Thanks Will, fingers crossed !

Thank you to everyone that took time out to post some excellent tips, especially David and Patrick who've been especially generous with their time and advice. As always, the Pentax community on this forum have come up trumps

Getting close now and I think I'm ready, actually starting to look forward to it.

I'll let you all know how I get on and if I survive

Many many thanks

Andy

Hi David

Thank you for such great advice and taking the time to post. I hear what you're saying about backgrounds, it's something I have to be careful off

In your experience, when shooting indoors with low light as described above what shutter speed can you work acceptably to. I realise it will be different depending on the focal length but, what will you not drop below ?

many thanks

Andy

Excellent tip Carl, will remember that one lol

I do like to be prepared lol

Ken, that's great advice thank you. Over shooting is definitely a problem for me, although I do tend to be quite selective in which shots I give to the client. More of a comfort blanket for me I guess My arrangement with them is just to provide digital images and an online gallery. I've said that I can arrange albums and prints if they wish to pay for them.

Unlocker: your tips made me smile, perhaps Red Bull might be the best one yet... Given I'll probably be shooting for 10 hours+ thats spot on.

Thank you

Mike, You're spot on with that my plan was to leave the 16-50 & 50-135 on for most of the day and just have then have the FA43,77 ready for the evening if needed for the extra bit if speed if needed. Also as a backup for the two main lenses of course.

I have considered the flash gun, I'm pretty familiar with the Yongnuo, but don't use it a lot in my photography. I also didn't want to add a piece of equipment into the mix that I'm not completely familiar with either. Hmmm, might have to ponder that one

Some of the images from the Pre-wedding shoot :

Hi Mike

Yes, have contract and insurance. Forgot to put that on the post

Hi Guys

Time is fast running out before my first semi professional wedding shoot which is on the 31st. I have to say that I'm feeling a little nervous and wondered if any more experienced among you have any pearls of wisdom for me?

The History
The couple I'm shooting contacted local camera clubs looking for a creative talented photographer who would "like" to shoot their wedding to enhance their portfolio. I've been looking to do just that and try and get a wedding under my belt to move into a semi-professional role... It seemed like and perfect match and I got in touch (as did lots of others), we met and they liked my photos and chose me. I made them aware that I'm not a pro and this would be my fist wedding and they were happy with that, I wanted to make sure there were no misconceptions. I'm getting paid, but only a small amount compared to market rates.

Plan for the Day
They are getting married in a registry office then on to a room in the local town hall for reception. There is a lovely formal park (Jephson park in Leamington) where we'll be taking pictures in-between. Rough Itinerary for the day is :

- 10:00-11:00 Pictures of the bride doing makeup in local salon
- 11:00-12:00 Groom and best man getting ready
- 12:00-13:00 Bride getting dressed
- 14:00-15:00 Ceremony in register office
- 15:30-16:30 Photo's in Park
- 16:40 Onwards reception, speeches, wedding breakfast etc
- 21:00 Collapse in a big heap with a beer!

My Girlfriend (a fantastic amateur photographer) is with me all day as a second shooter

Equipment
We Have already :
- K5 Body, K-R Body, FA43, FA70, DA35, Sigma 10-20mm, DA 55-300
- 10 New 16Gb cards purchased for the day, 2 new K5 Batteries (Already have two chargers)
- Vanguard tripod
And I've hired from SRS:
- K5IIs, DA*16-50, DA*50-135

The general idea is that we'll have the two K5s between us and the K-R as a backup. I have a manual flash gun (Yongnuo YN560ii) but don't intend to use it, relying on high ISO of the K5 and fast glass. They are less interested in formal shots and want more of the reportage style, non posed shots.

My Preparation
We've had a number of meetings with the couple and got a reasonable idea of what they want, I've been to all main locations at the appropriate time of day to checkout shooting opportunities and light and I've checked what and where we are allowed to shoot in the register office. My GF and I did a pre-weeding shoot with the couple a few days ago so that we could get comfortable with each other and they seemed to like the shots (I'll post a few bellow). I've also been reading everything I can from pro wedding guys I like...

I'm starting to wonder what I've missed in terms of preparation or equipment, so any pointers would me massively appreciated..

Thanks in advance

Andy

I'd definitely recommend the Vanguard UP-Rise series of bags if you like the messenger bag style. I have the UP-Rise 38 and I'm very very happy with it.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/VANGUARD-UP-Rise-38-Messenger-Camera/dp/B004CJKBJA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1377254613&sr=8-1&keywords=vanguard+uprise+38