Shooting at my own wedding

Is this a joke? Anyway, regardless if this is a joke or not, my answer is no. It's an interesting idea, but a crazy one to say the least; IMHO.

<p>Richard,</p>

<p>It is your wedding, and your idea, so do what you will. I will, however, say that I really think this is a bad idea for all concerned.</p>

<p>Best with whatever you decide, and congratulations for the upcoming wedding.</p>

<p>As long as they know how to use a camera properly you might get a few decent shots. I wasn't so lucky with my plan for my last wedding, sure I am a good photographer....BUT in the wrong hands even my camera can make really bad pictures.</p>

<p>I photographed my brother's wedding. It's a lot of work, much more than I expected (I'm not a pro-photographer).</p>

<p>If your Dad and brother are going to do a good job, they're going to have to be ready for various shots: when your bride throws the bouquet , the cake, the first dance, etc. They won't be able to enjoy the wedding.</p>

<p>Your Dad may like to take photos, but if he is a guest, he can take them when he wants to take them. He doesn't <strong><em>have </em> </strong> to be somewhere at a particular time and location.</p>

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<p>Is this a joke? Anyway, regardless if this is a joke or not, my answer is no. It's an interesting idea, but a crazy one to say the least; IMHO.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>I'm going to try this again.<br>

<br /> There's an assumption in these kinds of statements that everyone wants the same kind of wedding (I'll leave aside the cost issue which others have addressed.)</p>

<p>When we got married, we knew everyone at the wedding. <i>Everyone. </i> Well one exception, the person who was supposed to marry us was ill and and sent his son, but there wasn't any way around that. The band leader was someone my wife had known since she was a teen, and we knew his band. My best man owns a winery and handled the wine, food, and service, with people I knew. The photographer was my father. My wife and her best friend did the flower arrangements. We viewed our wedding as a special, private, intimate occasion. If I had been close friends with a wedding photographer at the time, I would have asked them. But I wasn't. I didn't want the kind of wedding that Bob thinks I should have had, and neither did my wife. We wanted a private, intimate wedding. That was far more important to us than having a professional photographer that we didn't know.</p>

<p>I don't get why people can't understand that there are different approaches to weddings and some of them don't involve having a photographer nobody knows. It's not a joke, it's a personal decision that was incredibly important to us when we made our wedding plans. Bob would have been a serious problem for us at our wedding. He would have been completely out of place.<br>

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<p>If I Iever get married I think I will carry a small, slim point-and-shoot and photograph the event during the proceedings, along with a hired gun. I think that would offer a unique supplementary perspective that is NEVER seen in wedding albums. I am not going to offer any of my own advice; there are plenty of people here who are smarter and more talented than I when it comes to wedding photography (and probably most other things). I wish you and the soon-to-be-Mrs the best. Enjoy your wedding, and make sure all your guests have an opportunity to do the same!</p>

<p>Take care and good luck!</p>

<p>Michael J Hoffman</p>

<p>I agree with Jeff. When I got married 27 years ago, we had an old high school and college friend of mine, plus my soon-to-be brother-in-law take photos. Neither was a pro photographer, though one had an art degree and had a vague idea how to focus a camera. He also owned a camera, which was an important consideration. The wedding was small, quite informal, outdoors in a park. We ended up with a somewhat disproportionate number of images of the kids of one of the two photographers, and some odd artsy photos of my wife's feet (taken by the photographer with the art degree), but also a lot of pictures of people that we (and they) cared about having a good time at our special day. We didn't do any group shots, no ring shots, no bouquet-tossing shots, no cliche shots of any sort, and you know what? we really liked the images we got. If we'd been looking for traditional wedding photography, we would have been sorely disappointed, but as it was, the pictures were just as quirky as our wedding, and we wouldn't have had it any other way. So to the OP, if you want "pro-looking" photos, you should probably listen to the warnings people are giving you here. But if you're willing to expand your horizons a bit, I say go for it.</p>

<p>pro photographer 6 hrs coveage with album $6000<br />cl photographer with disk $750<br />making it to 5 year wedding anniversary to look at the album from the pro photographer---priceless</p>

<p>You asked for opinions... here's mine.<br>

20 years ago I was lucky enough to have a wonderful woman call me her husband.<br>

