I often hear or read comments to the effect of  "I am a great photographer because I get it right in the camera and don't need post processing."  When someone tells me that, I know they are either misinformed about post processing, or they are too lazy to take their work to a higher level of competence.  Any wedding photographer that doesn't post process his work (or has a lab do it for him) is one to be avoided.  I have seen some really nice work come from straight out of the camera, but minor adjustments can take those shots from "Nice work" to "Wow, that's fantastic".  To understand the reason for this, you have to look at what photography is both in the past and in the present. 

Negative film shooters had the option of making prints themselves, or letting a lab do it for them.  Most labs opted to make prints the fastest way possible, which meant that they would check the films density (often only on the very first image on a roll of film) and print towards making even flesh tones so the people looked good.  Dramatic scenes of red rocks and blue sky looked like crap when this was done.  I know this because I once relied upon my local lab to make my prints.  To create truly dramatic prints required a bit of dodging and burning, a bit of color adjustment when necessary, and treating each image as its own entity. 

To get around the problem of making prints, some people shot slides.  They often thought themselves to be "superior shooters" because they had to get it right in the camera in order to make the slide look good.  While it is true that slide film had fewer stops of resolving power than the 9 stops of negative film, getting it right in the camera has always provided the best results.  The problem was that if a slide shooter needed to make a print, he too was at the mercy of the lab or had to make it himself. 

Paper prints have about 5 stops of resolving power.  This means that of the 7 stops the slide had and the 9 stops of the negative, information will be lost.  It is knowing what to lose that a great print maker excels.  Film processing labs making prints for most people, don't take time to make the best print possible, they make the fastest print that the average person will not complain about. 

Digital cameras didn't change the print making process.  There still are 5 stops of resolving power in paper, and about 7 to 8 stops in the digital sensors.  What has changed, is that now instead of being able to rely on the consistency of your favorite film, the camera manufacturer has built in some algorithms to adjust crate a template that the print making equipment can follow.  You have to realize that just as with slide film, some information is going to be thrown away and that the final image from the sensor has been optimized for an average image of people.  Drama is just not the forte of the camera's software, nor the labs equipment.

Post processing is taking the image the camera gave you and giving it the minor tweaks that make the color right, the highlights stand out better and push the image from average to the best it can be.  Post processing is also making sure that the people look their best.  Brides on their wedding day are not looking to see themselves as they were.  The wedding is a fantasy and the photographs should reflect that fantasy.  Minor blemishes and distracting backgrounds can be easily remedied in the digital age, and those that give images straight out of the camera have missed the chance to make the wedding the magical day most brides cherish.  Post processing is their friend and can make the difference between referrals or getting a bad reputation.