In terms of a wedding the ceremony is the main event. From a photographic viewpoint it is also the most challenging. There are certain moments that need to be captured and for many of these there is no second chance.

I mentioned in previous posts that attending the rehearsal is vital. It helps us plan how we will photograph the wedding. It allows us to be prepared for what is going to happen on the day.

It is important to capture the moments for the couple. However, you should not ruin the experience of the guests. The best compliment I receive is when a guest tells me they did not notice me photographing the event. There was no videographer involved with the wedding. That was one complication that I did not have to worry about.

The church, with a single aisle presented a problem in that movement was fairly restricted. I relied on my second shooter to stay down the back. They captured the party as they entered the church. They also captured them as they exited. Samantha and I have worked together on a number of weddings so we have this pretty much sorted.

We both had backup cameras. This ensured that we were covered in the event of a failure. Furthermore both my main cameras have two card slots using both slots at the same time. The main slot was recording RAW images while the second one JPGs. Again this gave me a backup in case of a failure.

My main camera was using a 24-70mm lens set at f4.5. I had it set to auto ISO to ensure a minimum shutter 1/100s.  This resulted in an ISO range between 1,400 and 16,000. I was not concerned about this as I knew the noise reduction software could handle it.

The signing of the register is the one opportunity for staged shots. It also provides an opportunity to capture those that have attended.

With all of the preparation the actual ceremony went very smooth and everybody was happy with results. That is the main thing.