutter drag calculations, causing motion blur. I've had to keep changing the shutter speed to avoid this.

I'm not sure what this post is about. Or what you want us to say to you. The short story was better. Sorry but I am sure you feel good and want to share but too self congratulatory for me.

Learn from it and move on (BTW your wife will always love your shots!) :-)

George,<P>

 

I enjoyed the long version. Always like hearing about someone else's first wedding experience. Look forward to seeing your pictures when you get them posted.<P>

 

Elaine Marie

Thank you for sharing your experience George.

 

You're on the way!

George...

 

Keep going. Learn and live. As best as you can, try to get along with everyone to keep your business name intact. Even when someone is doing wrong, like insolent videographers, deal with them without them seeing you get steamed. The principle of doing good to your "enemies" benefits you in the long run, I believe.

 

Once, I photographed a reception in a poorly lit hall-- lighted mainly by candles and those sparkly little Christmas lights. The videographers didn't have a spotlight-- they were just starting the business out. I dragged out my studio lights and set one up in each corner of the facility and they were able to shoot video using the 100w modeling lights, which actually helped the ambience of the event.

 

They were very thankful and even dropped my name to other clients.

george - goodness gracious, be careful with those memory cards! glad that you had a good experience. when things go well and you can chew what you bite off, weddings can be a lot of fun.

I had a company event I was shooting recently that was the same way. There was an excellent band and the lighting was lovely - except for the videographer who parked himself in the front row of a bunch of chairs that had been pulled right up to the band for their unplugged set - less than 4 feet away - and stayed there the entire time. :P

 

The only plus side was that his floodlight didn't seem to be much brighter than the stage lights - which made me wonder why he used the flood at all, but then I don't have that much video experience with anything larger than a mid-size pro-sumer. ;)

 

What a mess trying to keep that guy out of my shots. Much creative cropping ensued. ;)

So after reading "War & Peace", we don't get to see any "pitchers"?

Thanks George. I enjoyed your story and having done my first solo wedding (with less photography experience than you probably have) I can relate to the whole flow of the day and the difficulties. Luckily, I didn't have a video guy to deal with. It was stressful enough, but I agree it was fun too!

looking forward to those pictures!

 

Steve- lol !

I'm confused about the "War & Peace" complaints - the title clearly says it's a long post....

I enjoyed the story too :-)

 

If the wife always likes the shots then I want one. My husband is my harshest critic and recently told me a shot I took looked so good he was surprised it was mine! Friends like that huh?

Hey George! Well done! Glad you had such success at your first wedding! One comment you said that kind of scared me was going on the "Stage," to get some photos! Geez! You got lucky, because out here in Los Angeles and I'm sure most other areas, priests/ministers would stop the ceremony and ask you to step away.

 

As Nadine said, let the videographer know who's boss! This guy was not a pro and sorry you had a bad experience with him. Most video people I work with are fun, very professional, and actually help you out by offering to turn on their video light when it is sometimes hard to focus in very dim light or an evening photo with no light at all.

You only had 50 shots left going into the reception?!? Did you have film backup available? A wedding is no place to run out of CF card space or film. Dealing with difficult people comes with the job and can't get into the way of capturing the day. Rather than cursing the video-guys light, use it as rim lighting and just keep moving. Looking forward to seeing some of your shots.

The only thing scary is the line "in my D100". Does this mean you went to the wedding with only a single camera? What would you have done if right before the 1st picture of the day, the "error" warning flashed it's chilling LCD message?

 

I merely poked fun at your long post, I didn't say it was annoying. But, we should get to see the fruits of your labor.

Yes, I had my film camera along with plenty of film along, a mix of color (Portra NC) and B&W.

 

I only went on the stage once, and only because I could not get a "must have shot" from any where else. Prior to the wedding, the couple said the pastor was very easy going, and as long as I didn't produce a major disturbance, he would be ok. They told me to do what I needed to do to get the best shots for the "must haves", so that is what I did. Believe me; I got in and out as quickly and carefully as I could.

 

Now the question to me is ﾓWas it worth it or not?ﾔ I had a chance to talk with the groom after the wedding, on the way to the reception. He said he only noticed me a couple of times and that he was glad I was "a little aggressive" in getting a couple of the shots I did because they were moments he really wanted captured. The parents of the bride said that I had done a nice job and was not obtrusive at all. Now I realize these are the words said to me directly, and not from their private conversations, but I have no reason to doubt what they said.<div></div>

Nice communion shot George. I can't recall ever hearing the area around the altar referred to as a stage. For me, I've never had a priest/pastor that was comfortable with me getting that up close & personal at that particular moment. Maybe with the ring exchange or unity candle but that particular moment is one of high solemnity...I just don't see it happening. The shot below is about the best I can hope for unless it's a church "in the round" and I can get the shot with a telephoto from the far backside.<div></div>

George--one way to control the videographer is to get the B&G to agree in advance that his/her camera(s) must be on tripod(s) at all times, and out of your way. Explain to the B&G that they will need huge doses of Gravol to watch any hand-held video footage they get.

Great post George.

I havent done any weddings yet (only anniversaries and balls) but i have already saved your post (and all the responses and suggestions) in my favorites to 'learn' from your experiences! my first wedding assignment is coming up soon so i need all the ammo i can get!

would like to see the pictures when you get them posted...