No photos of the ceremony?

Now im not very technically minded so this might not remotely work but are you allowed a videographer in the church? and if you had one can you use stills from that for pics?!?

I think it depends how important the ceremony pictures are to you. Personally I think that some of the best pictures at are wedding are those taken during the ceremony and I would not be happy if I wasn't allowed to have any.

It's up to you and your OH to discuss your priorities for the day

Just had a google and it is def possible to lift stills as photos from a wedding video, have a google a few sites that do it come up

We are only allowed a picture of me walking in, signing of the register and us walking out us husband and wife. I am unhappy about this as i would have liked photos of the vows and rings. We are going to talk to our vicar and ask if it's possible to take any more our photographer also said he would talk to him. I am also going to ask him if we could video it as not sure what their rules are on this yet. Hope you manage to sort something out.

Wow, what a tricky situation. I'd be just as miffed as you and your OH. When are you getting married? Do you have time to look for another church? It's silly to not allow photos, I agree.. you may find that your hard work finding and organising another church will pay off and you'll have a beautiful church and be able to have photos taken.

We see this a lot. It seems to be "professional photographers with big flashguns that move about all over the place" that they dont like

Plan A: (works 90% of the time, even if the officiant is stubborn) I allways have a chat with the officiant before hand, find out the ground rules and come to a comprimise. We now have lenses and cameras that can cope with low light. We can use tripods and remote triggering Or plan B...

Plan B: We get the B&G on the way in with flash, and most definatally oin the way out. That leaves the ceremony thats an issue. We infiltrate the congregation, and use a very high spec but inocuious looking NON DSLR cameras (as if we were guests). Additionally, there are some really sneaky off camera flash techniques that can make the photographer with the camera appear to be not using flash

We get married next summer so there is time but it bothers me that my OH is more willing to just up and leave our church. I think it's because she never really went to church as a child and was of the opinion that she didn't need to go to church to be a Christian until I said I wanted to start going again. I've been going to church since I was young and now that i've found a church again after a gap of a few years i'm reluctant to leave.

I'm not sure whether we are allowed a videographer, might call and ask our friends if they know when I get home from work.

I think most Vicars (and registrars to that matter) have met some 'togs, both pro and amateurs, who think a massive burst of flash solves all photo problems or that they shove themselves into places where they shouldn't be.

I know the vicar at my local church doesn't allow photography during the service after one 'tog actually knelt in front of him and between the couple to get a "quirky" shot of the rings. The same tog also stood on the pews and did some damage in the vestry with his overpowering enthusiam to get endless "quirky" shots.

Our registrars mention about no photos in the "your wedding ceremony" booklet, but I believe they do allow photos as long as it is non-intrusive and there is no flash.

We had the same problem at our church and the compromise they came to was that they would leave the doors open and the photographer can take pics from out side the church... he said that was fine as he can zoom right in etc so maybe you could ask your church about this?

Our church allowed photography, but no flash photography.

It really is dependant on the Vicar I think. When we spoke to ours he told us of a story when he married a couple and the photographer literally crawled along the floor and came up in between the Vicar and the B&G!!!! This was not good obviously and so they now make sure that the Verger talks to the photographers beforehand and explains where they can and can't go.

I think sometimes they have a misconception of what unobtrusive photography actually means. I could barely see our togs or vog. I would have a chat with him and find out the reasons why he wont allow it at all and explain to him why it is so important to you.

I don't really understand why you can't have the ceremony in another church, surely what's important is that you're making your vows & commitment in the eyes of God? You will have the same guests there, it will still be a church & be conducted in the same way but that's just my opinion & I'm not religious but I don't have anything against it. I have to say I agree with your oh the most special pictures are those of our ceremony & they are most important to me I'm not sure I could commit to a venue knowing I wouldn't get pictures of the moment we actually became husband & wife.

