Guys, don't sweat the off-key vocals. They did not hear them before the wedding or at the wedding. Chances are that they will not watch an episode of American Idol and suddenly learn that their friend/relative/etc are not in tune. In fact, watch the start of an American Idol season and you will be much relieved. There are tons of folks out there that have absolutely no ear for music and WORSE.

hehehe try an indian Hindu wedding mate.. 4 hours for the grooms part of the ceremony, 1 hour for the brides, then 40 odd minutes together.. then another ceremony at the house (another hour) ....

i had one guy want me to do this (2 cameras) and he didnt want to pay more than 2grand for the LOT... needless to say i walked away from that one..

As for those not wanting to use the mics coz of interferance. its usually THEIR systems ahich are inferior which are more prone to interferance from trucks and cars driving by than it is from our gear causing that interferance..

Either way, when this happens, i grab the groom aside, take him outside and plant a mic on him... even if I have to have the mic capsule pokng out of his pocket or whatever... Ill do what i have to..

Uneducated people making these type of calls really gets on my nerves

My favorite weddings to shoot are the ones outside of the grand Victorian houses, which are normally located about 1 mile from the local train yard. No microphone or dubbing can get rid of the damn train horns from their vows, especially since the typical horn blow lasts 5 - 7 seconds and there's 2 or 3 trains moving around.

-Michael

I stopped doing weddings. I do legal videography and live music shows. Both a lot less stressful. Not once has someone gotten someone "cheaper". For weddings "cheaper" usually means Uncle Bob with his fancy new camcorder he got at Best Buy. The one he has no clue as to how to operate. The sad truth is most people can't tell a difference in quality. Remember when you would hear people back in the early days of DVD claim that DVD didn't look any better than VHS. It's all just moving pictures to most of these knobs.

I did a wedding where I was guaranteed to be able to hear the ceremony from the great sound system (there was no place they would let me put a decent microphone as it would ruin the decor) only to have the preist unable to work his microphone and promptly give up wherein he spoke in the lowest monotone ever.

I've had this one just recently. A "friend" who is a wedding planner, this month, knew a few of the wedding planner basics to talk the talk. She claimed as a personal favor, she'd help me get some wheels under my new business endeavor. After probing her a bit more for specifics and getting a look at her so-called brochure and "website", I realized that she is pretty much full of **it.

Jeff

I did a one camera gig for a mates wedding, and even though I was a friend doing something nice, both mothers became directors. Imagine, two short, slightly plump Italian women clip clopping toward you, right infornt of shot and telling you where to shoot, how to shoot it and asking questions 5 minutes before and after the ceremony.

The most annoying thing about it was the bride's mother (sitting at the front row and I'm about 3 meters up so I can get a nice angle onthe front), leaning out and pointing, telling me to either move to the other side of the altar, or signaling to me "are you getting this?"