Filming a wedding: what gets settled before the day

A wedding is the only event where the person who commissioned the film is never available to discuss it while it is being shot. That is why everything is settled beforehand, and why I ask a lot of questions at request stage rather than on the day, when your attention belongs to your guests.

The running order, written with times

It is the most useful document you can send me, and it does not need to be pretty. A list: getting ready at such a time, ceremony at such a time, group photos, entering the room, speeches, the first dance. Those times decide where I stand at every moment, and above all what I choose to miss. Because it has to be said: working alone, I necessarily miss something. Better that it be a choice than a surprise.

The three moments that never happen twice

The entrance, the exchange of vows, the first dance. Everything else can be recovered one way or another: group photos can be retaken, the party atmosphere lasts hours, the cake waits. Those three last a few minutes and have no second take. They are what I place the cameras for first, and the rest of the shooting plan is built around them.

The drone: to be asked for, never assumed

Views from above of an estate, a courtyard or a procession are among the most requested images. They are also the only ones I can never promise in advance: feasibility depends on the place and the permissions that apply there that day, and I check it before pricing. A private venue can also simply refuse, and that is its right. Tick the box, and treat the answer as part of the quote. Filming a wedding with a drone spells out what to ask, and of whom.

The sound of the speeches, the real weak point

A wedding film is judged on the speeches, and the speeches are judged by ear. A slightly dark image gets a pass; a speech you cannot hear is lost. Yet the microphone of a camera six metres away mainly records the room: cutlery, laughter, the air conditioning. So it is a question I ask every time — will there be a PA, and can I plug into it? The wireless mic for speeches explains why it is that little box, and not the camera, that saves the sequence.

The evening, and what is kept of it

After the meal the light drops and the film changes nature: it is no longer telling a ceremony, it is keeping an atmosphere. If a DJ runs the evening, filming the booth and the dance floor is one of the tick boxes, and it ties up gear I own only one of — so I check my diary before committing. If the sound and light rig still has to be built, that is prepared with my partner in Lyon, and you deal with one person only: me.

And if you would rather your guests film the evening while I take care of the day, say so: it is a common arrangement and often the fairest. The wedding gear checklist will help you prepare their part; mine is prepared in the request form.