I know that God will be there wherever we are, but for me the church is more than just a building. The church I belonged to in Montreal, where I decided as an adult to become a Christian (although I was raised that way, I think it's important to reaffirm when you're of an age to do so) and was baptised was so important to me that when I moved to England I didn't want to go to another church and have to integrate myself into another church community from the start. Then my OH managed to convince me that I should at least try and find a church I felt at home in, and now we're in this situation where i'd have to do it again. It doesn't make any difference to my OH which church it is because she's not as into going as I am, so i'm not sure if she understands. I'm not even sure that I understand why I feel like this to be honest.

This is a tricky one because you are obviously very passionate about a church being the right church for you rather than a church is a church but at the same time for one afternoon that cannot be repeated you cannot have photographs to remind you of such a special day.

My suggestions to add to the pile:

As you feel so comfortable in this church part of this must be to do with the vicar and how he makes you feel when you attend a service there and the relationship you have with him. Perhaps you could go and talk to him one on one and explain the situation, explaining how much you feel at home in his church when you didn't think you could feel that way after your church in Canada, how important it is to you to be married there but also how important it is to have at least a few photographs and how much that means to your bride. You could expain some of the suggestions here and see whether he could agree to a few from the photographer only (at a recent wedding we were told very politely at the beginning of the ceremony that there were to be no photographs during the wedding other than the official photographer and I didn't hear anyone grumbling).

I think the idea of a photographer blending in as a guest with an unobtrusive camera is brilliant. Having been to weddings where they use these cameras you don't see or hear them at all (unless you're really looking).

What about going to have a look at other churches just to see if any have a special feeling? You don't have to live in the parish anymroe so look further afield as well.

Also, I think you need to have a think about why it matters so much to you to get married in this particular church and what is imprtant about the day. If it was the church you had grown up in, been baptised and confirmed in then I can understand your affection for it but it is difficult to understand why you are feeling so passionately about this one to the point it would upset your OH to get married there (just my honest opinion - not meant to offend).

My reading of your OH's reaction is that she wants to get married in the eyes of God (which isn't true of everybody) but that it is also really important to her to have pictures of that moment and she would threfore compromise by going to another church to enable her to have that choice. I'm also wondering whether if the vicar is funny about photographs whether he is going to become sticky about other isues such as the music you choose (has to be organist - at a cost to you - rather than recorded), what flowers you can have in the church and whether they have to be left in the church for the Sunday service (not uncommon but if you wanted to save money it is also not unusual to take the church flowers to decorate the reception venue) etc all of which are important considerations as they all add to making it YOUR day.

Good luck

Sorry to hear this. It does happen alot unfortunately. But not all vicars have this view. It's very poor that a few unprofessional bad mannered photographers have given such poor impressions of photographers, that many vicars don't allow photography. But many also don't allow guests to photograph. We have had weddings where the vicars were very much supportive however, and actually told the guests to enjoy the ceremony, and to let us capture it with our photography. Many have allowed one of us at the front, behind the vicar to capture the the more intimate shots, (we were able to do this recently with Cricket Bride's wedding, and the emotion captured is fabulous). But some vicars have never had a bad expirence, they just really don't want any distractions durining the ceremony, and don't believe photography has a place there. I cant' think of a place where photography is more appropriate, as it is captures moments that for many, are truely once in a lifetime.

I would be careful about sneaking the photographer in with the guests,, especially as many guests won't photograph anything until the registry signing, so it would draw attention. I have seen one vicar who had asked that we be the only ones taking photos, actually stop the ceremony to scold a guest for using a camera with a flash. (We never use flash). In the end, as professionals, we feel we have to abide by what regulations the officiant deems appropriate, even if we may not agree with them. Like your OH said, there are options to have the ceremony elsewhere, if photography is important,, and have a blessing after. David shot a wedding by himself last summer where they did that. They had a civil ceremony in a manor house, which was a short walk away from the church they then walked to for a blessing ceremony. Best of both.

