I went to a friend's wedding many years ago, when I was in my early twenties. I was asked if I could be one of three guests taking informal pictures that day as there was no official photographer. "Sure," I said, and didn't think much about it until the day of the wedding, when I was sitting enjoying the speeches, getting nicely relaxed with my nose some distance into a glass of wine. People were being thanked for this and that and a few gifts were being handed out.
"... and I'd like to thank Richard and X and Y for taking the pictures today ..." at which point an expensive bottle of whisky was plonked in front of me.
Gulp. I hadn't really taken many pictures at that point and suddenly realised that I needed to sober up and take the whole business more seriously. Which I duly did.
I'm pleased to say that when the bride and groom sent out printed cards later to thank everyone for coming and for the gifts they had received, the image they chose for the front was one of mine, so I didn't let the side down too badly. But it was lesson learnt that when you agree to take informal pictures at a wedding, better bloody do it, and easy on the fizz until later.
As an aside, my best decision that day was to take only my Olympus OM-2 and a Tamron 28-80 zoom. That was all I needed.
-R