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DPChallenge Forums >> Business of Photography >> wedding photography...Cayman Islands
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10/13/2008 04:57:55 PM · #1
Hi everyone! I just wondered if a few of you could offer me some advice on wedding photography. (Any tips, good books, or websites that I can research would be great)
My friend from college asked me to shoot his wedding on May 15th of this year in the Cayman Islands! I have never shot a wedding before but couldn't pass an opportunity such as this. He knows I haven't shot any weddings but he said he was confident that I would do a good job.

I am very excited and would love any bit of advice that I can get!
A good friend of mine recently got married this summer. I'm trying to get in touch with her wedding photographer to see if I can assist on one of their shoots for experience. I've also been thinking about purchasing another lens if I can save enough money. The Canon 70-200 f/2.8L IS is on my list! (maybe I can rent one for the wedding if I don't save enough money in time)

In my friends email he said he would pay for my flight. I'm also going to ask for an all expense paid trip (including hotel, food, etc.) I don't think I'll ask for anything else since this is my first wedding and he's a friend. I would love the experience and I think this will be perfect for my portfolio.
If anyone can also offer advice on good sites to print wedding albums, I would appreciate it.

Thank you all for your help! I'm pretty nervous but so excited to be given this opportunity! I've always wanted to get into wedding photography. I know it's a huge job but I'm ready for the challenge.
Thanks!
-Sarah
10/13/2008 05:19:47 PM · #2
Sounds wonderful! We're heading to the Cayman Islands again in a couple months... can't wait! It's a beautiful place, and much more classy than many of the other Caribbean islands. It's much more upscale, and you don't get pestered by locals, etc. You'll love it!

As for the wedding, I'm guessing it's probably outside given the location? If that's the case, you might want to brush up on your outdoor shooting skills, fill flash, etc. One thing you may even try to do ahead of time is find the venue on Google Earth (if it's available for viewing). If you can find out where the sun is going to be during the service, that will help you anticipate how you're going to want to shoot things. Hopefully it'll be situated in such a way that you won't need to shoot into the sun, etc. A little research ahead of time might help you there...

Good luck!
10/13/2008 05:51:21 PM · #3
Thanks Alan! I'm going to be talking to the couple tonight so I'll find out a few more things about the wedding. Great idea checking out the location on google earth. I'm also assuming it will be an outdoor wedding. I can't wait to shoot in such a beautiful location. Hope you have a good trip!
10/13/2008 06:06:53 PM · #4
Congrats, sounds like a lot of fun. Both my son and daughter are pro wedding photogs and travel all over the country and some overseas to shoot weddings. So far they've been to at least a dozen states, Hawaii and next month a 10 day Caribbean cruise this year. They start out at $3,000 plus all expenses as a very basic package. So on the wedding cruise it starts at $3,000 just to show up, airline costs, cruise costs, then they start to charge for the actual photos after all of that. I imagine just the basic will be close to $10,000 plus photos for this wedding. When you really get into the wedding photog business don't undercut your own prices. They shoot at least two weddings a week all year and have no problem booking $5,000 to $10,000 weddings. Make this one good and build your reputation, then it is entirely possible to make a good living and do lots of travel. Best of luck.
10/13/2008 06:38:03 PM · #5
I think that you are right on with asking for your expenses to be covered. I shot in Jamaica for a very good friend, and I still asked that they cover my trip. I charged them nothing extra, just my fee for being there with them. Fill flash will be important no matter the time of day. Looking through your portfolio, your people shots could use a little more contrast and 'pop'. I like what you did with the band photos. Especially THIS ONE. Expose for your background, especially if it is an outside, beach setting, the fill flash for your subjects. Though the wedding will have more of a flow and less of your control to it, those images are a good starting point for you. Make sure you know the flow and time schedule of the wedding. Having that tucked away in your mind will ease a good deal of the stress. Also know what shots are 'must haves' for the couple, and do those well. Most importantly, HAVE A GOOD TIME. The couple has asked you to be a part of one of their most important days. It is a happy time for them, as it should be for you. I enjoy doing weddings, and often get caught up in the happiness of the moment. Sure, they can be stressful, especially when things are new, but mostly they are fun to me. Enjoy and good luck!
10/13/2008 06:46:51 PM · #6
Hey, can I go too? I'll work for free if they pay my way. I'll even let you use my 70-200 2.8 lens!

