If the hall is set up the day before you can take the time to get the pictures of the venue/s. If the wedding is later you can maybe pop to the venue before you go to meet the bride. If the reception and ceremony are at different venues then you'll just have to try and snap some pics of the venue while the guests are milling about waiting for the bride and groom to arrive for the reception line. (Discuss this with your bride before hand so she knows to give you a few minutes' head start after the photos.
Try and get as many detail shots as you can, remember, your bride has spent months working on all these little details and all she has left after the wedding are the photos in most cases. With the above wedding I took pictures of the ceramic bride and groom on the cake, during the cutting of the cake the stand collapsed, the other one is a picture of them catching the cake, which is something they will probably look back on and laugh but the figurine fell on the floor and smashed. The poor bride was very upset but very relieved to know she at least had a picture to remember it by.
Arrive a half an hour or more before the bride to take a few pics of the groom and groomsmen and the guests as they arrive. You could use the standard aperture of 5.6 and 200 shutter speed, that should give you pretty evenly lit pictures to work with, you can always adjust the lighting in lightroom to compensate for the sun going in and out.
And walking down the aisle. These are the tricky shots as you have to be in a good position to get them coming in and then rush down to your spot (Which you had planned at the meeting with the bride where you can get the best shots while still being out of the way so as not to disrupt the service)
Be sure to check with the bride at your meeting whether photography is allowed as some church weddings won't allow photos inside the chapel. You could maybe find a window and take a few cheeky shots through there ;-p It's important to take a few practise shots, perhaps when you see the venue with the bride or in the few minutes before they arrive to get your settings right. Most services will not allow flashes so you will need to bump up your ISO to get your shots (don't forget to change this back again after the service!) The key is to always be checking your screen to make sure your exposure is correct so you can correct it before it's too late. If your camera doesn't have a high enough ISO your next best option is to go with a slow shutter speed but be sure to have a tripod to avoid as much blurr as possible. Chances are you won't get as many good shots but it's better than nothing. Don't be scared of pumping up the ISO instead, the noise shouldn't be too much of a problem in the small prints in an album and just tell the bride she can't blow up those shots as the venue is too dark and you're not allowed a flash.
It's important to be in a good position for the ceremony as you won't be able to move around. Plan this with your bride before hand and remind her to put the rings on slowly to give you time to capture the moment, although they do tend to forget as they are caught up in it so you should be snapping away! It's also nice to get a few pics of the guests, especially those who are emotional like the parents.
For the signing of the register you won't be able to take pictures of the actual signing and check with the registrar what pics you can take of the actual register as there may be someone else's information on the opposite page, work with the registrar from the outset, they can get very grumpy and nasty if you don't ;-p Once you have taken pictures step back and allow the guests a chance to take pictures too, nothing worse than an official photographer who hogs all the shots.
Always check your background. This is also something that's worth planning before hand with your bride as a cluttered background distracts from your subjects and takes hours to edit out and is seldom done successfully anyway. With the picture above, even though there are still pictures in the background and the notice board isn't an ideal backdrop, it's still better than the notices that were pinned to it before we took the shot!
Get as many pics of the bride and groom as you can, when walking to the different places get them to stop and pose every now and then when you think you have a cute shot.
If you're lucky enough to have stairs, this is a great place to put everyone for the group shot. Otherwise you can try and get above them ie. shoot from a 1st floor window or even on a hill in the garden. With the bottom shot I didn't have much choice in background as the garden was facing an ASDA, whose sign inconveniently dominated the shot and I was not going to spend hours trying to get rid of it! lol As you can see though, in terms of getting a print, the bottom one will be much harder.
I suggest a tripod for this shot as you will have to have your aperture as high as possible eg F11 to get as many people in focus as you can. As the light may not be bright enough to light the picture at this aperture you can either up the ISO if you have a good quality camera or slow the shutter speed, although you will then have the possibility of blur if people don't stand still enough.
It's easiest to start with the big group and work your way down to the bridal party from there, especially concentrating on the older guests so they can go sit down and have a drink or get to the reception venue.
Take some unposed pics while the helper is getting the next group together.
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NB: Check your background!
NB: Where is the sun?
The most difficult part of taking photos outside is the variable light conditions. The best thing you can do is keep the sun behind them and use a flash to light the shadows. You could get a fancy white umbrella for your bride to use, which helps diffuse the light nicely.
You can try and get all the pictures evenly lit but bright sun lighting half the face and shadow in the other half don't make for good pictures and are very difficult to fix in editing so always check your screen and get the shots as close to perfect as you can.
Get some fun shots with the bridal party. Although everyone wants posed shots, it's the fun ones they will cherish later.
Arrange with your bride before hand where you are going to have the reception line, this is a great time to get individual photos with the guests. NB background again.
The reception is a tricky time for photos. You can go round to all the tables and get posed shots of all the guests. Arrange with the bride before hand that you'll be taking pictures of her food and maybe one or two posed shots of bride and groom feeding each other but see what they feel comfortable with, if they don't want these shots then that's their call but don't try and force it on them on the day, they want to enjoy the event. Never take pictures of the guests while they are eating, it's too intrusive.
Get a good position for the speeches, in front of the bride and groom. Check the background again with the bride before hand. If possible get the person who is giving the speech to stand between the bride and groom, if not make sure you have an unrestricted view of the whole table. Be sure to get pictures of the bridal party's emotional reactions.
Cutting of the cake is another matter to discuss with your bride before hand to again make sure that the cake is in the best spot for a good background.
You can see the difference it makes not having a distraction in the background.
The first dance is another matter to discuss. This is probably the most difficult part to take photos of as the lighting will be bad. Try and have as strong a flash as possible but this might not help, you can up the ISO too. The best solution is to have a few posed dance shots before the actual dance.
After the first dance is usually when I pack it in for the day. I inform the bride of this at the meeting so it doesn't feel awkward or her having expectation of me staying to the bitter end. After this the party really gets going and guests want to relax and enjoy themselves without fears of their actions ending up in the wedding album, we leave that to camera phones and facebook to document!
As for payment, I take a £100 deposit at the time of the meeting and the balance when I deliver all the printed products, never ask for money on the wedding day, it just makes things awkward and takes away from the bride enjoying her day. Always be polite and friendly and never stop other people taking photos. If they are getting in the way of any formal shots ask them if you can take your photos and then you'll give them a chance to take theirs and if they are still intrusive leave it to the bride or groom to deal with, don't make a scene or make anyone uncomfortable.
The next phase is your editing and that takes weeks. I like to get a sneak peek preview up on facebook for the bride (again make sure it's private to her so she can approve them first) This is also a great way to showcase and advertise your work
If you scroll up and see the collages framed in black, those are the ones I put on facebook, it makes it difficult for people to download and copy them as the resolution is low (I make them 72 dpi as apposed to the printed ones at 300 dpi) and being in a collage makes it even more difficult to get a specific picture.
You can make the end product available on photobox and tell your bride to let everyone know and share the link on facebook if she's happy with that, then the guests can page through them and order any prints they like without the bride having to go to the trouble or even order a copy of the wedding book. You could have a smaller, cheaper version available with just the highlights of the day.
I like to pic an unusual shot for the cover of the book
Good luck!
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