There’s nothing worse than terrible shots or no shots of one of the most momentous events in a person’s life. A wedding may be made in heaven but disaster is in the details. Skip some important points and you can wish you were in the trashcan with the rubber chicken and leathery lettuce.

Here are some tips to help you negotiate this photographic minefield.

Hire a professional.
No? Don’t want to do that? You think Uncle George can do it fine on the cheap? Save a few bucks and spread the joy around? Then read on, reckless fool…

Be prepared.
Emotionally, spiritually, intellectually and photographically. You will need more than just a strong heart and nerves of steel. You’ll need extra memory sticks, extra batteries, a flash outfit, a tripod and a zoom/wide-angle lens. You’ll also need decent image editing software to produce the finished product in an acceptable form.

Have an assistant or a helper.
You should have lots of stuff to carry around, and you need someone who will watch your gear when you’re busy. Get someone to help you out. It’s also good to have someone relatively sane to talk to.

ALWAYS shoot for the bride.
Men don’t really care about photos of themselves. Well, that’s a generality. 99.9% of men don’t care. Usually the only time a man looks at a wedding photo under his own volition is just after the divorce with a drink in the other hand.

Get a list of wanted shots.
Don’t go into this blind. Find out what shots the happy couple expect and try to oblige. Weddings have about 4 phases: getting dressed, the ceremony, after the ceremony (relaxed shots with the new couple), the reception including the cake and groups of guests. Take your lead from the bride not the juiced up guests at the reception.

Shoot a lot.
This is good advice for any photography. At a wedding you’re dealing with human nature at its most confused. Who can really tell what shots will be the big sellers? Just cover everything (even the speeches) and shoot everything three times and be safe.

Get the groups.
Groups are important but watch out here because semi-inebriated guests will want to be photographed with pot-plants, the foxy waitress, each other, maybe the bride and groom, and towards the end of the evening fascinating cloud formations. Get from the bride who should be in what group. Stay with her.

Get the proofs to the bride as fast as possible.
Forget this just being good service, it’s also smart business. Happiness and the vows of matrimony can be fleeting. Get your wedding photography bill in before the first fight if possible. Definitely before the divorce.

Be a professional. Weddings can be scary things.
They’re all about love, sex, eating and drinking. Passions and confusions can be rampant. Get your shots first and party later if anyone is left to party with. If you find yourself at the end alone with your camera, at least you can console yourself that you completed your mission.

Do your own quality control before you submit the proofs.
Your reputation can be destroyed by a handful of misaimed shots of the bride or her friends. People often remember that one shot where the matron of honor looked as if she was zonked when it was just an untimely blink. If it sucks delete it. Better safe than sorry.

I have listened to quite a few groom’s speeches, and there often seems to be a moment of uncertainty and hesitation by the groom. This is a mistake you should not make.

Let us start with a few universal tips for presenting any speech at a wedding ceremony.

Do’s

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- Keep it simple, clear, and straight forward
- Keep it short. 3 to 4 minutes will be enough
- Write down your major points on a piece of paper or a card
- Smile at the members of your audience. This is a happy occasion.
- Be sure not to look grim and funeral-like.
- Speak loudly and clearly. Maintain your voice so everyone can hear. If there’s a microphone, use it.

Do Not Do These

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- Don’t mumble
- When speaking, do not look down or stare at the ceiling
- Don’t write out the entire speech. You only need some thoughts to keep you going from one point to the next.

There are two basic things that many men fear most: commitment, and public speaking. While this article won’t help you with the first one, it can be assumed that since you’re getting married, you’ve already overcome the commitment issue. So, that leaves public speaking, and it’s a lot easier than you probably think.

Here are five things you should include in the groom speech for it to be considered successful -

5 Suggestions

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- Be pleasant. Say nice, complimentary things about your new bride.

- No jokes, unless they are of a positive nature. Remember, you have a honeymoon coming up, your wife’s family, and the rest of your life to consider. Humor can play an significant part in any speech, therefore, we will review this topic in greater detail in other articles.

- Do thank your new wife’s family. You will probably be involved with them the rest of your marriage, so you do want to start off on the right foot.

If you do not like your wife’s family, just thank them for being supportive and move along with your speech.

If you do like your wife’s family, then express your fondness for them. Then thank them for inviting you into their family.

If there was any monetary contribution offered by your bride’s family, now is the proper moment to say thank you for their support.

- Next, you can thank friends and family for coming to share this day with you and to celebrate your wedding.

- Next, you will want to thank the Father of the Bride.

Your grooms speech is presented right after the Father of the Bride speech, which traditionally comes first.

This makes it so you can play off his speech and continue by thanking him for his words of support; then begin your speech right after him.

Here is an Example

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“Thank you, Robert, for words of support. I am proud and honored to be your new son-in-law. I look forward to living up to your expectations. I’d like to also thank my mother-in-law, Janice, who has always made me feel like a member of the family from the first time we met, and for helping make our beautiful wedding and reception a success. I’d like to say thank you to both of you for allowing me to marry your beautiful daughter, Sylvia.”

With this brief excerpt, you have accomplished a great deal: You have thanked the bride’s family, acknowledged their contribution to the wedding, spoken favorably about your new bride, and presented yourself like an all around great guy to the audience. And, that was only an introduction to your groom speech.

If you, the groom, are just like most of us regular folk, public speaking is not something you look forward to. In fact, you probably make an effort to avoid public gatherings. Unfortunately, this is one of those occasions from which you can’t hide.

The good news is, putting together your groom speech need not be as challenging as it might seem at first. That is, as long as you are not tempted to bolster your nerves with too much punch. Be certain you do not drink too much alcohol until you are back safely in your seat, having delivered your speech.

Keep the following main point in mind:

Your groom speech focuses on thanking those who have helped you and your new bride get to this point in your lives. You will generally speak after the bride’s father.

Here are six points to help you get started:

1. Express Thanks to the bride’s mother and father for raising such a beautiful daughter and entrusting her to your care. Also, thank them for any help they have provided for the wedding and for your new life together.

2. Thank your own mother and father for taking care of you and being there for you throughout your life and for any contribution they have made to the wedding and helping you to get started in married life.

It is not a good idea to make fun of either your bride’s parents or your parents during a wedding speech unless you clear it with them before hand. Even the most easy going people may not take kindly to being the brunt of a joke on this occasion.

3. Of course, you cannot proceed any further in your speech without thanking your bride. Thank her for being the beautiful person she is, and point out some of her best qualities. Tell her how much you appreciate her trust in you and her love for you; that you consider yourself a very lucky man. Once again, be sweet and don’t make fun of your bride to get a laugh. You haven’t got to the honeymoon yet.

4. Next it’s time to say something about your best man. Generally, it should be safe to make some jokes about him. So, save your need for laughs until you get to him. Quite often the groom’s speech includes some humorous anecdotes about the best man and or groomsmen, and this can go down very well.

5. The maid of honor, bride’s maids, and flower girls are next on the list to be thanked. Mention how lovely they look and how much easier they made the day for your new wife.

6. After you have thanked all these people for contributing to your wedding and to your life, you can mention anyone else who is important to you or your bride: Siblings, aunts and uncles, grandparents, and friends can be mentioned at this time. You may also include any personal messages you would like to give.

When you have finished your speech, you can hand the proceedings back over to the master of ceremonies, if you have one. The best man’s speech follows the groom speech. Now you can go and have that drink.