You have the camera
How To Film This Wedding
You do not need to know anything about cameras. This one focuses itself, steadies the picture and handles the lighting. The only part it cannot do is know which moments matter, and that is why you are holding it.
If You Read Nothing Else
Five things. Everything below this is optional.
- 1
Flip the screen open
That turns the camera on. There is no power button to find.
- 2
Press the red button
Once to start, once to stop. Look for the red dot on screen.
- 3
Get closer than feels polite
Walk two steps in. You are a guest, not a stranger.
- 4
Hold every shot for ten seconds
Count to ten before you stop. Longer than feels natural.
- 5
Film the moments between the moments
Nerves, waiting, watching. That is the footage couples cry at.
Working the camera
It does the hard parts by itself. It focuses, it steadies the picture, and it handles the lighting. What it cannot do is know which moments matter, and that is the part only you can do.
Turning it on
Flip the screen out from the side. That is the power switch. Fold it back in and the camera powers down. It takes about two seconds to wake up, so if something is about to happen, flip the screen open now and let it sit ready.
Recording
The red button is on the back, where your thumb rests. Press once to start, press again to stop. A red dot and a timer appear on screen while it is rolling.
Check the red dot
The most common mistake at every single wedding: someone films for twenty minutes with the camera off, then films their shoes for twenty minutes with it on. Glance at the screen. Red dot means rolling.
Holding it steady
Two hands, elbows tucked into your ribs. That turns your torso into a tripod and it improves footage more than anything else you can do. If you can lean on a wall or a chair back, do it. The camera smooths out small shakes on its own, but it cannot fix someone waving it around at arm's length.
Leave the zoom alone
Zoomed-in footage magnifies every shake and flattens how a room feels. Walk closer instead. Two steps forward beats any amount of zoom. Save it for when you physically cannot move, and when you do use it, go slowly, once.
The flip screen
The screen swivels. Turn it to face forward and you can hand the camera to someone and let them talk while watching themselves. That is how you get the best guest messages, because people are far more relaxed when they can see their own face.
Batteries
Two batteries come in the case, each good for roughly five and a half hours, so around 12 hours together. The battery clips onto the back and a release slides it off. When the screen warns you, swap it rather than waiting for it to die mid-toast.
Charging
Plug the charger into any outlet and clip the empty battery in. Green light means full. The habit that never fails: the moment you swap a battery, the empty one goes straight in the charger, so a full one is always waiting. Set the charger up somewhere out of the way at the start of the day and forget about it.
You cannot fill the card
The memory card holds about 11 hours. Nobody has ever come close. Film freely, film the boring bits, film the thing you are not sure is worth filming. And never delete anything, even the shaky clip you are embarrassed by. Some of the best moments in finished films come from clips the person who shot them assumed were useless.
A short list of don'ts
- Not in the pool, the lake or the hot tub.
- Not left in a hot car.
- Don't set your drink next to it. This is the one that gets people.
- Nobody under twelve without an adult alongside.
- Don't try to fix anything yourself. Call us.
- Don't delete clips.
The mics, the light and the tripod
These are optional, so you will only have the ones the couple ordered. If it is not in the case, skip that part.
The wireless mics (DJI Mic 3)
Two small mics that record on their own. Nothing plugs into the camera and nothing needs pairing. They arrive charged and the wind covers are already fitted.
- The magnet is already on the back of each mic. Hold the mic against the outside of the fabric, put the magnet plate behind it, and let them snap together.
- Put one on the officiant. They stand between the couple and catch both sets of vows.
- Put the other on whoever is easiest. A suit lapel is ideal.
- Press and hold the button on each until it lights up. That means recording.
- Switch them on before the ceremony and leave them running through the toasts.
- On a delicate dress, do not force it. The officiant's mic already covers both of them.
The LED light (Ulanzi VL-81)
It slides into the bracket on top of the camera and tightens with a small thumbscrew. Two dials and that is the whole thing: brightness, and warm to cool. Start the brightness low, because a little goes further than you would think, and match the warmth to the room. Candles and string lights want warm.
- Turn it on when the sun goes down and leave it on for the rest of the night.
- Point it at people from slightly above, never straight into someone's eyes from a foot away.
- It arrives charged and will last the reception.
The tripod (SmallRig T-10 Travel Tripod)
Twist each leg section to unlock, pull it out, twist it back to lock. The small square plate screws into the bottom of the camera and is probably already attached. Drop the camera onto the tripod head until it clicks, and push the release lever to lift it off.
- Set it at eye level for the ceremony rather than looking up from a chair.
- The click-on plate means you can grab the camera for the dancing and put it straight back afterwards.
How to make footage people want to watch
None of this is technical. It is all about where you stand and how long you wait.
Hold it longer than feels right
Count to ten before you stop. Almost every clip that cannot be used is too short. Someone films three seconds of a laugh and stops, so there is nothing before it or after it and no way to cut it into a film. Ten seconds gives an editor a beginning, a middle and an end.
