Quote Originally Posted by HDNitehawk View Post
My thoughts in order to your questions;

1, You have very good photography skills. Your skills are probably higher than many "wedding" photographers that are professional now. But there is more to it than the technical side. I think that as long as you are honest with her, and do not oversell yourself and then she decides to use you then it is ok. Be up front and honest just as you are here. If she is ok with it then, sure go for it because she has assumed the risk, most likely so she could save money.

2, Stick with your 7D and another if possible. Don't switch equipment at such an important time, it might backfire. Of course a 5D II works similar to a 7D, but what if some unknown pops up and you get a set of bad pictures.

3, One question after she decides to hire you, "Are you sure you understand that I have never photographed a wedding, and I want to make sure you are comfortable with this?"

Out of the many “I am going to be new a wedding photographer” posts I have seen on this site, I would say you are the one I would say go and do it.
Thank you! I feel I have a good grasp on what she as a bride would want to see in the final images and I have reviewed many of the local wedding photographers websites and can see what I would and would not do. I know what I would want to capture is I guess what I am saying. I know what my daughter ended up with from an expensive "professional wedding photographer" and I look at those photos now and think OMG, what was he thinking! So many of the outdoor ones show so much shadow!

There is a local professional wedding photographer posted on craigslist and I guess it's not proper to post the link here but all of her shots of weddings on her website, the photos are blown out! I was looking at her site online last night and wondering is that suppose to be a romantic way of doing it? I didn't find it appealing at all! I can see applying maybe a softness in post to give it a romantic look. Is there a special techinque used in capturing wedding photos that is different than in other types of photography? For example, if I were to take a photo of a white bird, I would want to try and capture as much detail in that bird as possible. Yet, in the photos I was looking at last night, the wedding dress was just blown out white in every shot, no detail at all.

I know what I would want to try and capture. The question is, can I make the brides vision a reality. I would do my best I would most definitely be up front with her on my inexperience. My youngest daughter is willing to come with as my assistant and help in any way she can, say if I take outdoor shots, she would hold a reflector, etc.