Just Married Films offer Livestreaming services. Be sure to have your Special day captured. 3 HD camera angles and crystal clear audio. Apart from getting your day livestreamed, you’ll get back a softcopy of your livestreamed ROM.
Live streaming your wedding allows you to share your wedding ceremony with friends and family members regardless of it being big or small. You will be able to include guests who are not able to attend your wedding in person, be it those who live overseas, hospitalized or got caught in the middle of their job. In addition, it is a cheaper option compared to the usual wedding ceremony. Especially for this year, due to the outbreak of Covid-19, weddings are largely affected. The number of attendees are limited to 10 for at-home solemnization, Registry of Marriages (ROM) and Registry of Muslin Marriages (ROMM) and 20 for other venues excluding the solemniser; this situation causes many couples to postpone their wedding. However, virtual weddings can be a choice to consider for those that still want to have their wedding as planned. Live streaming is also a good way to record down every moment of the wedding which can be saved and backed up.
What is a Livestream?
Livestreaming is basically when footage is sent over the internet in real-time, through a stream. A stream is a continuous transmission of videos or audio from a host server to a client. To put it simply, streaming is the same as when TV and podcasts are transmitted through Internet-connected devices. Hence live streaming, with an emphasis on the ‘live’ is just streaming in real-time. Another way of seeing live streaming is that it is almost the same as video conferencing, such as Zoom calling and Facetiming.
Livestreaming works by firstly capturing visual information, which is captured through a medium such as a camera. The camera then processes this information into raw video data. The data is then compressed and encoded. Since videos include a lot of digital information, the video data has to be segmented before going online. What this means is that the video gets divided into smaller segments, therefore the size of each segment can be sent to the Livestream broadcast quickly without taking too much time to process. Once the Livestream is processed, it needs to be broadcasted or distributed at the highest possible quality. This is where a Content Delivery Network (CDN) comes into play. A CDN is a network of servers that distribute content on behalf of an origin server. The CDN makes distribution more efficient because they have servers all over the world, rather than in a single location.
Why choose Livestream?
Due to the current Covid-19 pandemic, society is not able to hold large events, as well as be able to meet up as often as we used to. Hence resulting in the rise of video conferencing platforms such as Zoom as well as live streaming services such as Youtube, Instagram live and Facebook live as an alternative to meeting up in real life. With this said, it is common for people to be familiar with these platforms now, and therefore live streaming would be an ideal way of broadcasting live events to people who under current circumstances, are not able to attend them.
Live streaming your wedding allows you to share your wedding ceremony with friends and family members regardless of it being big or small. You will be able to include guests who are not able to attend your wedding in person, be it those who live overseas, hospitalized, or got caught in the middle of their job. In addition, it is a cheaper option compared to the usual wedding ceremony. Especially for this year, due to the outbreak of Covid-19, weddings are largely affected. The number of attendees is limited to 10 for at-home solemnization, Registry of Marriages (ROM) and Registry of Muslin Marriages (ROMM), and 20 for other venues excluding the solemniser; this situation causes many couples to postpone their wedding. However, virtual weddings can be a choice to consider for those that still want to have their wedding as planned. Live streaming is also a good way to record down every moment of the wedding which can be saved and backed up
You don’t need to cancel your wedding
Picking a date for a wedding is hard enough but need to change because you don’t have a choice? Rescheduling your wedding will be a tedious and troublesome job. Live streaming your wedding provides you with the opportunity to share your special moment with your loved one in the simplest manner. Your friends and family can simply stay at home and enjoy your wedding and it is all in real-time! You will be able to celebrate the milestone of your life with your loved ones without much chances to be made if you live stream it.
It is more comfortable and chill
Most of the time, weddings are spectator sports. When your guests attend your wedding, what they will be doing is chatting, cheering, watching, listening to the songs, your vows, speech and toasts. When you live stream your wedding nothing much will be changed. You can still have all these activities and they can cheer with their microphone on. Furthermore, they can do it in a comfortable manner by staying at home, the whole process will be more casual.
Livestreaming wedding provides you with more options
Weddings cost a lot especially when you are an offbeat bride, your options will be expensive. Through Livestream you can hold your wedding wherever you want. Simply set up a green/white screen and a projector and you can have your wedding in any part of the world. Or at least it will look that way. You can also change your background if you are live streaming through Zoom. You can have all your guests to set and have the same background with you as well.
You can certainly allow all your guests to bring their childrens and pets with them and be able to mute the guests to avoid any kind of drama. Everything is more likely to be under control.
Pick out our list of solemnisers to. have for your wedding.