Get closer
The single biggest difference between footage that works and footage that does not. Most people film from wherever they happen to be standing. Take three steps in. Close enough to hear what they are saying is about right, and that access is the entire reason this footage looks different from a hired videographer's.
Film between the moments
Everyone films the first dance. Nobody films the thirty seconds before it, when they are both nervous and someone is fixing a strap.
- Someone straightening a tie
- The bridesmaid who has been crying since breakfast
- Parents watching from the side
- The pause before the doors open
- Two people laughing at a joke you did not hear
Let people talk
Do not narrate and do not ask people to say hi to the camera. Start filming and stay quiet. People fill silence on their own, and what they say unprompted is always better than what they say when asked to perform. If someone notices the camera and goes stiff, keep rolling, because they relax after about eight seconds and the relaxing is the good part.
Put light on faces
During the day, put people between you and a window rather than the other way round. If the window is behind them, the camera exposes for the bright window and their faces go dark. Turn ninety degrees and the same shot becomes beautiful.
When it gets dark
Receptions get dark and dark footage gets grainy. The camera does its best but it cannot invent light.
- Film near the candles, the string lights and the dance floor lights
- Stand where light falls on faces, not behind them
- Get closer, so faces fill more of the frame
Sound matters more than picture
People forgive a shaky picture. They cannot forgive not hearing the vows. The camera's microphone picks up whatever is closest to it, not whatever you are pointing at, and from the back of a room that is the crowd around you. During the vows and the speeches, get near the person talking and stop talking yourself.
Leave a little room
Do not crop the top of people's heads. If someone is looking or walking to the left, leave space on the left for them to look into. And keep the camera level, because tilted horizons are the fastest way to make lovely footage look like an accident.
Move your feet, not the zoom
If you want a different shot, walk to a different place. Film the same moment from two spots, one wide showing the room and one close on faces, and an editor can cut between them so it looks like there were two cameras. Just do not walk while recording unless you mean to. Stop, move, start again.
On the dance floor
Different rules apply here. Shaky is fine, shaky is honest.
- Hold the camera at chest height, not over your head
- Stay in one place and let people come to you
- Film reactions, not just dancing
- Get the people watching from the edge
It is okay to put it down
You are a guest first. Put the camera down for the vows if you want to watch them with your own eyes, because someone else will have it. Do not film anyone who has clearly asked not to be filmed, do not film in bathrooms, and do not film children without a parent nearby who knows. If a moment feels private, it probably is.
What to film, hour by hour
You do not have to do all of this. Getting even half of it makes a real film.
Getting ready
The best hour of the day for footage and the most commonly missed. Quiet, close, unhurried, and nobody is performing yet.
- The dress hanging up before anyone puts it on
- Hair and makeup, from close
- Someone's hands shaking while fastening something
- The room full of people talking over each other
- The moment they see themselves finished, in the mirror
The other getting ready
Whoever is not in the main getting-ready room usually gets filmed far less. Someone should take the camera over there for twenty minutes. Ties, cufflinks, nerves, terrible jokes, a shared drink. It is half the story and it is routinely missing.
The details
Five minutes of work, and it gives an editor everything they need to open the film. Hold each one for ten seconds and move slowly.
The first look
Film it from the side so you can see both faces, because behind one person's shoulder means you lose half the moment. Start recording well before it happens and keep rolling for a long while after. What people say to each other in the thirty seconds afterwards is often the best audio of the entire day.
Guests arriving
Fifteen minutes of people hugging. The couple never sees any of this because they are hidden away, so giving them this footage is a genuine gift.
- The greetings at the door
- People finding their seats
- Grandparents being walked in
- Little kids in outfits they are already ruining
- The room slowly filling
The ceremony: where to stand
Pick your spot before it starts and stay there. The aisle side gives you the walk down and the faces coming back up. The front side gives you reactions, and the waiting partner's face is the shot everyone wants. Do not step into the aisle and do not move around mid-ceremony. If there is a hired videographer, do not block them and they will not block you.
The ceremony: what matters
Start recording before the processional and do not stop until the recessional is over. Just let it run, you have hours of memory. Three things to make sure you get:
- The face of the person waiting, when the doors open
- The vows, from as close as you can be
- The parents' faces during the vows
Coming back up the aisle
Be ready, because it happens fast and it is the happiest fifteen seconds of the day. Stand at the back, in the middle if you can, and let them walk towards you. Keep rolling after they have passed, because what happens just outside the doors is almost always unfilmed and almost always wonderful.
Cocktail hour
The camera should be moving around a lot here, and it is a good time to hand it off. This is also the ideal window for guest messages.
- Conversations, filmed from a few feet away
- The bar
- People who have not seen each other in years
- Anyone laughing hard
While the photos happen
Family photos take forever and everyone stands around. Film the herding, the photographer arranging people, the uncle who wanders off, someone's kid refusing. It is funny now and it will be funnier in twenty years.
The entrance
Loud, fast and over quickly. Get in position early, near where they will come in but not blocking the door. Film them arriving and then swing the camera to the room for the reaction, because the reaction shot is the one nobody thinks to get.
