If you are here and you have not read part 1 of “How to Shoot Your Own Wedding,” then you may want to go here first: Part 1. It’s the best way to ensure that you have all the information needed to record your own wedding with your smartphone. In this second part we will dive into the actual shoot. The first part dealt with what you need to do even before shooting to prepare your phone and yourself, and in this second part we will take a look at shooting on your wedding day and what you need to do after the shoot is complete.

Part 2 - The Wedding Day

1) Watch out for bad exposure

When I say “exposure,” I’m not talking about exposure to the elements; I’m talking about your camera’s exposure. If you are shooting outdoors, you pretty much have nothing to worry about. If your phone is set to Auto mode, it should do a really good job at recording the action in front of it without you really having to do anything else but hit record, but if you are indoors and you are shooting in a dim room against and bright background like a giant window that overlooks a lake, the phone might lower the brightness so the window is not blaring white. However in most cases this will turn the two of you into a silhouette, so make sure the person recording knows to tap on you on the screen so the phone knows that it is you that should be bright and to forget about the window. All phones work differently with this, so yours may have some kind of brightness slider or you simply tap, or combination of both. Do a test prior to your wedding day in front of a window if shooting indoors .

2) Don’t walk and shoot at the same time

Think about it, when you take a picture, you will typically stand still and snap the picture. For the most part the same applies for video. Most camera phones look poor when moving and recording video at the same time. Keep your feet planted and hit record.

3) Who’s shooting?

Think about who will be shooting the video. Are you going to make guests aware that you are creating your own video, so they can feel free to shoot, or will you have one or two people doing the shooting for you? Your little brother and sister or something like that. Plan that out ahead of time. It could be one or both of you before the ceremony or first dance setting up a camera on a tripod. Have a plan in place, so your wedding day runs as smoothly as possible.

4) Shoot extra footage - B-roll!

I’m not talking about rolling buttered biscuits down the aisle…no no no. Here’s what mean – if you are planning to have this video edited or you are planning to edit yourself, do yourself a favor and shoot some extra footage to complement the film. Things such as the cake, decorated tables, shots of your venue, or whatever space you are holding your ceremony, flowers, family members gathered around, things like that. People laughing, hugging, crying, walking, talking, any detail that is important to you. It could be shoes, dress, ties, cufflinks, dog in a tuxedo, etc, people dancing, your first dance(if you have one)…you get the point. Get a few extra shots. This really helps with the edit.

5) Hold your shots for at least 10 seconds

This is actually a big one, especially if you plan on editing the footage. When filming the ceremony, absolutely keep the camera on that tripod, aimed right at you recording the whole time, but when shooting anything else – shots of your dress, the cake, shoes, people laughing, hugging, crying…no matter what it is, please hold your shot for at least 10 seconds. If you point at something a second or two and quickly turn to something else it makes that shot almost unusable for editing. It may be hard to grasp right now, but if you plan on editing or hiring an editor, it will make life much easier.

6) Remember to hit record

And finally, I know it sounds so silly, but it happens. Double-check and triple-check that your phone is recording. The day is moving by very quickly and the adrenaline is pumping hard. This simple thing can be disastrous. Please click record.

7) Backup your footage

After your wedding is complete, make sure you backup your footage to your computer. If you have enough space on a cloud server you may want to consider putting it there too. Two backups are ideal. This is important stuff, you don’t want to lose it.

Conclusion

These tips will help you shoot your own wedding pretty well. You’ll be able to relive your special day over and over again. If you would like your footage edited, but you don’t feel like doing it yourself, please reach out to me, and perhaps I can create something for you.