My advice would be plan everything out in advance (Prior Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance). You'll never be able to stick to the plan, but sitting down and planning it all out should help you remember things that you might otherwise overlook.

For example, what's your plan if your camera conks out? Do you have a backup? What about your lenses, flash, memory cards, etc., etc? Are you bringing a laptop so you have something to transfer memory cards and view images? If so, do you have everything you need to transfer data from your cards to the laptop? Thinking about situations like this and devising backup plans could save you a lot of embarrassment.

Someone posted this a while back. It might help: List of Photos for Your Wedding Day

Good luck, and don't forget to have fun!

10/14/2008 11:00:16 AM · #7
Thank you everyone for your comments! I talked on the phone a little bit with the couple last night. They are still working out the details and they are pretty sure that everything will be outside. The wedding will be pretty small (about 30-40 people)
They sent me the website of where it will be: //www.thereef.com/en/index.html
It looks beautiful! They said that they would cover all my expenses for my trip. I'm also going to add in a cost for my time of being there and post processing time. I have no idea what I will ask for yet, I'll have to research a lot this week! I don't want to ask for too much since this is my first wedding but at the same time I don't want to ask for too little. I'm excited to have this become the start of a strong portfolio!
I don't have a laptop. I have a G4 at home (had it for about 8 years now). I will be purchasing a new Mac pretty soon. A laptop might be the way to go. Thanks for all your advice on all the backup plans, websites, and cost info.
After I buy a new computer I'm thinking of either getting Aperture or Lightroom, not sure which one yet.
Thanks everyone! I will be practicing more on my people shots and researching as much as possible.
Anyone know of a good site to print wedding albums?

10/14/2008 11:07:43 AM · #8
how are you taking your gear? carry on, checking it? Can you carry it on? What if the bag gets lost or customs stops you? Insurance - got it on your gear?

I'll just keep my mouth shut now and ignore this thread.
10/14/2008 11:11:57 AM · #9
I would be carrying it on, that makes me way to nervous to check it. insurance...good idea. I need to look into all this :)
10/15/2008 09:39:00 AM · #10
What if an asteroid hits your rental car?

Originally posted by Prof_Fate:

how are you taking your gear? carry on, checking it? Can you carry it on? What if the bag gets lost or customs stops you? Insurance - got it on your gear?

I'll just keep my mouth shut now and ignore this thread.
10/15/2008 09:48:36 AM · #11
Wow, what an opportunity! Just have fun with it!
10/15/2008 09:56:08 AM · #12
Originally posted by Prof_Fate:

how are you taking your gear? carry on, checking it? Can you carry it on? What if the bag gets lost or customs stops you? Insurance - got it on your gear?



These are all very pertinent questions and something that the OP should seriously ponder.
10/15/2008 10:16:28 AM · #13
Originally posted by alanfreed:

What if an asteroid hits your rental car?

Originally posted by Prof_Fate:

how are you taking your gear? carry on, checking it? Can you carry it on? What if the bag gets lost or customs stops you? Insurance - got it on your gear?

I'll just keep my mouth shut now and ignore this thread.


I'm keeping my mouth shut regarding shooting a wedding, getting paid (transporation, food, lodging)(under the table most likley) and never having shot a wedding before, etc. Remember, up till now the OP has only had to make photographs that please themselves. Now she'll have to make photos that please other people - bride and groom, their parents, etc. As one can see from the results of voting here on DPC, it's not always that easy to please other people.

As to the insurance - shit happens. Especially when flying and traveling internationally. You sure as hell don't want to get to the check in line with your camera in a bag that is too large or too heavy to be carried on. Or find out there are issues with your camera batteries. So you have to check your gear, some or all of it. It WILL get tossed around. It may get opened, stolen, etc. It happens all too frequently. No insurance? Oh well, then you get out your visa and buy new gear. Not a cheap lesson to learn.

I have business insurance for liability and gear. I'm good in the US. My liability is no good outside the US, and gear coverage is good in US territories only. Canada and Mexico are not places I'm covered in any way.

Is something likely to happen? No, the chances are small. But do you want to be standing at the luggage carousel at the Cayman's airport waiting for your bag with your camera and not have it show up? How often does that happen? 10-15% of the time - that's one in EIGHT bags/trips/people, on average.

It'd be bad enough to screw up the pics for anything, let alone a wedding, if it's your fault. If the airline causes you to have no gear, or damaged gear, etc it's worse - you'll still get the blame of course, but there's little you can do.

