I'm doing the photography for my sister's wedding. Any good tips or helpful hints?

Ohhh good question, I need to know also!

Grumpyfish would like you to know why you’re not going to be enjoying her wedding? :-)

Otherwise:
– Shoot lots
– Pay attention to your backgrounds, nobody likes to see someone picking things out of their teeth behind the happy couple
– Don’t get in the way—I nearly tripped over the photographers at my brother’s wedding
– Bring backups of everything, rent if you have to.

Have a dry and a wet plan – I’m talking about the weather of course.

Get your group shots in early, i.e. before everyone has started knocking back the bubbly.

Go to the venue before hand and see what works and what doesn’t.

Have some step ladders with you.

One more tip: if you can convince her to, do the wedding party & family photos BEFORE the ceremony. Even if you have to split it up and only do the couple photos after, it keeps you from having to drag the just-married couple away from their cocktail hour.

White balance is your friend. Pay close attention to this.

Hire a professional. Not because I question your photography skills, but if something goes wrong she’ll be pissed off at you for ruining the wedding. That’s not something you need in the family.

You’d be better off being a backup, random, shooter and enjoy the wedding.

@all I should have stated that this isn’t a big, expensive wedding. I’ll be shooting formal shots with them and a few relatives. I won’t be doing any reception stuff.

I have photographed several weddings successfully.

My number one rule- be sure there are no shadows across the subjects faces. Also be sure they are not squinting looking into the camera.

You would be suprised how many beautiful shots are taken by photographers who should know better with half shadows ruining the shot.

Also- before the cake is cut (that is when people bail) get a huge group shot with EVERYONE in it. I did this at every wedding and the bride and groom loved it each time.

As others have said- take at least 3 shots of each pose or more.

As someone who was not happy with her wedding pictures, here are some suggestions from the couple’s point of view. These are things I’ve learned after comparing our pictures with other great ones of our friends.

I just noticed that you said it wasn’t a big wedding, so this has potential to be very personal and great for everyone!

The more shots you take, the better chance you have of getting good ones. That should be obvious enough, but I’m not assuming anything after our zombie of a photographer. This would probably be advice more for reception photography, but is probably a good general rule all together.

Ask the bride and groom what shots they would specifically like to have, but also make suggestions of your own that they may not think of (Ex: The bride looking out of a pretty church window; the couple outside leaning against a tree). I thought this was something all photographers knew to do, but ours didn’t offer and I was too busy to think of it until after. You’d think a photographer would enjoy that kind of work, but I’m not sure ours enjoyed any kind of work. Sigh…

Be familiar with the venue inside and out to get an idea of what and from where to shoot.

Look at professional wedding sites to get ideas for poses, angles and effects.

Get lots of pictures of the couple by themselves. Fun ones, romantic ones, formal ones. We have very few of these which was one of our biggest complaints. I think there are two shots with just my husband and me alone.

Take the couple out after the ceremony if possible, and take pictures of them about town in their formal wear- places you’re familiar with. Running across a city street, a fountain in the park, on a bridge.. stuff like that.

I don’t know if it’s too late for this, but pre-wedding casuals are a great addition to the collection. Like, engagement pictures, but they’re just nice to have even if they’re not being submitted to the newspaper.

I guess my best advice would be to get a little creative. You’re the photographer and should be the one to think of these things. It’s the farthest thing from the couple’s minds and they’re too busy and happily distracted to think about it at the time.

Good luck! I hope it all comes out great for you and the couple.

I worry you won’t have time to enjoy the wedding yourself.

Think ahead of time what pics you want, or rather the bride wants, to really plan and make a list. I have a picture of my husband and I and my family all together. And one of my husband and I and his whole family, but not everyone altogether in one shot. I wish I had that.

At the reception maybe make them do some poses early on so you can enjoy yourself, with the majority of the photos over with. They can pretend to cut the cake, pretend to wave good bye, kiss, stuff like that, I did that, because I was not paying my photographer to stay the entire time.

I had an evening wedding and I have one picture without the flash that is one of my favorites, everything is glowing.

Buy a couple throw away cameras and let other people take pictures of each other.

Bounce your flash if it’s capable, and if the ceilings are low enough. Use your flash outdoors too to lighten shadows and add sparkles to eyes.

1st things 1st. Ask her what she wants! It’s her day. She’ll tell you what she expects. Take ideas from professionals websites chrisbarbermedia.com is really great, he’s doing our wedding pictures this year, he’s got some great ideas. Hope this helps