Original subtitles

Ceremonies.

Here we go.

If there's one part of the wedding where

Eric and I kind of follow a bit

of a formula or like a common strategy,

it would be the ceremonies.

Okay, so we're gonna break that down for

you guys.

And it usually starts with me because I

get, I arrive there before Erica because Erica's

with the girls, I'm with the guys, right?

So I get there first and so I've

generally got, you know, maybe 10 or 20

minutes beforehand to check a couple boxes before

Erica gets there, okay?

Because she's coming in blind, right?

So now is my opportunity to sort of

set ourselves up for success.

So a couple jobs I have to do.

One is I need to meet and make

friends with whoever's marrying them, okay?

If it's, you know, if it's a priest

or a commissioner or wherever, whoever's marrying them,

I need to introduce myself and generally my

vibe there is to just try to be

as nice and friendly as possible, right?

And I need to sort of assess what

the rules are, what I'm allowed to do,

what I'm not allowed to do.

You know, some of our ceremonies are outdoor,

barefoot on the beach or on the side

of a mountain and I can pretty much

assume there are no rules.

I can kind of go wherever I want.

But other times we might be, you know...

But you will still warn the celebrant about

where your positioning is, even if there's no

rules.

Right, yeah.

I'm gonna...

That's my job is I'm trying to learn

the rules and let them know what to

expect from us.

Kind of, you know, where we're gonna be

and just make sure that that's cool.

In the case of, you know, an indoor

church ceremony, I can assume there might be

some restrictions and so I need to learn

what those restrictions are so that I can

take it as far as I'm allowed to.

Maybe tiptoe across, but I need to know

where those lines are, okay?

Because that's important.

And another job is I need to, if

I haven't already met the videographers yet, now's

my time because I want to learn what

their plan is, where their cameras are going

to be.

Generally, the more cameras they have, the happier

I am because I don't have to worry

so much about blocking their one angle, right?

They've got multiple lenses, I can...

They can at least cut to another angle,

right?

And so, again, the same thing.

As friendly as possible.

We're both there.

We're working for the same clients.

We're both there to, you know, do the

best job we can for the clients.

So, learn where they're going to be.

Let them know what our plan is, okay?

The other thing I'm going to do is

I'm going to look around and see if

there's something, some sort of an out-of

-the-box perspective that where one of us

might need to take ourselves out of play

to go and get.

Like, is there a balcony overhead or is

there some long faraway shot that we could

do?

That way, if there is, when Erica gets

there, I can let her know, hey, I

scouted out this idea.

Maybe I'm going to go and I'm going

to do that for the second half of

the ceremony.

Just so that...

Or maybe you're going to spend the whole

ceremony up there.

Yeah, exactly.

And we've done that, right?

Where we identified a really cool perspective that's

worth, you know, buying all our tickets from

up there.

I mean, one of us can cover the

ceremony fine on our own down below.

We just need to sort of know that

ahead of time.

But more often than not, there isn't some

unique out-of-the-box perspective and we

just stick with our normal plan, which I'm

about to explain here.

One other thing on the topic of church

weddings.

With regards to flash, for ceremonies, as much

as possible, we want to avoid having to

use flash.

Avoid having to complicate things with that whenever

possible.

The only time we would consider it is

if it was super obvious that it's going

to help us a lot.

So if we did happen to be in

a really dark indoor venue where we decided,

you know what, flash could really help us

out here, then we would set those flashes

up ahead of time.

And generally speaking, if we're going to do

that, what we do is one flash in

each corner, coming in, aiming as best we

can towards where the bride and groom are

going to be standing in the middle of

the altar-ish area.

So we're kind of short lighting them both

from behind at the angles, with or without

grids, depending on how small or large the

space is.

With churches, often there's a rule, no flash

photography.

And our preference is to avoid having to

use flashes.

But I've learned a little trick.

If you're in a dark church with no

flash photography allowed and you'd really like to

be able to use flash, you might still

be able to get permission.

So the tricks I've learned is, if you're

going to ask permission of the commissioner or

the church leader, whoever it is, is first

of all, never use the word flash.

Come up with some other way to describe

it.

That's a dirty word.

In a church, right?

So, you know, would you mind if I

use a little light assist or something, anything

other than flash?

And if they ask, well, what do you

mean?

Well, let me show you.

Okay, so then you take out your flash,

you turn it all the way down to

1-128, you put on a grid, two

grids, okay?

And then you just start popping it.

Don't aim it right at them, just start

popping it and say, this is what I

need.

