Only the OP can gauge this, but also beware the 'friend' as well. I've had many friends on "budget" weddings who still expect the moon knowing that I just starting playing with my old Digital rebel four years ago. I had one bad experience where their own photographer screwed up the shots but I managed to get quite a few nice shots and my "friend" still expected me to get them the nice blow ups, etc... I simply gave them the CD of the finished/PP'ed product and told them to order their own pics from a site I recommended. I've had bride or grooms bug me constantly on whether I can do this or that or provide them with this or that....for free...."as a favor"
I'm also a partner in a DJ company that does close to 25 weddings a year and I often get asked to help out with wedding pictures. I make it a policy to ensure I'm not encroaching on any other "hired" photographer whenever I'm asked to help out. I even have them sign contracts in addition to the DJ contract to ensure they know exactly what they are getting. Contracts are very important...even for a "friend."
Weddings in general are a messy business. My #1 advice is to talk to your friend and make sure what they're expectations are. 90% of the time, they are different than what you might think, so its VERY important to ask. Someone posted some great links of lists of what pictures to take. Copy one of those and go over them w/ your friend to make sure those are the pictures they want. You also need to decide on how you will charge and who will provide the pictures.
Are you going to print them out and then give them the CD? Or are you going to just give them the CD? I ALWAYS provide a set of prints first from my favorite online printing company ( I use adoramapix.com) and then give them a CD. That will ensure that the pics are printed the way you want them to be printed and in good quality. The worst thing is to give them a CD and then they take them to CVS or Rite Aid and then they complain to you that the pictures came out lousy.
Try a few places to print pictures to make sure they do a good job. I've used adoramapix.com and mpix.com in the past and they've had great quality and fast service. Adorama even lets you set up an account that you can link people to so they can pick out their own photos and purchase the photos themselves. This makes it easier on you AND ensures that the photos are of good quality. You can be the best photographer in the world and take the best pictures, but if you get a BAD print shop, those photos are worthless.
Good luck and be sure to tell us how it went!
I'm also a partner in a DJ company that does close to 25 weddings a year and I often get asked to help out with wedding pictures. I make it a policy to ensure I'm not encroaching on any other "hired" photographer whenever I'm asked to help out. I even have them sign contracts in addition to the DJ contract to ensure they know exactly what they are getting. Contracts are very important...even for a "friend."
Weddings in general are a messy business. My #1 advice is to talk to your friend and make sure what they're expectations are. 90% of the time, they are different than what you might think, so its VERY important to ask. Someone posted some great links of lists of what pictures to take. Copy one of those and go over them w/ your friend to make sure those are the pictures they want. You also need to decide on how you will charge and who will provide the pictures.
Are you going to print them out and then give them the CD? Or are you going to just give them the CD? I ALWAYS provide a set of prints first from my favorite online printing company ( I use adoramapix.com) and then give them a CD. That will ensure that the pics are printed the way you want them to be printed and in good quality. The worst thing is to give them a CD and then they take them to CVS or Rite Aid and then they complain to you that the pictures came out lousy.
Try a few places to print pictures to make sure they do a good job. I've used adoramapix.com and mpix.com in the past and they've had great quality and fast service. Adorama even lets you set up an account that you can link people to so they can pick out their own photos and purchase the photos themselves. This makes it easier on you AND ensures that the photos are of good quality. You can be the best photographer in the world and take the best pictures, but if you get a BAD print shop, those photos are worthless.
Good luck and be sure to tell us how it went!
Not meaning to highjack this thread but...pxlbarrel...the person asked for help and opinions on what to do and we all pitched in to help..none of us expect the person to do everything we said. 
As the advice was being made, the cost of this favour kept going up. One usually acquires these things in time.... not all at once. 
. Well this went on I finally said look we need to set some rules here. He complained to the couple they opted for him to take over since he had a new camera. I was really insulted and ticked off as you can see its not easy to get all the gear and get prepared.
but $$ for a wedding gift?..hey imo they got the wedding gift with the tramatic stress inducing job they handed her
