Perseverence paid off then? If it were mine it would have been relegated to doorstop status ages ago...

Congratulations to you both on the wedding! I've had a quick scan of what you've got on offer but I didn't see the thread titled, "FA31 - only 20 quid" so I won't be contributing to the marital funds I'm afraid. When's the big day then?

Rather than looking for ones about to open, look for some that have already established a secondary business in selling other peoples' pictures. Depending on where you're located you should be able to find one or two not far from your doorstep.

As gartmore pointed out above, you need to budget for framing and the cafe itself will want a cut of any sale fees (some might even charge you for wall space) so there is some start-up capital involved.

Good luck anyway!

There are two threads now immediately below this one (both started by sockpuppet) which I think may well be what you're looking for...

Glad you found it an inspiration!

If it's encouraged you to pick up your MX, fix the battery drain problem and go shoot some film then I consider my job was worthwhile.

After the last year humping my K10D around it's a breath of fresh air to just have the MX+FA43 with me on days out. I've also got a Praktica kit (bayonet mount though unfortunately) which the MX makes look and feel like a breezeblock - I was still at school when the MX was for sale so I never had the opportunity to buy one new, glad I caught up at last though!

According to Bojidar's site it does.

You might like to specify how much you're willing to pay; after all there's a big difference between an all manual no-name f6.3 300mm (maybe 20-30 quid) and a Pentax FA*300 f2.8 (£2000+). Same goes (albeit to a lesser degree) for the macro lens and tripod.

Used lenses in excellent condition (assuming they were good ones in the first place) seem to hold their values pretty well and quite often it'll be just as cheap to buy new. Good luck anyway!

You're right, the 31 must come first and I'm only about a hundred short of target now (birthdays have caused it to slip back a couple of times)

I'm tempted by a K110D (only 485g - I can live without SR); someone talk me out of it please! I really don't need one...

I've never been too sold on the idea of courses - no substitute for experience and all that! I think a better way to learn would be to assist a real wedding 'tog "in the field" so to speak. If you ask around you may find one willing to impart some knowledge in return for a few weekends fetching, carrying and generally herding guests.

Good luck anyway!

Well I think numbers 1 and 3 are nice photos but the happy couple are a little dwarfed by the backgrounds. Usually with wedding photos the crop tends to be heavier on the subject (bride and groom in these cases) - that's not to say these are wrong, just a little unusual as wedding photos go.

Picture 2 on the other hand has a great composition but unfortunate shadows cast across both faces - could really have done with flash and/or a reflector here methinks.

Still, not bad for a first effort - it's all good practice!