What Gear Do You Need to Shoot a Wedding?

​

It’s one of the most common questions I see from aspiring wedding photographers:

“What gear do I need to shoot a wedding?”

​

But before we answer that, here's the more important question:

"Do you know how to shoot a wedding yet?"

 

On the surface, asking about gear sounds reasonable. Weddings are high-pressure, once-in-a-lifetime events, and no one wants to show up unprepared. But in practice, this question usually skips the most important part of the answer—and focuses on the least important one.

​​​

Before we talk about cameras, lenses, and lights, we need to talk about process. Because if you have to ask what gear you should get to photography a wedding, you're not trained to the level of doing one solo.

​

There are two paths to becoming a wedding photographer:

• the professional path,

• the path that hurts the photographer.

 

Unfortunately, the path most beginners take--jumping straight into weddings to "gain the experience"--is the path that causes the most damage to the photographer and the couple.

This isn't about gatekeeping or protecting clients from beginners. It's about protecting you, and getting you to where you want to be faster and with less damage along the way.

 

Start With the Professional Training Path (Not the Gear List)

 

If your plan is to buy a bunch of equipment and then figure things out as you go, that’s not preparation—that’s gambling with someone else’s wedding

​

A professional wedding photographer is built through layers of responsibility, not purchases.

 

After many years photographing and teaching, this is the most reliable path I've seen--based on real outcomes, not opinion or optimism:

​

1. Education
   Courses, structured programs, and workshops that teach exposure, light, posing, timelines, and workflow—not presets or shortcuts. My Lightspeed training program is the fastest start to get on par with basic professional technique that will apply to any genre, including weddings.

2. Assisting
   Carry bags. Watch how problems are solved in real time. Learn how a professional moves through a wedding day without being the center of attention. This is the best way to observe the structure, flow and responsibilities of a wedding photographer.

3. Second shooting
   Photograph real moments under pressure, with zero client responsibility. This is where you practice and learn consistency, speed, and decision-making.

4. Solo weddings (last, not first)
   Only after you’ve seen enough chaos to know how to handle it calmly. Then, you're polishing everything you know into marketable experience.

​

If you haven’t worked through those stages yet, the correct answer to “What gear do I need?” is simple:

 

A computer to watch courses.

​

Business and Workflow Come Before Equipment

 

Even if your photography skills are solid, weddings are still a separate business operation in their own ecosystem not related to any other photography -- and they carry risk and liability that beginners don't anticipate.

 

Before you ever photograph a wedding on your own, you should already have:

• Tight contracts and clear policies

• Backup and redundancy plans

• A defined culling and editing workflow

• Delivery timelines you can reliably hit

• File backup and archiving systems

• Insurance

• A realistic understanding of how long everything actually takes

 

Great gear doesn’t save bad workflow. It just lets you fail at a higher resolution.

​​

Only Then Does Gear Matter

 

Once you’ve put in the work—training, assisting, second shooting, systems—then it makes sense to talk about equipment. At that point, gear isn’t about looking professional. It’s about reliability, redundancy, and control of light.

 

Here’s what a practical, no-nonsense core kit looks like for weddings.

 

Camera Bodies: Redundancy Is Non-Negotiable

• Two camera bodies

  • I prefer full frame. If you have crop sensor and don't want to upgrade to full frame, then get a second cropped body rather than switching between sensor formats.​

  • Use two bodies that take the same battery.

 

One can fail. Cards can corrupt. Shutters can die. A single-body setup is not professional—period.

 

Lenses: Coverage Over Cleverness

 

You don’t need every focal length ever made. You need dependable tools that work fast in real spaces.

• 70–200mm f/2.8: 

  • The backbone of ceremony coverage, candids, and compression.

• 24-70mm f/2.8

  • The do-all workhorse covering wide and medium photojournalism and portrait usage. If this is out of budget, a 24-120 f/4 will do the trick.​

• 85mm f/1.8

  • Excellent for portraits, low light, and shallow depth without being impractical.

• 105mm macro (or similar)

  • Rings, details, tight spaces, and flexibility when you can’t physically move.

 

These lenses aren’t exciting. They’re dependable. That’s the point.

 

Lighting: Where Professionals Separate Themselves

 

Weddings are rarely lit well. Your job is not to complain about that—it’s to solve it, all day, in all conditions, in real time, no excuses.

 

A capable lighting kit includes:

• At least two speedlights

  • With wireless triggering and battery packs for fast recycle times.

• One larger light source

  • A monolight in the 600 Ws range gives you power for formals, groups, and difficult rooms.

• Light modifiers

  • 60-inch umbrella for family formals

  • Medium shoot-through umbrella

  • Softbox for controlled directional light

  • Reflector for quick fill, scrim or flags

• Light stands and a dedicated stand bag

  • Because loose stands and weddings don’t mix.

• Continuous light (ICE light or similar)

  • Invaluable for details, dark prep rooms, and subtle fill without disruption.

 

Lighting isn’t about flash power. It’s about control and consistency.

 

Support and Logistics Matter More Than You Think

 

If you can’t move your gear efficiently, you’ll miss moments.

• Large rolling bag or case. Your back will thank you.

• Hand cart

  • Weddings involve long distances, stairs, and time pressure.

 

This isn’t glamorous gear, but it’s the kind professionals quietly rely on.

​

How do you afford all this stuff?
 

When beginners see this list, the next question is usually:

“How can I afford all that gear?”

​

Simple: don’t buy new.

​

The used market is deep, and older flagship gear—especially from around 2015 onward—is selling for a fraction of its original price while still being more than capable of professional work.

​

You don’t need the newest tools. You need reliable ones. In-camera craft does most of the work.

 

The Honest Bottom Line

 

If you’re asking what gear you need to shoot a wedding, the real question is usually this: “Am I actually ready to carry this responsibility?”

 

When the answer is yes—because you’ve trained, assisted, second shot, and built real systems—the gear list becomes obvious and boring.

 

And that’s a good thing.

 

Because by then, your focus won’t be on what’s in your bag. It’ll be on the people, the moments, and the light.

 

Exactly where it belongs.