Source:www.photos.com

It's springtime and shortly afterwards the "wedding season" will be upon us.

Although most people still use the services of a professional wedding photographer, more and more couples are relying on their friends and family to record the event.

Even if the next wedding you attend is being photographed by a pro, you know you're bringing your digital camera, to record your own memories.

So, before you get the next invitation why not do a bit of research, and be ready to capture some special images of the happy couple.

I haven't been to a wedding in years, in fact, the last one I attended was during my transition to my first digital camera, and I wasn't confident enough to depend on my skills with it, so I shot film only.

The bride was a special friend of my wife, and although she hired a pro, who used a then state of the art 6 mega pixel Canon DSLR, I wanted to take pictures to add to the ones my wife had taken to document all the events leading up to the wedding, such as the wedding showers.

I thought the pro had done a great job with the assignment when I got to see the results some weeks later. She covered all the important aspects of the wedding and the pictures were technically perfect. She also took some especially romantic shots of the bride and groom and also performed some Photoshop magic with a few images tthat resulted in unique pictures.

But the bride was disappointed because for some reason the pro hadn't captured a good shot of her "walking up the aisle."

Fortunately, I had positioned myself in an aisle seat during the ceremony, and I captured several of her walking up the aisle, one of which was very much to her liking.

So, I inadvertently saved the day, with a picture that was intended for the album my wife was filling up with her own pre-wedding shots.

It was extremely gratifying to me to know that one of my own pictures was to be included with the "official" pro shots.

The last time I had received such a compliment about one of my wedding pictures was eons ago when a friend of mine married a State politician's daughter.

A picture I took, of the father and the bride so impressed him that he had a pro photo lab crop his daughter out and had his image made into a campaign poster.

That was especially flattering since he had two pros cover the wedding, and he still liked one of my pictures the most.

He won the election too!

So get ready for the weddings you're invariably going to be invited to by checking out these tips and, keep in mind that, "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery", when looking at Bruce L. Snell's fantastic wedding photos for inspiration.

You and your digital camera could end up being the heroes or heroines at someone's nuptials.