Our wedding was quite simple. We were both in the military. Therefore, my best man was a friend that I have, unfortunately, lost contact with. Her bridesmaid was the wife of my best man. Their daughter was our flower girl. The catering was performed by some friends. The cake was a wedding gift from a person who used to make wedding cakes. The pastor was an Air Force chaplain. The wedding reception DJ was another co-worker. The video was simply two cameras on tri-pods. And the photographers were a couple of co-workers that were kind enough to take some pictures.<br>

Did we get the $6,000 wedding photography package? Nope, what we did end up with were lasting memories of the day, with pictures taken by people that we were honored to call friends.<br>

If this is what you and your bride to be wish to do, then go for it. <br>

I will caution you - don't 'hire' an amateur with hopes of professional results.</p>

<p>Thanks for the advice guys, i guess what we will miss out on will be some of the posed formal shots, but in the end as with Robert's wedding, its just about being with people we really like. Also, thanks for all the well-wishing!</p>

<p>If you have monies - get a pro. If you don't - there is nothing wrong with having some family members doing the shooting - provided that there is some time left for them to actually enjoy the event.</p>

<p>I agree with Jeff. I don't think the OP's idea is crazy, in fact I find it quite attractive in a geeky way :-)</p>

<p>He says it's a low budget wedding.</p>

<p>Obviosuly you know those involved and already know what is going to work.</p>

<p>Why are you even asking? Just do it.</p>

<p>We didn't bother hiring a pro either and got some great shots. We had fun with it - ours was a small, fairly informal gathering. We never really got 'the big formal shot' with everyone in it. If that matters to you, I would suggest you plan for it before the day itself.</p>

<p>Also, we asked all the guests to send us any of their shots that they liked. This elicited some natural, unposed and often very amusing and endearing shots that someone unknown to the group never would have been able to get.</p>

<p>First, good luck on your wedding! Second, a word of caution not for you but for your brother. I did the same thing for some of my best friends. I told them I would photograph their wedding years ago, so when they did, I flew to Italy with my fiancee - who officiated - and shot it. It was a wonderful experience but I am not sure I would do it again. First, it was a lot more stressful than I imagined. It was all completely self-induced; the couple were wonderful. However, I feel like i should have been better prepared and could have done a much better job. Second, as someone above noted, I feel like I missed a really important event in my friend's lives. I was so busy working that I saw nothing and really don't remember very much.<br>

So, just something to keep in mind. Since you are going to do this, i would stress that you really go over things in advance. Sit down with them and a few beers and really plan out some shots. Talk about composition (full body or half, face filling frame or back off a bit), what group shots you want, as much detail as you can. If they have a good idea what to do going in, it will really relieve the stress on them.</p>

 

<p>thanks again for the suggestions, im glad to see that this has worked out well for some folks!</p>

<p>I would be tempted, but you risk making the bride mad. I'm sure the bride will want your undivided attention.</p>

<p>It sounds like a good plan, especially if the budget is tight. Worst cast scenario is you have to get the wedding party back together again for a party, make them dress in in their wedding outfits and you or a pro shoot some new shots. <br>

Best case scenario, everyone is relaxed because they know the photographer(s) and you get some great candid shots that you'll love forever.<br>

You may not get the cliche shots, the ring in hands, the overly posed bride etc, but personally those gag me, to tell you the truth.<br>

So go for it. Also, you might consider asking others to share their informal shots. You'll end up with many great pics to choose from.</p>

<p>Isn't there a pro that you know whom you could "hire" as your lead photographer in exchange for a trade of services, at least for your ceremony and formal portraits? For instance, they give you two hours of wedding day coverage, and you give them some sort of two-hour portrait session? Then at least your ceremony could be handled by a pro, and your family members would not have so much pressure to perform as vendors during the wedding, and could just snap off shots as honorary "second shooters"?</p>

<p>My husband and I were married this past December, and this is how we were able to maintain high-end photography for our small yet formal and elegant wedding despite having to nearly cut our wedding budget in half midway through planning due to the rotten economy. Between our engagement photos and wedding day shots, we ended up with a combined effort by 4 pro photographers (one who came half way across the country for us -- she did it in exchange for the trip to Southern California!) and we ended up with over 4000 RAW images that I got to process myself. It took me over 3 weeks to do it, but it did finally get done and the edits were done the way I'd wanted them done.</p>

<p>Now if I could just get around to finishing my wedding album design, we'd be alright! ;)</p>