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Can the members on here please enlighten us as to how they shoot wedding ceremonies.
Sound, Cameras etc.
-Do you mic the groom only?
-Do you leave his feed on continuous throughout ceremony?
-Do you use a digital recorder for back up of audio?
-How do you pick up people who do readings (Usually off to the side of church)?
-The camera that has the input of the wireless lavalier on the groom, do you leave that plugged in the whole time or
do you switch between the camera mic and lav?

-Does anybody use 3 cameras for ceremony but with two people???
One stationary??

Thanks guys...

Hi Pat,

I posted this once before, but it didn't go through so I'll try it again. I usually use 3 cameras to shoot a wedding if the church has a balcony and If I have an assistant. (My daughter) So far I have not gone to the brides house to get pre-ceremony shots there. I need my time at the church. I try to be there about one hour before the start of the ceremony.

My number 3 cam I set up in the Balcony to get a birds eye view of the proceedings on the alter. My daughter usually gets a medium to wide view of the readings, candle-lighting ceremony, recessional. She can sometimes pick up a better shot of something that I may be out of position for. This is my base or default camera. I try to get my daughter to not fuss with it too much except during specific times, such as the readings. I have a stereo external mike attached to the camera on a 20' mike cable to try to get it as close to the Organist/Soloist or Quartet, if they are located up there. This is my main music camera for non-vocal portions of the ceremony.

My number 2 cam and my number 1 cam I bring up to the alter and place them as close together as I can so I can operate each of them simultainously. I think I butchered that word! My number 2 cam I keep on the tripod the whole time. I use only the cameras internal mike on it. I use it to get a wide angle view of the Bride,Groom, Wedding Official mostly. I also use it during the readings, Homily, or slower portions of the ceremony to get B Roll footage of Guests, Bridesmaids Etc.

My number 1 cam I use handheld during the Pre-Ceremony shots, guests arriving, Processional and Giving away the Bride. Then I use it on the tripod until the end of the ceremony to get close up views of the main proceedings. Opening remarks, readings, Homily, Vows, and Rings. I have a wireless receiver attached to the camera and two transmitters. I am using an Azden WMS-Pro Vhs receiver with two frequencys. I know I should get a nice expensive UHF system, but so far my setup has not let me down. One of the transmitters on one frequency is attached to the groom. The 2nd tranmitter on the 2nd Frequency I place on the churchs house mike on the Pulpit, so when the official or people are doing readings and speaking at the pulpit they are speaking directly into my mike. I have to remember to switch back and forth as needed between the frequencys depending on whether they are at the pulpit or doing the vows. If the priest uses his own wireless he is usually in front of the wedding couple and the grooms mike picks him up fairly well.

I usually go to the wedding rehearsals to check my mikes beforehand and find out where they will be doing the readings from. Sometimes the church uses a second mike on the other side of the pulpit. Its saved my bacon a couple of times to inquire beforehand. Although sometmes they Lie. Aunt Martha may not want to climb those three little stairs.

Just a quick reply, since I realize I missed answering one of your questions. I do usually leave the wireless "on" the groom the whole time. If he starts talking about how much the airline tickets to Aruba cost him I can use the Audio from either of my two other cams. I dont use an audio recorder for backup, I use the audio from my Balcony cam and if it fails for some reason I still have my number two cams audio as backup.

As Kevin Martin stated I also use Quadcam to edit the three cameras. I use the Balcony cam as background cam during the music portions and Processional. Once the readings start I do a 2nd run of Quadcam using my number 1 cam as background, and switch in my 2nd alter cam and the balcony view as needed.

We use 2 or 3 manned cameras most of the time(occasionally 4), though there have been a few occasions where a locked down shot was all that was allowed from a given location.

Usually, we mix the audio live through a small Peavy mixer, with wireless mics on the groom, pastor, and on the lecturn where any speakers will be. We also may place a mic near singers or musicians as necessary and have a shotgun mic for general sound. All of these are run from the mixer into the back camera. The only backup audio we are currently using would be the camera mics.

This is dangerous in that if you don't bring up a mic at the right time, you can't fix it in post, but it sure saves time already having the audio mixed and not having to build it later.

Thank you guys. This help a bunch.
So Bob if I understand correctly you have that mixer manned as to bring up mics and bring them down as needed??
To Kevin: what type of microphone do you attach to the Digital recorder?
I personally do not have Quadcam yet but one of my guys does and he loves it. I hear nothing but fantastic things about it.
I often hear, I dont know how I lived before Quadcam....

Patrick,

Yes, I usually run the mixer, sometimes while also manning a camera, though I avoid that as often as possible.

I have 4 Sony wireless mics that I love, plus a couple of Samsons that are so-so. It is expensive to go this route, but it saves so much time later that I think in our case, it has been worth it.

If we have more than one wedding (or other event) going on at a time, then only one gets the mixer and the other we go straight to the cameras with the mics and build the audio in post.

Oh yes, Quadcam is wonderful for 3 or 4 cameras. With only 2, I can edit just as quickly without it.

Pat,
Sorry this took so long .I use a small sony mic that came with my mini disk recorder.Thanks to all the other guys who wrote in also. We now have more ides to work with! kevin

Hi Patrick,

I'm late in seeing your question, but in my case it works like this...

I shoot solo with 4 Sony VX2000s and sometimes use my Remote Camera System as well (great for Lutheran weddings when the couple faces forward the entire service).

I use one UHF Senneisher G2 wireless lapel mic for vows and keep this plugged into one of my cameras the entire time.

I bring 5 Sony Minidisc recorders with me to the church; I don't necessarily use all of them, but typically...one is plugged into the church's soundboard via the headphones out jack; one is placed on the main reading podium with a $20 Azden lapel mic coming from it and an additional mic is sometimes placed on the groom for back-up to the UHF wireless. For outdoor weddings, I always place a minidisc recorder and lapel mic on the officiant. And, if a church doesn't have a soundboard I can get access to, in some cases, they have church speakers that are mounted lower (within reach), or up on the balcony, that sound great; and, with the careful placement of a minidisc recorder and lapel mic, one can get some very clean audio.

Finally, I have an audio pass-through box from Rolls (through B&H, $65) that allows me to take any XLR mic cord and plug it into this box, then go from this battery operated box back to a wall outlet, etc. with my XLR cable. This box has a headphones out jack, which allows me to "cut in" so to speak, and capture a clean signal from that mic source via my minidisc I plug into it (example: a corded mic used at the reception for speeches; or even off of a wireless house receiver that has a XLR going into it). Anyway, I'd highly recommend this little box; a must have for event work in my opinion.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/2 ... nitor.html

John, how long does it take you to set everything up? Do you test the wireless mic frequency? I'd love to see the entire set-up sequence on tape - sped up like at the beginning of "Woodstock"!

I'm also curious about the latest MP3 recorders other videographers are using especially the recorders that allow mic or line level in from a mixer.