Shoot the bride with the maid of honor, with the maid of honor and bridesmaids, with the flower girl and ring bearer if any, with her parents, grandparents and siblings, possibly with the groom's family, with any other people that are important to her as there will be, and with the best man and groomsmen who will already be there and ready.

Again, this one can be an opportunity for fun as well, like this picture of this woman being lifted by the guys, as seen in Figure J.

FIGURE J

You can take fun shots too. Click picture for a larger image.

At this point everyone will be ready and hopefully you will still have some time to finish the staged shots before the wedding. Now that everyone is together, you will want to repeat the above standards, only this time with the bride and groom together, combining the shots.

The wedding party
Some classic pictures include the bride and groom flanked by their parents, the grandparents, siblings, entire family, the entire wedding party as in Figure K

FIGURE K

Here are two variations on the standard shot of the wedding party. Click picture for a larger image.

Don't forget the ushers, candle lighters, singers, speakers, etc. Then of course there is the standard shot of the rings, and with the bride and groom's hands together, like Figure L.

FIGURE L

Shots of the rings can be done several ways. Click picture for a larger image.

At this point everyone will retire back to his or her preparation areas. You can get a few shots of the decorations and the empty location if you haven't already. Then it will be time to take your gear down. From this point on, your shots will be handheld, unless there's a convenient, out of the way spot you can set your tripod to get shots of everyone coming down the aisle. You can use your assistant, or someone else nearby, as a target to pre-focus the lens at whatever spot you're going to take the shot.

Tender (or funny) moments
The wedding will be starting soon, so after your gear is stowed, find the bride's father. You're often likely to be able to get pre-ceremony jitters on film, as in Figure M and that's always a good shot.

FIGURE M

The bride's dad is fretting about the time. Click picture for a larger image.

If you see anything at any point that looks like a tender or touching moment, snap it like the great image shown in Figure N.

FIGURE N

Be on the lookout for tender moments, like this toned example. Click picture for a larger image.

Of course, the color adjustments are either done with a filter or in Photoshop at a later time.

In part three of this series, I will cover the ceremony itself, the reception, and your follow-up duties afterwards.

James Booth is a self-taught PC and Palm device user that dabbles in graphics and photography. He can be reached at lizardworks@mchsi.com.