5 Things I’ve Learned as a Wedding Photographer
I shot my first full wedding back in 2015 and since then I’ve learned some valuable lessons that have shaped my style and helped me to find better ways of working. Some of what I am about to write will be very familiar to experienced photographers, so I apologise for ‘teaching Granny to suck eggs’. Nevertheless, there might just be a small nugget here that triggers a new thought, or otherwise acts as a reminder to those who are about to head into another wedding experience.
Recce the venue before the wedding day.
This is particularly important if you have never been to the venue before, or haven’t been back for a while. I have occasionally left the recce until the wedding day and attempted to turn-up super early; but I have always got wrapped-up in something that has distracted me from the task. There is nothing worse than not having a clear idea about how you intend to move from phase to phase (ie bride prep’, guest arrival, ceremony, couple/group shots, wedding breakfast, reception, etc).
Attend the Wedding Rehearsal.
If the wedding is in a Church or other religious building, it is always worth meeting the vicar, priest, etc to negotiate where you are allowed to stand and understand what they are prepared to tolerate in terms of moving-around during the ceremony. There is also the small matter of when/where you are allowed to use flash (I rarely use flash at the ceremony and choose to use very fast lenses, but sometimes there is no available light). In my experience, the clergy are much more willing to give you a decent amount of latitude if you have made an effort to attend the rehearsal and show some respect and courtesy. I once had a vicar tell me that his rules were very simple - stay out of his sight and under no circumstances take any photos of the alter!! Fortunately I used my charm to talk him round to my point of view.
Use two cameras.
In the early days I used to carry just one camera body and then swap-out lenses as the situation demanded. I very quickly realised that this is not consistent with shooting a documentary style where there is a risk that while you are ‘faffing-around’ juggling lenses something wonderful unfolds in front of you. I now have a double harness on which I attach a Nikon D850 and a D800 - both set to the same ISO and WB. I am then able to swap-over lens combinations at sensible breaks between the wedding phases. Nowadays I only shoot with primes and typically carry 35mm, 50mm, 85mm and 105mm. Having two camera bodies also offers some redundancy should something serious happen to one of the bodies.
Stay hydrated and eat nutritional snacks.
This seems obvious really, but remember that dehydration and/or lack of food can be extremely debilitating. Even if your clients have arranged for you to be fed at the wedding reception, the chances are that you will have 5 - 6 hours between arriving ‘on-site’ to the point where the guests sit down to eat (and you will have been standing-up and moving around for all of that time!!). Staying on this theme, don’t forget to discuss food with the couple prior to the wedding day - I recently made an assumption that arrangements had been made only to find that I had been left-out. Interestingly, the guitarist/singer who only worked for a couple of hours was wonderfully catered for!!! Fortunately the local village shop was open and I sneaked-out for a triple-decker sandwich and bag of crisps.
Get to know your audience.
As a documentary style wedding photographer it is vitally important that wherever possible you don’t influence any of the activities. Obviously this won’t be the case during the formal shots, etc; but otherwise it’s best to blend-in with the crowd. In my experience this can only happen once the guests have accepted your presence and forget that you are even there. I like to take time to say hello to as many people as possible and explain how I operate (I also ‘throw-in’ some charming observations about how wonderful they look!!!).