Wedding photography

I am now officially a wedding photographer. While no payment was involved (it was a wedding gift for a pair of very good friends of ours), I was the main photographer for them. The results were pretty good in my opinion (they will be put up here when and if the pair okays it). I would not be averse to doing it again for money, though I might want to rent an extra body for it.

Some things learned:

* Shoot for getting there at least an hour early, just to account for problems, getting lost etc. If possible, check out the place some days in advance if you don't know it well already.
* Have a large reflector. The small one I have will bounce light into a face, but not onto a full body.
* Have a good flash and plenty of backup batteries. I ran through one set of batteries. A good flash can be rotated as well as turned up and down, and recharges quickly (look into LiIon AA batteries, they might give enough power, NiMH batteries certainly don't)
* The lenses don't matter so much, but you gotta have a standard zoom (something like 24-150 mm equiv). A fast portrait prime is a good thing too.
* Learn to do a good fill flash for indoors.
* Look for different angles/framings. One of the more interesting shots was a silhouette kiss taken framed between two candles.
* If shooting outdoors, have something the bride can sit on. White dresses get really dirty really quickly.
* Avoid sunlight if possible. The black vs. white contrast is a killer.
* Consider the age of the inlaws before you ask the to sit down on their knees:)
* Talk, talk, talk. You pretty much can't talk enough during the photo session proper.
* If possible, get shots of everybody at the tables (if there's a formal dinner) and the seating arrangement. Then you can match up people and names afterwards.