And often they'll realize, oh, that's no big

deal, right?

Doesn't make a sound, barely notice it, and

you might be able to get permission.

And with the grid on, it's so discreet.

Exactly.

It doesn't like, light up the whole venue.

It's not what flashes used to be.

So it's worth a shot, right?

You might get permission.

Otherwise, you'll probably be the only photographer in

that venue without a pop-up flash going

off, right?

Maybe in the 80s.

Everybody uses their phones now.

True, but anyways, the pop-up flashes, they

don't know how to turn them.

Yeah, it's true.

Moving on to the actual ceremony, okay?

We've checked all those boxes.

The way that Erica and I work it

is, I shoot the processional, and Erica comes

in behind the bride and whoever's walking her,

who's ever come down the aisle and who's

ever walking them down the aisle, okay?

Where I position myself is generally kind of

the front row-ish area, dead center, crouched,

down low, okay?

And I have two cameras.

This is the one part of the day

where we have all four of our cameras

in play at the same time.

Two on Erica, two on me.

Usually one wide lens each, and then one

medium or telephoto lens each.

Yeah, so generally speaking, at least the wedding

that we're going to show you, you had

the 35 and the 85 on, and then

I had the 35 and the 50.

Right, so what I'm doing is I'm making

sure I've got something wide enough for what's

about to happen, and then I've got a

big lens as well.

And then as they come down, I'm parked

right dead center, down low, okay?

Mainly so that I'm not blocking anyone's view.

And I start with my big lens, right?

85, 85, 85, 85.

Aperture's high enough to give me that buffer

on the focus, so at least 4.5,

hopefully, right?

I used to shoot in wide open, and

I've learned my lesson there, okay?

Every time I'd call a wedding, I'd get

to this processional, and I shot it at

1.2, and we have no workable shots.

It's better now because you shoot high aperture,

and because we got Sony, and we got

that great tracking focus.

Okay, but we focus the same way, I

focus the same way for that as I

always do, right?

Center point, recompose as they're coming down.

And I start with the big lens, 85,

85, 85, until they're filling my frame, and

then I switch over to the 35, 35,

35.

If it's a really small, tight space, I

might choose something wider than 35, like my

28 or a 16 to 35, because I

want to have something wide enough for when

the handoff happens, okay?

Another thing is when kids or dogs are

coming down the aisle, I get even lower,

kind of get right down onto the floor

at their level.

The other thing is that's a great spot

to be, because you're not just getting the

people that coming down the aisle, you can

turn around and get the groom's reaction.

That's right.

You can get the front row.

That's right.

So it's not a bunch of different things.

Exactly, it's not just laser focused on that,

it's keeping the eyes and ears open.

If I hear sniffling behind me, I'm gonna

try to get that reaction, right?

And I'm paying attention to the main players

in the front row, parents, grandparents, trying to

get those reactions and that emotion as well.

So I shoot the whole processional and then

bride's coming down the aisle now, right?

And Erica's behind.

Yeah, so as mine is shooting the bride

coming down the aisle with her dad, I'm

in behind the bride and her dad and

I'm trying to get...

Whoever's walking her dad, right?

Yeah, whoever's walking her dad.

I mean 90% of the time it

is her dad and I'm trying to get

the groom's face through that window between the

bride and her dad, right?

Because then we've got the reaction framed and

we've got what that reaction is reacting to,

which is the bride and her dad or

the bride or whatever it is walking down

the aisle.

So we've got those two things in the

same frame.

So as I'm doing that, I'm sort of

peeking up, getting a few shots and then

I'm hiding myself in behind the dress again

so that I'm not killing all of Lanny's

shots as well.

We tried to do this in reverse one

time and Lanny is too big, too tall

to hide behind the bride.

Too hairy.

Too hairy.

There was always like some of this sticking

out from behind the bride's dress.

So we've learned that I'm much smaller, less

hairy and I can be a little bit

more discreet.

That's the other reason that I'm parked nice

and low up front is so that I'm

out, I'm hidden behind bride and dad, right?

For Erica's shots.

And then as the brides and the dad

are approaching the front of that aisle, they're

coming into Lanny's space.

Right, so that's been very strategic that I've

placed myself there and not rushed to get

out of their way because that allows me

to be close for that intimate emotional handoff

moment, right?

Father to groom.

I'm right in it.

They've come into my space now and that's

why I've made sure I've got something wide

enough to get that moment as I'm slowly,

discreetly making my way out of their space

while making frames.

Because if, for example, because that can be

a very intimate moment, right?

