My brother's wedding

I'm backblipping this entry because Saturday was a busy, albeit thoroughly wonderful, day. My little brother got married.

Earlier in the year, he asked me if I'd take the photos. And of course, I said I would.

Here's what I've since learnt about taking wedding photographs:

(1) if someone asks you to take their wedding photos and you're not a professional photographer, just say no! I mean, how much pressure do you want to put on yourself to do a good job, all crammed into one day you can't do over??

(2) if you haven't already got one, order a tripod but try and order it well in advance, so that it doesn't turn up on the morning of the wedding, leaving you a mere 2 hours (or less if you happen to still be in your PJs eating breakfast with the Groom) to play with it;

(3) it helps if you're an acrobat/contortionist and don't mind standing on the pavement edge or even in the road outside the wedding venue to get a good shot, liable to get squished by buses and other traffic at any moment;

(4) getting wedding guests into the right groupings is a lot like herding cats;

and

(5) you'll be the last one in the wedding party who'll get a drink that day (and it'll only be a non-alcoholic one, if you're also conned into being the designated driver "because if you're taking the photos, you'll have to stay sober anyway, so you might as well drive")!

Because the bride had chosen Cadbury's purple for her wedding colour, I wanted to try out the partial colour filter effect on my camera for some shots and this is one of them. I think it worked well because that shade of purple is such a strong colour.

I also used my shiny new tripod for this shot. And here's another TOP TIP: try and rope in some other mug to be your beast of burden lovely assistant and help make sure you remember all the kit you need and carry it to wherever the bride wants her photos taken!