A disaster waiting to happen? Advice on recording a wedding please!

[Danjugan]

First of all a big thank you to everyone who posts in this forum as I have found the answers to many questions I have had in the past.

But I am now in need of a bit of help and I have not been able to find the answers I am looking for so I would be grateful for any help or advice anyone can give...

I have been asked by my brother-in-law to record his wedding for him. I have two relatively budget mv camcorders (one a panasonic GS80 and one the Canon MD235). My plan is to set up one camcorder at a fixed location on a tripod to record the whole of the ceremony (ie bride and groom) and to use the other to wander around and catch the atmosphere. I then hope to be able to edit the two together so that it is not one long shot of the ceremony.

BUT, and it is a big but, I have never done anything more than point and shoot before. So I have never edited anything. In fact I have never even plugged my firewire cable into my computer so even moving the footage off the tape and onto my computer will be new to me. I am relatively techie so think I can manage the basics but even so...

So, a few questions if I may:
Am I being overly ambitious?
Should I use the built in mic of the canon or use an external mic plugged into the canon? If so any suggestions for (a cheap?) external mic?
Or, should I ignore the sound on both camcorders and see if I can beg, borrow or steal a separate (presumably digital) recording device from somewhere?
Assuming I then have three tracks (two image tracks and one audio), can I edit them together relatively easily? Or to be more precise can I edit the two image tracks together and then get the audio track to play over the top whilst managing to synchronise the mouths with the sounds? (I guess I should play the audio and main track simultaneously on the editing programme and then just slot sections of the second track in? Is that how it works?
Assuming the above works (and putting to one side copyright issues) can I then lay pre-recorded audio over the track eg to have a music track as an intro blended in with background noise while people are arriving?
Does anyone have any other tips or suggestions that I should be thinking about (except perhaps to forget it and get a professional in as that is a non-starter I am afraid!)?

If this plan is a possibility then I think I am going to need to get some editing software and then a digital mic but other than that is there anything else I will need?
I know I can get suggestions of editing software elsewhere but based on what I plan to do, has anyone got a suggestion of a very simple editing suite that will let me do all of the above whilst (a) not totally confusing me; and (b) not costing me the earth!

Thanks in advance for any comments/suggestions!

[stadleroux]

I would be interested in reading others' comments myself because I've never done this kind of thing before either, although I have done some minor editing on my PC, but I think just using two units and editing and combining their footage would already be a pretty big task in itself. It's not that it's that difficult to do the editing as such, but it can be pretty time-consuming if you want to be careful about it. I find it very satisfying to move clips around and put them in a more logical order though, so I believe once you get started it will be difficult to stop, but I wouldn't worry too much about the soundtrack at this stage if I were you. I must add that I've never added a soundtrack before myself, so maybe it's more a case of my own fears than what I think you should attempt or not! You could always add it to the final product if you still felt it was necessary.

If possible, it might be a good idea to try out your camcorder mics in the particular church or other building with similar acoustics to hear what kind of quality you could expect from it on the day. Ideally it would obviously be better if you could also try out an external mic at the same time, but I have no idea what they go for.

The other question concerning an external mic, of course, is how you would get the best use out of it. If you'd need to intrude on the ceremony to hand the couple a mic before they could say their vows they might not be too impressed with you, whereas, if the mic could be set up in an inconspicuous way in advance to be close enough to pick up what it needs to without being intrusive it might be OK. Personally, I wouldn't bother with a mic on my first attempt at this kind of thing, purely for the sake of being as unintrusive as possible. Good luck!

[JH4]

I recorded a wedding a few years ago for a couple, so here are my tips, for what it's worth:
Speak to the vicar first to get permission. Most important !
My vicar invited me to do a short rekkie of the church beforehand, to see where the best place to film the service was. Turned out to be just in front of the altar looking back towards the bride and groom and the audience behind. It's most important to get the bride in the shot when the service itself is under way, so make sure you know exactly where she will be standing, bearing in mind the vicar will have his back to you, so you need to be at the side a bit, to get the correct angle. Don't worry about the groom - he's as nervous as hell, and it will make him even more so, if he is in shot all the time ! Close-ups of the brides face and dress will go down well with the couple and their friends, when they view the completed film. I never used any backing tracks, as I don't think it's appropriate.
I decided against external mics, the church's sound echo was great, as was the organ sound and not an issue. I was quite close to the couple, so I got the vows recorded just fine. (It's very quiet in the church at that point.) I abandoned a tripod half way through the service, as I could'nt get the best line of sight without moving the tripod mid-service - not a good idea ! So it was hand-held and required a lot of concentration at the crucial moments of the service, to get everything just right. No second takes available !
I used a semi pro SD Panasonic for all the filming and I took a lot of footage outside the church after the ceremony which was perhaps the best part, as they were all very relaxed then. If I were to do it again, I would use an HD camcorder and burn as an AVCHD file to a normal DVD -R blank, using Ulead Video Studio to edit, so they could play it on any BD player or Playstation3 .
Let me know if you would like more tips, and others here will add, I'm sure.
Best of luck !

[Danjugan]

Thanks very much for the great tips.

I think the idea of doing a rekkie before hand is a really good one especially as I would rather be inconspicuous on the day rather than prancing around making a spectacle of myself!

You did not comment on my idea to run two camcorders and then edit footage from the roaming camcorder into the footage from the fixed position. I presume that is possible, but is such editing achievable for a novice!? I see Stadleroux suggests (politely) that I am perhaps biting off more than I can chew there!

[toadoftoadhall]

easy to use and easier to move around than a tripod is a monopod, you really do need to keep the cameras steady. If you have the first camcorder setup on a tripod, and if it will take an external mic, use one. Something a little more directional than the built in mic. Just make sure its switched on and pointing to b&g. Remember to white balance both camcorders at the start.
Whatever you get, they will be thrilled with, and much better to watch than nothing at all.
good luck

toad

[JH4]

Yeh, I agree with toad - most important thing is to enjoy the day, the b&g won't mind the odd glitch, in fact a few of these will add spice to the whole thing. My biggest regret was not having footage of the last hour or so of the wedding 'do' afterwards, where the groom totally lost it dancing to old Elvis records, stoned out of his head. It was priceless and unrepeatable - and I had no tape left to capture it.
Don't make that mistake !

[Buff71]

It is relatively easy to edit multiples of footage together but it does take time - you sync the audio from both lots of footage (so it doesn't echo) and delete the audio from the poorest video footage leaving just one track. You can try different soundtracks when you edit - there are cases where you won't need any or adding it would be intrusive and ruin the mood. I would "walk" the whole day (from beginning to end) beforehand to get the best locations for all of your shots so you know exactly where you are going to be at the right time (which is what I did for my cameraman). If you don't plan it out you will miss important shots while you fumble around trying to work out on the day what you should have done beforehand. Remember to look for points of elevation to shoot from and imagine what it would look like with dozens of people in front of you. Good luck