If Lanny were just to run in, grab

that moment and then run back out, that

would be a lot more distracting than the

fact that he's just staying put.

He's staying put at the front of the

aisle.

They've come into his space.

He slowly backs his way out but he's

not running in to get the moment and

then exiting to be out of the way.

I've got nowhere to go, right?

It's sort of set ourselves up to be

where we want to be when that happens.

And then the rest of the ceremony, and

you'll see this perfectly in the behind-the

-scenes coverage, that I stay in the front

zone.

So I stay up close.

I'm sort of in between the first aisle,

the bride and groom and the bridal party

and then in behind.

And that's just because I'm, like again, I'm

smaller.

I'm a little bit more discreet.

I'm a little bit less noticeable up there

than Lanny is.

And I'm able to get all the main

players from up there.

And Lanny is supposed to back out and

he's supposed to get the peripheries, to get

the long shots.

We always try and get at least one

shot that shows the entire ceremony with all

the people there.

Not necessarily all their faces but shows the

entire scene, right?

High, low, close, far.

So Lanny's focusing on getting those further away

shots and I'm more focused on getting the

closer up shots.

That being said, Lanny invades my zone all

the time.

I'm not sure why.

I usually try to get some close shots

before I go and because I know it's

not gonna take me that long to get

the rest of those those long shots.

So to get those close.

The reason why is because we know, we

both know, that the best shots are gonna

be the ones in close.

Like that's where we're gonna get to feel

the emotion that's happening.

We get in a fight about this every

single wedding because I call the images and

you're in half a line and you're not

supposed to be in that zone.

So stay out.

So getting close.

We've talked about this earlier but let's talk

about it now kind of specific to ceremonies

because it's one of the parts of the

day where a lot of photographers get a

little anxious, apprehensive about getting close because it's

a double-edged sword.

On the one hand it's scarier, right, to

do it discreetly and respectfully and on the

other side it's almost even more important to

be there close to document these emotional moments.

Remembering that they've paid us.

They've paid us good money to capture emotion

and where we do that is close and

we're not even doing it just for our

clients.

We're doing it for their future kids.

I remind myself often like their future kids

are viewing this ceremony through my lenses and

that kind of helps give me the bravery

to be where I need to be to

do, you know, where would they want their

kids?

20 feet away at the back or right

up there beside them, right?

Yeah.

That being said, is that what you were

just about to say?

We have been too close.

That being said, we have gotten too close.

There have been some extremely uncomfortable moments during

ceremonies where one of us has gotten too

close and we have been a distraction and

it is also important to remember we are

just wedding photographers, right?

We are not curing cancer.

It is not going to be the end

of the world if we don't get that

perfectly filled frame full of emotion with the

wide lens.

So you kind of have to decide where

your line is and maybe we'll share a

few of those horror stories in the Facebook

group with you guys.

There's not many horror stories.

Well, there's a few.

There's a couple.

There's a few, especially before the dawn of

silent shutters and flip screens.

There's some moments that literally to this day

I think about and they make me want

to vomit.

Anyways.

But on close, I will stress that one

of the things we've learned is that a

close photographer isn't as distracting as a busy

photographer.

I'd rather be close, assuming that it's within

the rules and it's appropriate for the space,

right?

The vibe, right?

It's a big difference between a barefoot beach

wedding and a Catholic church wedding, right?

So we're always respectful.

We're trying to be respectful.

We're trying to be discreet.

But a busy photographer can be much more

distracting.

One that's constantly chasing his tail around, moving

from here to there.

It's less distracting to just be close, own

it, and when you move, move deliberately, methodically,

slowly.

Like an indoor creaky old church will often

sometimes even take off our shoes just so

that we can move around silently without creaking

the floor so much, you know?

So that's basically the ceremony.

When the ceremony is finishing up or we're

getting towards the end, we know the first

kiss is coming.

One of us usually goes in behind and

you'll see this in the behind-the-scenes

footage.

If we're allowed.

If we're allowed, yeah.

And then one of us goes in front.

We usually always prefer that in-behind shot

because it gives that first kiss context, right?

It gives the couple with the context of

the guests surrounding the periphery of the frame.

Whereas if we're shooting the other direction, it's

usually not nearly as interesting.

But we always make sure one of us

is on each side.

And we sort of have this unwritten agreement

that whoever is in behind, they kind of

get priority.

The other one's gonna try to stay out

of their shot because we know that that's

probably gonna be a more interesting photo.

That being said, we're also gonna teach you

guys how to edit each other out of

each other's photos.

And then the recessional, right?

