I shot my first wedding this past weekend down in Coral Gables, FL. This was a freebee shoot with them paying for all travel expenses and buying albums and prints (hopefully).

It was tough! I thought I was prepared, but felt like I was just barely keeping up with the action the whole time. I completely drenched my new black shooting shirt. The only thing that happened on-time was the ceremony, so I had to completely throw out my carefully planned schedule. I did get in a slideshow at the reception and about 50 rep cards were snapped up (yeah!)

Here are the numbers: 900 miles, 11 hrs of shooting, 1600 images, 600 keepers, 1 georgeous couple.

And here are some of the images. It was difficult to select a dozen or so to share and these are just corrected for exposure/wb out of Lightroom. I have plenty of other architectural and detail shots but don't want to bore you with them.


The bride started getting ready at the Coral Gables Biltmore. Her family was as sweet and wonderful as she was. The room was georgeous with plenty of natural light. I turned off my flash and used ISO 320-640.

1. Here's the bride copying a poem to be read by her sister at the ceremony. The groom delivered a huge beautiful arrangement of red roses with a sweet note saying "I can't wait to marry you!"



2. The groom - searching for missing tux pieces (which weren't missing after all).



3. Getting dressed - with a little help! I was given extrordinary access which was an honor.



4. Arrival at the church in a vintage Rolls. It's a good thing the makeup was waterproof.



Even though I was given permission to flash, I kept it off except for the processional and recessional. The church was a dark historic spanish church necessitating ISO 1600.

5. During the ceremony.



6. More tears, except now she has someone to wipe them away.



7. One of the formals. 430EX on lightstand with 580 on-camera fill. I coulda used a brolly and next time I'll use 1:2 instead of 1:3 ratio.



8. We stopped back by the Biltmore lobby for some formals (we ran out of time before the ceremony)



7. Showing appreciation to the staff



The reception hall was beautiful, but also had dark wood ceilings and the light was so low I couldn't see my camera displays without backlighting. I spent most of the night bouncing my 580 back over my shoulder and to the side.

8. The brides grandmother approves of the groom. It was so crowded in the receiving area I had to resort to the hail-mary technique.



9. First dance.



10. The bride and her father



11. I love latin weddings - the music and dancing were awesome This is the brides brother and his talented and beautiful dancing partner.



12. I got creative with off-camera direct flash - leading to some dramatic results. No, this wasn't posed and I don't think they even knew I was there.



13. Very disorganized exit. Half the sparklers went out prematurely and I was stuck with 1/30s f/2.8 ISO 3200 pushed 1/2 stop in post.



All in all it was a most exhilerating experience - one I'll never forget.

s

Nice work Steve, I love #11, I don't think it gets easier, we just get better at it!!
Candy

Shoot Shoot Shoot...the more you shoot in pressure type situations the more comfortable you will feel and make your clients more at ease as well. When your all crazy running around that will make your bride all jumpity(new word). It took me years to get the butterflies out on a friday night, but now I really just look forward to best day of my week.

BTW- Your first wedding was freakin' awesome!

I think you got some great shots that the bride and groom will love!

I have to say that I don't think that there's any reason for you to be doing weddings for free. Your work is incredible and all your hard work definately paid off.

Can I ask what lenses you were using for this one?

GREAT job on your 1st wedding! Wow, wish my first one was that good!

I agree, it doesn't get easier we just adjust and get better.

I don't let anything cause me to sweat (not literally, i am actually wet at most of my weddings too.) but i operate on SWT (Standard Wedding Time.) it's always about 20-40 minutes behind EST (i'm in Ohio) and I run with the flow. I need x amount of time to do my thing and if they are running behind i'll try to hurry it up but i still take whatever time i need as i know they expect a certain product from me and are paying a premium for it.

Way to go! keep it up!

WOW, i just saw a squirell outside my window make a about a 7 foot sideways jump to a birdfeeder while holding to the side of a pipe on a house! Amazing! I bet he fell the first few times he did that, but now he's a champ at it! you will be too.

Wow thanks for sharing. You did great. I am really loving #5 (her expression is awsome).

Candy, thank you.

Mark, thank you, too! I managed to keep my confident, enthusiatic game face on the whole time, mainly because I knew that was one thing I could do right . Reassuring the bride was one of my duties

Melissa, I really appreciate it. Thanks.

Bryce, thanks. That'll be my only freebee. One thing I realized about halfway through the day was that my current published base shooting price is too low and will be raised before year end. This is challenging, difficult work and not worth lowballing.

RE lenses, I pretty much stuck to my 30D + 24-70 f/2.8Lthe whole day. I also had the 50 f/1.4 and 85 f/1.8's, but didn't use them as much as I should have (I kicked myself as i was reviewing the shots). I had the 18-55 on my XT at f/5.6 in case I needed to go wide, but only used that a couple of times. I didn't have real wide or real long, but needed neither - that's not to say I couldn't have used them, I just didn't need them this time.

Jim, thank you so much. I really should have been a little more agressive about making the portrait time I needed. Nothing ran on time, though, and I guess it's ot be expected.

Ryan, I really appreciate that. Thank you.

really nice job! I can't believe this is your first wedding - awesome work. And I agree - you better start charging for work this good.

Great to hear you survived!!! Great job!!!

Steve awesome job for your first wedding!!! I love #11.

Steve,

I can say some get easier, others don't. But with a first wedding that well done, I can say with confidence....you'll be fine. Just make sure that while you are pushing yourself so hard to get the great shots, you don't forget to enjoy yourself.

Way to go on your first!!!

Great Job!

I remember my first wedding. I was not even nervous or anything. My first paid wedding, however, and some after that, I was pretty nervous because I felt the expectations were higher. I remember double and triple checking every piece of equipment, calculating repeatedly in my head to see if I had enough CF cards, going over a checklist multiple times.

I'm still relatively new, so I'm still not free from the stress. When I see a seasoned pro like Dane Sanders videotaping an episode of SPM two hours before a wedding I think, man, one day I will be that cool before the event. One day...

It looks like you did a fantastic job for your first wedding and you definitely need to start charging

I think that the nerves help keep us on our toes. If you weren't nervous you wouldn't have any reason to go above and beyond to keep coming up with new ideas and new fantastic shots. At least that's what I tell myself.

Great work and congrats on your first wedding!

Does it get easier? Yes and no... photography-wise, we constantly push ourselves to do the best we can, so for the most part we're always putting forth 100% effort -- ie not getting any easier. BUT it does get easier as far as knowing the flow of weddings, knowing what to look for next, being where you should be, not stressing out as much (I still stress out).

I find that now, waiting for the wedding is the worst part... I get all worked up, but then I start shooting, find my groove, feel the flow

You've got the photo skills to shoot weddings... now it's just experience that will make your day go easier.

Thanks, everyone, for all your encouragement!

I look at the awesome images all of you create week after week and have been inspired since I joined late last year. It feels good to finally have something to offer.

Now it's album pre-design time.

Same here! You did great!

I love them, but really love #1..how special is that???

Geanette

Those all look great! You did an excellent job!