Appearance of the bride is another key moment of the wedding day coverage. As soon as you are done with the shot of the bridesmaids walking down the aisle and taking their spots, get yourself prepared to the appearance of the bride. Although you won’t have much time for that. If you are allowed to move, position yourself in front of the altar, besides and slightly behind the groom in such way that you could get an access to every moment of the following sequence without stopping to roll.
Frame on the bride and dad and roll continuously zooming out slowly. Possible obstacles are: the photographer walking backwards in front of the bride and taking pictures, and the guests stepping in the aisle in front of you and trying to compete with the photographer. You should talk to photographer in advance and let him or her know where you are going to stay and ask for cooperation. The guests are different story, you can’t avoid them blocking the bride, but they are a natural part of the ceremony, so don’t worry too much about the guests in your shot.
You may want to show groom’s reaction. For that purpose you could zoom out and pan off the bride and show groom’s profile or ¾ reverse shot, depending on your position. One thing I know for sure is that many brides want to have this shot in the video, so try your best.
Pan back to the bride, she must be closer at that moment. Or you might stop your camera instead right after the groom’s reaction shot, reframe on bride and start rolling again. At some point the bride and her father would stop and let the groom approach them. The dad would take the veil off his daughter’s face and pass her on to the groom. You may want to follow the groom and come a little closer. Stay on three, and after they are done with all the kisses and handshakes, move carefully backwards to let the bride and the groom to proceed to the altar to meet the priest.
Keep rolling continuously and move backwards very carefully. You don’t want to hurt anybody in the bridal party or the ceremony officiant.
This is one of the key shots of the ceremony. You don’t want to miss it. Sometimes the timeframe of the ceremony is too tight and the bridesmaids do their walk down the aisle at the very same time when the bride is arriving to the front entrance. If you are using one camera, you may miss that shot. Talk to the couple and check with them, what is the scenario and what they would like to see on the final video.
Position yourself either in the front end of the aisle next to the groom in a way allowing the bridesmaids to take their spots in front of the altar. You may have to position yourself on the balcony above the altar. It will depend on the rules set by the church or the priest performing the ceremony.
Don’t miss the flower girl and the ring boy carrying rings on the beautiful pillow. If they are part of the ceremony, they will be there, in the head of the procession. If you are shooting from the top of the altar, and you are positioned aside from the center, you may not be able to see the children. They will be blocked by standing guests. But you could still get a shot of them appearing in front of the altar. If you see them clearly, frame your shot and roll, slowly zooming out in order to keep the framing. Follow your camera until the children have taken their spots.
If you have managed to get a shot of the flower girl and the ring boy, filming the bridesmaids is a piece of cake. Frame on the first girl, roll and follow the camera until she is on the front. Stop camera, frame it on the next girl, roll and follow, and so on. If the aisle is too long, start filming from the moment when the first girl is half way through the aisle. Otherwise the first shot may be unproportionally long.
The girls may follow each other very closely. In this case you should roll on the first girl while letting the next girl walk into the shot. Do the same with each bridesmaid. When the last girl is in your shot, follow her until she stops in front of the altar and you have all the bridesmaids in your shot. Stop here, get ready for appearance of the bride.
The most typical form of arrival is pulling over in a limousine or some fancy car to the front entrance of the church. Make sure in advance that this is the case. Variations might be as follows: she might arrive in the horse-drawn carriage (on the balloon, on foot, by bus) to the side (back) door, on the parking lot or to stop by the gate 300 feet away from the entrance, you name it.
First, get a nice shot of the vehicle slowing down and pulling over to where it is supposed to stop. You can come down to that point and shoot it low angle, or stay on the top of the front steps and shoot from there. After the car (a horse, etc.) has stopped, get close, and position yourself by the door, one from the bride is supposed to appear. Let photographer get still photos with the bride, her dad and a limo. You might film that as well.
Next moment is very important. Place yourself strategically where you are able to get a clear shot of the bride and her dad starting and finishing their walk all the way from the limo to the church entrance.
Don’t compete with the photographer, make friends. If the photographer takes one side of the door, take another one. You don’t want him or her to stick between you and the bride.
When the bride and her dad have come to the door and you have a feeling that there may be some hustle there, tilt up to the top of the building to complete the shot. Make sure it looks great and proceed into the church. The clock is ticking.