Live streaming wedding can help you to save money
If you are able to cancel the venue and decide to live stream your wedding you will be able to save a lot of money. Even though most hotels and restaurants maintain their 2019 prices per table for 2020, the average wedding banquet price still costs around $1400 to $2400 per table. The average price of weddings in Singapore cost between $30,000 to $50,000. Live streaming can help to narrow down the option and money spent for a wedding cake, liquor and wedding favours. You can set a corner in your house and decorate it majestically. Since the activities for the wedding will be cut down, you can simplify the music for your ceremony. Be aware that copyright issues may occur for prerecorded music, especially if you are going to post your Livestream on social media. You can simply find free royalty music online to avoid that from happening.
Live streaming wedding is a cool experience
Live streaming for weddings is not common but more and more people are doing it due to the Covid-19 situation. Just imagine when you tell your kids or grandchilds about your wedding that you live stream your wedding during the pandemic of 2020, how cool would it be!
Why hire a professional?
Livestreaming could simply be a phone camera connected via zoom and broadcasted to anyone interested in it, but that’s just barely scratching the surface of the potentials of live-streaming. Other than having professional equipment that will enhance the experience of those tuning in to the Livestream, our experience is what makes hiring us worth every cent. As mentioned earlier, the point of a live stream is to share the experience of attending your wedding with everyone invited. Therefore it is essential that the audience is at the right place at the right time, viewing each and every laughter through the highest quality possible, as if they are there physically themselves. This is where our professional experience comes into play. Since we began offering live streaming services Just Married Films has done so for dozens of weddings already. With the experience we have, we know the exact spot to be at every moment of your wedding, capturing the highlights of your wedding so that you can share every laughter and tear and joy that happens on your big day.
Livestreaming is has become the alternative to “attending” live events because of the Covid situation, therefore, it is beneficial to know what are the requirements you will need to be able to live stream successfully.
Livestreaming, as mentioned at the beginning of the article, is a continuous transmission of videos or audio from a host server to a client. Therefore, we will be looking at the different platforms that are able to broadcast live streams as a client. Most of these clients have an invite link, which you can share with your guest through email or direct message. Email is definitely more formal on one hand but the problem for e-vite will be you are not sure whether they have read your email. So it is probably best that you directly contact them to ensure everything goes right. You can include your meeting link and meeting ID at the end of the email or information about your live stream regarding the platform you are using. Before live-streaming here are some things that you need to prepare but all in all most of them can be found easily.
How to Livestream
Before live-streaming there are some things that you need to prepare but all in all most of them can be found easily
Phone/ camera
You will need your phone or camera to capture the whole ROM ceremony. If you have a digital camera at home you can use it instead of your phone as the image quality and the ability to optically zoom for digital camera will be better than phone camera. Bear in mind that if you are using a camera, you need to have an HDMI output.
If you don’t have a HDMI output, you can also purchase or rent a live streaming camera such as GoPro which does not need a HDMI output. Moreover, someone you know might have a digital camera at home, you can ask around so as to spend the least amount of money but get the best quality.
Tripod/ phone mount
A tripod is used for digital cameras so it is stable in its position while a phone mount is used for phones. It is necessary to avoid shaky hands. When you shoot at home it may be hard to be stable, especially on the actual day you do not know what will happen. It is easier if you decide a spot inside the house and set everything up.
Microphone
Audio quality is one of the most important aspects of living streaming. You do not want your guest to stare at the screen without knowing what is going on. Just imagine you are giving a lovely speech and when you finish it no one shows any form of reaction, it is a disaster. Thus, simply check your microphone for the live streaming service you are using to ensure it is working. If you do not want a lot of background noise to be captured, you can also choose to get an external microphone and simply connect it to your filming device.
Internet
The Internet is another important aspect of live streaming. Without it you will not be able to start one and we all want the wedding to go according to plan and not stop half way through the solemnisation. You can use any internet just make sure to check the connection and speed.
Live streaming service
You can download or go to any kind of live stream app/website for your live stream, some examples are zoom, youtube and facebook
Have a backup plan
Be prepared with a backup plan in case anything happens during your live stream. The easiest backup plan will be to record the ceremony and continue at where the record ends.
Platforms to Livestream
YouTube
You may probably already be familiar with watching videos on Youtube, but you can also livestream there.
You can live stream through youtube live for up to 12 hours. There’s a URL link you can provide to your guests and it can be private.
Zoom
A maximum of 100 participants can be added to a zoom meeting by default. A large meeting license allows 500 or 1000 participants to attend a zoom meeting. It will be easier for the guest as they do not need to have a zoom account to join the meeting.
Anyone who’s not living in a cave should know of Zoom by now…… Subscribing to a large meeting license will allow up to 500 or 1000 participants, depending on your license, to attend a Zoom meeting. Using Zoom is also convenient for guests who do not have Zoom accounts because it is not required to attend a zoom call.
Facebook is a social media platform that we’re all so used to scrolling through during our free time. In recent years, Facebook has introduced Facebook live. Facebook live allows 800,000 Simultaneous Viewers and the times limit will be depending on the device you’re using. The time limit for live streaming on the computer is 8 hours and 4 hours using mobile devices.
