Never again...

[pickinupafew]

will I agree to do a wedding shoot.

Definitely too many variables that are out of the photographers control that affect the quality of the images.

The bride gave me 1.5 hours in front of the ceremony to shoot most of the shots. Wedding at 4:00, bride and groom suppose to start shooting at 2:00. wedding party at 2:30 and family at 2:50. Finishing up at 3:30 with plenty of time for the bride to touch up and relax before the ceremony at 4:00.

Well... the bride and groom were not ready to start until 3:11. Yep, that's right... 19 minutes to shoot many photos. I have shot at least 30 weddings in 3 years(10 years ago)... none of which started so late.

I went to plan B, and much to my surprise, ended up with a very nice album.

I will leave the wedding shoots to the rest of you. Great money, but not worth the stress at my age... 38 years too old for this.

Somehow, (really not sure how) I was able to pull off way more than enough to salvage the day... but still, I am out of the wedding thing for sure. Too much stress.

Good luck to those of you who choose to continue to shoot weddings. Now I remember why I chose to get out.

For this guy, high stress will be trying to get walleye to bite during a cold front. No more weddings.

Thanks to the Nikon SB800's,(and auto everything) I had a good shoot!!

Thank you for listening to my rant...

pickinupafew

[finnbay]

Looks like you did a nice job under difficult circumstances. I shot weddings 20 some years ago, and then quit for the same factors that you mentioned - especially the pressure. Somehow, I've gotten back into it and now do about one a month. Experience helps. I've got a long way to go before I consider myself accomplished, but with the more you do, the more you are ready for those unexpected problems that arise. Contrary to uncle Fred and his point and shoot, it's not an easy business.

[Steve Foss]

Cool that you had a plan B, because uncle Fred with the point-and-shoot or DSLR rarely does.

I always feel a bit of pressure when shooting a wedding, not because I'm unsure of how the images will turn out, but simply because equipment failure or image loss can happen to anyone.

Over my four years of shooting weddings, it hasn't happened yet, but I'm always crossing my fingers. Having a backup body and plenty of batteries and memory cards along helps.

I photograph weddings partly of course because it's a good business for a photographer to be in but mostly because I have a great time doing it. It's just flat-out fun for me.

pickinupafew, looks like you picked up more than just a few great shots there. Both these are great. The casual fun smiles on the faces of the couple and the kids are sweet, and the wide view is nice too. Excellent exposures.

Glad you survived the stress.

[finnbay]

Ditto to what stfcatfish said.

[Dbl]

pickingupafew you have hit on exactly why I don't do weddings anymore! I have done more than a few in nearly 30 years of shooting and I won't touch one with a ten foot pole! I unlike Steve really don't enjoy shooting them at all, kudos do those that do.

A wedding is one of the most stressful days people will experience and dealing with someone taking photos only adds to that stress! You obviously got some good memories captured from the beautiful shots you posted and that will make the couple happy when they sit down and have the time to look at them. Congratulations on that!