Church restrictions revisited

A few months ago I published this post regarding church restrictions. As restrictions can affect our ability to film your wedding properly, I feel that I should revisit this topic. Reception venues vary considerably on how much freedom videographers have. Most (but not all) non-church ceremony locations will allow us to work with no restrictions. Individual priests, ministers and rabbis may impose their own set of rules when conducting a wedding at a non-religeous location. The venue itself may have rules. So even if you are having your wedding ceremony at a reception hall or country club, it is important to ask both the manager of the venue and the officiant what rules or restrictions exist for videography.

When having a wedding ceremony in a church, you should ask about restrictions before hiring a videographer. While we can work well even when shooting from the balcony, we will still need to set up audio (wireless microphones and digital recorders for the groom, officiant, and for reading and music). Sometimes this is not allowed and we cannot properly capture the music and speech. Occasionally a church will not allow any video, although this is rare. Don’t assume that the rules are the same for videographers as they are for photographers. While most venues do have the same rules, there are some places that restrict videography but not photography.

Most of the time we have no problems and will be able to get the coverage that you would expect from us. But it is important to know ahead of time. Discuss any restrictions with your videographer. He or she will be able to tell you if they can provide adequate coverage.