« How to Live Stream a Wedding in 2019
March 10, 2019 • ☕️ 3 min read
Why Live Stream Your Wedding?
If someone special can’t attend your wedding, it can feel heartbreaking. Luckily, with today’s technology, it’s possible to live stream your wedding letting them feel included and putting your heart at ease.
Who Should Stream Your Wedding?
With a bit of in-advance planning, streaming and recording your wedding is a simple task. Enlist your friend or family member to help you do it. If you are eloping, or don’t feel comfortable asking your friends, talk to your photographer or other vendors to see if they can recommend a person to help during the ceremony.
Equipment to Live Stream
To keep things simple, the best tool to live stream your wedding is a smartphone. Let’s talk about iPhones specifically. It’s guaranteed that every other person in your wedding already has one. Modern iPhone cameras are a stunning achievement. In fact, they’re even used to shoot full feature movies. It’s is all you need to record and live stream a wedding.
Dealing with Shaky Hands
Use a newer iPhone (7, 8, X and on), as they have Optical and Electronic video stabilization feature.
A great option is to put your phone on a little smartphone tripod ($24).
For even smoother camera movements and leveled video, you can get a smartphone gimbal (under $100). Gimbal is a simple to use steadycam. Hand-hold it, or mount it on a little tripod. Gimbals even let you charge the phone as you live stream. They are really easy to learn and use.
Audio Quality
Your phone’s built-in microphone is likely to do a great job at an indoor ceremony.
If the ceremony is outside, consider the wind noise. You can greatly improve the audio by adding an external microphone. Amazon offers microphone kits with a mount for about $55. Don’t forget to point external microphone towards venue speakers (if used), or towards the couple (if there is no sound system in the venue).
Internet Connectivity
Test internet connectivity in advance. When visiting the venue, connect to their WiFi network and measure internet upload speed with the SpeedTest app directly by the ceremony site. Good upload speed to shoot for is 10Mbps.
If there is no WiFi, it’s possible to use the mobile internet. Check its speed at ceremony site using the same app. Make sure you have enough data in your plan. 30-minute video stream can consume around 1GB of data.
Recording the Video
The app you’re using for streaming should be able to record the video at original quality while optimizing the streaming video for the network. If internet connection is unstable or drops, you’ll have a high-quality copy to keep, upload and share after the wedding.
Platform and App
Social network giants are offering live streaming along with their apps: Facebook Live, Youtube Live, Instagram Live, Twitter Periscope, Amazon Twitch. It’s not a good idea to use them for your wedding:
- It’s hard to ensure privacy and keep exes, co-workers or other random uninvited people from coming across your wedding stream.
- Since there may be copyrighted background music at your wedding the streams can be automatically blocked/deleted.
- Platforms like Twitch or Instagram delete videos after a certain time.
- Most of these platforms require your guests to have account and apps installed which might confuse the older generation.
Other apps are meant for one-one calls (FaceTime, Skype) or conference calls (Zoom, Google Hangouts, GoToWebinar). None of the above apps allow saving the video to your phone while streaming.
Professional platforms (Vimeo Livestream, DaCast, etc) require you to get more in-depth knowledge, have high monthly subscription fees or don’t have an easy way to invite your guests.
EventLive.pro platform was designed specifically for weddings. Create your wedding stream page and invite the guests privately. They will be automatically reminded ahead of the event by email notifications. Your guests can watch on any device, no registration or app installation required.
EventLive has a dedicated free iPhone app which makes streaming as simple as tapping a button. It ensures the stream is smooth and uninterrupted and that high-quality copy is saved on your phone while you stream.
Happy Streaming!