2020 brought a ton of changes to the wedding world. One change that may be sticking around is live streaming weddings. When guests can’t make it, they can still celebrate with you via a live stream. There are 2 popular ways I’ve seen to live stream:
When I was thinking about writing this blog post, I called in the experts - my 2020 brides who successfully live-streamed their weddings. Jenna Shankles and Kiersten Whitfield sent me some amazing and very detailed tips that I’m about to share with you. Let’s do it!
1. Communicate to guests early
Consider the way you’re going to invite your guests to your wedding live stream and communicate early. The options for this are endless. You could create a Facebook event to invite them to or use another online e-vite for parties. You could send physical invites with a sweet note or favor to make it extra special. Or even just text the information to your guests. It’s really up to you how much effort you are able to put into it (let’s be real, no one has extra time while planning a wedding) but be sure to get the word out. And don’t forget to specify the time zone!
2. The audio
Kiersten recommends some kind of microphone if you want clear audio. She bought a set of lapel interview mics on Amazon for $20-$30 and her groom, Colin, wore the mic on his lapel to capture what they both said and what their officiant said. Here is a lapel mic I found on Amazon for under $25 (not sponsored). Kiersten says “Definitely test out the audio equipment before your wedding day.”
3. Use the online tools available to you to make it as seamless as possible
Jenna and Peter HIGHLY recommend Zola. Zola integrates your virtual ceremony directly into a website page (for free!), which can be made public or private. It’s as easy as linking your zoom account and then providing the website link to your guests. They also provide helpful guides and tips for the couple and for those invited to attend.
4. The Setup
Kiersten had a total of three devices to actually stream the meeting: a laptop to host, a phone for video, and her groom’s phone for audio. She hosted the zoom from my laptop in a room completely separate from the ceremony & had someone monitor the laptop in case any guests accidentally unmuted or anything went wrong with the audio. Make sure your zoom meeting is password-protected to avoid any zoom bombing. She used her phone to capture the video & used a car cellphone mount attached to the altar with tape to get a good angle of their faces without being too in the way of guests or the photographer (that’s me!). Check out the setup below.
Kiersten’s advice on setup: For whatever device you use to capture the video, make sure you spotlight that participant’s video feed so that it shows up in the recording even when you use another device to record audio. Also, make sure to mute this video device’s zoom AND turn off the sound for the video device to avoid any feedback with the mic.
5. Make it interactive
Guests will feel much more involved if they get a chance to chat with you! Jenna and Peter chose to spend 30 minutes of their cocktail hour chatting in a private area with their online guests, popping some bubbly and asking them for their best marriage advice. You could also lead up to the day with trivia about your relationship and reveal the answers live or even give out prizes for the closest answers!
6. Designate (or hire) someone tech-savvy to man the technology day-of
An eager younger sibling or cousin may be interested! Jenna and Peter had their Tech person sit in an aisle seat that was reserved and this person committed to being there early to set up. Depending on the settings, they may have to “let guests into” the event from a virtual waiting room, so make sure your guests know to show up early too! They used an iPad and sound and video quality weren’t an issue. Make sure your ceremony space has WiFi, and if not, plan to use a cell phone hotspot or MiFi. Do a dry run before or after your rehearsal to hammer out any snags in the setup!
7. If you’re on the fence about whether or not to stream, do it!
Seeing the faces and hearing the voices of friends and family who couldn’t attend was beyond special for Jenna & Peter. Also, remember to keep your expectations in check though - not everyone you invite will attend virtually, for a variety of reasons. They ended up with a lot fewer people than expected, but to Jenna, it was worth the effort and she would do it all over again to get to “see” the ones they got to visit with on their wedding day.
Random tips on tech from Kiersten:
Remember to silence notifications/turn on do not disturb.
DO A TEST RUN (preferably sometime before the morning of your wedding - she says this from experience).
Explore all the features of whatever platform you’re using to get a sense of how to do it - zoom has a lot of host privileges like password protection and disabling participants’ ability to unmute that really help with live-streaming a ceremony.
Thank you for reading through this post and if this has helped you or if you know someone it could help… please share!
