Dana Salsbury had posted about shooting the formals and who does it. I am/was one of those people who thrived on the formal section in order to get my signature shots and create some hopefully cool videos.

Here is an older wedding but very recent edit using footage from the formals.
It has a little of everything from goofy to soft and romantic.

www.dmbvp.com/video/joe_maria_formals.wmv

I know some people prefer to shoot from the sidelines and not get involved but my style over the years was to be more involved with the creative flow of the day. One thing I always explained to the photographers was, you need still moments and I need motion -I would create motion from their poses and they would create stills from my motions, so it would be a win-win situation.

Some photographers would give me some grief because of their conditioning but the bride and groom would re-condition them and let them know video is important to them and to let me do what I want.

Hope this helps or at least gives a fresh perspective of what you can do with formals. There is nothing new here, but it is my standerd approach.

Great as usual David, and I agree whole heartedly. The most fun on the day that we have is the photo shoot, it allows us to really have some fun with the bridal party and really allows them to let loose as well. However, you do need to let the photographer know that you need time to direct the party as well. This usually isn't a problem but there are always those that don't value what we do and try to monopolize the shoot.

I'm glad I hung in until the second piece ... that was pretty cool. The first one seemed a little throaway, but the second piece definitely was getting there.

I liked the shot selection in the picture taking part and that will be what the clients will remember; I just like using more motion in the beauty shots, as they are posing do some nice slow controlled camera movement from the ground up to the faces, that sort of thing. But then, different markets bear what they bear

thanks guys,

yeah - first part is a bit slower until the groupings get smaller. I tend to allow the photographer knock off the family shots as quickly as possable and get more involved with the bridal party once the 'formal' part is done - as seen in the second half of the vid.