hlmichel Loc: New Hope, Minnesota

Years ago, a friend from work asked me to photograph her wedding on the beach.
We went back and forth but I would not back down. I wasn't even invited.

I wasn't half as competent as I am now(but thought I was much better) and it still makes me laugh that she wanted me and my 3 MP bridge shooting the most important day of her life.

sinatraman Loc: Vero Beach Florida, Earth,alpha quaudrant

do you rember this story that hit the news a few months ago. A scuba diver in vancouver harbor was exploring the bottom and found a canon dslr that had been in the water for over one year. he brought it to the surface, of course it wasn't functional, but he recovered the memory card and was able to recover most of the photos on the card. was able to locate the owner return\ed camera card and photos to the very suprised owner. canon of canada heard about it and sent the owner a brand new dslr. if photos on a memory card can last underwater for over a year, the story the pro told about losing all the photos due to water damage is a bunch of hooey!

MWAC Loc: Somewhere East Of Crazy

not just underwater for a year but salt water!

English_Wolf Loc: Near Pensacola, FL

Did my wife's friends wedding picture with success, refused to do her sister (passive aggressive personality).

Did not have a pro at my own wedding as I hate being in pictures. Her uncle insisted to be the photographer so, fine. Trouble is, I took his camera for few minutes and shot a few of my now bride (29 years ago) and folks said to Bob 'Wow! those are good'... I am not sure if he ever forgave me... The worse is that we went back to live in France and at the train station I cut one of the pictures to be a photo ID for a 'couple' discount card (and he learned of it)...

Anyway: Family: No Friends: Ok (cost) Friends of friends: Never those guys expect discount because they know someone that knows you??? Forget that!

Roger Hicks Loc: Aquitaine

Shooting my "sister's" wedding brought no problems (that she noticed, anyway). I use quotation marks because she's not my biological sister. In fact, she was my girlfriend over 40 years ago, but we've been like brother and sister for decades: we split up in maybe '68.

There's a bit on my site about shooting weddings when you can't get out of it: when, as I put it, "you would offend them more by refusing than you would by doing it on your terms." See http://www.rogerandfrances.com/subscription/ps%20weddings.html

Addendum: I think I've done about 5 weddings in 40 years, always on the same terms: as a wedding present, when, as I say,"you would offend them more by refusing than you would by doing it on your terms." As others say, DON'T, if there's any decent way out, but equally, it's not quite as big a deal as some suggest.

And yes, I enjoyed them all, and yes, I drank (at least) my share at the reception. If you can't hold your liquor, be even more cautious of being suckered in to it.

Cheers,

R.

photo guy Loc: Chippewa Falls, WI

A person that I know from the FD was getting married last year and made a remark to me at a call during some down time that maybe he/she should have me photograph their wedding. I immediately said it would be an honor but I can't since I don't have the right equipment or the experience. I did however, offer to shoot their engagement photo. The person never took me up on the offer which is fine by me. I at least feel good knowing that I didn't do is as I don't have the experience doing those types of photos.

English_Wolf Loc: Near Pensacola, FL

The more I think about this the more I start to disagree for the overwhelming support for "No". In this case AVarley says 'no' then offers to share the cost of a photographer recommend by someone else she knows... So far so good but... What happens if the 'recommended photographer' turns out to be less than professional? Would not that create more problems in the long run?

First AVarley refuses then helps (by proxy) find someone less than reliable... Basically AVarley's offer to help finding someone else opens a can of worm.

Personally, at this juncture, I would just go "the heck with it" and take the damned pictures, at least there would be only one person to blame if something goes poorly: the bride for selecting me.

I know, I know, I am an ass.

docjoque Loc: SoCal

I would have someone explain to your sister (and mother) that she shouldn't be getting married if she and her husband-to-be can't afford the wedding that they envisioned. Is you mother cooking the chicken and fish? Are your nieces and nephews serving the food too? Stick to your guns. If you're not comfortable doing wedding photography, most likely you won't do the ceremony justice. Even professional wedding photographers get it wrong.

Additionally, I wouldn't even bring a camera to the ceremony, not to be catty or nasty, but because you will probably get blamed when you show up in the background taking pics, thus ruining their favorite shot. As an alternative, how about volunteering to shoot some engagement pictures, or pictures of the rehearsal dinner? Or are you proficient in photoshop or onOne, or anything like that? You can volunteer to help tidy up some of their favorite shots after the big day.