JoAnneK01 Loc: Lahaina, Hawaii

Don't miss out on your son's wedding. It's not worth all the hassle. Our #2 son is getting married next September and had asked us, spouse and I, to do the photography. We immediately said "NO!" We offered to pay for a professional to do it and a friend, a professional photographer, of ours said he would. Then our son went to a wedding convention and won a $6,000 professional wedding photo shoot. Since the wedding is being done here on Maui and the photographer is on Oahu we are paying the transportation costs for 2 photographers. For other events, outside of the ceremony, we are asking everyone to use their cell phones to take pictures and have them upload their photos to a website. (Should get some great keepers.)

Since his fiancé's family lives in Japan, along with many of the wedding party, we are planning other events to cover 5 days prior to the wedding. We will take photos at the rehearsal, the family dinner and luau, snorkeling and sightseeing trips. Here again we will be asking those attending to take photos on their cell phones and upload them to the website. We do intend to enjoy the wedding and all of the festivities and you should also.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

People will forget about the caterer if the food was less than perfect. But they will never forget bad photography.

Many have offered what you don't want to hear. Hire a pro and enjoy the day.

Some have come up with some well-meaning suggestions. But all is lost if you wake up on the day of the wedding and something on your camera has malfunctioned. It could be the camera, a flash cable or trigger, you drop the camera, etc

A good pro will come with a bag or two full of gear - to ensure against such situations. Do you own two similar cameras? You also have to learn how to use bounce flash. A tiny little piece of tupperware-type plastic is not going to diffuse a thing and suck light output and battery life on the speedlight. This is why Quantum and other companies make pro quality portable lighting that can be set up with a large, high voltage battery.

Someone suggested that you aren't ready. Asking about camera settings is a dead giveaway. You have to know your camera and be 100% comfortable with all of the settings before you even think about doing something like this. You also need to understand lighting. It's a lot to learn. Just because you own a really nice camera doesn't mean you can take on something as demanding of skills and resourcefulness as a wedding. A good camera only helps a person with the skills, it doesn't turn an amateur into a pro.

However, this site has some solid advice and guidance:

https://neilvn.com/tangents/wedding-photography-tutorials/

And in response to cheap so-called "diffuser devices" that you snap onto your flash head -

https://neilvn.com/tangents/review-best-light-modifiers-for-on-camera-flash/

The quality of light when you bounce the flash:

https://neilvn.com/tangents/photographing-wedding-processional-extreme-bounce-flash/

Oh, the place has dark ceilings and you think you can't do bounce flash?

https://neilvn.com/tangents/bounce-flash-photography-and-dark-ceilings/


It's a great website, and while he makes it look easy, it isn't. I cannot think of another type of photography as difficult as wedding photography. I've shot my fair share of weddings, but do not seek that work.

MrGNY Loc: New York

I did my wedding without a photographer. We had cameras on all the tables and my brother in law used my camera to take the shots of the ceremony. We did our wedding the same way your son is doing his. Laid back casual on a lake outdoors. Our wedding album is exactly what we wanted. All candid and non posed. My sisters all said they wished they did their weddings the way we did.

It was an enjoyable experience and friends and family comment till this day what a great wedding it was.

Charles 46277 Loc: Fulton County, KY

My advice from serious experience is that you shoot it all (or almost all) in your usual methods--don't try new things or equipment on an important shoot. If you do not yet have reliable methods, decline the request. My brother had a surprise wedding (supposedly a birthday party) and asked me to photograph it. I had my camera bag, so I did. But it was outside in dim light, so it required flash using my only film--slow Kodachrome. I never used flash, so I forgot that the camera I was using worked with flash only at 1/60 second shutter speed. Not a single picture came out. Whatever usually gives you mostly good pictures (even if it is just Auto mode) should be your main operating procedure. (Fortunately, with digital, you can see as you go if it is working.) Since your son asked you to do this, he must like your pictures, and is willing to go with that rather than hire an expensive photographer. Stay with what you know and do.

wilsondl2 Loc: Lincoln, Nebraska

Another idea - Take the pictures at the wedding and then do it the way our great great grandparents did and go to a studio and have formal pictures taken! Does not need to be the day of the Wedding. - Dave

itsnoelb Loc: Edgewater, FL. Originally: FLINT. MI.

As others said.....go pro, and enjoy the event. Use your skills at the reception for some candid "practice".

Dun1 Loc: Atlanta, GA

The idea of the wedding is to of course have the wedding of course. No matter how laid back you might think it will be most weddings are drama pits. If as the father of groom you wish to shots of you in photos, that may be complicated. Hire a photographer who knows what shot are required. Give the albums to the couple as a wedding gift, save the drama. In retrospect later the couple should appreciate the capture of the event minus the drama, and shoulda, coulda thoughts.

mizzee Loc: Boston,Ma

Good idea that you’re arriving at the sight a few days early. Take test shots of everywhere the “action” will be. Try not only auto but aperture priority too. Use a family member as a standin for your test shots so you get an idea of what your results will be on the day. Hope this goes well!