Beach Wedding, advice needed.

[Kyle Root]

Next weekend, I'm headed South to the coast for a beach wedding.

I've confirmed the ceremony is out in the sand while the reception is up at a concrete pavilion.

Anyone have any advice or stories they want to share?

My primary concern is sand in stuff. In particular sand specks in the Glidecam HD2000 bearing. Of course tripods are a concern too.

Wind noise, I'm hoping we've got that worked out with dual windscreens on the G3s.

[Todd Mizomi]

I shoot a lot of weddings on the beach, and here's a few tips I've found that come in handy:

A brush will help get sand out of your gear afterward. On my tripods/lightstands I use a tire brush. On cameras/sliders, gimbals, etc, I've been using a shaving cream brush which is much softer and is able to get into those hard to reach places.

If you are worried about salt water getting on tripod feet, you can cover the feet with ziplock freezer bags and secure them with rubber bands.

To keep from having to set my camera bag down in the sand, I've been using carabiners to hook it onto either my lightstand or to my tripod.

To combat wind noise on my digital recorders, I've been using windscreens from redheadwindscreens.com.

[Michael Silverman]

Todd, do you place lavs on the groom and/or officiant? If so, what do you use to reduce wind noise? I've got a beach wedding coming up in a month and I'm a little concerned that my tiny Rycote wind screens for my lavs won't be enough to reduce the wind noise.

[Todd Mizomi]

Most weddings I'll put a wireless mic + backup digital recorder on both the minister and groom. Also use a third digital recorder on the musician (beach wedding we usually have a guitarist or harpist).

Placement of the lavaliers is usually how I combat wind noise - like behind the tie or in-between the buttons of the groom's shirt. If the wind is really strong that day, I'll use the Rycote Windjammers on the lavaliers as a last resort, (they really stand out esp. if the groom is wearing a light colored shirt.)