Do some googling and see what's out there you never thought about //www.digicamhelp.com/camera-care/traveling/ brings up the point of power adapters...Do you have what you need to charge your batteries at the hotel in the Caymans?

Message edited by author 2008-10-15 10:18:10.
10/15/2008 10:27:34 AM · #14
Originally posted by Prof_Fate:

I'm keeping my mouth shut regarding shooting a wedding, getting paid (transporation, food, lodging)(under the table most likley) and never having shot a wedding before, etc.


My little jab was more to illustrate that you have a tendency to always jump into threads like this and suggest that the person who is taking on a wedding for the first time has absolutely no business doing so... you suggest that they have given no thought to anything regarding the wedding, and that only a professional such as yourself should be considered for such a thing. Your posts often seem to be condescending and discouraging to people who are new to weddings.
10/15/2008 10:58:57 AM · #15
Originally posted by alanfreed:

My little jab was more to illustrate that you have a tendency to always jump into threads like this and suggest that the person who is taking on a wedding for the first time has absolutely no business doing so... you suggest that they have given no thought to anything regarding the wedding, and that only a professional such as yourself should be considered for such a thing. Your posts often seem to be condescending and discouraging to people who are new to weddings.


This is a bit harsh - Chris can be a bit of a newbie wedding prophet of doom, but he does offer good advice and share some of his wealth of experience from the school of hard knocks. Generally folk would do well to at least pay head to his cautions.

To the OP - I say go for it. I'm betting your friend can't track down a photographer on site, and is against the idea of flying a pro in with the fee; and has enough confidence in you to trust you. I found myself officiating the ceremony of some friends on a Thai island for similar reasons. It could have gone horribily wrong, but fortunately didn't - and I'm left with the wonderful memory of having played a special role in their committing themselves to one another. BUT, take note of anything Prof_Fate says, and take appropriate steps to mitigate - such as hedging your bets, take your body, 17-40 and flash as carry on, with your 50, macro and ultra-zoom checked in (or somethign to that effect). And definitely make sure your friend knows the score.
10/15/2008 01:30:30 PM · #16
Would you like to talk to the bride that chose a photostore manager to shoot her wedding? The manager was planning on using her cell phone. Yes, that is the god's honest truth! Scary? A good idea? Depends on which side of the camera you're on I suppose.

If you as a photog screw it up (in reality or in the mind of the bride) you can ruin a friendship and create all sorts of bad feelings, you can be sued- and if you got paid you will be treated a pro in the eyes of the law - and if you really didn't do pics/product the 'standards of a pro in the industry' you will lose the case. And pay.

Do these things happen? Yep, all the time. I did a wedding earlier this year where the bride hired a coworker to be DJ. They showed up 90 minutes into the cocktail 'hour' (umm..that meant during dinner), started to set up, said they forgot a cord, packed up and left. Yep, no DJ. And this bride and DJ will see eachother at work the next week.

Or how about the (former) assistant I had that shot a wedding with her pentax and kit lens, the hubby backed up wiht a P&S. First wedding. Only charged $600. Outdoors, so maybe no fast lenses were needed. The bride new it was her first wedding as a photographer. The pics were fair - I've seen better and certainly seen worse. But it turned into a nightmare anyway. She chose some online place for the album that she'd never used before (not lulu or mypub, but one of those type of deals) and the bride hated the book. Since there was nothing techincally wrong with the book, it's was the layout/not knowing what to expect/what they sell, she did some changes and paid for another book to be printed. Bride was still unhappy and wanted a different book. And more prints in compensation for the hassle. It's been ongoing for 6 months now and I'm not sure what the final resolution is other than my former ass't swears she will never shoot another wedding. It was a mixture of not knowing the product she was selling, not having a sample to show the bride so she knew what to expect, etc.

There are many different styles of wedding photograhy. If you've not shot a bunch of weddings how do you know you're style? You don't. Styles evolve over time too. So if you don't know it, how can the client? If the client has no idea what you will be giving them, how can you manage their expectaions? Over 90% of the wedding images a bride-to-be has seen are in magzines - staged, very professional images, or else high end ones from leading photogs. Guess what? That sets her expectations pretty damned high up there. Unless you really screw up she'll never tell you the pics disappointed her. You'll never know she cried. You won't know what she tells her friends about you, your pics.

It's a lot of responsibilty and not to be taken lightly IMO. "Hey, this is gonna be so fun!" is a great attitude to have, but one should think about what they're getting into before they leap.

