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Wedding Officiant Imposing Strict Guidelines
  • Peter123456Peter123456

    I’m shooting a wedding this summer, and the officiant emailed the bride that:

    1) there can be no photography or videography during the service (this was stated in all caps!). 2) one photographer may stand at the back of the church and only photograph the entrance/exit of the service.

    Does anyone have experience with negotiating more options with officiants? Should I ask him if I can keep a fixed camera rolling on a tripod in the back/balcony (or just do it)? Should I pretend to be a guest and just keep my GH2 silently rolling at chest level while watching the ceremony? Should I ask, or will anyone notice if I am there along with the photographer to film the entrance/exit of the service?

    If I ask the officiant about these details, should I write a letter, go in person, call on the phone, ask the bride to ask?

    Would appreciate any advice or past experiences.

  • 15 Replies sorted by
  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    Btw, good story for http://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/3784/total-disaster-reports-from-the-weddings-front/p1 , but I think that we need to keep this topic also.

  • kingmixerkingmixer

    Shoot the whole thing with those spy-like pen cams strategically placed all over, and go down (relatively) as a legend.

  • ahblezaahbleza

    A small GoPro set up near the ceremony can run unattended, as well as a sound recorder carried by the groom. And bribe one of the front row seats to set up a small tripod to get a wide view from the pews. It's not a Betazoid wedding, is it? :-)

  • bmorgan83bmorgan83

    How does the bride feel about these restrictions? If they want their wedding ceremony filmed, they should look for a different officiant.

    I know some officiants do have some guidelines for photographers/videographers. I've found primarily when shooting catholic weddings, the officiant does not want anyone shooting behind him. It's good to be respectful of the officiant, but you may need to have more of a discussion with the bride and groom about what they're looking for in your filming, and relay your concern if they want the ceremony filmed.

  • Sph1nxsterSph1nxster

    Totally agree with @bmorgan83 on this.

    At the end of the day, It is the Bride and Groom's special day. They need to make these type of decisions so that they are aware of any potential conflicts that may arise on the day.

    We have a similar situation that occurs with us quite regularly whereby a popular venue does not allowed manned cameras at the front of the church. We make it quite clear to potential customers that if they are having their wedding in this church we will not be able to produce as high a standard as we normally would because we will be limited in our ability to control the image.

    I don't believe a discussion between you and the officiant will end well as it can quickly turn into who is going to win and get the potential sale, because their is money at stake for both you and the officiant. Relay your concerns to the Bride and if she wants her Ceremony filmed, she will make it happen. If she isn't that bothered but would still like you to cover the day, then you just scored big time. No ceremony to edit is not that bad a thing in my mind.

  • bmorgan83bmorgan83

    At the end of the day, It is the Bride and Groom's special day. They need to make these type of decisions so that they are aware of any potential conflicts that may arise on the day.

    I actually put in my contracts with brides that it is THEIR responsibility to clear up any potential conflicts, and should there be a conflict in my filming their wedding that they neglected to handle, I am not responsible for any missed footage.

    Do your best to make them aware of conflicts, but the responsibility is theirs as they need to coordinate with all vendors.

  • Sph1nxsterSph1nxster

    Think I might pinch that for our contract as well!

  • Mark_the_HarpMark_the_Harp

    We had a similar situation with our own wedding. As it happened we didn't want a video, we just wanted to enjoy the day. We did an audio recording, which I think we listened to once. Funny, really - sometimes it's nice to just experience the day as it happens, and not see it again from outside.

    But if it's important to the bride and groom, I'd agree - they must decide to go elsewhere if video of the ceremony is important to them.

  • fosterchenfosterchen

    I'm sure the bride and groom are in the know since you said the officiant emailed them. If they didn't know of these strict guidelines, than my guess is that they will want to have another officiant that allows photo/video during ceremony.

    If these are the officiant's own personal guidelines and not because of a religious belief system, then I don't know who will want to use that officiant, unless they have no interest in ceremony photos/video.

    I wouldn't email. Call the officiant and ask directly. In person would be best so you can meet and get a feel for each other to see if there is any room for compromise, and make ready a list of do's and don'ts.

    As for letting the bride ask, they already have the whole wedding to plan and deal with, so if you care for your clients, you can do them this favor of asking yourself.

    Worst case scenario is you don't shoot the ceremony, but that's really the bride and groom's concern.

  • Peter123456Peter123456

    Good ideas, folks.

    Going forward, I wonder if it makes sense not to even ask in advance what is permitted at the church. Just show up and try to do what I want. At least then I can plead ignorance.

    The last wedding I did was like this. I didn’t ask about church guidelines, I just showed up. The church manager (or something) was there and said there was no video/photography allowed. Then I explained that I could just set up a tripod at the back and quietly record everything, and she said okay.

  • Mark_the_HarpMark_the_Harp

    @Peter123456 I wonder what's behind these sort of restrictions, but I can only imagine that they don't want their arena invaded by a TV crew or something! Who knows what goes through their minds? Many people who look after churches are not very well paid and don't want a load of extra hassle. But if they are prepared to allow flowers, etc, in the church, then I personally can't see what's wrong with having anything else that normally goes with a wedding.

  • thepalaliasthepalalias

    In the end, it's all about being clear on your priorities, relationships, roles and goals.

    If you want to keep coming back to the same church to film in the future, you probably don't want to antagonize the people that run it. In the same way that the cinematographer typically is not the one dealing with permits, etc. on larger narrative productions, you don't want to take on that role in filming a wedding unless you have to.

    As several people have mentioned, discussing with a bride and groom what the potential limitations are and asking them what their priorities are is really the way to go. There is no reason to make them feel stressed out about their relationship with the officiator if they are fine with less coverage and there is no reason for you to push if they can handle the negotiations more easily based on a pre-existing relationship.

    So the key would be clear communication with your client from the get-go and then giving them the chance to help you get them what they want without making them feel stressed or overwhelmed (and maybe getting them to assign someone you can talk to when it gets closer to the event so that they don't have to think about that when they have more important things to give their attention to. :)

  • tinbeotinbeo

    One LX7 given to one groomsman , another for bridesmaid, One Real camera on tripod from the back for you. -:)

  • DrDaveDrDave

    The customer is always right. Get it in writing in case they change their minds and want to know where the kissy footy is.

  • Peter123456Peter123456

    The client is a friend of my sister's, so I'm not to worried about any hassles, but I would like to film the ceremony, if possible. My latest strategy was I asked her to ask the officiant if I could set up a fixed/unmanned camera on a tripod at the back of the church. Hopefully he won't be able to argue with that idea.

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