An outdoor wedding is the hardest easy job in audio. There is no roof to reflect sound back, wind moves across microphones, guests are spread wide, and none of it can be repeated. These are the things that actually decide whether the vows are heard.
The ceremony is the priority, not the party
Reception sound is forgiving. Ceremony sound is not. Plan the ceremony rig first: what carries the vows, what carries the celebrant, and what happens if one of them fails. Everything else can be adapted on the day.
Use more than one microphone on the vows
A single lapel microphone on the celebrant is the common setup and the common point of failure. We run a second source, usually a discreet lectern or stand microphone, so a dropout, a rustling collar or a flat battery does not take the moment with it. It costs very little and it is the difference between a recording you keep and one you cannot use.
Wind is the enemy you can plan for
Even light wind across a microphone capsule produces low rumble that swamps speech. Proper foam or fur windshields on every outdoor microphone are not optional. Positioning helps too: putting the ceremony with its back to the prevailing wind, where the site allows, makes a noticeable difference.
Bring the speakers closer, not louder
Outdoors, sound falls away quickly with distance and there are no walls to help. Turning up a distant speaker mostly makes the front rows uncomfortable. Two modest speakers placed nearer the guests, on slim stands at ear height, will beat one loud pair at the front every time.
Plan power before the day
Garden and tented venues frequently have no usable power near the ceremony position. That means a generator, sized properly and placed far enough away that guests never hear it, with the cable run planned so it does not cross a walkway. This gets agreed in the quote, not discovered on the morning.
Keep the rig out of the photographs
Couples remember the pictures. Slim stands rather than tripod towers, cabling dressed and taped, control position at the edge of the space, and speakers positioned outside the main sightlines. Most couples tell us afterwards that they never noticed the equipment, which is the point.
Have someone there the whole time
A system left running unattended will eventually need attention at the worst moment. A technician present through the ceremony and speeches can fix a fault in seconds that would otherwise stop proceedings.
