Sunday, March 05, 2006

The Wedding Report

Well, I’m still kinda sore from yesterday as I write this, but here’s an overview of the wedding shoot. And again, why did I come out of retirement? Oh yeah, because I needed the money.

I hadn’t been feeling good for a few days anyways, just from the stress of having to shoot this wedding. I mean, I don’t want to screw it up, but I haven’t done a wedding in years/decades, and am nervous.

So I get up around 7am to get ready, doing the usual: shower, shave, etc. Put on some good clothes, gather my gear, and I’m off to the church. Arriving a little after 8am. I thought I was going to get the evil looks for being 5 minutes late, but not even the bride or groom where there yet!! So I put my stuff out of site and start thinking about how I'm going to shoot certain things.

Oh yeah - the wedding was at 10am. And I had to be there to shoot stuff beforehand.

Suddenly I realize that I left one of my lenses at home. Not usually a big deal, but this was the one the cross-screen filter fit. And I needed that filter for the unity candle and the rings later. So I had to drive like a maniac down the highway to get the lens. It took about a half-hour, and by the time I got back, the bride had finally arrived.

I’ll skip the details of the ceremony, as it was just a wedding ceremony. Everyone’s filed out of the place to the receiving line, and we’re setting up the lighting units (I was able to drag a friend of mine out of retirement as well to help with the shoot). Now, since the reception was just next door, the wedding party is back in shortly and making life really hard on us as they are rushing the shoot. That ticks us off, as you can’t rush formal portraits if you want them to look good. But we did the best that we could, and I just hope things turned out okay.

We get done, and they just go right next door to the reception, barely giving me enough time to switch lenses to catch the “entrance of the couple.” What is with this “hurry up” stuff? They (the wedding party) were making noises like “people are waiting for us at the reception...” Well, that’s what they are supposed to do. I’ll bet 99% of the people there are well aware of how long it takes photographers.

Suffice it to say it was a typical wedding reception. Well, maybe not typical, as there was no alcohol allowed, and there was no dancing (Baptist church).

And another thing: this wedding wasn’t in the “church” but in a “multi-purpose room.” And in the basement of this church, there was a “Saturday meeting” going on, and WE couldn’t make any noise upstairs at the wedding, in case we disturbed the people downstairs. What?!? Since when is a regular Saturday dealio more important than a wedding? We even had to whisper in certain areas of the upstairs, and I couldn’t take flash photos “in case the flash was visible downstairs and we disturbed them.” What a bunch of crap. But I was able to work around it. I’m just glad that it’s over, and I won’t have to go back there.

Or do another wedding. I’m back into retirement as far as weddings go. No amount of money (well, I guess it depends) will make me do another one. I’ll stick with the portraits and such. It’s much easier, less stress, and actually more lucrative.

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