I'm in the same boat, my brother can't afford a photographer for his wedding next year so has guilt tripped me into being the photographer... being both the photographer and a guest is going to be challenging. Not sure if I've come in too late to give some help with the prep that I've been doing, but here's my two penneth...
- Plan, plan and plan. As an engineer, over thinking is my modus operandi, so I'm already thinking about their wedding even though it's not until next summer, but it's not easy to get into the mindset. Write everything down, go over it and refine it until you are comfortable with the plan.
- Watch You Tube videos of wedding photographers. Taylor Jackson (https://www.youtube.com/@TaylorJacksonPhoto) is probably the most relatable one I've come across so far, and he has videos of full days which are pretty good as a reference.
- From the YT videos the advice on lens choices seems to be to use 2 primes with good separation in focal lengths (35mm & 85mm seem to be the go to choice), but to have a good quality zoom (which you have) for the ceremony as there is a need to change focal lengths quickly so as not to miss anything important (no chance of a do-over here). Not that zooms can't be used, but that using primes gives different looks for each focal length and by using zooms the gaps in between can end up being filled in which can muddy the overall look/feel of the set of photos. If you are worried about not having fast primes then you could rent 1 or 2 (and ask the couple to help with the cost of doing so). I've been looking at rentals from a few UK stores (Lens Hire | Lens Rental | Lens Pimp, Hireacamera - Lens Hire or Rental, https://rental.wexphotovideo.com/hire-lenses, Lenses for Hire, Lenses for hire), I shoot M43 and I've got 50mm (25mm f1.7) and 90mm (45mm f1.8) primes and a good quality zoom and I'm looking to add the 12-40mm f2.8 so I'm probably covered, but, like you I'm thinking I need something wider so may rent a fast 35mm equivalent (17mm f1.7 or maybe even the 17mm f1.2... but the 17mm f1.2 would make me want to rent the other f1.2 primes!).
- Work with the couple to create a shot list for the day that they sign off on. That way you can be sure that you get everything they want (and agree to), and anything else you get is a bonus. You can search for shot lists online as a starting point (happy to share mine if you want).
- For indoor shots to cover the wedding breakfast, speeches and evening do, I'd look at off camera flash. A judiciously positioned single speedlight on a stand can help with balancing light in indoor scenarios where natural light is either not available or is in the wrong place for the shots that are needed, and can mitigate for slower lenses (or in my case noise from a smaller sensor). If you have a speedlight but not a means of triggering it off camera then you can get away with a simple universal trigger like this https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B06VW4X...olid=3UMEYDB7TJFL6&psc=1&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it. If you don't have a speedlight then almost any would be ok and doesn't necessarily have to be matched to your camera (unless you want to use it on-camera) so could be borrowed from another photographer if you don't want to buy one.
- Check out images from other photographers at the venue for the wedding for ideas, and, if possible, visit the venue to scout for potential locations for shots. Also, I've been making an online scrapbook (using google slides) of images both taken at the venue and of shots that you might want to have a go at from a creative POV.
- Have a look at where sunrise/sunset, moonrise, milky way and any other landscape type phenomenon that might be nice to include in wow shots. I use https://photoephemeris.com/, which is free to use on a laptop, to plan for sunrise/sunset/moonrise/moonset shots.
It is a bit late, 1 month late, but I do appreciate the advice and will keep it in mind for the future.
In the end I did get the Samyang AF 35mm f 1.8 which I used outdoors for close ups and group pictures (there were few guests and plenty of space to not have to go to 28mm) and I got the Tokina atx-m 85mm f 1.8 FE which I used outdoors only because of space constraints and is probably my favourite of all the lenses I used because of that magical FF look, especially if you back up for full size portrait.
At f 1.8 it felt like the perfect balance of DoF, if I would use f 1.4 I would struggle to get the face with enough DoF. I would have liked the 35mm to be f 1.4 for a tiny bit more seperation but it's fine and an improvement over my f 2.8 zoom.
I know that shallow DoF has been done to death ofr the past 100 years but I still love it as I am having the experience for the first time for myself, it's fun and it's different especially coming from Micro Four Thirds.
If you can I would recommend getting the 17mm or 25mm f 1.2 (you don't need both) because it's more difficult to get wide angle shallow DOF then telephoto. From my own use (but it's not a scientific fact, just observational bias) I think you can get Wide Aperture DoF = 2 X Focal Length.
What Iean by that is if you want 90mm f 2 DoF you can double the focal length (180mm) at 2 stops slowe apertur (f 5.6) and if you want on the wider end then you need f 1.4 at 45mm.
A good balance of cost and size, in my opinion, would be:
*Olympus 17mm f 1.2 Pro
*Olympus 45mm f 1.8
*Olympus 40-150mm f 2.8 or 74mm f 1.8
You would get similar DoF look to each forcal length.
For me, what I would like on the Sony system to have is:
*Tamron 20-40mm f 2.8 with Sony a7C (indoors)
*Tamron 35-150mm f 2-2.8 with Sony a7 IV (indoors and outdoors)
That might be my professional work one day, be it hu-mans or fluffers (my nickname for pets). I wouldn't want to use flash unless it's studio and the people are expecting to be flashed.
This is an important point because you also need spares of everything - not necessarily duplicates, just something to fall back on if your main gear fails or if someone knocks it out of your hands.
