The most rational, reasonable and even necessary advice to give to anyone who wants to cover their wedding well, is to hire a photographer. It’s really as simple as that. If in doubt, hire two, preferably from the same team or company. This way, you can be sure most of the key moments are captured well, that you get coverage of everyone there, and the edit is done professionally and delivered on time. Too many people have tried to ignore that to save cash, and too many people have been disappointed by the results.
We consider that disclaimer necessary for having done our jobs and helping you to avoid any issues. It’s your big day after all! Now it’s out the way, you may also be wondering how to cover your wedding and every additional inch of it outside of your photographer hire. If you have a relative who wants to do their best, you can now let them, knowing you have this backup plan in option.
But if you’d also like some more intimate or alterative footage or shots that you can’t really expect of a professional photographer, you may wish to consider this advice:
Use Drone Footage
Getting a professional photographer is definitely the first step, but you’re probably going to want some shots that give a sense of the sheer scale and beauty of your venue a person standing on the ground is unlikely to give you. Getting a good drone operator to film your wedding can be good (or even asking someone in your family who is good with tech), because they’re able to capture sweeping aerial shots of the whole ceremony and the party afterwards.
For instance, they can use a lightweight and very capable device like a Mini 5 Pro to get breathtaking footage of the couple walking through the grounds or the whole group gathered together from a higher perspective, as it’ll add a cinematic quality to your final wedding video. You’re giving yourself a spectacular visual record of the entire location and all the people there, which offers a completely different, dramatic view than the close-up shots your main photographer is getting.
Consider Smartphone Coverage Guest Dumps
A more intimate way to document the atmosphere of the wedding is by encouraging your guests to just use their smartphones and then getting all the raw footage from them later. The professional photographer is focused on the big, planned moments, but your friends and family are going to be capturing all the little, unguarded, hilarious, and emotional moments that happen without warning throughout the day.
You can ask for these in a public Google Drive or use a collection service for getting a huge collection of candid photos and videos from many different perspectives, showing what it was like to be right in the middle of the fun, which gives your overall wedding album a wonderful layer of personality. Giving people a specific hashtag is also a good and simple for them to dump all content in one place so you can enjoy seeing that later on. It can happen pretty immediately too, which is good as you wait for photos.
Set Up A Photo Staging Booth
A photo booth is generally a big hit at events like this, as you’re giving people a space where they can let loose, put on silly props, and pose with friends and family they haven’t seen in a long time. Most people want to look respectful in your official photos so this is a chance to let them blow off some steam.
With this advice, you’ll be sure to cover your wedding as a supplement to your photographer, in the best possible way.
