Oh Dear! Your best friend has realised that wedding photography is just too expensive for their already stretch budget and, because you have a half decent camera, has asked you to do the honour. The trouble is you have never done a wedding and this is the most important day in their life. You have to tell your friends that of course you will do you best but you do not guarantee the shots. In these litigious days, it may be worth getting something drawn up and signed by both parties, just to be on the safe side.

First thing to do is to talk over with the couple about the shots that they think are the most important for them. These will be the ones that you have to get right. Find out the address of the wedding venue and reception and the times. Armed with this, go and visit the sites so that you will have advanced knowledge of all the suitable places to stage the shots, bearing in mind the time of day and where the sun will be at that time, take some reference shots so you will know where to go on the day. Remember if the wedding is some time away, the sun may well be higher or lower in the sky.

Preparation is the key, make sure that all the batteries are fully charged and that you have back ups. If you are using film, take along at least six extra rolls, if you are shooting digital make sure that you have enough spare memory cards. If you have the expertise, it is best to use RAW rather than JPEG as you will have a better chance to alter things after the shots are taken. You will be shooting at the highest resolution to ensure good print quality so memory capacity is crucial.

To ensure you have all the right people, ask the couple to point out the people who they must have in their photographs, perhaps jot down their names to remember. When it comes to the group shots, get everybody arranged first, then you can gradually discard them, ending up with the happy couple, who may not be that happy by this time. Children should be photographed as soon as possible, whilst they are still in pristine condition.

Just because you have checked out the scene, don't forget to look through the viewfinder and make sure there is nothing untoward, like trees or posts that will detract from the picture before taking the first shot. You may have chosen a particularly pleasing background but it is worth doing a couple of extra shots with a wiser aperture that will blur the back drop and make the people stand out.

When using fill-in flash you will probably encounter a problem with people who wear spectacles which will give you a quite nasty flare. The easiest solution would be to get them to remove the offending articles but then they may not be recognised in the final shots. Get the person or people to just move their head/s towards the couple, any other direction may give the appearance of disinterest.

When it comes to the reception it will probably be indoors so you will have to use flash all the time. To avoid harsh shadows you can bounce it off the ceiling, if it's not too high or has a dark colour. Another way is to put thin tissue paper over the front of the flash which will diffuse the light but practice before you attend the wedding.

With the big day over you need to get your films processed as soon as possible. The best, if more expensive solution, is to use a professional laboratory, failing that, take them to a drop in lab that you know and trust. Do not post them, just in case they get lost. Some labs may even provide you with a CD as well. Those who have shot digital should down load their images to the hard drive where the worst ones can be deleted and the best ones can be burnt onto a CD and given to the happy couple. Your wedding photography may lead you to a new career.