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.

I want to make this as simple as I can.

Problem--My original photo is gone after I make adjustments.

1. I open Luminr 4.
2. Open the Library
3. Click on a folder of photos
4. Photos show up on the left and the ‘Looks’ show up below
5. Click on photo to edit (I mostly shoot Raw + Jpeg, so both will be on the left)
6. Click on the Raw photo to edit
7. Edit photo
8. Export to a file I named, ‘edited Luminar photos’

Now here is my problem:

The images on the left side no longer have the original Raw file—it is the edited one. WHERE IS THE ORIGINAL RAW? if I want to start over on another edit, or whatever I want to do, I am showing the original Jpeg and the edited Raw.

A big shout out to UHH member Cindy who spent a lot of time with me trying to come up with a solution.

I'd like to upgrade the laptop I presently use to edit.

Now the age old question, with the emphasis on longevity. I use adobe CC suite, so as long I have internet, I'm good. So I'm tossed between Windows with 12 - 16 gb of ram, or a MacBook. I'd like to stay with a laptop for portability reasons. I haven't used Apple before, but not opposed to it. So save the Windows vs Apple argument.

So what I'm asking for your experiences. Is a couple of hundred dollar difference worth it? Are there any models you would recommend? If anyone has used both, let me hear your experiences.

I have a trip planned in March to photograph a few of the slot canyons near Page, AZ, as well as other locations in the area. I understand that it's not advisable to change lenses in the canyons, and I'm wondering what would be the best lens to use (I'll be shooting with a Canon 5D4). My widest & fastest lens is a 16-35 f/4. Will that work well, or should I look for something faster? Specific recommendations would be appreciated. (I did check for previous posts here on UHH but didn't find many recent ones.) Thanks in advance.