I shot Ashley and Joe's wedding yesterday.  I've learned several things from this experience.

1)  Weddings are a photographer's WORST NIGHTMARE.  The bride is wearing bright white, the groom is wearing pitch black, and the lighting sucks everywhere.  It's either too dark in the church and reception hall, or it's blinding direct sunlight.  

2) Autofocus lies.  A lot.

3) I need a camera with a much bigger viewfinder.  See point #3.

4) If you're shooting the ceremony in anything smaller than 2.8, may God have mercy on your soul.

5) Getting everybody together for family formals is like herding cats.

6) You WILL miss an important shot that cannot be restaged.

7) You will feel like you've been beaten half to death at the end of the day.  I'm so sore that I'm wincing when I walk.

8) Shoot in RAW.  There will be marginal images that need detailed retouching.

9) You must have a lens as shallow as 28mm and as deep as 120.  Shooting strictly in 50mm (oops?) will make your job ridiculous.

10) Hire, borrow, beseech, or kidnap a second photographer.  You can't be in two places at once.

The images from before the ceremony are gorgeous, expressive, thought provoking and wonderful.  I'm so pleased with them.

...But man.  I'm not making this up.  I bombed the ceremony.  Nothing's in focus or exposed correctly.  I'm left trying to make marginal images into main ones, and it's stressing me out.