Church photography policy

[kimberlina13]

The church I''m having the ceremony has just about one of the strictest policies I have ever seen! Guests are not allowed to take pictures during the ceremony and its sounding like the photographer cannot take pictures of the bridal party including me coming down the aisle. After the ceremony starts all shots must come from the rear of the church or the choir loft.

Has anyone had to deal with this and perhaps find a way around it?

 

[MINE!!]

Yep.. but I agree with it. My father is a minister and he says that people must remember the holiness of the ceremony. You can take pcitures.. WITHOUT flash when people are coming in. However, nothing during the ceremony. Also, photogrpahers are not allowed behind the pulpit.. thank God..

 

[kimberlina13]

I guess I''m mostly concerned with the shots of coming down the aisle. I understand that it''s very distracting to have the photographer running around during, but I really would hate to miss out on the ones of entering.

 

[AndyRosse]

My church''s policy was absolutely no flash photography. And the photographer had to stay at the back of the church or up on the balconies during the ceremony. However, my minister allowed the photographer to take a couple close up pics if we really wanted. We actually never asked for any close up pics, but we did end up with many close ups of the BMs, flowergirl, and my step-father and I walking down the aisle. We were very satisfied with the church''s policy

We know some churchs do not allow photography at all. So those people often end up "staging" certain shots after the ceremony, which is okay except for the fact that all the pews are empty in the shots. And of course the obvious fact that your pictures are not of your actual ceremony.

 

[jcrow]

i don''t remember all of the specifics of our cathedral''s rules, but i do remember that no guests can be taking pictures. and, both the videographer (which we just booked today yea!!) and photographer have to call the cathedral so they can approve the number of cameras and type of cameras used.

 

[Fancy605]

My home church is quite strict. There is NO photography aloud whatsoever during the ceremony because it is considered too sacred. All ceremony photos have to be recreated later. There are LOTs of other rules as well, but they are all in the interest of keeping the ceremony sacred, so I can respect that. I have seen weddings where the photographer pretty much got in the brides face during her vows, and it really did take away from it.

You may consider recreating close-ups such as your father walking you down the aisle, exchanging of rings, first kiss, etc. it won''t be the same, but----it could work.

 

[CareBear]

The church where I had my ceremony wasn''t quite as strict. But the photographer had to remain near the rear of the church. He wasn''t allowed to stand in the middle of the aisle. So there was no good shots of me walking down the aisle. He was still able to get some decent shots of us during the ceremony. I''m guessing his camera had a really strong zoom! You might want to let your photographer know of the situation ahead of time and see if he can work around it.

 

[JCJD]

I also think that policy is pretty standard, although there is a lot of variation too. I certainly didn''t want cameras flashing in the corner of my eye during my vows, distracting me, DH, pastor, etc from the ceremony! Staging the shots sounds like a good idea too.