Catholic Weddings

[osbornes5]

I have been doing weddings for over a year now but being new to the business I am building slow. However, I have already shot several different variations of weddings. One such was a Catholic wedding. It was different than what I had been used to. Not worse by any means just different. One thing I ran into, though, that I was unsure of was how we should conduct ourselves. I offended a representative of the church during the rehearsal by trying to stand where I normally stand to shoot  (On the groom's side, behind and to the side of the officiant, to get the face of the bride). Lesson learned. However, during the wedding itself, at one point after the priest had asked everyone to sit or kneel, I noticed even the still photog kneeling. Of course, short of going wide and walking completely away from my cam, and hoping for the best, I could not do this. Since I am not Catholic I was not sure I wanted to. I felt a little conspicuous obviously.  The bride never said anything about the issue. I did get a questionable look from the groom during communion though.  She was very happy with her video.  Again nothing was ever mentioned about it. What is the common practice in such situations and what has worked well?

[Bill Castello]

Good questions!

Let me take the second part first (as to kneeling) -

You are there because you are "hired help".  If they did not require that you convert to the Catholic religion prior to hiring you, then you do not need to act Catholic during the ceremony.  This means you do not need to kneel, pray, cross yourself, participate in excorcisms or any other part of their events.

In fact, as you've pointed out, doing so would mean you could not do your 100% best at what you've been hired to do.

Now this doesn't mean that one or two people there might not be offended or whatever.  Whenever you put 100; 200; 300+ people together and toss in the subject of religion, well you're going to get different opinions and expectations.

[Bill Castello]

I offended a representative of the church during the rehearsal by trying to stand where I normally stand to shoot (On the groom's side, behind and to the side of the officiant, to get the face of the bride).

These things need to all be worked out during the rehearsal.  I go over every movement (often I'll cover the aisle for the entrance, then retreat back to my "bunker" for the ceremony, then slink to the rear for the exit) and get each one "blessed" by the offficiant.

When doing multi-cam wedding shoots, it is crucial to get approval for either the rearward or forward triangle positions.  If using the forward positions, the couple and officiant need to be made aware that the couple should face each other and as much as possible, refrain from turning their heads toward the officiant, else their video be of the backs of their heads!

To ensure I'll have enough time to get to the rear for the exit, I'll sometimes ask the officiant for a prayer that the video guy gets to the rear in time.  This bit of humor serves to ensure he'll remember not to release the couple until I'm there, but more so - I am involving the officiant in the camera placement and movement planning and getting his approval.

Recently, I had a minister rather sternly object to my wanting to place the transmitter on his belt at the small of his back, saying, "I always put them here." (Indicating his jacket pocket.)  I replied with a smile, "Oh no you don't!  We've had too many problems with transmitters placed there - this one is going here.." And to my surprise, he lifted the rear flap of his jacket to allow me to place the transmitter.

Several months ago, I helped put a list together of things needed to be done at the rehearsal to help with the outline for the upcoming WVDR video course.   For the next four weddings, I kept coming up with new things to add to that list!   So, even after doing over a hundred weddings, it's easy to overlook things at the rehearsal.

I am an Irish video guy and I have covered Catholic ceremonies. I find that priests are a thorny bunch if you don't know them but if you take the time to introduce yourself before the wedding event and impress upon them that you wish to respect "the church" and the sacrity of the ceremony then they normally allow you lots of breathing space.  Take them out after rehearsals for a gallon of beer and few nips of whiskey and they will let you do anything you like except smoke in the church.

[osbornes5]

Boy, maybe I should clarify myself. I have functioned as a videographer in two Catholic weddings. In the first one, the priest was mildly stand-offish for about five or ten minutes until we got to know him and he discovered that he was in the midst of professionals, after that, all was fine. In the second one, the priest was perfect from the word go. He was a visiting priest to this church and the representative of the church itself was the one who was unnecessarily "thorny". In neither case was alcohol involved. Admittedly, I may encounter a whole different situation in the next one but that could happen (and has) in ANY denomination. I fully agree with the guest's suggestion to assure the priest that you desire to uphold the sanctity of the sanctuary, and I do, but to just say as a general rule that I have had oodles of troubles with Catholic priests would be innacurate.

My main concern was simply to ascertain what folks have encountered, as to expectations, during these type weddings. I am not Catholic (I'm Pentecostal) and could count on one hand the number of times I have been inside of a Catholic church for the purpose of attending a service. Consequently, I do not  know what to expect. I am looking for some common ground in a way that might not offend anyone and might prevent an uncomfortable conversation at some point.