I am not a pro photographer, but it seems like this podcast episode has some pretty good advice:
http://froknowsphoto.com/rawtalk_44/ [
iTunes link]
....
Hope those help. I'm sure there are many similar resources available online.
I'll be sure to check out that podcast. I've been listening to a ton of science podcasts recently and want to switch up the subject matter. Talk about killing two birds with one stone.
Want to know one of they key things a pro does that an amateur doesn't? The pro never lets anyone see the bad shots.
My advice is this: don't do it. Your cousin is focused on saving money today, but what about a year from now? I'm not intending to malign your abilities, I'm sure you're quite talented, but with no experience with weddings there's a signficant chance of trouble.
"The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten" -- Benjamin Franklin.
Some other thoughts:
You mention one camera body and one flash... What's your plan if (when) one of those fails partway through the wedding? How will you handle getting both wide and tele shots of scenes like vows, The Kiss, etc? Do you know for sure you have enough battery and storage?
How many weddings have you attended in the last couple of years? i.e. how familiar are you with the flow of events, typical angles/problems/challenges you'll face? How well do you know the "usual shots" every bride expects even if she forgets to put them on a list of required shots?
Are you thoroughly practiced with capturing low light high contrast scenes with flash and mixing in ambient? White dress, black tux, dim lighting, and direct flash is a complex mix to do on the fly if you're not well rehearsed.
What's your skill level in herding cats and controlling crowds while keeping everyone happy? A significant part of a wedding photog's job is creating the group shots while ensuring everyone is looking at YOUR camera and not Aunt Betty's -- all while keeping the pace going fast enough that groomsmen don't go searching for drinks and Grandma Gerty doesn't need a chair.
You pose a lot of great and thoughtful questions, many of which I have answers to, and which will, I suppose, flesh out my background.
First off, I can understand why philosophically and economically one wouldn't let people see the "bad shots", which is why, with the consideration of the added voices of the previous posters, I'm nixing the live preview idea. Too many resources to gather with too little manpower to manage it. However, it's just a personal philosophy of mine to do what most would call an "overshare" and offer originals to my subjects, in the off chance that a few of the photos I don't find as subjectively pleasing to be more subjectively pleasing to them. Of course I edit in Aperture to work on the photos that I really like, but I like to give my subjects choices.
As for not doing it, that's not really an option at this point. I know I have no specific experience in wedding photography, but I do have experience in event and journalistic photography, among other areas. Will there probably be trouble? Yeah, just as there was trouble every single day at the racetrack with at least one of the races, anywhere from shooting to production to sales to event management. But they don't contract with over 20 racetracks for nothing and I've learned a lot working for them.
As for the other questions: whether or not I have a second shooter, I'm going to be borrowing the second shooter's body. Canon as well, and all the lenses fit and what not. Not as familiar with the layout but I will manage should my camera decided to completely fail. I've been in the situation for instance where I've gone out to the track and left my card in the card reader in the office. That only happened once, and I've since learned to not make that mistake again. I've had a lens crap out too, and dealt with sudden weather events that were less than pleasant. I've got two batteries and will be buying a third for the wedding, so I think I should be good on that front, and I also have three 16GB CF cards that I'll cycle through. I'll have my laptop there as well to upload should 48GB not cut it. I've also had practice rapid switching between glass for different types of shots at Keeneland, so that's not much of an issue.
Over the past 5 years, I've been in 3 weddings and then attended at least 5 more, of all different shapes and sizes. I was actually in my second shooter's wedding and heavily studied what her guy did during the event. The flow isn't much of an issue either, and I'm familiar and comfortable with all the behind the scenes stuff and the getting ready won't be difficult. It won't be like I'm shooting someone I barely know and have to build rapport fast, which will be both a blessing and a curse. And as I prefer to be unseen, I'm used to the problems of having to be further away during the ceremony, but know where the boundary is on how far I can go to get the shot that I know I need and that I know the bride wants. I've also been building a checklist of "usual shots" to have on my phone with me at all times that I can check off, and the bride has made suggestions on what she wants.
The low light thing is a pertinent issue that I need to practice more on before the actual day. I'm not used to using a flash and do my best to avoid it, but again I had to use one at Keeneland at events and learned the ins and outs of it pretty quickly. Fortunately there won't be many tuxes at the wedding and we will be taking a lot of the shots before the wedding actually takes place. It's at 7:30 in early July in Kentucky, so it'll sort of start getting dark but the sun will still be up. But we'll be doing photos earlier than that and so the sunlight won't be harsh like at noon or something like that.
I'm actually quite good at herding cats and controlling crowds, as that was part of my job at Keeneland. Trying to get millionaire owners and jockeys and grooms that barely make minimum wage and speak spanish all in one photo can be difficult, especially when you're on a time limit, but I made it work. Plus early in the mornings I had to photograph kids hyped up on sugar and carbs.
As for Aunt Betty's Camera, it will be outlawed. The Bride's been pretty strict about that from the get go and that won't be an issue hopefully, but if it is, my voice carries, and I can be rather direct. And, quite sadly, she only has one grandparent, who is actually more active at 85 than the almost all of her 9 children, so I'm not worried about her stamina. Feelings getting hurt and stubbornheadedness I am a bit worried about, but it's nothing that our family hasn't been through before.
sorry for the long reply, I was mostly just writing it all out moreso for myself than anything. All great points! Everything you raise is a valid concern and something that I've worried about at some point or another over the past 2 years. My biggest worry is lighting and low light contrast differences. Fortunately outside at 7:30 in July is pretty beautiful, if not a little hot. And yes, we do have a back up plan for weather as well.
[