That's an important part as well.

Usually one of us, it's much easier to

photograph now that we have the Sony mirrorless

cameras with eye detect focus.

I usually just have the camera down at

my hip.

Flip screen.

With the flip screen, a nice wide lens.

And I'm filling the frame with the couple

as they're coming.

Backing up with them.

There's usually a lot of moments during that

section.

And then the most important part, and this

is probably the part of the ceremony where

we get the most emotion.

Because it's almost like there's the ceremony and

then there's the release, right?

And sometimes the release of emotion that happens

after the climax is so much more intense.

And so after the ceremony, this is when

I see a lot of photographers put their

cameras down or go and get ready for

family photos or go and get ready for

portraits.

This is where all the gold is.

When people are coming up and hugging and

congratulating them.

And often this is the most emotional time.

And it's not during the technical ceremony, but

it's one of those transition moments, right?

Right.

And there's a real tendency for photographers, wedding

planners, to want to jump in and pull

them out of that to get to the

next thing.

To get going on the portraits.

Because we're behind the timeline.

And we want to just let that sizzle

as long as it does.

All those hugs and just keep our cameras

up and stay in documentary mode before we

pull them out to move on to the

next thing.

Let's go behind the scenes now and we're

gonna look at Len and I photographing a

ceremony in real life.

Welcome to Shannon and Ian's ceremony.

I'm not gonna talk a lot during this

video because I feel like everything's pretty self

-explanatory.

But I will say a few things.

Lenny's gonna spend the first couple minutes just

figuring out the best positions to shoot the

ceremony from.

Figure out the best lenses to have on

his camera.

This would also be the time that he

would take detail shots if it were a

ceremony with a lot of details like flowers

and aisle runners and arches and all that

sort of stuff.

The ceremony didn't have a ton of details

so we didn't spend a lot of time

doing that.

Every ceremony is a little different in terms

of what lenses he wants to have up

there with him.

Especially for the processional.

He'll always have something wide and I'll always

have something fairly telephoto but it'll either be

85 or 50.

Ian's mother fixing Lenny's hair for him.

And now the action's starting to start.

So Lenny's shooting everyone coming down the aisle

with a telephoto lens and also a wide

lens as they get closer.

And I stay with the bride in this

case up until the very last moment.

I don't really leave her side because I

feel like there's so many beautiful moments that

happen right before the ceremony and I want

to be there to capture them.

So I'm often going into the ceremony without

having seen the ceremony site at all.

I've also got a wider lens and more

telephoto lens.

I believe at 50 in this case.

She's got a long walk to the ceremony

here.

I'm gonna walk backwards the entire time.

Try not to fall.

I'm just making as many frames as I

can of these moments.

And I stay with the bride in this

case up until the very last moment.

This is where I go in behind the

bride and her mom and I try to

get the shot at every wedding trying to

frame Ian's face through their shoulders.

I usually do this with the 50 so

I don't have to be super close because

I'm always afraid of stepping on the bride's

train.

And I want to be able to get

those hugs at the end of the aisle.

I know Lenny's up really close to get

those hugs with a wide lens.

I stay a little bit further back with

my 50 about halfway down the aisle.

But you can see how impactful those close

shots are that Lenny gets.

And then after those hugs are done I'm

just gonna scooch out of there.

Or he's supposed to scooch out of there.

So as we get into the meat of

the ceremony here this is a good place

to pause and show you the zone that

I'll stay in and the zone that Lenny's

supposed to stay in.

You'll see Lenny come into my zone several

times during the ceremony but that's okay.

So this where I'm positioned right now is

one of my favorite spots.

It's square to the couple.

I can get both the reactions.

I've got a nice clean background.

So I tend to stay in the aisle

and then I'll stay around this zone here

to the left of where I'm standing right

or squatting right now and to the right

and then in behind where Lenny is.

And that's where I'll pretty much spend the

entire ceremony.

And I will be low.

You will see me squatting most of the

time in order to stay out of people's

views.

And I get nice and close just to

get those real emotional moments.

Lenny on the other hand is supposed to

sit.

He gets the further away shots.

He goes to the end of the aisle.

He goes in around behind the back further

away.

He tries to get a picture of the

entire ceremony and all the people in it.

And you'll see that as well throughout the

video.

But you also see him getting in a

lot of my shots and a little bit

of vice versa too.

On this day, to unite in blissful matrimony,

Shannon Nicole Christie and Ian Maxwell-Miller.

