wedding in a park/playground

[dandcp]

I am helping a friend this weekend by taking her wedding photos. My first time wedding with digital. I am doing this for free but still of course want to give her some awesome photos.

They are getting married in a church but want some photos taken at a park after (just down the street) I went to check it out today to get an idea of where I could take some shots.

There wasn't too many areas with out distracting stuff in the background (cars on the street, tennis courts, playgrounds, kids running around, bball courts, buildings etc. ) Just wondering if anyone has any suggestions on how to get around these.

Or maybe how to incorporate them into the photos. Has anyone got any samples of fun wedding photos say on a playground or swings.
There are some nice trees so will try to blur the background as much as I can.

Thanks in advance!

[cdifoto]

Have them play on the swings/merry-go-round, etc. To eliminate the distractions, shoot tight and @ wide open apertures. f/5.6 and 300mm can blur out nasty backgrounds fairly well. Keep the distracting backgrounds as far away from the subjects as possible. Shoot with the sun behind them if possible without flash and expose for their faces, to make the background blow out (works best if they're in shade).

[adam75south]

on the marry go round see if you can't use a slow-ish shutter and get motion blur

i LOVE motion blur in wedding pics.

[dandcp]

Unfortunately there isn't a merry-go-round at this park. I thought of that motion blur thing too. May I will try some motion on the swings if the bride doesn't mind doing that with her dress. AND if we have time.

Can someone give me some ideas of how much time they like to spend on taking the wedding photos. I have a feeling that we are going to be really rushed to get everything done.

Wedding is at 11AM. Will try to do some individuals in church before ceremony. Ceremony will be 40-45 mins they say. And then reception is at 1PM.
They want to do some family and larger group photos in the church before heading to the park. I think we will only have 45 mins at most in the park to take photos. Wedding party and then some B&G shots.

Will just have to do the best I can with what I have.

Thanks

[24Peter]

Doug - I pm'd you...

[adam75south]

when i shoot my ceremonies i feel like there's just not enough time to do everything i wanna do. they seriously seem like 5 minutes to me. i just try to keep moving. and keep looking around. you'll get inspired. take a few shots and move on to a new shot. don't take 50 of the same shot. other than that you can never go wrong with following the bride around and being her paparazzi during non-ceremony time. and make sure to get wide shots as well as tight shots.

[cdifoto]

Can someone give me some ideas of how much time they like to spend on taking the wedding photos.
All of it. :)

[adam75south]

and as some people have figured out....my philosophy is take 100 and get 5 good ones. take 1000 and get 50! so good luck and have fun. when the reception hits, just relax, do what you want til big moments come up like cake cutting or the boquet toss or first dances. usually someone will give you a heads up but always be ready. change your memory cards during down times. don't wait for them to fill up completely. if you have rechargeable batteries, bring the stuff with you just in case and find a place to plug it in. memory cards are cheap these days. i picked up an 8GB extreme III from circuit city for only $99(on sale).

[jamison55]

I tell my clients that I need 5 minutes per family group and 20-30 minutes with the bride and groom. IF the groups are well organized (which is rarely), I can get it done a little faster. To help get everyone organized, I ask the bride and groom to put together a list of all of the formal photo groups that they want and provide it to me prior to the wedding day. I also advise them to get a copy of the list to everyone one it, so they know who is needed for photos. On the wedding day, I print out 3 copies, so I have a couple extra to hand out to family members to help make sure everyone is gathered. I find having everyone organized is the key to having enough time!

[cdifoto]

I tell my clients that I need 5 minutes per family group and 20-30 minutes with the bride and groom. IF the groups are well organized (which is rarely), I can get it done a little faster. To help get everyone organized, I ask the bride and groom to put together a list of all of the formal photo groups that they want and provide it to me prior to the wedding day. I also advise them to get a copy of the list to everyone one it, so they know who is needed for photos. On the wedding day, I print out 3 copies, so I have a couple extra to hand out to family members to help make sure everyone is gathered. I find having everyone organized is the key to having enough time!
After that wedding we did, I started doing the same thing and it helps immensely, especially when you can find someone who knows everyone to actually rustle up the people needed for each group and give that person a copy of the list. Plus it's a lot easier than trying to remember all the possible combinations of groups.

[Mark_48]

To add to what Jamison and Don said, it's a good idea to try and do all the group family shots first if possible and then the B&G last. This allows the family groups to depart for the reception and you'll be able to concentrate more on the B&G. Some family members may stay and take their own shots, but at least you won't have groups of family hanging around waiting their turn.