Have a busy 2020 year with weddings, and want to take my camera and get some shots.   Gonna clear it with the folks in charge first, obviously, but if I get the green light, want to try and get some good pics.

Now granted, I do this photo stuff just for fun.   And "Ok" at best with my skills, but what videos do u recommend I can watch, to try and get some good pointers?   Any favorites you have?

Get a good fast prime.

Like 85mm or 105mm

Get Understanding Exposure off Amazon.  Read up on low-light technique.

Don't try to pose them unless they and the photog they're paying says it's OK.

Don't be that guy.

This is my initial reaction, too. If you want to explore shooting weddings, talk to some local photographers and find one willing to let you shoot 2nd or 3rd shooter for some of their gigs. For videos, Fstoppers.com and SLRLounge.com have some good content for this genre.

Just go watch.   Dont take your camera to anything that the photographer is spending time setting up to take a picture.

You can hang back and just learn some things without having to piss the photographer off.

But that is coming from somebody who spent part of his teens working along side his mother who had 30 years of experience doing it.   She is one of the few to win the ASP Gold Medallion, was part of XXV, a fellow/judge, and basically worked her ass off to get to a high level of professional recognition.

Having annoying family/friends trying to jump in at the last second to get a shot was a cheap scummy thing to do.    There was often times I was deployed with secondary strobe into locations which put me in the way of such pests.   May have even turned the remote strobe/flash around ao that it fired behind me right into the face of the pest.

Digital has changed the way customers expect weddings to be shot and the way images are delivered whether they have any processing or not.   Was much dofferent 20 years ago when everything was still film and copyright was hard fought for while retouching was done manually.

My suggestion is that if you enjoy taking pictures the best thing to do is leave the camera at home when you go to weddings. The business of wedding photographer isnt what it was 20 years ago.  The market is so flooded with spray and pray photographers that have no clue what they are doing so they do it for next to nothing. Most people just want a few shots of the wedding and rerally dont care about the pictures anymore like they used to. Any time you try to make a living off of a hobby you end up hating the hobby. I grew up loving cars and working on them. I decided to make cars my life, and now I hate cars. My personal cars are falling apart and my wife is always on my ass to fix them. I just dont want to mess with it. I just got this same story and the gun shop a few weeks ago from the store owner. He gre up around guns and hunting. He always loved them and decided to give up his union job to open a sporting good store. Now he never gets to use his guns and it is hard for him to get away to go hunting. He has now gotten to where he feels the store is a burden on his life. I have been asked countless times over the years to do weddings and senior pictures. I just rerspectfully decline.

this

Your best "how to be a wedding photographer and make it look easy" recommendations?
One thing that I learned in life, anything that is worthwhile in life is NOT easy; I assure you it may look easy, but it is not. Taking photos of people is really tough because you have to learn to see a photo before you click the shutter. I have seen many people take zillions of photos on full-automatic just to end up with only a few good ones, but a really good photog will take a photo that is pretty good right there out of the starting gate, of course there will be some failures etc.

By this time you should have intimated knowledge your hardware, ie what you can and can't with your equipment, cameras, strobes  etc as though it is 2nd nature to you.

Subscribe to some bridal magazines, and look at their photos, and try to imitate them, of course practice on some non-essential models, like wife, GF, nieces, nephews, aunts uncles etc. Do you know aboout lighting etc etc.  Take a photo class at a local community college

I do weddings but I take a different approach.

I do the rehearsal, the dinner & the reception. I don't do the wedding or the group shots. I instead focus on the guests & do candid shots. I then edit the pics & present it to the couple as a wedding gift. They all seem to love it.

Best tip is to not step on the toes of those getting paid for the pics, IMO.

This.

If you want to experience, practice, practice, and practice with friends and family. Then take some samples to a known quality local wedding photographer and see if they’d be willing to have you as a backup shooter for them

Personally and I’m just speaking about me, I wouldn’t touch weddings with a 20’ stick.  High risk/high reward though, but some people love it.

Back when I worked part time as a second shooter on weddings we didn’t usually actively object to guests taking pictures. What we had issues with was photo bug guests taking pictures during the ceremony and taking up time using our setup shots.  The first because they often annoyed the priest/pastor/whatever with their often clumsy/arrogant attitudes, which really got awkward. As a photographer at a wedding in a church you shoot with the permission of the pastor. They can and WILL shut you down if your disrespectful of the sanctity of the service.  So wannabes were often confused with the professionals (since they acted as though they were the pros) and caused problems.   Next shooting on our setups.  We often had a long list of required shots of family and friends as group shots. Having the wannabes jump in to ‘just take a few quick snaps’ on each setup slowed down an already sometimes lengthy effort.  Often the bride and groom wanted to get to the reception and got quite short with us. Again. Having the amateurs slow things down was bad.  We got to where we had it contractually forbidden for people to take pictures during the ceremony and during the family group shoots.  We usually weren’t hardasses about enforcing that but it was there and we had the right to walk out if they refused to comply.

My point being. Don’t be ‘that guy’ as some have already eloquently stated.  If you want experience shooting weddings offer free photos service to people that can’t afford a pro. Get some experience (it’s more stressful than it looks) and you’ll be doing a nice thing. One point. Always get a contract that says your not liable for ANYTHING.  LOL.  Just a best effort.

I’m there with ya.

I was in the biz of supplying professional wedding photographers their equipment from ‘78 to ‘11. Saw and worked with a lot of the greats at PPA, WPI, WPPI, & SPI conventions and schools. Then it was a technical skill, craft, an art...each shot was created to last and you only 240 to 480 to get what was needed. Then candids created in on 35mm and now digital. It can still be what it was but the customer expectations have changed.

OP I always told my customers that there was always a customer for the price they charge.
Online training is good but hands on training from a pro that teaches is worth your time to seek out. Look into the Professional Photographers of America for organizations near you. And Wedding & Portrait Photographers International for their events.

Some of the Masters are online too

Good luck have fun.