Message edited by author 2008-10-15 13:31:51.
10/15/2008 01:52:18 PM · #17
There are lots of horror stories to be told about doing weddings... I certainly have plenty of my own (check the forums) from mean nasty brides, to accidents with equipment. and Prof_Fate is absolutly right when he say's don't take this lightly.

Now this isn't to say don't do it. We all have to start somewhere, some study under a pro for a season or two (or many more) before they start to do weddings on their own... some, just jump in. but if you are going to jump in be sure you know the water to which you're jumping into... this is what we're all trying to get at.

In the end you do have some time... take the time t practice, practice, practice, if you can find a photographer to second shoot with in that time, DO. invest in some insurance for your stuff... and some for yourself to (Prof is right, get paid like a pro, you can be sued like a pro). Gt some back-up gear... do a search for weddings in the forum and read up (there's plenty here)

Lastly, don't let everything we say be what turns you away... you need to know in yourself that you can do it... but do it with your eyes open, know what you're getting into, and then decided weather you can do it... If you believe you can, then do! and we do wish you luck whatever you decide.

Good Luck
10/15/2008 02:51:39 PM · #18
Originally posted by Prof_Fate:

It's a lot of responsibilty and not to be taken lightly IMO.


There are plenty of times where your advice is solid, and appreciated by some folks here. My point is that you could certainly deliver advice in a tone that doesn't suggest that the person taking on their first wedding is an idiot.

When you say things like this:

Originally posted by Prof_Fate:

I'll just keep my mouth shut now and ignore this thread.


...it carries a tone of pretentiousness as though, in your eyes, no one could possibly be qualified to shoot their first wedding.
10/15/2008 04:52:04 PM · #19
Originally posted by alanfreed:

Originally posted by Prof_Fate:

It's a lot of responsibilty and not to be taken lightly IMO.


There are plenty of times where your advice is solid, and appreciated by some folks here. My point is that you could certainly deliver advice in a tone that doesn't suggest that the person taking on their first wedding is an idiot.

When you say things like this:

Originally posted by Prof_Fate:

I'll just keep my mouth shut now and ignore this thread.


...it carries a tone of pretentiousness as though, in your eyes, no one could possibly be qualified to shoot their first wedding.


Most of us aren't qualified to shoot our first wedding...lol... I certainly wasn't :) but man did I learn up quick :)
10/15/2008 05:14:00 PM · #20
Hi everyone. just getting out of work and wanted to reply back. I just wanted to let you know that I appreciate ALL of your comments. I know that this is a lot of responsibility and not to be taken lightly. I was actually asked last year to shoot a wedding and I said no because of that. I feel as though I can't keep saying no and I have to start somewhere and yes, I know what a Huge job this will be. It even helps me to hear about some of the horror stories so that I will be prepared at the time of the wedding. Lots of thing I know can go wrong and hopefully after lots of research, practice, and listening to all your advice, everything will go smoothly. I feel confident this time around and I'm thrilled to have been asked to be part of such a special day for the couple.

10/15/2008 05:25:50 PM · #21
Originally posted by skasuba:

Hi everyone. just getting out of work and wanted to reply back. I just wanted to let you know that I appreciate ALL of your comments. I know that this is a lot of responsibility and not to be taken lightly. I was actually asked last year to shoot a wedding and I said no because of that. I feel as though I can't keep saying no and I have to start somewhere and yes, I know what a Huge job this will be. It even helps me to hear about some of the horror stories so that I will be prepared at the time of the wedding. Lots of thing I know can go wrong and hopefully after lots of research, practice, and listening to all your advice, everything will go smoothly. I feel confident this time around and I'm thrilled to have been asked to be part of such a special day for the couple.


That's a healthy attitude to go into things with :)

Good luck
08/10/2009 01:58:42 PM · #22

Thank you everyone for your helpful comments and tips before shooting my first wedding. I just wanted to share my first experience with all of you. See the attached link to my blog.

Cayman Island Wedding

I also just shot my second wedding a few weeks ago and will be posting those soon. second wedding
I'm absolutely loving wedding photography and can't wait to shoot more!

Thanks! ~Sarah
08/10/2009 02:30:22 PM · #23
Congratulations! It looks like it was a beautiful wedding & you got some very meaningful images for them~!
08/10/2009 05:54:19 PM · #24
Thanks! It was a beautiful wedding! :)
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