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I never planned it this way, but I always thought I would be a photographer before anything else. It just so happened I became a Wedding Officiant and later decided to merge my new business with my love for photography. I had the desire and dream but always put it on the back burner. By the time I got my first gig, I officiated for approximately 40 couples which was a good jump start. I was able to pinpoint those picture-perfect moments and best times to take photos. I also did a practice photo shoot with the couple and sat down with them over coffee to get to know them a bit. Here are a few more examples of what I did to ensure the day went smoothly.
1.Preparation:
I started to prepare about 4 months in advance. If you don’t have that much time, try to squeeze in as much as you can with the time you have. Watch videos on YouTube of wedding photography and practice poses. Write a list of all the important shots your couple wants to have and create your own guide. Try to meet them a few times before so you get a feel for their style and what they want to achieve. Weddings are long, you will be on your feet all day so drink coffee and eat breakfast. Make sure to eat if you can and take water with you because you will get tired. Don’t let this part discourage you, I promise it will all go by very quickly.
2. The bundle.
My how this bundle saved me. I had watched so many videos and they all said NOT to get the bundle because I would never end up using it. That was a lie!!! It had everything I knew I would need and things I didn’t know I needed (minus Soft Boxes and back drop). Here is everything that was included in the bundle.
Camera The camera I have is the Canon Rebel T7i
Sandisk Make sure you have 2 or more.
Chargers You will need 2; one for the wall and one for the car for your way to the reception.
Bag For big events like a wedding, use a bigger bag than what came in the kit, the small bag just wasn’t enough.
Lenses These come in handy when the weather is not on your side.
Tripod I am embarrassed to say, but I was so nervous I could not stop shaking. Thats why they invented tripods.
Strap Make sure you put the strap on correctly. You don’t want it to slip out and fall to the ground into a million pieces.
The 2 Extra Items:
Soft Boxes No bride wants dark and dim photos. She wants bright and beautiful, but not blinding. This will give your photos a more professional look.
Backdrop Sometimes weddings are not held at the prettiest of locations. In those moments, a backdrop will give you that White clean bright wedding look.
3. Editing Skills and Software
This is a whole other ball game. It’s one thing to do a photoshoot, go home and be done, but it’s not that simple. You may have taken 1000 photos but how many of those are usable. This is where you delete all the bad pictures, then go through and polish them off. You will need something like Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop. During the time of the wedding, I had been using my laptop for smaller editing jobs however I quickly discovered it was not enough. I gave in and bought a new computer. Links are listed below:
All in all, I had a great experience with the products I had. The wedding had a guest list of 300 and I worked for about 7 hours. The Editing took me longer than expected but you should try not to take longer than 2 weeks. The couple is waiting to post all about their new life and happiness, but they can’t do that until you are done. So, get in, get out, edit and deliver, and trust me your clients will love you for it.
Enjoy!
Style. Elegance. Sophistication. 