Church restrictions and how we work with them

One issue that videographers have to work with is restrictions that are sometimes placed on us by churches. We want to cover your wedding ceremony in the best way possible. However we also need to be respectful of the fact that we are in a house of worship. Rule number one is always that we will abide by any any restrictions placed on us by the clergy or church wedding coordinator.

I always talk to the officiant and the church’s wedding coordinator before the ceremony. I let him or her know where our cameras are and what we will be doing during the ceremony. I then ask them what considerations that we should make to assure that we will be working within the guidelines of the church. Most clergy appreciate the fact that we talk with them as many photographers and videographers do not communicate.

This is also the time when I ask the officiant if we can place a microphone on him or her. If they object, we tell them that the bride and groom would really like to hear the words that they will be saying. This flatters them and more often than not, they agree to the microphone.

What if the officiant does not agree to allow us to cover the wedding properly. In this case we have little choice but to work within the guidelines set down by the church. We will do the best we can, but if we can only shoot from the back of the church, you can’t expect to have those wonderful closeups that you may have seen in our sample wedding videos.

Most of the time however, we are not restricted in a way that we will be unable to cover your wedding properly. You should talk to your minister or priest well before the wedding about having video. That way you will know about any restrictions. As I mentioned, we can often get some of these lifted just by talking to the officiant. They may have had a bad experience in the past and just want some reassurance that we will conduct ourselves in a respectful an professional manner.