Out of the blue I got a call from the groom to be sometime in spring 2006. He had found me on a Swedish photo community, liked my shots and had hunted down my cell phone number! Turns out he was also a hobby photographer and getting married in August.

The couple were wonderful. Seriously. I coulan't have asked for a better first wedding shoot couple. Both were soooo relaxed and easy going. I had tried to memorize cool poses (after surfing soooo many websites and reading tons of stuff). Naturally every damn pose totally disappeared from my memory. duh! So, I winged it.

The couple loved the photos and bought double the amount of prints we had agreed on. Yaay.

Wow! Those are great! You wing well! Everything is so nice, crisp, and very nicely processed. TFS

Well I'm not surprised they bought double the prints...you do great work. Congrats on the wedding and hopefully many more in 07.

Beautiful shots Claire!!! That first one in B+W is stunning!! I think you should be out there shooting some more, hopefully 2007 will be a fantastic year for you!!!!

I love that first photo

I love your BW conversion, I might have dodged the grooms face a little bit but it is great!

VERY niiiiiice! Thanks for sharing

Those are wonderful! But it's scary that it's your first wedding... Congrats and keep it up.

are you kidding - your first official? THESE ARE FABULOUS - I'm officially your #1 fan GREAT work - i love the windy shots - beautiful. film/digital?

These are great. Love the first one and the 6th one.

Great job.

You really are kidding that this is your first wedding, right ????

These rock. I can see why they bought loads of them. Great job!

Claire!!! These are awesome!!! You should be so proud. I know "wingin' it" when you've totally forgotten all the poses you were going to do. I love the creativity involved - the b&w is so classic - very romantic, wind blowing, weeds... VEry well don!

Go girl!!!
the other Claire (Kayser)

Those are seriously awesome Claire!!!! I LOVE the top one the best!!! Amazing that that was your first wedding! Wow!

Wow, such nice replies! You have no clue how much it means to hear that you all like the shots.

And I'm being totally honest, I'd never shoot a wedding before apart from stealing shots at my friend's wedding. This was my 2nd ever paid shoot & first wedding shoot. In Sweden the wedding portraits are the main thing. PJ style is increasing, but many still stick with only the portraits & formals with parents etc really isn't the thing. So, as I was mainly hired for the portraits, I thought "Cool, I can do portraits". Then I buried myself in online research as I'm not used to posing people. I'm more the candid type shooter.

Everyone seems to like the first shot the best! I did dodge his face, but tried to not overdo it either. Wasn't sure if it'd look too fake or not in print.

Shane, I take the "But it's scary that it's your first wedding..." as a compliment. hehe

Kristy & Kayla, thanks for your kind words. *blushes* I shoot digital, I'm soo greatful for digital. I've learnt probably 3 times as fast thanks to the instant feedback. Got tons to learn when it's the technical bits, but I'm fairly confident in my composition & such. I've been drawing my whole life & always see things in images. That helped my learning curve.

Claire & Sarah,
Thanks both of you! The REALLY scary part was I was so excited to do the wedding I didn't feel nervous until I got there! The bride was the "Oh, everything is so lovely today, I'm sure your photos will be as well." She asked to see some shots straight from the cam & loved the ones she saw. Utterly easy to please.
I was more nervous if the groom would like them as he's a pretty good photographer, but shoots mainly macro stuff.

I still had such luck they were so easy-going. Hardly needed to pose or direct at all They moved, I saw a shot & hit the shutter. They also had no problems kissing in front of the camera. Oh, and they're a cute couple. All my female friends went "Wow, hot groom!" lol

Now I want to build a nice portfolio, so need more vict...ehm, couples to practise on!:D

Oh my goodness, I can't believe that was your first wedding!!! Those are some beautiful shots, I look forward to being able to see more of your work! The first one is my favorite, but they are all really great!

Thanks Kate! I'm dying to shoot another wedding. I had an enquiry by a friend of this couple for a March wedding, but since his call I haven't heard from him I told the groom to drop me an email what they were after and I'd give them a quote, but haven't received any email. I don't have his number either, so can't call! Trying to get hold of it now to see if he's still interested. Kinda strange he didn't email since he went "We weren't gonna have anyone shoot us, but we really liked your shots, can you book us for 3 March? We're a really nice couple!"

Claire, I would have been crazy happy if the shots from my very first wedding looked that good! You really do have a natural talent and I hope you keep shooting more weddings!!

Thanks Erin. *blushes* I'm just thankful I shot all the formal portraits in RAW! Saved my butt with a few shots. And yes, I'm happy how they turned out for my first time! Now I need to keep practising.

Well done Claire, I echo all the above comments.

Awesome shots Claire

First wedding! WOW! Great job!

Claire, these are nice! Great job on your first wedding! I just had my first wedding back in November, and it was so much fun! 2007 is looking to be a great first wedding photography year for me, and I hope it is great for you, too!

Jennifer