Back in April I posted a topic looking for input/feedback on a wedding I had (reluctantly) agreed to do for one of my wife's nephews. It occurred this past Sunday, in Santa Barbara, CA. Here's an update on that experience:
I have a new found respect for all wedding photographers! I really had no idea how much work was involved in shooting a wedding! While it was an exhilarating experience, it was absolutely exhausting! Granted, I was going through a learning curve, however, standing on my feet (at age 77) for 10 hours (with one 20 minute break for dinner) did take a toll at the end of the night. I took 560 pictures, and after a first pass have done an initial culling down to 310 pictures. I edited 5 pictures of the ceremony today and sent them off to the bride and groom, and they loved them! So, I can now relax a little and go through the process of editing the entire set. I'll probably send them 200-250 pictures when I'm done.
If you might recall, I was told that there would be about 40 people at the wedding and reception...there were 105 people! I did go to the home where the wedding and reception was to be held the day before at the same time as the ceremony the next day, which really helped with me understanding the lighting and places to take the formal pictures, etc. All the family members who said they would help coordinate family members for group pictures...didn't! Thank God for my wonderful wife, who was my assistant and really saved the day!
After taking my first set of formal pictures, my on camera Nissin flash mysteriously stopped working. I totally freaked out into a cold sweat. I changed batteries, but it still wouldn't work. Then I remembered my old adage "when in doubt, re-boot." I turned my camera off, then back on and everything worked fine after that!
Am I satisfied with all the pictures I took...no. In reviewing all of the pictures on my laptop, I saw obvious composition issues I wish I not not made, but fortunately I took enough pictures so I could discard the ones I didn't like. I found myself running around like a maniac to get certain shots. Once the bride and groom kissed, they immediately started walking back up the aisle, and I had to literally quickly run up the aisle in front of them and quickly turn around to get one shot, which fortunately came out pretty good.
The last three hours (8pm-11pm) of the reception was in the dark outside, and the on camera Nissin flash on my Fuji X-T2 and the in camera flash on my Fuji X100V worked surprisingly well. I had very little experience with doing flash photography, so I'm glad that worked out. For all you Fuji shooters out there, I did shoot jpeg and RAW, and used the Pro Neg HI film simulation mode for my jpegs, which I thought came out pretty good.
Two of my wife's cousins approached me during the reception about doing their daughter's upcoming weddings, and I politely but affirmatively said "no." I will leave that to the younger wedding pros!
To all of you who initially responded back in April, thank you again! Your input really did help me!
Once I'm done editing, I'll post a couple of the wedding photos in the Wedding Discussion group.

It has been 5 years since I have posted. That seems like a forever but it really isn't. I can no longer ride my beloved horses but that doesn't keep me from having them and of course taking shots of them. Here is my newest addition to my breeding program. He is a perlino Morgan colt and this picture was taken at 18 months old. Perlino means he will only produce buckskin, palomino or smoky black. At 78 I hope to live long enough to enjoy some of his foals and no nothing wrong with me just the usual old age problems and surgery on my knee that didn't work out well.