Wedding Audio advice set up needed. Thanks.

[Robert James]

Hi all,
I will be shooting my sisters wedding in August in a normal size church. The bride / groom / priest will all be by the alter. So, yeah, normal set up church-wise.

My equipment:
-2 Zoom H1 handy recorders
-1 Rode Video Mic
-Mic stand
-stereo cable for Zoom
-Tripod
-Canon t3i

What would be the best set up for the equipment that I have for this wedding?

I will try my best to provide any additional information you might need.

Cheers

[Tom Dickerson]

I see your post has been up for a little while so I'll give it a go...

1 Zoom H1 on the Priest

1 Zoom H1 on the Groom

If possible you could feed the audio to the H1's through wired lavs. I won't get into the argument on how much you should spend on them as they range from $20 - $1000 or more. I've had good luck with the radio Shack $30 lavs into my digital voice recorders. I simply place the DVR's in their jacket inside pockets.

You could then place your Rode atop the T3i so long as you are in the center isle area (just off to the side but not behind anyone) and fairly close to the front depending on the church layout, size, policies etc.

I can think of a couple other arrangements, but I'll let others chime in here.

[Kevin Walsh]

Since you mention that there is a priest I assume it is a Catholic wedding. If that is case then I wouldn't bother with putting a mic on him. Instead I would put a H2 on the lectern where the readings, gospel, homily, etc., are given. This audio is very important as the readings, responses, etc are usually done by family members or friends.

Groom wears a lav mic connected to the H2 for the vows.

Try to find out beforehand if the priest will give his homily from the lectern or if he will be walking around. If he is a walker, then you should try to get third recorder/lav for him.

The rest of the audio IMHO is not as important and can be captured by the on camera mic.

[Steve Oakley]

don't do it.

seriously !

if pro's who shoot weddings all the time won't shoot work for friends / relatives for one reason and one reason only - you can shoot a 100 jobs a year and the ONE time you'll have some bad problem, guess when it will happen ?

if you want to keep them friends, don't do it. its clear you have no experience at this which is an even bigger invitation to disaster. it'll be cheaper to hire a shooter to do it and give it to them as a a gift, then you can also enjoy things.

[Jon Fairhurst]

If the couple is short on cash and believe you to be an amateur, go ahead and shoot it. They won't expect anything, so whatever you provide will be appreciated. If they believe you to be a pro and would otherwise have hired somebody else, that's another story...

[Don Bloom]

I've shot nephews, neices and my daughter in laws sisters wedding. I got paid for all of them (yes, I did give them some sort of "family discount"-because the BOSS ((my wife of 42 years now)) told me I would)and I was a working vendor NOT a guest. PERIOD. You can not be both.
True story, almost 16 years ago I shot my daughters wedding. Mind you I was the FATHER OF THE BRIDE!!!!! I set up 2 stationery cams (good old VHS) did my fatherly thing and later "edited" the tapes.
What a mistake. For my younger sons wedding, I hired a friend of mine to shoot, I edited, for my older son well since it was such a small event (just family) I did shoot but the pastor was very cool and after I got the processional he gave me time to get my A cam on a tripod. ANYWAY, take my advice. get a friend to shoot your sisters wedding, enjoy the day, have a drink or 2 or 10, dance dance dance and don't worry about the video. Let someone else do that. She is your sister and since you're appearently close enough to think about doing the video for her then you're close enough to want to enjoy and celebrate with her.
My advice....get someone else to shoot.
YMMV!