Wedding Photographers, please chime in

[Ravaroo]

My wife and I got married in Hawaii last April and coming up in August we are having our reception. We have a family member, who is a videographer, taking care of the movie+editing for the party (his gift to us ). I also have some friends who are hobbyist shutterbugs that are bringing their gear and offering to help capture all the moments. The one photographer I've hired (another friend) to shoot the important stuff (our ring ceremony, toasts,etc.) is doing so at a reduced rate by using my gear and just handing the camera off to me at the end of the night ( I handle all PP).

The location is a classic ballroom facility with a wide variety of lighting. We won't be doing a ton of outdoor shots, but there will be some.

Anyhoo, here is my gear setup.
Nikon D7000
50mm 1.8 (new version)
35mm 1.8 DX
18-105mm 3.5-5.6 kit lens (unsure if I'll bring this one)
SB-700 Speedlight
misc items like extra battery & memory, and a few ND filters

So, for the folks who have experience shooting weddings, am I missing anything essential for this event?

I'm planning on the 50 1.8 being used for the majority of the night but please make a case if my logic is flawed

thanks for reading and thanks in advance for your input

 

[Flash SWT]

Congrats!

My first thought is: do you really want your buddy to be using your gear instead of their personal gear they are more familiar with and comfortable using? I guess if he also uses a D7000 it isn't as big of an issue.

When I help my wife shoot weddings I spend the most of my time with the 16-35/2.8 but my 70-200/2.8 gets a fair amount of use as well. I have a lot of friends who swear by primes but I like the versatility of the zooms.

 

[peepboon]

I agree, why can't he just use his and pass you over the memory card? :S Makes more sense to use your own equipment that your familiar with :S

Would be cooler if he used two DSLR. One with the 50mm and one with the 35mm.

 

[Hankster]

I agree, why can't he just use his and pass you over the memory card? :S Makes more sense to use your own equipment that your familiar with :S

Would be cooler if he used two DSLR. One with the 50mm and one with the 35mm.

He actually should have two cameras around his neck. It's the best way to capture great moments. I know three excellent wedding photographers and all three have two cameras during wedding shoots. I believe it's an industry standard.

 

[MattSepeta]

Have him use his body as well. two x d7000 with the 50 on one and the 35 on the other. put the flash on one as well just for good measure.

 

[Ravaroo]

He is actually a she.. should have specified in first post

IIRC, her camera body is a D300 so I will ask that she bring it along with either a zoom or a longer length portrait lens. I can just give her my extra memory cards to use. Using 2 camera bodies with different lenses makes perfect sense, thanks for the suggestions since I obviously did not think about it.

Apologies to the wedding pros out there if this plan is sounding cheap or comes off as insulting to your profession. Unfortunately, we are currently way over budget on this reception due to size of the guest list (my protests fell on deaf ears) and some things had to be scaled back.

I can think of hundreds of other ways to spend the thoasands of dollars we are dropping on this party.. a 70-200 2.8 VRII would be one of them

 

[bob118]

Well we all know now who will be wearing the pants in that household now don't we!

 

[Ravaroo]

Well we all know now who will be wearing the pants in that household now don't we!

Yep, I'll take my skirt in XL please

 

[gaz81]

if it was me, I would refuse to use somebody else's kit.

One of the key things to wedding photography is speed, and that means knowing your kit to the point of working it without looking and the controls.

I'm sure they can durn the RAW files to a disc for you to edit later.

I'm a Canon man so no idea if the D7000 is better than the D300!