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.
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