First Wedding.
 

First Wedding shoot coming up in 6 weeks.

Targets: Roy & Kaci.
Locations: Austin's Cathedral of Junk (Outdoors) - Ceremony
Hill's Cafe - Reception

Equipment:

Canon HG20
Panasonic Lumix GH1
-- Kit Zoom Lens at f3.5-5.8
-- 28mm Prime Lens at f1.8 (equates to 56mm on m4/3)
-- 50mm Prime Lens at f1.8 (equates to 100mm on m4/3)
Samson Zoom H2
AT897 Shotgun
Juicedlink CX211
Rode Videomic
Sennheiser Wireless Transmitter/Reciever & lav

Battle Plan:

Set up the Canon HG20 at an angle that catches both Roy & Kaci's face - ideal: Mounted 2-3 feet above and behind the officant's head, angled to catch Roy and Kaci, and maybe the first few rows of the wedding reception. Set to record 1 hour before the ceremony begins, and leave it.

Mic the Officant with the wireless lav, receiver connects to HG20.

Use the GH1, AT897, Juicedlink & Zoom H2 as handheld/light tripod roaming. Prime lenses when walking around talking to guests, zoom lens when the ceremony begins. Stand off to the side, catch people as they come down the aisle.

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So, here's what I want to catch.

The Vows.
The Bridal Party.
The Processional.
Groom gets dressed.
Bride gets dressed.
Groom arrives
Bride arrives.
Interviews with bride, groom, participants, parents - mostly at/after/before the rehearsal dinner.
Seperate interviews with bride and groom.

Video of them together.

First dance.

Am I missing anything?

Are you shooting the "rehearsal" dinner, or the ceremony dinner? Are you shooting any of the ceremony/dancing etc??

I'm not so sure about mounting the camera behind the officiant. What are you mounting it to & are you sure the venue will be ok with that. Does the camera have a remote to start recording, otherwise you will need to start recording within 60 minutes of the reception ending, and receptions can get pushed back for a variety of reasons. Wouldn't want the tape to run out. You said "set to record 1 hour before the ceremony begins" -- wouldn't you run out of tape by the time it started??


Overall, best of luck. Things happen fast & are always 2 seconds away from starting. Stay on your toes, keep it simple, and you'll do fine.

I've got 4 hours on a battery and 5 hours on the hard drive at 21mbps

not sure I understand your setup since the ceremony and reception are at different venues.
For the ceremony if you can place a camera behind and slightly off to 1 side of the officiant (so it's not in your shot) fine but make sure it won't get blocked. Get the faces of the B&G and then what ever else it gets behind them.
Stand up front slightly off to 1 side to get the processional. When the couples moves in towards the "altar" move to your position and fire away (BTW once you start recording DO NOT STOP until the recessional is done. It's easier to sync in post and you dont want to miss anything).
For the reception, postion yourself to get the introductions, move for the cake cutting, toasts etc.
Record 1 hour before ceremony begins? Why? You can get people being seated by do some short cut aways but that's upto you.

If I misunderstood the layout or time line I take everything back. ;-)

Will you be high enough? Many preachers/priests are heavy guys, and they will be standing at the alter. Also, make sure you're sure the bridal party will come from the back, sometimes they enter from the side, that could complicate things. Keep the zoom speed at 1.

I recommend using a monopod for a single camera wedding. I shot the following wedding with just 2 cameras, however I really only used the back camera briefly.

Bethany & Justin Wedding Highlights Video on Vimeo

I captured them at an angle off to the side, but I was able to run and get the bride/groom leaving and entering.

Maybe some other members could fill me in, because I'm not quite sure, but sometimes running around is better... Yes, there will be gaps in the footage, but in my opinion it's OK to miss little pointless aspects of a wedding, because you can always fall back on your audio, slow down clips, or you can use audience cutaways.

It's a dual camera wedding, but only one shooter.

So the camera mounted behind the "altar" would be unmanned.

This is the cathedral: Cathedral of Junk, Austin, Texas

That probably should give you some idea.

I'm going to check it out, obviously, before the event.

The reception will be one-camera. I'm thinking of picking up a shoulderbrace.

there are no pointless aspects of a wedding in the mind of the B&G. My suggestion would be, if you plan on running around to different areas, is to have at least 2 locked down cameras running and the camera you're handling, start recording and never stop it until the ceremony is over. With 2 locked down cams running you at least have a couple of choices in post to cover any moves you make with your primary camera.