As a professional equine photographer my gear is less expansive on an event day than my gear choices for shooting a wedding. A lot boils down to just how vastly these two events differ and how the events proceeds time wise. Weddings move at a different pace and have a lot more to be covered than most equine events that tend to have slow periods— tractor man I am looking at you.
On a typical day covering an equine event, I am going to be working with my DSLR camera body with nice long battery life, interchangeable lens in which I choose to typically use 70-200 mm lens has there is a lot of range and ability with it. From there it is a matter of having extra batteries, snacks, and drink, as well as sunscreen in my bag and at the ready. Should I need a lens change it is an option when the tractor is out or when there is a brief intermission or arena change up happening.
Weddings are a different beast, the lighting is variable, the space can be much tighter necessitating a need for smaller lenses and being much much closer to my subjects. Weddings also move fast in terms of images and moments to capture and that does not leave time to switch lenses so more than one camera body is a must.
On a typical wedding day I have three bodies decked with different lens so I can switch and grab what I need as quickly as possible without losing precious seconds to switching lenses on my camera body.
Because of this need it can look like I am moving when heading to photography a wedding. A stack of bags and gear, a car stuffed full of all the essentials. Usually anywhere from 6-12 extra batteries for a variety of camera bodies at minimum for weddings I use three camera bodies, though with a second shooter it can be 5+. Lens from primary 24 mm all the way to my favorite and blessed 70-200 mm lens. External flashes, ring lights, reflectors, and lens filters are all necessary.
Wedding days are go, go, go, go. That means we are up early, we have a timeline and schedule to keep, we need to know the venue and how to move around and what will be happening. We wedding photographers are constantly on so somewhere in one of our bags is a stock of easy fast snacks, and something to drink. Because by the time we have time to sit and eat, if there is a plate for us, it is cold and in a room separate from the event, we are zoning out but shoving it down fast because we need to get back out there.
Weddings require more gear for time saving but a lot of the gear I use I use for both weddings and equine events. If you are a wedding photographer what is one piece of must have gear?