How to Live Stream your Wedding Day
Your big day's coming up and you're super excited to have all your family and friends be there as witnesses to your marriage. However, your cousin Angela is in another country and your brother Toby can't get away from work. Fortunately, there's still a way to allow everyone to be there, even if they can't attend in person.
Live streaming is becoming easier every day, with new products hitting the market at a previously unseen rate. 2020 saw a lot of new products released into the market that have made live streaming a lot more accessible to people located all around the world. Many couples have opted to live stream their weddings, especially in the past year with the lockdowns and travel restrictions. Here I've prepared a complete guide, with everything you need to know about live streaming your own wedding.
What's the Best Platform to use?
The first thing you need to think about once you've decided that you'd like to live stream your own wedding is where you're going to stream it to. A lot of people choose Facebook, as it's easy to use and share. Facebook is a great platform for sharing your live stream with your friends and family, and best of all, it's free! The only issue that may come up with Facebook is the company's use of copyright protection. This means that if there's any copyrighted music played during the ceremony or the reception, Facebook has the right to remove your video, and in most cases they will do so straight away. So if you do decide to use Facebook to live stream your wedding, you'll have to be cautious about what music you play. The other downside to using Facebook is that your friends and family who don't have Facebook will be unable to view the stream unless you upload it to another site simultaneously.
YouTube is another option for live streaming your wedding. However, they also have a lot of the same issues as Facebook, as they have very strict copyright protection and will immediately strike your video down if any copyrighted music is detected.
You also have the option of using any of a number of other platforms designed for meetings, like Zoom, Microsoft Teams & Skype. These are all great platforms for communicating with your friends and family, but they don't provide a great viewing experience. You also run into the issue of not being able to have unlimited viewers on some of these platforms.
Ultimately, the platform that we recommend is Vimeo. Vimeo is used by most professional live streamers for events like weddings. It's great because it doesn't have any copyright protection, meaning you can play whatever music you like. Vimeo also allows for as many people as you'd like to connect to the stream, and they don't need any sort of membership to do so. The downside is that Vimeo is rather expensive, so it's not always viable for a once-off stream.
I know where, but with what?
Mobile phones have come leaps and bounds in the past 10 years, and many of them have built-in cameras that are better than some DSLR cameras. A lot of couples opt for simply live streaming from their mobile phones, and this works exceptionally well. You can get incredible video quality with just about any phone released in the last 3-5 years.
If you are streaming on your phone, you have a few setup options. The first is mounting your phone on a tripod and setting that up in a fixed location. (tripod: https://amzn.to/33O77ml mount: https://amzn.to/3bp9K2p). This works well and requires minimal setup and operation. Some couples decide to just go handheld, as many phones (the new iPhones in particular) have really good image stabilization, making your video look less shaky. Lastly, some couples decide to go for a phone stabilizer, which allows for a very steady shot while maintaining handheld operation, so the person operating can get up nice and close (https://amzn.to/3w3hRtb).
Another option is to connect any camera with an HDMI output into a laptop, using an HDMI to USB input. This can provide exceptional video quality but can be a little more difficult to set up. (camera: https://amzn.to/3bsyd74 adaptor: https://amzn.to/33EXE0D). You can also use a GoPro or similar camera with a micro HDMI to HDMI adaptor (GoPro: https://amzn.to/3tKTZZS micro hdmi to hdmi: https://amzn.to/3hr3FpY).
Okay, I can see you, but I can't hear you
After you've got the video sorted, the next thing you've got to think about is audio. Audio is actually the most important aspect of your streaming setup. If viewers can't see you very well but they can hear you clearly, they'll still have a great viewing experience, but if they can see you clearly but not hear you, they're not going to know what's going on. My recommendation here is to use a wireless lav mic clipped to the groom's clothing or hanging in front of a speaker. You can generally pick up any ambient music and readings from a mic that's clipped to the groom, and you'll get very clear audio of the vows. I recommend using the Rode Wireless Go and simply connecting this to the headphones jack on your phone or camera. (https://amzn.to/3ydGWUu).
Everything is sorted now, right? Is there anything else I need to think about?
The one final thing you have to worry about, aside from determining who will be in charge of running the stream, is how you'll be getting online. This is important, because if you have all the gear but you can't connect to the internet, then you're not going to have any way to start and share your stream. I recommend visiting the wedding location before you start planning any of this, determining where you'd be setting up your phone or laptop, and making sure that you have a cell signal or wifi connection.
I hope that this article has been informative. If you have any further questions, please don't hesitate to reach out to me: contact@streamadelaide.com.au
If you are located in Australia and would like to use my business to provide live streaming services, you can reach me at my email: contact@streamadelaide.com.au
Below are links to all the products that I have recommended in this article.
My business provides live streaming services to couples all across Australia, so please don't hesitate to get in touch.
My website: www.streamadelaide.com.au
PRODUCTS:
Tripod: https://amzn.to/33O77ml
Phone mount: https://amzn.to/3bp9K2p
DJI OSMO (phone stabilizer): https://amzn.to/3w3hRtb
camera: https://amzn.to/3bsyd74
hdmi to usb: https://amzn.to/33EXE0D
Go Pro: https://amzn.to/3tKTZZS
Micro hdmi to hdmi: https://amzn.to/3hr3FpY
Rode Wireless go: https://amzn.to/3ydGWUu
If you have more questions and would like to talk, book a call bellow
Note: This article has been written based on my own personal experiences and knowledge. It was written on the 14th of May 2021 and as far as I am aware, all the information I have provided is valid at this point in time. I am in no way sponsored by any of the companies that provide the products I have recommended.