Arrival of the guests to the ceremony is not an essential part of the wedding video unless the couple insists on a very detailed coverage. Arrival shots slow the video unless you keep them short and vivid.
You might get few shots of the most important people, like grandparents or members of the bridal party. Don’t forget, you have to be well prepared to work during the ceremony. Filming the guests may take away some time needed for setting inside, so be careful. And in any case keep it short.
Another option is to videotape some early arrived guests inside the church. You may probably film the groom, groom’s family and ushers being busy taking guests to their sits and doing their last minute preparations.
But don’t miss arrival of the bride. She is the most important character in your video. Don’t ever forget that.
The exterior of the church may be an integral part of the wedding day coverage. It is not a priority shot, but rather a nice locator and a meaningful transition between the parts of your video.
Do this shot after you have finished setting up inside and right before you go get your next shot, arrival of the bride.
Walk away from the front entrance far enough to get entire building in the frame. Try low angle shot, it often gives buildings a majestic look. Wait until there is no traffic and roll on it for 5 or 6 seconds.
It is up to you and the bride. The rule of thumb - be on the spot ahead of time. If you are the only cameraman covering this wedding day, I strongly recommend you not to film that for real. You want to leave bride’s house at list 30 minutes before she does. Offer to do a fake shot instead.
As for the shot itself, do it in a sequence. This will take some patience on both sides, yours and bridal party. You want the shot of the bride leaving the house, so shoot the house first. Ask the bridal party to line up behind the front door: bride goes first, mom and dad to follow, and then come the bridesmaids. Position yourself outside on the side (you’ll see why) of the driveway. You should be able to get full body shot of each person coming out the front door.
When you are ready to roll, ask the bridal party to come out and proceed towards the limo. Keep rolling and let the bride walk by you (that’s why you want to stay aside). Run ahead, get position by the limo in front of the back door - you want to see bride’s face when she approaches the limo. Don’t let her completely in, those wedding dresses are not very comfortable for getting in and out the car. Pan off to the limo (bridesmaids, house, clouds, etc.), thank the bride and drive to the church.
It is exciting to see the photographer working on the portraits, especially if you are familiar with the style of that photographer.
What it gives you in practical sense it’s some action. The difference between your camera and a still camera is that you can shoot the girls approaching and leaving the spot. They look different; some feel awkward. Their looks, their smiles, put them all on video. Use a variety of shots. Alternate wide shot of the entire scene with extreme close up of the bride or the flower girl. Or start on the close up of a bouquet and zoom out to the group shot.
Do groups in action, people setting for a shot. Use close up to capture the reaction of people interacting with each other.
Shooting bridesmaids wishes is similar to shooting few words from the ushers. Crucial is to find the right moment and the right spot. Although it’s crucial not only for videotaping bridesmaids.
Ask all the bridesmaids to get together in quiet room or outside. Choose the background. Girls look good with flowers. So look for a flower bed or a bouquet. Avoid trash bins and laundry lines.
Make sure it does not intervene with photographer’s plan. If the girls are involved in the formal photo session, get them after they have finished. Getting them all at once is easier than chasing them one by one; it saves time and assures they don’t repeat themselves.
Line the girls up in a half circle or a straight line. While doing that, try to explain what you are looking for. It should not be a long speech, but rather a short statement or a wish. Usually 50% of the bridesmaids have no idea what to say. Give them suggestions or ask a question. It may be: “congratulations and best wishes on your wedding day”, “welcome to the family”, simply “I love you”. Start from either side, film one person at a time without or with stopping your camera, depending on situation.
If you have a feeling that the girls are loose enough, ask if they want to do something crazy (singing a funny song, dancing a cancan, playing grass hockey with golf clubs, etc).
Flower girl is another essence of the wedding day. It is a shadow of the bride, little angel, marching ahead of the bride down the aisle, scared by all these strangers surrounding her all day long. She is a future bride and a reflection of the bride in her childhood. Is not she?
This shot is hard to plan. Flower girl may come to bride’s house with her parents, usually bride’s or groom’s friends or family members. Little girl, excited by being dressed up, is seeing beautiful bride. The bride is looking at the flower girl.
I wish you luck to get that shot unstaged. It’s quite hard to stage a shot with a little child. If flower girl does not feel comfortable to be on camera, just leave her alone, stay away for some time. Get your shot later on.
You might as well try to catch some interaction between the bride and the flower girl while formal photo is taken. Stay away, shoot with long focus.
