Today I want to show you, with real examples from a real wedding, how I mic the bride and record genuinely crispy audio of her saying her vows during the ceremony. If you’ve only got the groom mic’d, her half of the vows is always the weaker half. This fixes that.
You’re probably thinking that micing the bride is intimidating, and until earlier this year I’d have agreed with you.
Micing a groom is easy. I have yet to find one I couldn’t mic. They’re wearing a suit, so you clip the recorder under a belt or inside a jacket pocket, and they’re all basically the same. Brides are wearing a wedding dress, and every wedding dress is different. Ball gown, A-line, sheath, mermaid, backless, strapless. Okay, I’m reading those off a list my wife gave me, I don’t actually know a ton about wedding dresses. The point is that hiding a mic on a dress looks far more complicated than clipping one to a jacket. Or so I used to believe.
Before we go further, credit where it’s due. I learned this technique from Sarah and Rick Pendergraft of Pen Weddings. They’re incredibly talented, they mic all their brides, and they’re worth following.
What You Need
Three things.
First, a Tascam DR-10L in white, which is my go-to recorder for the bride. The white version has since been discontinued, so the black one is what’s actually available now. You’ll also want a memory card and batteries for it.
Second, a set of Rycote Stickies, so you can attach the lav to the dress.
Third, a wireless microphone thigh strap. Buy the white or beige option.
Look At The Dress First
Whenever you first arrive on the wedding day, ask the bride if you can see her dress, so you can work out where the lav should go. Extra points if you ask her to send you pictures of it ahead of time, so you already know how easy or hard it’s going to be.
The dress at the wedding in this video was beautiful and a bit more challenging than most, because the front above the waist was sheer, so we were worried about the mic cord being visible.
Placing The Lav
Start by putting a sticky on the lav and dropping the whole thing down the dress. It is always easier to do this before she has started putting the dress on, and that’s how we always do it. You also don’t need the DR-10L connected at this stage. Just the lav.
At this wedding we stuck the lav to the lining of the built-in bra, roughly centred, which kept it hidden behind the sheer front, and used a second sticky to route the cord across to a part of the dress that was less translucent.
Every dress is different, so this looks a bit different every time. But two things hold every time. Get the lav as close to her face as you reasonably can, and find the balance between hiding the mic and keeping it clear of fabric, so you don’t end up with clothing rustle.
At this point the lav is stuck to the dress and the disconnected cord is hanging out the bottom. She can put the dress on exactly as normal.
Mounting The Recorder
This is what the thigh belt is for. It’s sturdy velcro with a pouch on it that happens to be the perfect size for a DR-10L.
Right before she’s ready to put the dress on, have her put the belt on. It’s basically a garter, and most brides know how those work, so this is rarely a problem. Then she puts the dress on as usual, and someone hikes up the skirt, or goes up under it, turns the recorder on and reconnects it to the lav cord. Done. From that point you’re getting clean audio through the first look and the ceremony.
Taking It Off Again
Once the ceremony is done you don’t need any more audio from her. There’s usually a moment between the ceremony and the reception where the dress gets bustled so she can dance, and that’s when we take the mic off.
She can do it herself, easily. Undo the sticky holding the lav, pull the dress up to the thigh strap, slide the recorder out from under the velcro, pull down, and the whole thing comes away.
Two More Recommendations
First, tell her ahead of time. It is not going to go well if you turn up on the wedding day and announce, hey, I’m going to put this microphone on you, I’ve got this thigh strap. That’s intimidating and awkward. Explain how the belt works, how the mic attaches, and how much better she’s going to sound because of it.
Second, and this matters. There are a lot of all-male videographer teams out there, and I shot with a male second shooter far more often than a female one for years. Putting the mic on the bride means going up under her dress, which can be awkward for everybody.
So if you don’t have a woman on your team, do it this way instead. Attach the lav to the dress with a sticky, but leave the recorder connected and already rolling. Then show her the thigh belt, how to put it on, and how easily the DR-10L drops into it. While she’s getting into the dress she can do that part herself, or have a bridesmaid help. You still get the audio, and nobody has to go under the dress.
Do You Actually Need To?
I shot weddings for nearly eight years without ever micing the bride, and things were usually fine.
But there are situations you will run into. The couple aren’t standing especially close during the ceremony. It’s windy. And micing only the groom and the officiant doesn’t always give you good audio of her. Micing the bride is one more step of quality I can take, and with this setup it isn’t difficult.
Everything is on my mic the bride gear page if you want it in one place. If you want to know why I rate the DR-10L so highly, I’ve written about the accessories worth owning for it and about how it compares to the Zoom F2.