I really think that the photojournalism thing is a fad and will not
endure. For many, it's a coverup for lack of talent.

I've never been a fan of anything Peavey. I have a Strat, Jazz bass, a
cheap Yamaha acoustic, a 6-string banjo, and a 6/12 doubleneck. The
Strat goes through a Mesa Boogie, the banjo and acoustic through a
Marshall acoustic amp, and the bass through a Fender bass head/bin.

I stopped doing weddings in 1995 and hope to never do another. I used 2
lights - Norman portable for a long time and Photogenic AC-powered
lights in the later years.

Fair point about the "body shots". I think I'll tuck them somewhere a bit
safer :-)

That may sound like a lot but the figure of 714 photos includes 92 taken by
my girlfriend, 572 taken by me on my 30D throughout the day and 50 snaps
taken by me using the Sony P200 during the reception lunch and on into the
evening. As a friend of the B&G, rather than a paid professional, I was
asked to capture events throughout the day and grab informal unposed shots
to record the memories rather than to create a formal, posed wedding album.

As an amateur, using the new flash gun for the first time I felt happier
making sure I took lots of shots in order to secure a few solid ones. In the
main people were not posed and I did not have the luxury of setting shots up
and taking my time to guarantee that each shot was golden. People can blink,
move or pull odd expressions at the most unfortunate moments so I just
grabbed my opportunities as they appeared.

Breaking down the stats, I took 622 of the 714 photos. These 622 break down
as follows....

143 shots taken during the preparations and milling about at the house
between 07:45 and 10:55. That's an average of 44 shots per hour for me.

251 shots taken at the service venue from arrivals through the service and
on to outdoor group and semi-posed shots 11:27 - 12:57). 14 of those were
for confetti throwing alone. That does seem rather a high shot rate, at 166
per hour - almost 3 per minute but like I said, I was there to capture the
moments - the expressions, the laughter, the B&G and the guests all at once
in a short space of time. This was not about simply getting a shot of the
exchange of rings, the kiss, the register signing and half a dozen posed
shots.

228 shots at the reception from 13:10 to 21:08. That's 38 shots per hour.

Having spent many hours reviewing the photos I have classified them based on
subjective quality and graded them as....

160 for the bin (probably another 40 to join them from the 1* folder).
230 1* - not really worth putting into an album but people may want to
browse through them for interest/amusement.
120 2* - some good shots but there are other similar shots but perhaps a
little better in the 3* folder
210 3* - the best candidates for making it through to the final album,
should there be one. But there is so much variety that downselecting is hard
to do. I can't do it so really its over to the B&G to decide what they want.

I imagine there will be around 100 keepers there that would be worth putting
onto a DVD slideshow or something, not due to technical excellence or
anything like that, but simply because they capture the character of all the
people present and the whole day from beginning to end. I did take an awful
lot of photos but hopefully not a lot of awful photos. For the princely sum
of £0.00 I think the B&G should be very happy with what I've managed to
produce and they'll end up with far more varied and interesting memories to
reflect on than they would get from a traditional "pro". They should also be
better off to the tune of about £800-£1,000 or so. Not a bad little wedding
gift :-) (I did actually buy them one of those too ;-) )

I agree that 622 shots is a lot and if I was more experienced and more
confident in my equipment (or my use of it!) then I dare say I could have
dropped that figure down by almost half. But to do what the B&G wanted and
to get candids throughout the day it would have been hard to do it in less.
Even with just 22 guests in total just five portraits/candids of each guest
would be 110 photos . Add the formals and informal groups, plus bits and
bobs like shoes, cake, rings, dress, place settings etc. and you're soon up
to 200+. Double that for a safety margin for cock-ups, blinkers etc.. and
400 is not unreasonable for someone who knows what they're doing. I reckon
600ish was just about right for me :-)

I don't know to whom you are replying but if it was to me I didn't go
anywhere near a church all day. This was a registry office wedding and
photography was positively encouraged. Nobody seemed to mind one bit that I
took a lot of photographs. As for posing, that is expressly what the B&G did
not want! They wanted informal shots, candids, people enjoying themselves
and being themselves, not posing with a broom up their a....

But thanks for your wise words of advice, even if they were two weeks after
the event. I shall be better prepared next time ;-)