Try saying 'no' when a couple genuinely appreciate your style of photography, though.
Wedding photography can be so dull and drab. We all know. But it is only as dull and drab as the photographer allows it to become. It is a completely different affair when you know that you are welcome and specifically wanted at the event. This is the reason I enjoyed shooting at Andy and Claire, and Lynsey and Jodie's weddings in September. Thanks to their enthusiasm for working with me, I worked very, very hard - and yet the only part that actually felt like work was turning down offers of beer and whisky...
As for this group shot of thirty people, each with their eyes open, smiling? It serves as an example that photographing a wedding is fundamentally quite simple - you reap in your photographs all the energy you put in to doing a good job. I asked the usher who assisted me in rounding people up not to raise his voice at any point, but to walk over to each guest and usher them outside individually. I did the same. It took a while, but nobody minded. I only raised my voice once all day - as I barked at these people to look into the lens. The result? Not one guest was annoyed at having to pose for the big group photograph - and they actually found it funny that I'd shouted at them for the first time, after four hours on the job. There's a lot to be said for treating people like guests, rather than cattle.
When I graduated from UEA in 2008, my brother offered me a wonderful piece of advice: 'If you're not a tosser, you'll do fine.' Nowhere is that more true than in wedding photography.
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