Paparazzi Wedding

Yesterday I had a couple of shots of the wedding rehearsal and today I have some from the wedding. There was another lady that wanted to get some shooting time in as she had not shot a wedding before. I was not there to officially second shoot but was asked by the bride and groom to take “some pictures” when I was not officiating in my capacity as Master of Ceremony. No problem… Except with three shooters at times it looked like the paparazzi and come to town.

So the wedding was at three and the pictures were to be at noon as set by the photographer (the real one). I pull into the church at 11:15 with camera bag in one hand and suit in the other. I figured I might just as well run around casual and change to formal before the wedding. Without going into explicit detail, the photos got off to a very late start but that gave me a little more time to grab shots out of the ordinary like the one below.

I knew I would be leaving the service right after the wedding to open the reception hall so there was no hope of getting the full service coverage. I was not there for that anyhow. I was not able to get the bride and bridesmaid photos but got a decent on of the groom and groomsmen seen below.

My wife was down helping the bride and later told me the second shooter took the mirror shot and said “Oops, I’m, in the shot.” With that tidbit of 411 I headed down to the gals room and asked the bride if she would mind if I got some shots. The next two images are of the bride looking into the mirror.

The mirror was really tricky in post production in that it picked up the green tint from the fluorescent lights in the room. To correct this I adjusted white balance and then painted some blue into the mirror area to balance it out.

The following shot was of the bride just after I got into the room. It was starting to run behind and she was a little edgy so I just wanted to grab a couple of shots ant get going. It is a full on ¾ front shot that turned into a bust of the bride.

The couple wanted to honor the tradition of the bride and groom not seeing each other on the wedding day until the service but wanted to have a moment alone. My daughter was married at the same church a couple of years ago and used a hall barricade to separate the two of them so they could converse, hold hands, and pray. It makes a nice shot also.

During the service I was getting some stealth shots with the EF 70-200 f/2.8 L IS lens and saw an opportunity to get one of “the shots” so I made my way along the side of the auditorium to get into position. It would be of the unity candle and the couple.

I think this shot typifies the wedding day. A beautiful glow of candle light across the brides face illuminating her as the primary subject with the groom in shadow showing his willingness to rise his bride to prominence. Almost Biblical I'd say!

Well that wraps it for today... Doug