This is always the way things go. Why is it people say they have no clue but agree to shoot a wedding. Shoot anything else because if you screw up, you can do a reshoot. Screw up a wedding and you might end up in court, there is no chance of a reshoot.

You say they love your work and want you. Is it because of that or because they don't have to pay you to do the shoot. You never hear of a bride or the mother begging a friend who makes some nice cup cakes to create the wedding cake, knowing that person has never attempted making a cake, let alone a wedding cake. You never hear of anyone asking a friend who cooks a nice dinner from time to time, to handle the catering for a 100 guests at a wedding, of which this good little cook has no clue how to do any type of catering event.

Why is it, that it is ALWAYS the wedding photography that these people feel they can have someone do for them who has no experience what so ever in doing such a shoot. What lasts through the years after a wedding and brings back all the memories? Was it the food, do you pull out a plate of frozen dinner from that day? Was it the flowers, do you open a pressed flower book to look at a flower? Was it the beer, no you just rented that because it went right down the toilet later in the evening? Was it the DJ? No.. it is ALWAYS the photographs, it is the most important part and longest last part of a wedding and a huge responsibility.

You say you don't want to lose their friendship, well these are not your friends and not ones you would want to keep, if they will be upset that you wont shoot their wedding. I can tell you that if you screw up the photos they will hate you for ever and talk about you all the time. Give that some thought.

If you have to ask for advice on cameras and flash and posing and lighting, then listen to yourself and hear yourself, you have no idea what you are doing and do not know your equipment well enough to even consider being a second shooter at any wedding. So why would you think you can handle it as the primary photographer?

Please don't take this as me shooting you down and think of it as saving your butt. Weddings have so much more to be taken into account than you can ever dream of and you will not be able to handle the problems that can arise from doing such an event. I'm sure you never gave any thought to what you might do if it happens that this outdoor event ends up with a downpour all day. Have you already chosen an alternative place to shoot, do you know what lighting you will have at this alternative site?

What will you do if your camera jams up, or a memory card fails on you while shooting? Do you have a back up to quickly switch to? If not what will you do, ask them to stop the ceremony while you go off to get it fixed? What will you do as the sun shines brightly one minute then a big clouds rolls in and flattens the light at this outdoor event. What will you do if part of the wedding party will be in shade and others in bright sunlight as things move along?

How will you balance that contrast because merely shooting in RAW as well, while being good, will not help you get a good exposure for big contrast situations? How will you balance different light source when inside the hall. Do you know how to bounce the light properly, do you know that you never turn the flash side on when shooting anything at a wedding? Do you know how to light a room effectively to get a balanced shot of the reception hall? Do you know how to properly shoot a table setting? do you have a spare flash incase yours blows up at some point?

In all the wedding I shot over the years I never had a flash problem until one day, when two went out. My Nikon SB800 flash blew up, so I quickly pulled out my spare Metz and carried on. 45 minutes later shooting a group my Metz blew up, which I never imagined would ever happen. I had a 3rd back up and used that for the rest of the night. I would have been totally screwed if I had only had one flash with me.

Do you know immediately how to balance fill flash for the changing light that you will find that happens in outdoor weddings? Do you know how to pose the bride alone, bride and groom, small groups, large groups? Do you know how to do the ring shot and not just two flat hands over a bunch of flowers? Do you know how to direct a group as to how they should stand, where their hands should be placed? Do you know the proper position for the all the flowers the girls will be holding in your wedding party shot? No disrespect meant but you need to fully understand all these situations and know how to cope with every one, if you want to be a wedding photographer.

Yes a shot list is nice and a sample of other people's wedding photography is great to have to use as a source, but you can not be seen by the wedding party, to be fumbling with pieces of paper and then trying to pose them like the example on the page and expect that to work out. As a little test, do what has been suggested and print out several prime wedding shots from pros that know what they are doing. Then get two friends together and try and do the same posing of those two people that you see in your print outs, again making sure you have the lighting correct and exposure and lens/focal length choice to duplicate that shot. Then compare what you just managed to photograph against the images you were using as a reference and see if they are anywhere close to being the same.

Don't have your print outs as a guide and then wait until the day to try and copy these shots. Do it tomorrow and see how good or not so good your photos are coming out, compared to what you were using as a guide. That will put you in your place immediately, to show you where you are on the scale of can I do this or wow, mine look nothing like that. At least you have time to consider what you will do, but as I said, do that tomorrow and see if you know what you are doing and can replicate what you are looking at. In fact you should post the results here so everyone can see that you are ready, or all those that say, just go for it, you'll be great, were in fact not giving you good advice.

I hope you are still reading and I wish you all the luck in the world because wedding photography done well, looks easy, but so does riding a unicycle. Its only when you actually try it, can you know the reality. And I can also ride a unicycle and it was incredibly difficult to teach myself, as I did when I was in my teens. Please try posing some people and post your results next week, so we still have a few months to help you along.

You apparently feel confident you can handle the job of a wedding photographer so you should be proud to post what you shot here for us all to see, because that bride will be posting the photos of the day, for all to see online, when you have completed that wedding. Are they paying you, or are they looking to save the money it would cost them to get a professional to do the wedding shoot? Also ask them why they did not ask aunt Martha to do the catering, or aunt Bertha to make the wedding cake? Please do not take this the wrong way, it is meant to save you any after wedding hatred that might come up, if you did not manage to get what they have in mind for wedding shots.

And don't believe them if they say.. Oh we don't mind, do your best, I'm sure your photos will be great, because they do have a picture in their mind of what they are expecting you to produce and that is the scary unknow part of all this. You will only know that reality once the dust has settled and they are looking at the wedding photos you took, with a critical eye.

Since this is more of a laid back hippyish wedding your job is easier. Go and buy some large sparklers from a paty store and when on the beach in the evening, make a line up of the wedding party and have the bride and groom run down slowly through the sort of gauntlet of the people with sparklers. Be sure there is plenty of space and have the people hold them higher up so as not to burn anyone. You get at the end and do several shots as they make their way down through that line. If you know how to balance your flash you can get the sky to be darker and use the flash for the people and make it look more evening.