Greetings again from a very worn out Tess! This is the second part of a 2 part series detailing my experience at my first wedding shoot, as the main photographer.
In the first part I explained my preparations and worries, and in this part I shall look back on the shoot, which was on Thursday.
So I'll start with before the ceremony.
The ceremony was scheduled to be at 3:30, with the Groom arriving at 5 past, and the Bride at 20 past. So I did the obvious thing and got there about an hour early, to scout out the location, where the group shots would be, and where I would shoot from in the marriage room. Here in lies the first dilema, The marriage room was dark and there was not a lot of ambient light - and to make it even worse, the windows were on the opposite side of where I was shooting from (where I was told to shot from)!
So good job I was there early right? It wasn't that I couldn't handle it, it was just very difficult to deal with when I couldn't use flash! So I ended up on ISO400 which I suppose isn't too bad but I really prefer to be at 100 or less. During the ceremony I pictured my list and shot as many angles as I could whilst being in the dark etc. It got a lot easier as I loosened up a little and ignored my loud shutter noises.
After the ceremony I had to rush outside to catch the B+G walking down the stairs and then onto the group shots. The light was good so I didn't need a fill in, and they only wanted a couple of groups, so it was fairly quick too. At first I did forget my ISO was up, but I took it back for most of the shots.
The Reception wasn't until half 7 so I had a bit of time in between to breathe and get some scran. I got there about half an hour early to get my settings etc and a drink (non-alcaholic of course!). The Bride requested pictures of the cake cutting and the first dance which is fairly standard so I took a few candid shots until the cake was cut. Now this was a real problem. The cake was in the corner of the reception room, with no light, so my camera couldm't focus properly (autofocus). I did as much as I could with the manual focus but it was pretty hard to see since it was so dark. Good job I had a flash gun at the ready though aye?
For the first dance I shot some normal and some eperimental images with the use of second curtain flash. I think these were the shots I was most pleased with.
So after a very tiring day of being nervous, rushing around on my knees trying to shoot everything on the list I think it was a good experience to have for a first wedding. If there was a bigger wedding party with a complex range of family group shots, I honestly doubt my skills would have sufficed, but as it was I did my best and hope that the couple are happy with their images. As for the future? I'm not sure weddings will ever be my speciality, but I'm always going to be open to the chance, maybe even for a second shooter ?
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