How to live stream your wedding with your iPhone or Android

Colorful Boston Museum summer wedding photos

Why would I want to live stream my wedding ceremony?

Perhaps one of your guests is ill, unable to travel, or deployed. Though they may not be able to make it in person, they may still want to be there for you, virtually!

Technology enables us to be closer to one another, and live streaming your wedding is a cool way to connect people that may be thousands of miles away!

This guide is a DIY version of how you can easily live stream portions of your wedding. It, in now way, replaces the talent and hard work of professional filmmakers and videographers, and the quality that they can provide if you were to hire them livestream and record your wedding.

I always advocate for hiring professionals. It’s less stressful and is one less thing to worry about! However, there is a low-cost way to DIY it using a smartphone and under $100 of optional, but recommended, equipment.

How to live stream your wedding using your iPhone or Android

Designate a friend or family member
This person should be fairly tech savvy! This will be the person in charge of live streaming!
Download your streaming app of choice
Skype, FaceTime, Google Hangouts, or Zoom
Purchase a microphone
An external one that connects into your iPhone or Android
Buy an iPhone or Android tripod
This will hold your iPhone or Android steady during the filming
Get a portable battery pack
Streaming consumes a lot of battery
Arrive at the ceremony location early
Test internet connectivity (wifi vs data)
Charge your iPhone or Android
To 100%
Reserve a seat close to the ceremony
Ideally the 2nd row, 2nd in from the aisle
Connect with your remote viewers
Preferably 15-20 minutes before ceremony start time
Sit back and relax!
and hope it all goes smoothly!

Which app should I use to livestream my wedding ceremony?

Here are my favorites for 1 on 1 streaming. All are free, easy to use, and relatively reliable.

Tip: Have your remote viewers download the app prior. Test it out with you so that they are aware of how to connect on the app.

There are several social media platforms that also allow for streaming. Be aware that these links are public and depending on privacy concerns, you may not want to broadcast this to the world.

Also, sometimes these platforms do record and you’re able to replay it later. However, if you’re using copyrighted music for your processional song, these platforms are quick to take the video down based on copyright infringement.

YouTube Live
Facebook Live
IGTV
Twitch

Is livestreaming faster with WiFi or data?

It depends. It’s important to test both to see which is more reliable. I suggest arriving at the ceremony location 1-2 hours in advance to test it out with your remote review.

Know that a 30 minute video stream will take approximately 1-2 gigs of data.

What audio equipment do I need?

Technically, none. Your iPhone or Android does have a built in microphone. However, if you’ve ever watched any video with bad audio, you’ll know that it’s a bit painful.

There are a lot of different types of microphones, but the easiest ones are the ones that plug right into your phone and clamp on top.

I wouldn’t recommend this for professional uses because of the plethora of other options – lavalier mics, boom mics, etc. However, I do believe that a plugin one will be the easiest and most reusable in the future for consumer use!

Here are my smartphone microphone recommendations:

What tripod equipment do I need?

Again, technically you don’t need any, but NO ONE enjoys shaky footage. Also, the person holding the iPhone, Android, or tablet will get very tired. Stabilization is key. After the wedding, you can use this tripod for taking really great selfies!

Here are my smartphone tripod recommendations:

IMPORTANT! USE A SANDBAG!

If you’re going to purchase a lighter weight tripod (which is great for consumer use) and use it outs, it’s important that you pick up a sandbag like this one and weigh down the tripod or the light stand. I’ve seen a lot of phones get blown over by wind or kicked over accidentally. If that happens, there goes your phone! Yikes.

Which portable battery is best for my phone?

If in the case your iPhone, Android, or tablet runs out of battery, I highly recommend a portable battery. It’s great to have it so that mid-way through the ceremony, the feed doesn’t cut out because you don’t have enough juice. Also, if you’re looking to live stream the first dance or the speeches, you won’t have to scramble to find an outlet during the cocktail hour!

Portable batteries come in all sizes, depending on how many charges you want it to hold. Some can even charge laptops!

Between my husband and I, we have all three of the below. We love Anker. We travel often, and to places where sometimes we won’t have electricity for over a week. These battery packs have saved us!

Here are my portable battery recommendations:

Anker [Upgraded to 6700mAh] Astro E1 Candy-Bar Sized Ultra Compact Portable Charger, External Battery Power Bank, with High-Speed Charging PowerIQ Technology $25.99 – This one is great to keep in your purse. It’s small, and works in a pinch!
Anker PowerCore Fusion 5000, Portable Charger 5000mAh 2-in-1 with Dual USB Wall Charger, Foldable AC Plug and PowerIQ Travel Charger, Battery Pack for iPhone, iPad, Android, Samsung Galaxy, and More $35.99 – This is awesome because if you’re like me and looking to charge your iPhone, iPad, ear buds, and several other things at once, this doubles as a multi-USB charging block
Anker PowerCore Lite 20000mAh Portable Charger, Ultra-High Capacity 4.8A Output Power Bank, External Battery $49.99 – This is the big hefty one that can charge two devices at once, one being a macbook pro. Insane.

Where should the iPhone or Android be during the wedding ceremony?

Even if you have an smartphone microphone, you’ll want to be fairly close to the ceremony to get the best audio.

Here are locations I would NOT recommend:

I do not recommend the front row: This is reserved for parents, siblings, grandparents, and other VIP.
I do not recommend it in the aisle: You will irritate wedding photographers and videographers.

The best spot for a iPhone livestream for a wedding ceremony is:

2nd row – one seat IN from the aisle. Put the phone so that it can peek peek in between the two heads in the front row. This way, the phone is close to the ceremony couple, the phone’s view is not obstructed, and you’re not in the way of the professional photo and video team.

Check in with the couple to make sure that they’re okay that this camera and tripod will likely be seen in their wedding photos.

Should I livestream using the front facing camera or back facing camera?

Typically, the camera on the back of the phone is of higher quality. This way, the person operating the phone can also see how the framing of what the remote viewer is seeing!

What should I tell the remote viewer?

Test a week before to get them familiar with the app
Test an hour or two before, at the ceremony site to test internet connectivity
During the wedding, they should mute themselves
Ask them to also have their charger handy in case that they phone dies, too

Colorful Boston Museum summer wedding photos by Boston Wedding Photographer Nicole Chan Photography — Grandma and Grandpa were live streaming in. They kept talking during the wedding ceremony, unaware that the entire ceremony could hear them. This is Dad telling them to keep it down. Haha!

Just curious… what gear do you use?

Click here to see my current equipment list!

“Okay. I’ve decided I want you to professionally live stream my wedding for me.”

Sure. Our team has your back!

Send us an email here and let’s talking about it.

Thanks for reading!

I hope this helps you understand how to live stream your wedding! If you have any other tips, please let me know, so that I can keep this updated!

If you click on any of the amazon links and purchase stuff, I get a small affiliate %! It’s not much, but it helps me fund my smoothie addiction and baking hobbies. 🙂