Good luck, hope you have a wonderful day

Teri

I have come across this several times and even one occasion where the vicar threatened to not complete the ceremony if it happened again. Vicars are very aware that some togs do this and that doesn't help us change their attitudes in the long term. Building trust and good relationships with them over time has enabled me to be allowed to photograph weddings in churches where other photographers are strictly not allowed to.

AT the end of the day, its upstage of the couple where the best images can be captured and we need to convince the ministers that we are not going to distract. Videographers can film the wedding because they stay put and don't move around or create potential noise distractions which is what the ministers fear.

It is possible to "lift" stills from video, although the files are usually only 2meg even with HD, which is a long way short of pro stills cameras.

Hi,

The worst I came across when photographing a wedding was when I was told by the vicar that I could only take ONE picture...and ONE picture only...from the back of the Cathedral !!

He even stood someone next to me to make sure I did only take one !

Other than that they have always been fine about the images. I tell the vicar beforehand that I don't use flash and I won't move around unless he allows it.

Hope that helps

Dean

www.deancarney.com

I have never ever heard the like!!!!! your vicars an arse, to put it bluntly. Sorry.

I attended one wedding where the minister asked the guests not to take photos (in a castle) so that it didnt interfere with the main togs photos but never heard of a tog not being allowed in a church. How else are you going to capture those important moments...

im totally disappointed for you both and hope you come to a conclusion.

A little harsh Teehee... yes it is disappointing but we don't know the reasons behind him not allowing photography... could be a bad experience, or that he simply places more priority on the actual ceremony itself.

I think a heart to heart with the Vicar is the only way you will find out CC...

We've had a few weddings where we've only been allowed to photograph the bride entering the church, a posed signing of the register shot, and the bride & groom walking back down the aisle. As with many of the other togs on here, we don't use flash, don't move around, and are as unobstrusive as possible, but some vicars (who must have encountered some nightmare photographers in the past) are extremely strict on this and won't budge. We always mention the possible restrictions to our couples at their pre-wedding meeting, so they can mention it to the vicar beforehand. In some cases this has meant we've had a little more flexibility than the vicar would have imposed had the couple not mentioned how important the photography is to them.

A few registrars we;ve encountered have also had strict rules with the photography, so anyone planning a civil ceremony should also be aware of this.

Ali x

Indeed.....this is down usually to the individual registrar. Hertfordshire(my home county) has luckily been very open minded on the subject and have a county wide edict allowing sensible photography during the ceremony at any venue where they officiate. Cross the border in to Bedfordshire and it can be quite different.

Peter

It's similar for us - the North East registrars we've encountered are all great, it's just one region in the Lakes where a few are stricter....

There's been some fantastic replies to your initial post. I'd agree that any Wedding Photographer worth his/her salt wouldn't need to use flash in your ceremony and would alsways do his/her best to meet the needs of both the B&G and the venue.

This is where a meeting between your photographer and your vicar before your big day would work really well. This is how I've managed to get a number of vicars to agree to a happy medium. I've even had Cathedrals give me total felxibilty to do as I wish after having such a meeting...

Don't panic too much yet, but open comunication asap!

I'm surprised at your tactics, Wedding Photographer, seems pretty dishonest in a church but if your clients are happy with it...

Anyway, CC, I really sympathise with you. Getting married in a church was very important to us and getting married in OUR church was even more so. We feel welcome within that community, have built some fantastic relationships with those who worship there and wouldn't have had it any other way.

Great photography was also very important to us and we almost came up against a similar issue. Our vicar had told us that our photography would be very limited in terms of what he was prepared to allow our photographers to capture. His reasons (and this is why I'm pretty surprised at Teehee's swipe at your vicar) were that

a) he wanted members of our congregation to be there to witness our ceremony and to be a part of it - he didn't want them to be glued to their cameras, seeing the service unfold through a lens. He wanted us to feel like they were all there supporting us and to remove any potential pressure of feeling like we were performing, rather than making the most solemn of vows. Pretty honourable, I thought.

b) he had also had experiences of photographers getting in the way, using flash etc and it's disruptive for everyone. He wanted to be able to concentrate on us, and us on him, without someone's movement catching our eye. Again, another fair point.

