I'm a hobbyist photographer. My friends ask me from time to time to shoot for pay. I always decline. Instead I offer to do the shoot for free and if they like the photos they can keep them. That's worked out well so far. Somebody wanted photos for their website. Somebody else wanted photos for their horse. All turned out fine. Takes the pressure off me and I stretch myself.

But wait! A young friend recently asked me to photograph her wedding. When my heart rate went back to normal I gave the best response I could. I was honored and would do it if she didn't have alternatives, but this was not a job for a friend. I went through every reason why. Told her about my specific objections and my limitations and that this was not false modesty but real reasons why I wasn't the right choice.
Fast forward. Well it seems that she doesn't have too many options because I just found out her entire wedding budget today and it won't stretch to a pro photographer.

She's getting married on a hilltop with a view for miles at noon in high summer in California. Reception and food outdoors and cake and dancing inside. About 65 people.

I'm going to do my best to accommodate her and I have a couple of months to prepare myself. I have two camera bodies, neither of which are full frame. I have some basic indoor lightboxes and a couple of deflectors. I've never been fond of zoom lenses and prefer prime. I have a Tamron 90 mm, a Tokina 11-16, a Nikkor 18-200 which for some reason is no longer autofocusing (I'll take it in to have it looked at) so I can only use it in manual mode, and a 35 mm 1.8 and 1.4. Looking over my glass inventory I see that I don't have a solid workhorse lens which can be easily adaptable to any situation. I'm willing to buy or rent such a lens. I adore my 1.4 but I don't need the low light feature outdoors. I think my wide angle could be good for a shot of the actual ceremony with about 40 miles of landscape behind it. But really thinking I need to have a goto lens for all purpose shots.
I'd love input and suggestions from people more experienced than myself.
What should I take or buy or use?
I am good with composition and decent in Lightroom. I'm thinking if I shoot in Aperture mode with a good basic lens I can deliver some good shots.
Please don't tell me to just say no. I tried that. I think if I don't step up to the plate we're relying on someone's Iphone. And I'm willing to work to hone my skills.
I have a personal photo blog at ordinarycapture.tumblr.com which should show what I've done in the past. Don't expect to get bowled over.
This person and her fiance are very dear to me and I'd like to step up for them. Thanks to all.

It always happens this way. They have money for cake and venue and food and preacher and limo but no money for a photographer. All of the things that don’t last they spend money on. At the end there will be the rings, the dress, and the photos. Everything else is eaten and past into the toilet or goes away.

I never do anything free. At least make them pay a deposit and refund it if they let you do the work.

Several times I have offered free services as an experienced wedding photographer and then someone coughs up the money to hire a photographer and instead of hiring and paying me they hire someone else. Meanwhile, I kept the date open for them and couldn’t book anyone else.

If you’re free they have no respect for you. My bet is they hire someone after all and waste your time.

Nikon users and wedding photographers in general will need to know which cameras you have.

Look here for tutorials: https://www.google.com/search?q=wedding+photography+tutorials+youtube&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS852US852&oq=wedding+photography+tutori&aqs=chrome.2.0j69i57j0l6.19267j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

I have been there a couple of times myself. The last time it was a good friend (my wife and I were married in her beautifully landscaped yard/garden).
Myself and our daughter were asked to do photos, my wife used our videocam to video it and the guests were encouraged to all bring cameras or use their phones. Then everyone put their photos on thumb drives etc and they were all then put on the new husband's computer. He got some editing software and between him and her daughter (school mate of our daughter) and a few of her friends from college here 3 years later they are still finding and doing more photos and videos etc. Between everyone they got 3000+ stills, almost 2000 from myself and our daughter plus about a dozen videos. My daughter did about 1100 of the dinner and dancing that went on for hours and we had a spot we took turns doing posed shots of guests with the bride and groom. And almost all of the nearly 100+ guests wanted to pose with them. The first month they had an album from the shots I and our daughter did. But with so many they just keep finding gems. It has been a bit of an adventure for them.

The wedding(just minutes before sundown with the warm light from the west), meal and dance took place in the same yard my wife and I were married in but it long ago had a pool and concrete deck added. Her home is on a high hill at the south west end with the back yard right at the edge of the very steep south slope so it is lite by the afternoon sun with a mountain range a few miles south across the valley. And when her father died several years ago she found a gardener who maintained the landscaping he had done (gardening was his hobby) way back when she and her first husband bought the house. So trees that had been saplings when my wife and I got married there are now grown but that gardener she found had kept her father's landscaping by replacing the plants when one dies etc. Just that over half of what was grass is now pool and deck. The spot my wife and I were married at is now about the 4-5 foot deep part of the pool.

Yup! I have been photographing weddings for over 50 years and I am still at it.

I don't make a habit of posting here to discourage folks from experiencing new "adventures" in their photographic endeavors. Believe me, however, taking on a wedding assignment without lots of prior experience, training, professional mentoring and a proper breaking-in period is a MISADVENTURE in the offing. This is advice I often offer, problem is, most folks simply don't listen!

When I hear words like "I never use flash" and a smattering of advice on lens usage, gear requirements, old wedding "horror stories" and "I once did a wedding 30 years ago///" there are all danger signals to me.

Alright, folks will argue that wedding photography ain't brain surgery, nuclear physics, or rocket science- maybe so but it is a specialty that requires a compliment of important finite skill sets and seamless work methods that can't be acquired overnight. It's serious work, not always fun!

Y'all know what the officiator says at some weddings, something like "...speak now or forever hold your peace...", I have spoken and will now go away in peace.

Peace and love, brothers and sisters.

I love to be "helpful" but help includes telling folks the possible ramifications of doing work they are not qualified for. I have seen a number of well-meaning, generous and altruistic folks end up on the nasty end of a lawsuit as a result of venturing into wedding photography without knowing exactly what they are doing.

What's worse, is that some of the suggestions in this and similar threads are inaccurate, and obviously not actually based on time-honored practices and experience. Some of it is sour advice based on the writer's bad experiences caused bt inept approaches.

Hopefully, the aforementioned hard luck will no befall our OP and she will emerg vicariously and intact. I feel, however, it is irresponsible to encourage anyone to do something that may falter without pointing out the risks.

As I have previously mentioned, I have been at this for a very long time and have trained many talented wedding photographers. Before I advise anyone to go out and do a solo shoot at any wedding, regardless of the size or budget of the affair, they have trained as an assistant and/or second shooter for at least a year and many are already competent professionals or advanced amateurs in other photographic specialties. For me, just telling someone bit's and pieces like bringing spare equipment, what lenses to buy, rent or use, or a few lighting tips and avoiding mothers-in-law, just doesn't cut it.

I have nothing against amateur photographers and I have taught and trained many of them to be stellar wedding shooters and successful professionals.

I have seen the classic scenario many times where the bride and groom say they ain't fussy and don't expect anything perfect but after the fact, if they are not satisfied, they become critical aficionados of
fine photography and all hell breaks loose!

I can only advise or suggest- I can't insist and won't argue endlessly! The OP is an adult and will make up her own mind!