Colby Knight
April 14th, 2007, 11:51 AM
I need about 3-4 cold Coronas after last night. And it was Friday the 13th... go figure.
Back in October, I met with the lovely couple about their wedding. Smaller church with the reception being held in the hall under the sanctuary. This is a Church of Christ couple, so no dancing, alcohol, etc. Pretty much cut the cake, eat and leave.
This couple was going to have the reception BEFORE the wedding. The plan was that after they said their vows, they were walking out and leaving!
I figured that was kind of nice and would make for an easier night. Save the best for last, right?
Thursday night was the rehearsal. Starts at 7pm. So I showed up to the church at 6:52... to an EMPTY CHURCH. Not a single car in the parking lot. Luckily there was one soul in the church who let me in... but being that there was no wedding party, there wasn't a whole lot I could do.
At 7:17pm, I headed to the house.
Next day... Friday the 13th...
Talk to the bride... Oh, no big deal! They moved the rehearsal back to 7:30! That's awesome, because that's something I didn't need to know! (sarcasm font enabled).
Anyways... day of the wedding... I get with the bride and groom about where the wedding party is going to be standing, placement, etc. I know where everyone is going to be. I get my wireless mics on everyone (3) and do sound checks with their audio guy (who is a dude starting & stopping a CD player. That equates to audio tech). EVERYTHING sounds perfect.
The mind is at ease and rest. Life is good.
(The above paragraph should be seen as foreshadowing.)
Everything is running quite smooth. I'm actually feeling good about this. But I am about to take a huge, healthy bite out of a gooey **** sandwich.
About 3 minutes before the bride is to walk down the aisle, there is a static, screeching sound from the speakers... Not a quick scratch. A LONG, drawn out, ear-piercing static. Thinking of it makes my head hurt. In a panic thinking I'm boinking this entire wedding, I turn off my receivers. My helper tells the priest and the groom to turn off their mics as well.
The sound is still going.
About 8 kids/babies start crying.
And it's 280 faces... ALL STARING AT ME.
I get to the 3rd camera and turn off the wireless on it... and this sound is STILL GOING.
Folks... I was in a church, but also in Hades. And guess what? You would have thought the devil himself was running a camera. ME. The looks were pretty impressive!
Eventually, it stopped. The bad news is that I'm not a 100 percent certain it was my equipment causing the static, so just to be safe, I kept my wireless's turned off.
So no one is mic'd up now.
And Mr. CD player wasn't about to turn off his music.
During the ceremony I could still hear a faint hiss over the speakers. I didn't dare chance turning my receiver back on. I wasn't certain the groom and minister had theirs turned on & what if it was the cause of that static?
We'll have to make do with the standard camera mic. Not happy about that... but that's all I got.
We're not done yet.
Remember when I said when I knew where everyone was going to be standing during the wedding?
Wrong again, McFly.
I was already in a tight corner anyway and trying like heck to be out of the way... but there was another groomsman SIX INCHES in front of my camera. I couldn't squeeze by him, left or right.
I thought to myself, 'This CANNOT really be happening.'
When I tried to nudge by him, I had a great shot... of the back of the groom's head.
I thought about faking my own death.
Solution? Picked the camera and tripod and shot it from above. Eventually I was able to position myself in a better spot and get a great shot of the bride.
Did I mention one of the guests actually handed me a tissue during the ceremony so I could wipe the sweat off my face?
The wife says the video is fine. Plus I have a 3rd camera to cut to when need be. The worst is that the audio will be sub-par, something that REALLY bothers me.
Murphy happens. Reminds me of a quote in the movie 'A Sound of Thunder.' It's something I always keep in the back of my mind:
'...the Heisenberg uncertainty principle. It proves that there is no such thing as zero tolerance. It doesn't exist. You basically can't be 100% sure of anything no matter how hard you try. Accidents... happen.'
