Reply To: Wedding Photography! Advice wanted!

[iliketag]

Photocriticgirl, I’m going to be brutally honest…
I don’t think you’re ready to solo a wedding. A lot of the work that you’ve shared with us has had rookie mistakes that are simple to fix when you have the time to reshoot… but you only get one shot at a wedding and, like WCS said, if you don’t have a solid contract, you’re very at risk of being sued.

I have stopped doing weddings, even for friends/favors, after becoming a regular to this little community. I am simply not ready to take them on alone. I absolutely need more experience and when I do decide to take on wedding clients; I will have a second shooter, be damn good at OCF and have an assistant with me to help swap lenses on bodies (yes, bodies, plural) and hold reflectors/scrims.

I look back at the last wedding I did, she’s a very close friends and wanted me to be a bridesmaid originally, but thought it would be better suited if I captured their day because I had seen the relationship from the very beginning and I knew them – thus I could offer a unique perspective into that intimate moment.
I will say with absolute certainty that I did my very best, but I am not sure I gave her what I wanted. I wanted to deliver the stuff that makes burgeoning photographers swoon. It’s very, very difficult to do. Every wedding I have shot (5 alone, two as a second) has had a VERY tight schedule. One couple (a second marriage) decided to forgo bridal portraits and photos of just the two of them because the groom was hungry – despite my protests. They didn’t fight me over it (due to our contract), but expressed that they were disappointed to not have them when I delivered the edits.

I really hate to put a pin in the balloon… but you’ve not put yourself in an ideal situation, here.