Instagram Live is an alternative option if you plan to do a simple livestream from your mobile devices. Instagram live can last for one hour, allowing you enough time to broadcast a wedding ceremony till the bride and groom says their vows. Instagram live can last for one hour. You can continue to start another one after your live ends.
Skype
Once upon a time, Skype was all the rage. Though still existing now, Zoom is a more preferred option. Perhaps for whatever reason, you choose to use Skype to livestream, that’s fine too, as the two clients do not differ too much. Skype allows you to call up to 50 people at once. It allows you to open a video chat for free on one device or you can pay to upgrade it up to 10 more devices.
VooV Meeting
For those with guests from China, using google meets, instagram, facebook and even zoom might be slightly inconvenient for those guests because of the restrictions China has. Therefore, VooV, a Chinese video conferencing app, will be useful in this scenario. VooV also has an intelligent noise reduction system, which will improve the audio quality of the livestream for guests of such. VooV is also convenient for guests because they need not pay for anything to be able to join a VooV call.
TwitchTV
For those of you familiar with the online gaming community, you’d definitely have heard of Twitch, a livestreaming platform mainly for gaming. Perhaps you’re a gamer and your clique of friends are all very familiar with Twitch, using this as the choice to livestream your wedding will be a way of making the wedding your style. Other perks of using Twitch include the crazy emotes that Twitch users are so used to, that’ll allow viewers to comment on your wedding through a familiar chatbox. Twitch also allows for private streaming by un-ticking the “share my activity” box when streaming.
Other backup plans include using your phone and leaving it at a side to livestream, though this might diminish the viewing experience of your guests, though it’s still a better solution than not having anything for guests to see what’s going on.
Google meet
Google Meet is a platform that can add up to 100 participants into the group chat for 1hour for free. Or spend 20 USD to purchase and have a maximum of 250 participants into the group chat for an unlimited amount of time. Your guest can record and control streaming.
If you do not want to spend extra money for live streaming services you can choose to have a live video using Youtube, Facebook or Instagram. If you want to go for a more private and personal wedding ceremony you can choose live streaming using Zoom, Skype or Google Meet. As live can be seen by everyone while participants can only join the meeting using a meeting ID and link.
Livestream invitation
One of the easiest ways to invite your guest will be through email or direct message. Email is definitely more formal on one hand but the problem for e-vite will be you are not sure whether they have read your email. So it is probably best that you directly contact them to ensure everything goes right. You can include your meeting link and meeting ID at the end of the email or information about your live stream regarding the platform you are using.
Dressing
Even though live streaming weddings are quite different from formal wedding ceremonies, it’s still your big day! You can dress what you plan to dress for at your wedding ceremony or go for a little more casual, dress what you plan to dress for dinner.
Livestreaming in VR
Virtual Reality is no more a fantasy, it is an actual thing now. With the rise of VR games, Livestreaming in VR is a possibility. If you go to Youtube or Twitch, there are even vloggers live streaming in VR through a 360 camera, allowing you to view their experiences in a new dimension. Though we do not offer this service yet, you might be able to achieve this if you own a 360 video camera that allows you to stream in that perspective.
Things to take note during virtual wedding (livestreaming wedding)
Do a rehearsal
It is important to rehearse to ensure all the technology devices are working properly and test your internet connection beforehand.
Clean up space
You may want to clean up your spaces. A messy background is not what you want to show your guests. You do not want things to block the ways too which could affect the flow of the ceremony.
Use the right equipment
No matter if it’s a DSLR camera or your smartphone you are using both works. It varies on what you are looking for. If you are not sure which to choose you can scroll up to ‘What equipment you need’.
Beware of the time zone
There are time limits for Livestream services, depending on which service you are using, take note of your time. If you are worried that you will run out of the time you can consider purchasing plans from the Livestream service you have chosen which will increase your maximum participants and time limits.
Provide instruction for guest
You can do at the start of the ceremony or write the instruction in your invitation so the guests will know what is gonna happen. After all, it might be their first time attending a virtual wedding.
Record the wedding
You do not want to miss the chance of watching your own wedding afterwards. Record while you Livestream it. Or for safety precautions, you can ask your guests to record it as well.
Cost of Livestreaming your wedding
The price of Livestreaming your wedding can really depend on the equipment you are using. If you are using what you already have of course you don’t need to spend so much. If you are purchasing new equipment the price varies depending on what you purchase. At Just Married Films, we offer ROM livestreaming at $800 with 3 camera angles.
Conclusion
Live streaming is an alternative option for couples to hold their wedding. Especially when the situation does not allow you to hold your wedding the usual way but you do not want to change your plan. Choose the plan that suits you and enjoy your wedding!
Though your big day is not what you’d expect it to be, because of the effects of the Covid Pandemic, there are always upsides to everything. Being optimistic, we are lucky to have technology at a level where we do not have to be physically present at a location, to be able to participate in it. We should be grateful for the alternative option to be able to livestream for couples to hold their weddings.