This portion of your video is the most crucial one. If you don’t shoot that, forget about the rest of the day. During that ceremony the bride and the groom would normally stand in front of the altar facing each other. In rare occasions they may be facing the priest, so it is good idea to find out what is going to happen in your particular case. Then they would repeat after the priest or read out loud from their memory or from their notes the vows to be a husband and a wife, to be faithful in good time and in bad, and so on.
Your mission as of a cameraman is to capture the entire thing with clean framing from the best possible angle and good audio.
For the first part, you don’t want to have any objects such as candles or flowers between your camera and the marrying couple. The frame should be clean, period. At this point we are arriving to the second part, which is the best possible angle.
Not always you will be able to use the best desirable spot, so try your best exploring the options you have. If the bride and the groom are going to face each other, the best spot for you will be in the aisle, facing the altar and the couple. Move quickly with your tripod, or handheld, to the aisle and position yourself behind the marrying couple. What you get in the frame, will be the bride on your left, the groom on your right and the priest or the minister, facing the camera, in between.
If you are not allowed to move freely during the ceremony, position yourself on the groom’s side of the church, as close to the altar as possible. From that angle you will be able to capture bride’s face. Groom’s face won’t be seen unless the couple is facing the altar. In some churches the sanctuary extends into the room therefore allowing you to get even better angle of the bride’s face.
There is one priest in one particular church allowing shooting the ceremony only from the balcony located right above the altar. He does not let the cameramen move during the entire ceremony. At least that provides the opportunity for better angle to cover the exchange of vows.
It brings us to the audio issue. Since we are unable to see the groom’s face, we have to make sure the audio is second to none. It is going to be nice and clear in any case, by the way. For that purpose you should use wireless microphone. The lapel (or lav, or clip-on) microphone is set up on the groom’s jacket, thus providing audio for both groom’s and bride’s parts as well as for the priest. The microphone is plugged into the transmitter. Transmitter is battery operated (9V or AA). Make sure you have brand new reliable battery in it prior to the ceremony. No taking chances!
When you arrive to the church at least 30 minutes before the ceremony, go find the groom and set up the microphone. Put it on the lapel, preferably on the groom’s left side, close to the bride. Hide the transmitter into inside pocket. Make an audio test to make sure you can hear clear audio in the camera. There should not be any irrelevant noises, such as interference, squeaking, cracking, etc. Stress out, that microphone should not be turned out until the end of the ceremony.
As for framing, you can keep the same frame for the entire exchange of vows or you may zoom in on the groom’s face, then pan over to the bride’s face, or vice versa, and then zoom out. Don’t use too much movement. More important is to capture the whole dialog, the interaction from beginning to the end. Be careful, it is once in a lifetime event. They are not going to do it again just for camera. But good planning, giving yourself some time for preparation, reliable equipment, fresh battery and quick thinking will be your friends.
