So you’ve been asked to take the photos at your friend’s wedding. You’ve tried to persuade them to hire a professional, but they are happy with you. Don’t panic, they asked you because they like your style. Wedding digital photography is no different from other photography, but there are a few things you need to consider when planning for the big day.

A simple start to make the best of the day is to ensure your camera is silent. No electronic beep in the middle of the ceremony will make any picture better. You just need to turn the beeps off on your camera.

Take more photos. A perfect moment will only happen once so don’t stint on the number of photos you take, this is one of the occasions where doing less is definitely not wise. And don’t automatically discard shots you don’t think is good enough. Judicial cropping or editing may capture a moment you didn’t expect. The blurred shot of the flower girl may turn out to be an artistic photo. Stand back and objectively (or perhaps subjectively) evaluate each shot for its own merits.

Today is the day that it pays to be prepared. You will not get any second chances. Make sure you fully charged several batteries. Make sure you have multiple storage cards and that they are wiped clean. Check out the venues days beforehand so you know where you will be able to take shots and what the lighting conditions will be. If there is a rehearsal, tag along to it as it can be a rehearsal for you too. Think about backgrounds and suitable spots to take various photos.

Today is not the day to try out new techniques or equipment on your camera. Instead be entirely comfortable with it as you know your camera inside out. The wedding will be busy and emotions running high, there will be little chance to re-shoot or to re-pose so make everything you do count. Think about organizing someone in the wedding guests to act as your assistant for group shots. They can round up people and get them organized while you concentrate on the job at hand, taking the wedding digital photographs.

Practice using continuous shooting mode. This allows you to capture scenes in a series of shots. You’ll increase your chance of getting a proper group photo where everyone has their eyes open at the same time.

Using your digital camera at a wedding to capture the memories of the day is a stressful duty. Be prepared and know your camera and your pictures will become treasured memories for the bride and groom.

Read more about wedding digital photography. Vince also shows you how to make money from photography