Honestly, we can’t tell you how much we love the idea of live-streaming your wedding. Why? Because it allows family members from WHEREVER to take part in your special day. Before COVID, we can’t tell you how many stories we heard of friends who “we wish could be here.”

We think the emergence of live streaming weddings is one of the best things to come out of the pandemic. The technology has existed for a decade, but how many people do you know that did it? We had never heard of anyone using Zoom to have others be there.

We NEVER had couples ask us about how to stream a wedding or if we had any recommendations or tips on how to make it high-quality. We tried to help them as much as we could, but we were learning just like they were.

After a full year, we’ve seen just about every possible live stream set up. Everything from a friend holding an iPhone, a computer set up in the back of the room, or even more elaborate setups with cameras connected to laptops. Regardless of what happens next with weddings. If they go back to “normal” or they stay like they have been, livestream is here to stay.

Our Tips for The Best Livestream Wedding

We want to share some of the things we’ve learned in the past year. Hopefully, our tips can help you avoid some of the pitfalls we’ve seen in the past. We want ALL of your loved ones to be able to see you walk down the aisle.

Consider a Professional

We understand you’re already talking with a dozen different vendors and the thought of adding another one might make you want to just forget the whole wedding. There are some obvious advantages to hiring a professional to live stream your wedding.

The first benefit is peace of mind. On your wedding day, you shouldn’t have to worry about the guests who aren’t there. You should be focused on your magical day, not the quality of the video stream, audio levels, or wifi. Sure, you can have a friend handle it, but without the experience, if something were to go haywire, they would miss the ceremony because of a small technical error.

The other obvious benefit is the quality of the video and audio. By hiring a professional, you’ll get professional equipment. Better camera and better mics. Before you decide who will stream your wedding, decide if the quality matters to you.

Compare Platforms

There are no shortages of streaming platforms out there. Just doing a quick search will show up dozens and dozens of options. But which one is the best? That all depends.

Of course, you have all the obvious options like Zoom, Facebook Live, and Google Hangout. All of these will work depending on what you want. For example, Facebook Live is a simple and straightforward option as long as all your guests have Facebook accounts.

Zoom allows hundreds of guests in a single room, but getting out the login info or ensuring everyone understands the platform can be a little more difficult. Google Hangouts is the simplest to operate, but you’ll be limited on the number of guests in the livestream. Each platform has a give and take.

These options are all free. Zero cost. But like most free things, they usually don’t meet every need.

If you’re willing to pay a small fee, you can consider an option like MyStreamingWedding.com, which is similar to the other options, except it was created specifically for livestreaming weddings. The company has been in business for over 10 years and will manage the whole process from beginning to end. They have no limits on the number of viewers on the stream, and they even create a personalized page for your wedding video.

Think About Sound

If you decide to go with a more DIY approach, the one thing a lot of couples forget about is sound. Most couples only think about the pictures during the ceremony (which is important of course).

Our recommendation is to buy an additional microphone to connect to either your phone, camera, or computer. There are countless microphones on Amazon. Buy one for $25 and test it out beforehand. Stand far away from the microphone and see how well it does.

Test, Test, Test

That leads us to our last tip for live streaming your wedding is to test, test again, and then test one last time. Make sure you run through everything from beginning to end. Always do this several weeks before the big day. This gives you time to buy additional equipment or find an alternative.