Wedding Ceremony Microphone Setup

September 11, 2008 1:47 PM

What type of microphone setup would work for an outside wedding ceremony?

I saw this link here, but it wasn't quite as detailed as I am looking for.

I'd like some suggestions on how to mic a wedding ceremony. There will be 90 guests setup in a quiet outdoor setting. I have been to a ton of weddings but have never noticed how they setup the mics during the ceremony.

Would a lappel mic on the minister/officiant be able to pick up what the bride and groom are saying? I am thinking wireless is definitely the way to go, but I want to avoid anyone having to hold a mic or pass a mic around. I also want to avoid having to put a mic on the bride if at all possible.

Any suggestions? Your help is always much appreciated.

posted by blueplasticfish to society & culture (8 comments total)

Maybe one or two shotgun mics on stands? If you have a spot marked where they'll stand, you can have it pointed in the correct direction ahead of time.

Whatever kind you use, be sure to put a windscreen on it if you're going to be outdoors.
posted by echo target at 2:00 PM on September 11, 2008

I just did this for a friend at a not-so-quiet outdoor setting (brooklyn bridge park). One issue we had, which you may not, was that the battery powered PA system (one speaker) was fairly weak. We had some lapel mics, but they did very little. There also may not be anywhere inconspicuous, yet useful, to attach one to a bride.

Having the officiant's lapel mic pick up everyone's voice is not going to happen. Assuming that the bride and groom, while saying their vows, etc., will have the presence of mind to be aware of a microphone is probably a bad idea. Also, the average person is simply not very good at projecting their voice, or using/holding/speaking into a microphone properly.

I think your best bet is for the officiant to hold a microphone. Then, when the bride/groom need to say something, they can hold it in front of them. And when the bride and groom are way to quiet, they can hold the mic closer to them.

I'm pretty sure this is the only way you will have any chance of the ceremony being heard by the audience. If your officiant isn't going to be good at this, consider printing any important text in the program.

If you have people doing readings, set up a second mic on a stand to the side for the readers to use.
posted by snofoam at 2:14 PM on September 11, 2008

oh, and i think everyone wants their wedding to look really nice and stuff and i understand, but at the end of the day, a microphone isn't really that distracting and it is WAY BETTER to be able to hear everything than to hear nothing.
posted by snofoam at 2:16 PM on September 11, 2008

At my wedding, we used two gooseneck microphones. They were cardoids.

I think they were Shure MX412s.

These were screwed to a mic stand which was somewhat camouflaged with tulle. If there is a lectern, you could use larger mics.

We should have had a wireless mic on our officiant, but our crowd was smaller than yours, so we did OK.

I think we had a wireless handheld for any speeches that ended up not being used.

The mixer was a small Mackie with an iPod for the music. The speakers were two JBL Eons on stands.

As you can see in the picture, we did use windscreens.

For your size crowd, you could get away with two JBL Eons, but four would be better. Two near the stage and two "delays" about halfway down the audience.

The most important thing you can do is make sure that the speakers nearest the stage are at least 8 feet in front of it and the mics, so you'll be able to gain them up substantially before they feed back.
posted by tomierna at 2:26 PM on September 11, 2008

I'm a pro videographer as well as sound reinforcement engineer. I do weddings like this all the time. We normally put one wireless lapel mic on the minister/officiant and one on the groom. Also, a mic on the lectern or speaking podium. Will anyone be singing? A choir? Piano? Guitar? Try to mic the amplifiers of any instruments and probably a shotgun microphone or two for a choir or singers.

Obviously this leads to the necessity of a mixer. You don't want the groom's mic running hot during the ceremony picking up a cough or a "private" moment between bride and groom. Also, you may want to turn off the lapel of the minister while he's speaking at the podium. Also, be ready to adjust the gain quickly on the various mics to pick up important moments like the vows.

It really comes down to how much effort and money you want to put into it. Also, it necessitates a full-time hand on the mixer.

As a minimal setup, just lapel the minister and hope for the best.

The good thing about having a good setup like this is you can record the audio as well. If there is a videographer, he can tap into your mixer and get awesome audio for the wedding video.
posted by chitlin at 2:51 PM on September 11, 2008

I used to be a sound guy for a wedding band. Everything that's been said so far is pretty spot on.

I'd like to reinforce the wind screen thing, wind on a bare mic sounds awful and distracting.

There will be some sort of rehearsal, I hope. This is the best time to iron out the kinks. Go over proper microphone technique, as I can only assume these people are not seasoned entertainers. I have seen nervous best men giving their speeches in barely a whisper with the mic down by their belts. I have seen maids of honor practically eat mics while breathing heavily into them.

Whatever you choose, run a test or two, have a backup plan, and still count on something going wrong. Good luck!
posted by knowles at 4:30 PM on September 11, 2008

This sounds exactly like our wedding. What we did was rent a very simple setup from a local audio place consisting of two powered speakers, one boom mic, and one lavalier mic. The boom mic was corded and used for people who gave short readings. It was corded and positioned permanently and not intended to move or be handed back and forth, so we taped down all wires.

The wireless lavalier was worn by the officiant. It was important to us that she be heard clearly, but not as important that we ourselves be heard, since we were just repeating what she said. Our seating layout was fairly close, and we didn't want a microphone in our pictures at all.

The setup worked great - I'm told we were picked up enough by the officiant's wireless mic that we could be heard, but it wasn't overbearing.

I positioned the speakers to the far left and far right front areas. One speaker has all of the controls on it for volume levels and other things, and connects to the power source. The other speaker just has one cord connected to the main speaker.
posted by odinsdream at 5:11 PM on September 11, 2008

Obligatory pictures - no mic to be seen! You'll see the boom mic on the left and maybe notice the two speakers. Overall a very clean and functional setup.
posted by odinsdream at 5:15 PM on September 11, 2008