The toasts
Get close. This is where distance ruins footage more than anywhere else. Stand to the side of the person speaking, close enough to hear clearly. If someone else can, have a second person filming the couple's faces while the toast happens, because their reaction is the shot. Never stop recording between speeches, since the gaps are where the best asides happen.
The first dance
Film the whole song, all of it, without stopping and starting. Stay in one place at their eye level and let them turn through the frame. Then near the end, turn the camera to the people watching. Half the room will be crying and none of them know they are on camera.
Cake, bouquet and the rest
Short, sharp moments, so be ready before they start. For anything thrown, film the crowd rather than the object. The object is boring, the people diving for it are not.
Late night
The party thins out and the footage gets better. Film less, but film longer. Long, calm shots at the end of the night cut beautifully into the close of a film.
- The people still going at midnight
- Shoes off
- The couple sitting down for the first time all day
- Somebody asleep in a chair
Guest messages and things people forget
If you do one thing from this page, do the guest messages. They take almost no effort and they end up being the most treasured footage from the day.
Guest messages
Find a quiet-ish corner. Flip the screen forward so people can see themselves. Ask someone to say something to the couple, then be quiet and let them talk. Aim for ten of them.
Questions that actually work
Asking someone to say something to the couple makes them freeze. These do not:
- How did you meet them?
- What was the first thing you thought when you met their partner?
- Tell me a story about them nobody here knows.
- What do you think their life looks like in ten years?
- What is the worst advice you could give them?
- Finish this sentence: the thing about these two is... (this one gets the best answers)
Advice for the couple
A separate round, worth doing on its own. Ask people for one piece of marriage advice. You get two kinds: the genuinely moving ones from people married forty years, and the ridiculous ones from people three drinks in. Both are perfect, so get both.
The pass-the-camera game
Hand the camera to someone with one instruction: film three things, then pass it to someone who has not had it. Then let it go and see where it ends up. You get footage from tables you never visited, filmed by people who would never have volunteered.
A secret message
Tell one or two people they can record something for the couple to see later, privately, and that nobody else will watch it before the couple does. People say remarkable things when they know it is not for the room.
Who came the farthest
Find the person who travelled the longest distance and film them saying where they came from and why they came. Then find the oldest guest and do the same. Two clips, enormous weight in a finished film.
The grandparents
If there are grandparents here, film them sitting, watching, talking, and dancing if they dance. Ask them about their own wedding day. This is the footage families treasure most in the years afterwards, and there is a window for getting it that does not stay open forever. Do it early in the night while it is quiet.
Hand the camera to a kid
Genuinely. Show them the red button and let them go. Kids film knees, ceilings, dogs, cake and their own shoes. The results are unusable, hilarious, and always end up in the final film. Adult supervision, obviously, but let them actually shoot.
Things everyone forgets to film
One good habit
Before you hand the camera to the next person, take one shot of where you are: the room, the table, the view. By the end of the night those clips stitch together into a tour of the whole day, filmed by twenty different people.
If you are the camera captain
Every wedding that gets great footage has one person quietly making sure the camera keeps moving. If that is you, thank you. Your job is not to film everything. It is to make sure someone is filming.
Four things, and that is all
Handing it off
When you pass the camera to someone, say three things: flip the screen to turn it on, the red button records, hold each shot for ten seconds. Then walk away and do not hover, because they will do fine. Try to hand it to someone new every half hour. The more hands it passes through, the more the film feels like the whole room made it.
The assignment card
There is a card in the case with room to write names next to each part of the day. Fill it in before the wedding, hand out the jobs, and leave the card next to the camera. Coverage is the thing that makes or breaks a film, and this is the five minutes that fixes it.
If something goes wrong
Nothing happens when I open the screen
The battery is flat. Swap it for the other one.
The picture is dark
Turn so the light is behind you, not behind them. Then get closer.
I cannot tell if it is recording
Look for the red dot and the timer on screen.
The picture looks soft
Something is on the lens. Wipe it with a soft cloth, not your napkin.
A mic is not lighting up
Press and hold the button rather than tapping it. If it still does nothing, carry on without it. The camera is still recording sound on its own.
Something is broken
Stop, put it back in the case, and tell the couple. Do not try to fix it. For anything at all, email booking@weddingcam.co and we answer fast, even on weekends.
Packing up and sending it back
Before you close the case
Every slot should be full. Take ten seconds and check.
Do not leave it at the venue
Someone should take the case home tonight. This is the single most common way a kit goes missing.
Getting it back to us
Drop it off on or before your return date, the last day of your rental window (it is on your booking confirmation). The prepaid return label is already in the case, so there is nothing to pay and nothing to print. The sooner it ships, the sooner the editing starts.
What happens next
Our editors watch every single clip, all of it. They pull out the moments worth keeping, cut them to music, colour-correct the footage so the whole thing feels like one film, and build it into something with a beginning, a middle and an end. Including the clips filmed by a six-year-old.
Stuck On Something?
Email us and a real person answers, fast, even on a Saturday night.
booking@weddingcam.coNot filming a wedding yet, just having a look?