Oh, the reception followed for another 3 hours AFTER the wedding... so that plan was changed as well.
Time for another Corona....
Back in October, I met with the lovely couple about their wedding. Smaller church with the reception being held in the hall under the sanctuary. This is a Church of Christ couple, so no dancing, alcohol, etc. Pretty much cut the cake, eat and leave.
This couple was going to have the reception BEFORE the wedding. The plan was that after they said their vows, they were walking out and leaving!
I figured that was kind of nice and would make for an easier night. Save the best for last, right?
Thursday night was the rehearsal. Starts at 7pm. So I showed up to the church at 6:52... to an EMPTY CHURCH. Not a single car in the parking lot. Luckily there was one soul in the church who let me in... but being that there was no wedding party, there wasn't a whole lot I could do.
At 7:17pm, I headed to the house.
Next day... Friday the 13th...
Talk to the bride... Oh, no big deal! They moved the rehearsal back to 7:30! That's awesome, because that's something I didn't need to know! (sarcasm font enabled).
Anyways... day of the wedding... I get with the bride and groom about where the wedding party is going to be standing, placement, etc. I know where everyone is going to be. I get my wireless mics on everyone (3) and do sound checks with their audio guy (who is a dude starting & stopping a CD player. That equates to audio tech). EVERYTHING sounds perfect.
The mind is at ease and rest. Life is good.
(The above paragraph should be seen as foreshadowing.)
Everything is running quite smooth. I'm actually feeling good about this. But I am about to take a huge, healthy bite out of a gooey **** sandwich.
About 3 minutes before the bride is to walk down the aisle, there is a static, screeching sound from the speakers... Not a quick scratch. A LONG, drawn out, ear-piercing static. Thinking of it makes my head hurt. In a panic thinking I'm boinking this entire wedding, I turn off my receivers. My helper tells the priest and the groom to turn off their mics as well.
The sound is still going.
About 8 kids/babies start crying.
And it's 280 faces... ALL STARING AT ME.
I get to the 3rd camera and turn off the wireless on it... and this sound is STILL GOING.
Folks... I was in a church, but also in Hades. And guess what? You would have thought the devil himself was running a camera. ME. The looks were pretty impressive!
Eventually, it stopped. The bad news is that I'm not a 100 percent certain it was my equipment causing the static, so just to be safe, I kept my wireless's turned off.
So no one is mic'd up now.
And Mr. CD player wasn't about to turn off his music.
During the ceremony I could still hear a faint hiss over the speakers. I didn't dare chance turning my receiver back on. I wasn't certain the groom and minister had theirs turned on & what if it was the cause of that static?
We'll have to make do with the standard camera mic. Not happy about that... but that's all I got.
We're not done yet.
Remember when I said when I knew where everyone was going to be standing during the wedding?
Wrong again, McFly.
I was already in a tight corner anyway and trying like heck to be out of the way... but there was another groomsman SIX INCHES in front of my camera. I couldn't squeeze by him, left or right.
I thought to myself, 'This CANNOT really be happening.'
When I tried to nudge by him, I had a great shot... of the back of the groom's head.
I thought about faking my own death.
Solution? Picked the camera and tripod and shot it from above. Eventually I was able to position myself in a better spot and get a great shot of the bride.
Did I mention one of the guests actually handed me a tissue during the ceremony so I could wipe the sweat off my face?
The wife says the video is fine. Plus I have a 3rd camera to cut to when need be. The worst is that the audio will be sub-par, something that REALLY bothers me.
Murphy happens. Reminds me of a quote in the movie 'A Sound of Thunder.' It's something I always keep in the back of my mind:
'...the Heisenberg uncertainty principle. It proves that there is no such thing as zero tolerance. It doesn't exist. You basically can't be 100% sure of anything no matter how hard you try. Accidents... happen.'
Oh, the reception followed for another 3 hours AFTER the wedding... so that plan was changed as well.
Time for another Corona....