New Respect for Wedding Photographers

I did a favor for a family member this last weekend by photographing his wedding. I guess it was my hubris that made me assume it wouldn't be that difficult. Even though I did quite a bit of planning ahead of time, I quickly realized I had to make some quick decisions. As you can imagine, with all of the different locations (dressing room, sanctuary, outdoors, reception etc) the lighting changes were crazy. It wasn't so much making the adjustments, it was making them in a matter of seconds and not minutes. The other thing I learned is that you stand for a very long time. Who would've thought that taking photos as a wedding would be physically taxing. The last thing that really hit me was the stress level. You really only have one chance to take a shot of the first kiss, or the rings being put on and the like. If you mess it up then it's like that Southwest Airlines commercial "Want to get away?" Fortunately, the photos turned out pretty good and for my first (and hopefully last) wedding shoot it turned out to be a fun time. I have to admit though that I have a new found respect for wedding photographers.