Reflections on my first wedding

I am still very much un-married, but March 15, 2008 is the date of my very first wedding...photography gig! My friends Amanda and Josh asked me last Sunday to be their photographer, as their original one had to cancel due to a test he had to take that was rescheduled from the 'snow storm' last weekend. (The roads were absolutely fine Saturday morning, but Memphians freaked out about snow before it even happened and cancelled all kinds of stuff :0/ ) So despite feeling under-qualified and under-equipped, I decided to take the plunge and try my hand at being a wedding photographer. This was the third time I'd been asked, and I had declined the previous 2 times cause I couldn't bear the thought of ruining someone's wedding memories!

This morning started at 10:00 a.m. with me rushing back to American Photo Supply to buy more film, just in case, and a rain-cover for the camera because it had been raining all night and morning. Actually, the morning started at 12:30 a.m. while it was hailing as I drove to midtown to pick up a lens from one of my former photo teachers who had an extra 75-300mm telephoto lens that she sold to me at a waay great price!

So after picking up the extra film I rushed to the chapel to get the preparation pictures. I had been feeling pretty confident yesterday during the rehearsal but, standing there in the Bride's Room, the gravity of the responsibility hit me again & I had to fight waves of inadequacy & feeling like I was just taking snapshots instead of portraits. I gradually settled in and felt more comfortable & was just shooting away.

I'm REALLY glad I was at the rehearsal, because I had been able to get a game plan for where to stand and how to frame the processional/recessional shots and the ceremony photos. While fetching my other lens from my bag, I missed someone as they were being escorted down the aisle, but I didn't write it down, and in my flustered-ness, I forgot who it was. And no one in the wedding party thought they'd been missed...so that's a flub I won't be able to fix.

The ceremony shots seemed to work well, but I was really self-conscious about the motor of my camera making noice every time it advanced the film. It was probably 10 times louder in my ears than in anyone elses. I kept expecting someone from the congregation to turn around and give me the evil eye for being so loud! The ceremony was short (and sweet), and before I knew it Josh and Amanda were all married-up & coming back down the aisle!

The family group photos had to be done inside the chapel due to the rain & soggy ground outside, and I'm anxious to see how they turned out with the limited lighting we had and my little dinky in-camera flash. (I also think one of the rolls of film I used here messed up, so I'm PRAYING that i'm wrong!!!!) This part (of course) took forever, but everyone was wonderfully patient. Poor Elle crashed though, about halfway through 'cause she was so tired. I remember my aunt being married when I was about 10 years old, and thinking that that photographer was taking WAAY too much time with getting all those pictures of all the different groups of family members and wishing he would just hurry up so we could get on with the party!

I was shooting a lot more film than I had expected. I had 7 rolls of color and 3 rolls of b/w, and I had already shot 5 rolls of color, so on my way from the chapel to the reception I stopped again at Americcan Photo (making my fifth visit this week & second in one day) to grab 4 more color rolls and an extra battery, which I had forgotten to do this morning. The chapel was in Germantown, and the reception was on Beale pretty much where midtown becomes downtown, which is a good 35 minute drive, plus stopping for supplies, so I was about 30 minutes late arriving to the reception (and stressing about it all the way from east Memphis to the reception). But the cake was about 45 minutes later than I was, so I didn't miss very much.

It was a sit-down reception, so I went around to each of the tables & got everyone cheesin'. This was the part I realize I was least prepared for, so they're probably gonna be snap-shotty. I made sure not to get people chewing or mid-bite, but in doing so probably made a few people self-conscious as I told them I'd wait for them to finish their bite & then I was going to take their picture! I need to find out what the best way is to do this part!

We didn't get a chance to do portraits with just Amanda and Josh and/or Elle, because they were so busy, and by the time the reception was winding down they were exhausted. I hope we can get together in the next few weeks and do some of those photos, cause that's what I think can REALLY make a wedding photo album. I tried to play with mirrors in the settings & compositions, and the hardest part about that was making sure I didn't end up in the mirror, too! We'll see how it all worked out! Changing lenses caused me to miss a few shots, both at the ceremony and the reception. And a few times (just a few though!) I didn't edge my way up close to get the best shot that I could because I got self-conscious about being in other people's way or drawing attention to myself.

All in all, though, I think it went well for my first time. I definitely did the best that I could do, and was exhausted by the end of that 5 hours of working. Who knew walking around pushing a shutter button could be such hard work?!

I'll post images when I get prints. If anyone read this whole long thing, I'm truely amazed. I just needed to write down my thoughts so that if I'm every crazy enough to do this again (or even crazier to make a career out of it ;-), I'll be able to remember some of the things I learned/thought/felt here!