We explained to him how important it was to us for those images to be captured and promised him that we'd picked decent, experienced and fair photographers who wanted to get great shots, but not at the expense of interrupting our service. Also, assuming your photographer is decent (and from what you've said, they are) they won't be using flash. I also know that David, Teri's husband, made a point of discussing this with our vicar when he arrived at the church, which was supported by my husband. Our vicar was happy for them to be situated as Teri has mentioned above. Sounds as if we're going to get some great shots and we have a very happy vicar who's faith is restored in photographers!

Ahh,, I wasn't sure if you had been aware of how Mr. Cricket and David had to charm the vicar on the day, lol. I am really glad it worked out in the end I hope the path has actually been laid for the vicar to see that these images are highly cherished by the couples.

To be honest, your vicar had a great point about participating in the ceremony, and the day too actually, what we often see at weddings, is that the guests, even the parents of the couple, are more concerned with taking their own photos, than being part of the celebration and the day. I find it so sad when it is difficult to photograph people at a wedding without a camera in front of their faces. Cake cuttings have become a contact sport, LOL

So true - the cake cutting can be like a rugby scrum - shoulder to shoulder!! I think it's the same at concerts now, people tend to watch an event through a lens instead of enjoying the moment and letting the professionals capture it for them ?

Ali x

I have David do alot of the things that I know people would knock me over during, such as the cake cutting,, LOL. People see a short lady with camera, and I just know they are thinking to themselves, "I can totally take her on, LOL" Sometimes he has to act as my bodyguard so I can get the shots, can't tell you how many times I have had someone rest their camera on my shoulder or head while I was working,, amazing!

You are so right about the scrum! I'm glad we did a pretend one. One of my MILs friends made a comment that they missed the cutting - that was my fault because we were waiting for people to filter through and I said to Mr CB 'This is getting boring, can we just do it? I hate watching the cake being cut as a guest and I want to start dancing!'!

We're also having a mock cutting, CB, to get the shot, so our togs don't have to fight to get the picture when we actually do cut the cake x

I know it's a traditional shot, fizzypop, but stood there waiting for people to come through is DULL! It's time for dancing and merriment! Still, I'm glad we did it.

I don't mind doing a fake cutting,, but it's so much fun after getting my shot, to photograph the fray as they elbow each other to get their shot, LOL.

It's the little focus beams from other's cameras that cause us to try to get a clean shot, usually it has to be a fake cutting to get that. Once you have two dozen other camera with their focus beams on a white dress, not a good look,, little red and green dots every where, and sometimes on the couple's faces, LOL. Eek. So if the cutting isn't fake, we have the best man ask that the crowd let me get my shots quickly, to avoid the dreaded multiply focus beams ruining the shot.

Can't wait to see that one!

Thanks to everyone who took the time to give their thoughts, I left to go and meet with a client and came back to two more pages which was a surprise. It's clear that i'm going to have to approach the minister, my OH won't because she's very reserved so i'll try and have a word with him on Sunday. I do wonder if we might offend some of our guests if we manage to get him to allow some photography, the couple I mentioned in the first post will be guests at the wedding and if the situations were reversed and there was photography at their wedding after we had not been allowed at ours I think I would be a bit annoyed.

And I totally agree about enjoying the moment vs looking at it through a camera. My fiancee loves photography and whenever we're at a concert she finds it hard to put the camera down. We went to see Scissor Sisters in December and Ana Matronic gave this little speech about enjoying the moment and living it to the full and told everybody to put their cameras away just for one song. OH doesn't know this but it was that speech that pushed me into proposing the next day (it was going to happen soon anyway but I was dragging my feet a bit). Bit of a tangent but it's a nice memory.