Ian, it makes me laugh to think back

on how the night we met started with

me in my Brooklyn apartment begrudgingly telling myself

that I wasn't allowed to stay home watching

TV with cats on New Year's Eve.

Thankfully I sucked it up and met Barry

a long time.

The morning after the party we joked that

we would travel the world together.

I was aware of how wild it was

to feel so comfortable with the idea after

only knowing you for less than 24 hours,

but I remember it just feeling right.

Of all the places we've had the privilege

to visit and even live since then, home

is an ever-expanding concept.

The secure environment that you've created for and

with me from the beginning of our relationship

has given me the ability to open myself

up to deeper introspection and self-understanding.

There was never any judgment, only love and

support.

For the first time in my life, you've

shown me what it's like to feel so

incredibly safe in openness and vulnerability.

This position also allows me to get all

the great reactions in the front row.

You've been an integral part of my personal

development.

You continue to bring out the best in

me.

As I hope I've made you aware, there

is a long, long list of things I

love about you.

Looking back, I already made that list when

I was somewhere between 11 and 12 years

old.

Late one night when I asked my dad

for a partner in life one day who

had every single positive quality I could possibly

think of.

I was very deliberate, and I took my

time.

You really are everything that I asked for,

and I cannot believe you exist.

You're my childhood dream come true.

Life will always present new challenges, and I

vow to be the most dependable person in

your life as you've been in mine.

I vow that my intentions will be rooted

in the betterment of our lives together and

our personal growth.

I vow to respect you, and since I

can't promise perfection, to apologize to you in

fulfillment.

I vow to keep fun a high priority

in our relationship.

There will always be more to learn and

ways to grow.

Our potential is limitless, and I can't imagine

a better partner to traverse the unknown with.

I truly believe we can overcome anything together.

You're dearer to me than all the bats

in all the caves in the world.

I love you.

Shannon, your beauty is

matched only by your strength.

When we are together, I know that two

things are certain.

We can take on any challenge.

You've taught me the importance of family, given

me the courage to chase our goals, and

show me that it's like the waxing gibbous

moon hanging in the sky the night that

we met, the image of which has been

burned into my memory from that day forward.

I couldn't think of anything else as your

radiance permeated my every thought.

It was only now that I realized I

was completely and utterly moonstruck by you.

They say that the waxing gibbous is meant

to symbolize new beginnings, a change in the

direction of your life.

Well, I am overjoyed to prove that sentiment.

There is something that I've waited to tell

you since that night we met, and I

am overjoyed to be standing here among our

loved ones seven years, three months, and one

day later.

I needed someone else to know how much

of an impact you had on me in

such a short time.

I almost couldn't believe it myself, but I

couldn't deny what I knew deep down in

my heart.

I knew the night that we met that

we were meant for each other.

You are the proof that love at first

sight is real.

I want to thank you for everything you've

done for me, for helping me process all

my emotions, for traveling blindly across the world

globe with me, for putting me through college,

for opening my heart and filling it with

laughter, for sharing your life with me, and

especially for bringing such a beautiful, startling little

house beast into our lives.

These past years have been the greatest of

my entire life, full of love, adventure, and

laughter, and I am ecstatic to share many

more moments with you.

I love you, and as your husband, I

will cherish you for all eternity.

Thank you.

The ring

is a symbol of your marriage, a circle

without beginning or end, a symbol of wholeness,

peace, and unity.

Take this

ring, place it on her finger, and I

want you to repeat.

Shannon, I give you this ring as a

symbol of my love, as a pledge of

my faith, and a sign of my commitment.

Ian, I give you this ring as a

symbol of my love, as a pledge of

my faith, and a sign of my commitment.

Ian, do you take Shannon to be your

lawfully wedded wife?

I do.

Is that a question?

Do you promise to love and protect, honor

and respect, keep in sickness and in health,

in good times and in bad, as long

as you both shall live?

I'm just killing all my shots here.

He's going to have to photoshop himself out.

You can see me gesturing to him here,

just making sure he's going to be going

in behind for the first kiss.

So we always have one of us in

behind, and one of us where I'm positioned.

We usually prefer the shot from in behind

actually, because it's got all the people they

love in the background.

Then I'm all set up for the recessional

as well.

I've got my 16 to 35 on.

This was actually a harder recessional because of

the dog.

I had to go really wide and try

to include the ground.

Normally, I wouldn't include the ground in those

shots.

So that was Shannon and Ian's ceremony in

Mexico.

It was a really beautiful ceremony to shoot.

Lots of great moments.

Nice cloudy day.

Big long vows.

It was just a real pleasure to shoot

that one.