Things I Wish I Knew Before My First Wedding Photography Sideline

My first wedding photography sideline, ahh, I never thought I'd get here ☀️

(It was an experience I definitely want to do again, and as much as this blog post is on the negative side, I still think it was a success overall 👌🏻😭)

After reading a lot of blog post about tips on wedding photography (w/c mostly just had the same content), and compiling a lot of inspirations from Instagram and Facebook, in the end, it still felt like I wasn't prepared enough for what went through AKA a lot of stuff still went wrong.

It's impossible to have just one photographer

I already contacted a friend to be the 2nd photog for the event but cancelled last minute 😅 

I couldn't run around with the kids playing during reception to take candid shots because I need to take photos of the guests with the bride and groom. I couldn't take a photo of the bride outside of the church before they opened the door because I have to be positioned at the end of the altar next to the videographer. Good thing I already lost my appendix 10 years ago because the moment I finished eating was also the moment the emcee continued the program. 👻

With the amount of photos I wanna do, it was impossible for me to do it all by myself. I ended up having the role of taking the important shots, instead of the creative ones I'd rather do. And if they weren't good enough, I don't have a plan B.

The pressure was definitely on. 

Videographer vs photographer 🔫

When I heard the bride and groom are hiring videographers too, I didn't like the idea. And the thing is it wasn't every really my choice. 💆🏻

And when the videographers came 2 hours after we did, the maid of honor AKA my bestie told us about how it's always photographers vs videographers during weddings, and wow was she right 😳. (fingers crossed that this is only because of the videographer for this one event 🙏🏻)

We spent a lot of time telling each other that we're in the frame (he shouted at me tho *triggered meme here*). A lot of times I couldn't do what I want because of it.

After patiently waiting for the bride to be unoccupied, every single time we were about to start with the photos, the videographer comes crashing into wherever we are and steals the spotlight and starts telling people what to do and how to act. It wasn't really that bad during the first few times. And all I could really do was think of the bride to remember that if I ever show disrespect back to the videographer, my negativity would spread all over the place. Fake smile on 🙃

So that's the story of how I probably don't want a videographer too, if the time comes for me. 🙅🏻🙅🏻🙅🏻

We all thought we have time ⏲

This is probably the biggest problem, how we all thought we'd have time.

And my bestie during the planning kept on telling me about the photos we would do. We were both those kind who likes photos a lot. We managed to share hundreds of inspirations the past few months prior with the hope that we'd get to something just as nice. We were so excited about it 😭

I wanted so badly to do a lot of stuff, and the bride had a lot of time after her make up (but she couldn't wear her dress yet), but in the end we were only allowed a 5 minute photo session before running to our cars to go to the church.

Maybe I need to ask the bride and groom to include a time just for the photos during their planning next time.

And more stuff I wished I knew, in bullets

• Kit lens are a must during event shoots, I probably should've used it every time my long lens failed me 📸
• It is a whole day event, from the make up down to the reception, can't feel my arms a few days after due to the heavy equipment
• It’s almost impossible to take photos of people walking
• 
• It is a part of my role to tell people what to do/how to pose
• More than the inspirations I had in my screenshots album, I should've memorized a number of poses to tell people so that it won't be awkward the 5th time I click the shutter getting the same photo
• I look like a 7 year old little girl 🐣and that's why it wasn't easy for people to listen to me
• It kind of felt wrong to move around and take a lot of pictures inside a church, just me?
• There are a lot of acting going on in there just for content (still don't know how I feel about it)
• 
• The light set up in the reception was making the bride purple or green or pink
• The backdrop didn't take up a lot of space, so it wasn't as nice in photos to see the end of it
• My social anxiety was at its peak 🙈 (or maybe it was a good thing too because this way I can enhance my very bad social skills)
• Spent the next 2 weeks juggling a full time job and editing thousands of photos 🔫

All these rants, but really, I couldn't wait for the next 📸🎉🙈

#MARKJINGdowntheaisle