Taking Wedding Photos in a Church
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It is your wedding day. If you’re the bride, the most important day of your life. The dress is perfect. Your groom is in the building; your brothers are guarding the exits, so he can’t escape. The flowers are here, the cake is perfect. Everything looks to be perfect, that is until your professional wedding photographer comes and says there’s a problem. The church is telling him that he is limited to certain areas, and that will limit what photos he can take. Even worse, he could be restricted from taking ANY photos during the ceremony.
Take this advice from a church pianist / organist:
Each church has its own restrictions on locations and timing for photos. Often, there surprises at wedding start time or during the ceremony.
1. Some churches do not allow ANY photos during the ceremony.
2. In most Catholic churches, photographers are forbidden to stand on or walk near the altar area for shots. This greatly limits your chances to get face views of the bride and groom during the ceremony.Last year I played for a wedding where the photographer got too bold in shooting and the minister stopped the ceremony to banish the photographer from the building for the remainder of the ceremony. It was ugly, but keep in mind that the minister has that right because it is seen as a sacred ceremony.
Be certain to discuss your shoot areas with a CHURCH representative. Church wedding coordinators usually help make your job go smoothly. A good coordinator will give you tips on hidden locations where you can get some fantastic shots during the ceremony.
What is important to remember is that this goes for the professional as well as the amateur.
Here are some points to remember and hopefully you won’t be kicked out of the ceremony:
- Turn the sound off on your camera. On some cameras, the flash makes a noise. It’s annoying, turn it off.
- Don’t disrupt the event trying to get a shot. If you must move during the ceremony, try to do so during songs. You will not be stealthy, no matter what you do.
Working with a wedding planner will also help not only get you the information you need for your wedding photography needs, but also can help with planning for what shots you MUST have along with the best possible positioning.
Using More Than One Wedding Photographer
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Something to consider, when having a small wedding with friends and family invited, is to put them to work for your wedding photography. The thought is to actually hand out disposable cameras to the wedding guests and to the reception guests and encourage them to take pictures.
Everyone is an Amateur Photographer
Everyone has their own thoughts and ideas when it comes to taking pictures; you’re going to take advantage of this. Great aunt Sue might be interested in the decorations and take fantastic pictures of the flowers, along with great shots of the lighting of the unity candle. Your niece Jenny is a people person and takes pleasure to get a picture of every single guest, sometimes in groups; especially with older family members, a picture of the bride with her great grandmother just MIGHT be their last picture together. Morbid, I know, but it’s just those pictures that become prized family memories.
The great thing about using the guests as your cameramen is that their personalities also show through, not only what they take pictures of, but also how they take them and from what perspective. A picture taken from the back of the hall gets everyone into the picture.
I personally love a picture I have of both of my grand mothers together at my wedding. The professional wedding photographer we hired didn’t get that shot. My wife’s cousin Carol made it her job to get as many pictures of every single thing and person at our wedding. The last time I remember seeing both my grand mothers at the same place was when my grand father died back when I was 4 or 5 years old. It means a great deal that they came together on such a happy occasion as my wedding.
Wedding photography is such a great tool in reliving memories. Having family and friends assist in not only making those memories, but help record them, adds something very special. Make sure to have everyone label their cameras, so that later individual pictures can be marked with who took what photo. Years later, a trip down memory lane with the wedding book is just that more special knowing who took what picture.
The Wedding Video
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Modern technology has recently (well in the last decade or so) made a wedding item that used to be the exclusive domain of the rich or the well connected, the wedding video! Back in the 1970’s and 1980’s, you had to hire a professional to come in to tape the wedding, and then convert the recording to either 8mm film or VHS.
Now, with recent advances, a simple camcorder or digital camera has a low enough price to be in the reach of anyone. Using an USB cable, the entire recording can be transferred from the camcorder or digital camera to a computer then burned onto unlimited amounts of DVDs. Better yet, the entire wedding can be uploaded to Youtube for family and friends to enjoy around the world.
How to Make a Great Wedding Video
Many of the tips for making a great wedding photo can be carried over to making a great wedding video. There are, however, a few extra steps you need to follow. When scouting the wedding hall, you also need to have your helpers do a sound check. To make a sound check, have someone stand at the altar and start speaking in a clear voice while making sure to project as if they were giving a speech. Review the recording to see if they can be heard.
Just as important, make sure to review the recording for possible environmental sounds, such as a loud ceiling fan or a loud air conditioning unit. If this recording is to be the “official” wedding video, check to see if something can be done about something as simple as a ceiling fan (ie turn it off). If it’s a loud AC, that may be something you just have to deal with; a crowded church in the middle of June makes air conditioning a requirement. Look into repositioning the camera to get a better sound if possible.
What NOT to Do
- Be on the move. Nothing screams motion sickness than the roving cameraman. Remember the Blair Witch Project and all that running through the woods?
- Getting up in people’s faces. During the reception, it’s common to talk to guests and ask them to record something for the happy couple. Fine, but don’t shove the camera up into their faces. Leave room around the person in the viewfinder to see the people surrounding them to see their expressions. You can get some priceless moments from guests interacting with each other about what they’re talking about.
- Play By Play. The wedding is the bride’s day. Remember that. It’s not about your color commentating about anything and everything. Also, making jokes, off color or not, while taping the event is a big no-no.
- Have no power back-ups. The camera is plugged into the wall, and someone accidentally trips and unplugs it. The video camera shuts off because you didn’t have a full battery installed. It happens. Have a fully charged battery in the camera just in-case. This leads to my next and last point.
- Stay with the camera. I have seen this happen. Someone sets the camera to record and goes to sit down and enjoy the wedding. The wedding takes too long or they didn’t set the camera to the proper setting, but the camera only records 3/4ths of the wedding, shutting off right when the vows are about to exchanged. I kid you not. If you’re going to record the wedding, do it right and stick with the camera.
