How did you get your first wedding job?

Did you start as a second shooter? I'd be curious to know how you gained the trust of the bride seeing that you had no wedding photography experience? Did you lie about your experience. No one wants to be #1.

Thoughts?

we were invited to a wedding where the couple could not afford a photographer. i met with them and told them i wanted to start doing weddings since i had been doing portrait photography for quite awhile. i treated it as if i was being paid top $. It was fantastic, I gave them all the prints they wanted and it turned out relatives order a lot of copies. It gave me pics for my web page and lots of experience.

You'll need to learn the trade. It's not something to jump into without experience.
Remember it's a Big Day for the Couple.
Start as a 2nd. shooter. Start building your portfolio, get some recomendations from friends.
It's not as easy as it looks.
Best to you.

Friends asked me and another photographer friend to shoot their wedding. They were not going to hire a professional. They knew we owned a lot of cameras, and never shut up about photography. They never asked to see a single photo, nor did they care when we told them we had absolutely no experience or clues when it came to wedding photography. Until that day I'd never even considered shooting a wedding. The photos turned out very nice for a couple of amateurs, and the couple was really happy. We got paid a couple hundred each (after costs). I had a blast, and started shooting the occasional wedding for friends and family. Five years later I quit my day job, and started shooting weddings full time.

I don't think I'd recommend this as a good way to become a wedding photog or to hire one, but it worked out okay for me.

Wyrick Photography wrote: Did you start as a second shooter? I'd be curious to know how you gained the trust of the bride seeing that you had no wedding photography experience? Did you lie about your experience. No one wants to be #1.

Thoughts?

Great question. I have been wondering this myself. I would like to start shooting weddings, but not sure how to go about it. I don't think I will lie about my experience. Plus I wouldn't have any wedding photos to back up my experience.

I started out as a second shooter and then friends at work began asking me to shoot their weddings. I developed a portfolio and it went from there until I became disabled and was no longer allowed to work( government policy) and lost my client base . I would love to do weddings again though.

I was a second shooter

My very first wedding was actually a old HS friend. I offer my services to get my foot in the door for wedding photography. They didn't hire a pro photographer, although I didn't get paid as I was shooting more for my portfolio, they did pay for the album. So I wasn't out of any costs.

It went something along the lines of this...

Bro's Fiancee: Can we count on you to shoot our wedding with your brother's friend?
Me: Sure. I'll be there with my camera taking pictures anyway.
Bro's Fiancee: Awesome.

The wedding isn't until late June and I'd love to do a couple of weddings before then as a second shooter/assistant just to get a feel for it, but finding that kind of stuff where I live at the moment is tough, especially since I can't guarantee my ability to actually get where I need to be since I have no car, job, or money and have to use my mom's car when she doesn't need it for work.

I was a guest at a few and out did them "pros". I was certainly dressed better.

First proper one was for a friend.

I don't really do weddings. Weddings in hong kong are dominated by wedding factories and "famous" photographers.

I'll do them no problem. They're basically events and I do a lot of events. I've also done a few too. Lots of wedding videography too.

Now a mini rant about Hong Kong "wedding factories" who offer cheap packages (including per-wedding wedding photos etc.). The photographers they get to do the ceremony/banquet are usually not good. It's never a good thing when a guest is assumed to be the official pro. The last wedding I went to people were asking me to take photos of them. I didn't want to steal the official guys thunder so I pointed them to the "pro". They also nearly always dress scruffily. It's sad that these factories seem to hire failed paparazzi....

A friend of mine is a pro wedding photographer and he needed a 2nd shooter at the last min. So since I've been shooing portraits for a while, he ask if I could join him on shooting the wedding. I had a blast. Now I don't do weddings myself, but from time to time if he needs a 2nd shooter, I will be the shooter.

A wedding photographer had to canceled with his client last minute. A friend of friend made the recommendation for me and that was that.

I had just started doing portraiture and one of my clients asked if I'd shoot their wedding... in the BAHAMAS! Would anyone say no to that?

I had just gotten a Nikon D90 with 2 kit and asked a friend who recently got engaged if I could take some engagement photos of them. Well turns out they got married a month later, and when I gave them so references of great local photographers, they asked" Well can you just do it, we trust you!" Up to that point I had only taken some family photos and stood in the background at a friends wedding taking a few snapshot. never the less, they had complete confidence in me. I was honest with them about my experience and to put myself at ease I asked another friend to bring there DSLR just encase god forbid mine malfunctions or I trip and break it.
The photos turned out good, and the couple loved them but I quickly realized that if I wanted to pursue wedding photography I would need to step up my game in the equipment department.

Here is my advice for someone shooting a wedding for the first time!

- 1st wedding is to gain experience, so do it pro bono for a close family member or friend "Strangers could get sue happy, and if you aren't insured you could get screwed" parten the harshness...

- Have a back up camera that your familiar with, rent or borrow

- Go t to have a decent flash like a SB600 or 700, the lighting situation will probably change quite a few times in the 8hrs of shooting

- Have at least one good portrait lens with a low F stop like 1.4 or 1.8

And last shoot in RAW, this can save you in post production

It always helps to talk with the Bride and Groom and understand their expectations, I had a Bride show me photos form a wedding shot by a world famous photographer that charges about 10 grand a wedding. Seeing that they probably have $50,000 in equipment compared to my $5000 I had to give her a reality check!

Here are some pictures from that first wedding

It was from a friend of a friend who got me connected. I was so nervous and honestly my shots were OK at best.