wedding photography.

I can't actually believe that other members are giving all kinds of advice here.

Its not a matter of undermining somebody's skills, artistic eye, or technical ability. It is simply un-reasonable to suggest the OP to shoot the wedding in my opinion.

Weddings are a huge deal, and unless the OP is ready to put all his energies into professional photography from now, he will not have even 2% of the experience needed to 'guarantee' a successful shoot.

Professional photographers go through years of studying, and training, and shooting weddings with professional equipment and even just supporting as a second, or third photographer. UNless the OP is serious about learning most of the necessary skills by practicing (which by his last post he isn't cause he 'just want to get done with it'), and traning, he has a very good recipe for disaster.
(Which doesn't mean that he might not produce some good photos btw)

I have tried to find assistant jobs in the past 3 years, and its incredibly hard to find even unpaid jobs where you only pull the crowds together for the formals.

Its not a matter of 'everybody has to start somewhere' its a matter of taking responsability.

- Are you fully capable of dealing with all sorts of lighting situations?
- Are you able to expose properly on EVERY SHOT THAT COUNTS - before- during- after the function, and on all the formal shots?
- do you have the appropriate equipment, fast zooms, flashes, backup cameras and lenses, extra batteries.
- Are you completely confident with all your equipment so that you don't have to think about what settings to use, but can concentrate on following the events of the wedding and take the necessary shots. (you don't get second chances on the ring exchange...)
- Are you completely confident you can organise the formal photograph with all the family, and get people to stand the the right place, light, position, and take a well-lit group shot?
- Are you confident in your artistic abilities in order to shoot portraits of the bride and groom that are interesting, if not at least technically acceptable?
- Are you confident that you can take many hours of sweating and running around to catch every important moment?

I could go on for a much much longer list.

And I am really not trying to put you down, its just that unless you have a lot of experience that you haven't mentionned, this task is REALLY very much above your head. To give you a comparison that IMO is sensible: A young driver had his licence for 1-2 years, and has to compete in a touring car championship race. Get what I mean?

PLease don't take professional photography lightly, it really hurts all the hard working pros out there, mainly in the eyes of the couple and their family and friends.

Regards,
Nathan


p.s. You are free to not consider all i've said here above, but remember that helpful advice is not always what you want to hear.

Chris, I completely agree, and that's why i've also said What worries me is the taking things so lightly, both from the OP, and the answers given by other members.

If one takes a few hours to read the DPreview pro- forum, he'll quickly find that the pedantism of most professionals is not only arrogant we-are-the-only-ones-that-can-do-it, but rather, a fair representation of the reality of being a professional photographer.


I perfectly understand this. I got married 3 months ago, and I was paying for my own photographer as well. And i'm definitely not rich or by no means wealthy. I decided to do a lot of research, and found a guy who's been a professional for many years but not very practical with digital photography. I decided to do a deal and ended up doing part of the post production myself in exchange for a very reasonable price for the shooting. I understand that this bride and groom would probably not be able to do this, but doing research into young pro-photographers that charge a fraction of the big ones, but still have a whole lot more experience than our OP, will probably be a better choice.